iTunes transfer went awry--help?

[bradengelmann]

Hi Folks,

Noob here and sorry for this but first Android phone, S3 on Sprint and I did comb here for advice; used iSyncr on my Mac to transfer iTunes music to my S3 (64gb card--Sandisk class 6).

Problem is the audio quality is terrible. Not at all worth listening to. Tried two players preinstalled and tried downloading the Rocket Player made by iSyncr's maker. Music sounds awful. Using headphones that otherwise work great.

Otherwise audio seems clear but have only used for calling to verify that.

Please--will somebody help? It would seem bits are bits but something is wrong and I don't know if it's the transfer process, software used for transfer, or an S3 device issue (defective?).

Thank you!

 

[mobdad]

I am using a Windows7 based PC so I cannot replicate what you have done. My files sound fine. What is the format that your files are in? All mine are MP3 files. Maybe another Mac user would have a solution.

 

[bradengelmann]

I appreciate the reply mobdad; mine are all MP3s in the iTunes folder. Seems strange; again a transfer of files would seem bits for bits so I don't know why the S3 files would sound so bad. Searching S3 audio and results are excellent across the board so wondering what's going on here. Might the SD card be defective? Something with the phone? Or can somebody speculate on the transfer solution I attempted (iSyncr software for Mac).

I followed instructions and things seemed to go well--transfer. Playlists are there. Songs are there. They just sound awful. Some are louder than others but that's not the biggest issue. The quality is reduced to barely better than noise. Tinny/echo-y sound. Just terrible quality.

 

[mobdad]

Try to access the files from your Mac using your USB cable and play the songs on your phone from your Mac. At least you can tell if the files are corrupted or if it's an issue with the phone reading the files correctly.

 

[bradengelmann]

Thanks for the tip; I'll try it tonight when I get home. Wonder if that will be tricky; did not know I could do such a thing. Would seem something like plugging an external hard drive into a desktop and playing files from external drive--which works of course--but wonder if S3 will let me do that.

Anybody have experience moving files using Kies for Mac? I seem to have it successfully installed even with Mountain Lion hiccups. I did not use Kies to transfer these files so wondering if Mac people with S3s might have experience with this?

I appreciate any advice! Thank you!

 

[mobdad]

Thanks for the tip; I'll try it tonight when I get home. Wonder if that will be tricky; did not know I could do such a thing. Would seem something like plugging an external hard drive into a desktop and playing files from external drive--which works of course--but wonder if S3 will let me do that.

Anybody have experience moving files using Kies for Mac? I seem to have it successfully installed even with Mountain Lion hiccups. I did not use Kies to transfer these files so wondering if Mac people with S3s might have experience with this?

I appreciate any advice! Thank you!

It may be more difficult with a Mac. I plug my phone into the computer all the time with the USB cable. The computer reads the internal storage of the phone and the SD card just like another hard drive. I can double click on an MP3 file on the phone and it plays the song as if it were on the PC. I have no experience with Macs so it may be totally different. Good luck.

 

[Skunkape60]

It may be more difficult with a Mac. I plug my phone into the computer all the time with the USB cable. The computer reads the internal storage of the phone and the SD card just like another hard drive. I can double click on an MP3 file on the phone and it plays the song as if it were on the PC. I have no experience with Macs so it may be totally different. Good luck.

Yep same here. Does your computer have a card reader? If so, take your memory card out of the phone, put it in the computer and you should be able to play it from there.

 

[bradengelmann]

Yep same here. Does your computer have a card reader? If so, take your memory card out of the phone, put it in the computer and you should be able to play it from there.

Hey thanks fellas. I have a Sandisk card reader that I believe can handle these SDXC cards but that's back home on the farm. Can't get to that until Friday but WILL DO. Oh--the phone formatted this thing in exFat I believe. I imagine I'll find out when I plug it in but do you know if Mac OS X will read that format from the card?

Yeah hopefully if the card's format is fine with the Mac then I can isolate the problem a bit. Really do appreciate you guys offering up the tips.

 

[Skunkape60]

Hey thanks fellas. I have a Sandisk card reader that I believe can handle these SDXC cards but that's back home on the farm. Can't get to that until Friday but WILL DO. Oh--the phone formatted this thing in exFat I believe. I imagine I'll find out when I plug it in but do you know if Mac OS X will read that format from the card?

Yeah hopefully if the card's format is fine with the Mac then I can isolate the problem a bit. Really do appreciate you guys offering up the tips.

You never should have formatted it to exfat. Yeah I know the phone did it.... But no recovery can see a memory card formatted in exfat. Not stock, not CWM and not TWRP. There will be a time when you need to access something on your card while in recovery and if it's exfat you won't be able to.

 

[bradengelmann]

You never should have formatted it to exfat. Yeah I know the phone did it.... But no recovery can see a memory card formatted in exfat. Not stock, not CWM and not TWRP. There will be a time when you need to access something on your card while in recovery and if it's exfat you won't be able to.

Thanks for the insight Skunkape. This phone is strictly for personal use and the card will always be used as secondary storage. For example right now it is being used to store music that is otherwise primarily loaded and initiated on a desktop computer. The phone simply syncs to the desktop. The only original data I can see being generated from this device that will get stored is photos and yes as policy I understand it's wise to backup--which I do on my desktops.

I don't see that exFat will be an issue but I appreciate the concern and I imagine it quite relevant for many users.

 

[Skunkape60]

Thanks for the insight Skunkape. This phone is strictly for personal use and the card will always be used as secondary storage. For example right now it is being used to store music that is otherwise primarily loaded and initiated on a desktop computer. The phone simply syncs to the desktop. The only original data I can see being generated from this device that will get stored is photos and yes as policy I understand it's wise to backup--which I do on my desktops.

I don't see that exFat will be an issue but I appreciate the concern and I imagine it quite relevant for many users.

Correct, it will only be a concern if you ever need to manually install an update or root your phone.

 

[monkeyluis]

I use doubletwist and airsync my iTunes playlists.

 

[bradengelmann]

Fellas,

Really crazy situation but all is good. Used a different pair of headphones last night at apartment and sound = great! Wondered what in the hay could be issue with headphones at work but just snapped those on and everything is great! Weird though. Files need time to settle (half kidding)? I don't know but in any case I can now recommend iSyncr without qualifications--job well done! And thanks fellas for your tips and concerns.

Everybody have a great day!

 

[TuckyC]

I was using skullcandy icons and the mic kinda messed the quality, the original ones sound great. glad you figure it out.

 

[bradengelmann]

Yeah that was a weird situation. Files did not play the first day. Tried two sets of phones. Then I tried again, basically double-checking, and it sounded good. Thought maybe the phones were bad at work--nope, worked great there too. I will say the software is nowhere near what iTunes is and an iOS experience that way, but this phone with a 64 gig SD card cost $205 and Sprint wants $400 plus tax for an iPhone with just 64 gigs. My S3 has the 16 gigs built-in plus this microSD card. iOS more polished but the screen on the S3 plus the Google tie-ins sealed the deal for me. And otherwise I'm a Mac guy--two Macs for me. I miss that iOS polish (had an iPad) and software elegance but this S3 is an amazing machine.