[SOLVED in a roundabout way] Custom sounds on SD will not show up for selection

[shimmip]

Apologies for any duplication here, but I've read numerous posts about this, followed the advice in as many of them as I could and I still cannot get my custom sounds to be listed for selection by in the settings of my HTC One S running ICS 4.0.4. This is my 4th Android phone and customising sounds has been extremely easy on every phone/version of Android to now and this is driving me up the wall.

I know the mp3s are supposed to go in either /media/audio/notifications or ringtones. I know that some people mention having them in /notifications or /ringtones instead. I've tried both and neither works. I have turned the phone off and on again, then tried restarting from the options because it seems to do a more complete shutdown and restart than the "quick start" you get when you close down. Nothing.
I have tried SD card scanners from the market to unmount/remount the SD card. Nothing.
I have tried using ES file explorer, which some people mentioned had a long press option to use as a ringtone. Nothing.
I have tried ringdroid, which does not list the files as available for editing.
I have checked that there are no .nomedia files kicking around.
I have tried settings -> personalise -> sound -> ringtone "+ add" and my files are not listed. I have looked in the music app, and my files are not listed.
I have tried deleting the data and cache from gallery, music and media storage. Nothing.
Edit: Forgot to say that I also tried backing up the SD card, resetting to factory defaults erasing all data, then copying files back. Nothing!
Edit: I also neglected to say in my original description that the problem wasn't confined to settings - the sound files weren't showing up in any application except for navigating to the physical file in a file manager.

Seriously, this is driving me up the wall. It took me about 5 minutes to customise every previous phone I have had - what on earth is going on here?

Any help/suggestions would be gratefully received.

SOLUTION: For anyone else with this problem, you can set sounds as ringtones/notifications with ES File Explorer, but it's a little fiddly. Once the sounds are on your SD card and ES File Explorer is installed from the market, launch ES File Explorer and navigate to the folder your sounds are in. Select the sound, then select open in ES Media Player. The only way I have found to set the sound as a ringtone or notification is to select the little bell symbol to the right of the file name that appears while the sound is playing. Once the sound has finished playing, the bell icon goes away, so if you miss it you'll have to play the sound again and be quicker, particularly if it is a short sound! Neither the menu nor long pressing seems to bring up the option to use the sound, just playing the sound and selecting the bell icon while it is playing.

 

[Devinator]

Re: Custom sounds on SD will not show up for selection

Have you tried playing it in the media player, then selecting make as ringtone/notification? Mine usually appear in the list, regardless of where I put them, and, I always set them this way.

 

[shimmip]

Re: Custom sounds on SD will not show up for selection

Have you tried playing it in the media player, then selecting make as ringtone/notification? Mine usually appear in the list, regardless of where I put them, and, I always set them this way.

Thanks for this clue - I made an assumption that you were talking about ES media player within ES file explorer and I've managed to get it work now, but it is an almighty pain in the backside compared to previous phones/versions of Android.

For anyone else with this problem, you can set sounds as ringtones/notifications with ES File Explorer, but it's a little fiddly. Once the sounds are on your SD card and ES File Explorer is installed from the market, launch ES File Explorer and navigate to the folder your sounds are in. Select the sound, then select open in ES Media Player. The only way I have found to set the sound as a ringtone or notification is to select the little bell symbol to the right of the file name that appears while the sound is playing. Once the sound has finished playing, the bell icon goes away, so if you miss it you'll have to play the sound again and be quicker, particularly if it is a short sound! Neither the menu nor long pressing seems to bring up the option to use the sound, just playing the sound and selecting the bell icon while it is playing.

Not exactly intuitive, and not exactly what I expect from a modern operating system that has made this so simple in the past... I appreciate this may be something specific to my phone but bearing in mind that I had the issue when the phone was brand new and after a factory reset, I can't see how it could be something specific to my setup.

 

[Devinator]

I actually meant from the stock player. I can do so on my X2, and, do so all the time. Haven't tried on either of my other devices though. Either way, glad you got it sorted out. And, in case you can't do it the way I do it, thanks for posting your solution.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Android Central Forums

 

[shimmip]

I actually meant from the stock player. I can do so on my X2, and, do so all the time. Haven't tried on either of my other devices though. Either way, glad you got it sorted out. And, in case you can't do it the way I do it, thanks for posting your solution.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Android Central Forums

Ah, I missed out that information from my original post. None of the files were showing up in the stock music app or any other app other than the file explorer when I navigated to the physical location, the issue wasn't just in the settings. It was therefore impossible to select them and set them to be a ringtone in any other app.

The only 3 options I have to play a file when I select it in ES File Explorer are 7digital, ES Media Player and Music. I could play them in the stock Music app by selecting that, but it launches a mini player rather than the full app so none of the options available in the full Music app would be available. 7digital would be no use, so ES File Explorer -> ES Media Player was just about the only route open to me.

 

[Devinator]

Weird. Well, at least you got it working. Again, thanks for posting your findings.