wma audio files

Stu2009

Well-known member
Jul 20, 2011
46
1
0
Visit site
Hi everyone. I have been back several pages in the forum and can not find out if there is an app for playing Windows wma audio files on the Nexus 7. In anticipation...Thanks
 

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
165,602
4,751
113
Visit site
MortPlayer is a good and free. Like the above poster's suggestion, MortPlayer also uses the folder hierarchy rather than ID3 tags. This ends up being more accurate on Android devices, because Android is notoriously glitchy about reading ID3 tags correctly (it often lists the artist as "Unknown").
 

Groid

Well-known member
Dec 14, 2011
148
0
0
Visit site
Google Play Music plays .wma files just fine on my Bionic. I use the 'On Device' option rather than streaming because I can put the music on my external sd card.
 

Stu2009

Well-known member
Jul 20, 2011
46
1
0
Visit site
Hi I have tried all the apps suggested in this thread. I can stream wma uploaded files I uploaded from my "cloud" to Google's "My Library" with Google Play Music, but when I try to play wma files from a folder loaded from my pc, either through a wireless upload or USB transfer, I get a black notification bar at the bottom of the screen saying basically... "Can not play this wma file". This happens with everything I want to play....What am I doing wrong?....In anticipation of more help...Thanks
 

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
165,602
4,751
113
Visit site
Are the locally stored WMA files copy protected with DRM? You'll run into problems playing these kinds of files. Did you purchase them from some service, or rip them from CDs?
 

Stu2009

Well-known member
Jul 20, 2011
46
1
0
Visit site
"Are the locally stored WMA files copy protected with DRM"....I guess my answer is "I don't know!"....wma files ripped from our collection of CD's, then stored online. We access them from our "cloud" from different computers when we want to listen to the albums/tracks. I did upload our entire library to Google a few days ago, hoping to access when we travel...This feature does work, but will probably remove them as we would like to store on a card and access via OTG cable when flying. Storage on Google is almost redundant as we have no problem with access via computers and our cloud...Just convenient to access without a pc...Thanks for your reply
 

repligation

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2012
292
0
0
Visit site
"Are the locally stored WMA files copy protected with DRM"....I guess my answer is "I don't know!"....wma files ripped from our collection of CD's, then stored online. We access them from our "cloud" from different computers when we want to listen to the albums/tracks. I did upload our entire library to Google a few days ago, hoping to access when we travel...This feature does work, but will probably remove them as we would like to store on a card and access via OTG cable when flying. Storage on Google is almost redundant as we have no problem with access via computers and our cloud...Just convenient to access without a pc...Thanks for your reply

For the love of God, do not rip CDs to wma files for any reason (unless of course you are going to save them to your zip disk so that when your time-traveling former self comes to visit from the nineties, you can present him with a technology that will jive with his windows 95 OS).

Use something like Exact Audio Copy
Or
foobar2000
Or
I'm sure someone else here can suggest a free app that they like better.

EDIT: I may have gone a bit overboard on windows 95--perhaps windows 98SE. Brings back fond memories of blue screens from days long past.
 

gollum18

Well-known member
Oct 10, 2011
1,485
32
0
Visit site
I didn't even think you could rip WMA CDs. I thought they had special readwrite protection, that requires extremely specialised software to do so.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
 

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
165,602
4,751
113
Visit site
No, they're talking about ripping CD music into WMA files, which is a normal function for Windows Media Player. I actually have a lot of WMA files that were ripped from CDs, because I like how WMA files tend to have more efficient compression MP3, leading to smaller files with the same sound quality.

If the music files were ripped from CDs, then they're not DRM protected. After doing a quick Google search, it seems that the Nexus 7 just doesn't support WMA playback. I've actually never tried it myself on my N7. I know for a fact that my Razr Maxx plays WMA files, so I think it's just device specific.
 

repligation

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2012
292
0
0
Visit site
No, they're talking about ripping CD music into WMA files, which is a normal function for Windows Media Player. I actually have a lot of WMA files that were ripped from CDs, because I like how WMA files tend to have more efficient compression MP3, leading to smaller files with the same sound quality.

If the music files were ripped from CDs, then they're not DRM protected. After doing a quick Google search, it seems that the Nexus 7 just doesn't support WMA playback. I've actually never tried it myself on my N7. I know for a fact that my Razr Maxx plays WMA files, so I think it's just device specific.

I understand the reasoning behind using a format like wma for conversion, buy why rip into a format that you know will have problems with portability?
I wouldn't touch wma with the proverbial ten-foot pole.
 

Stu2009

Well-known member
Jul 20, 2011
46
1
0
Visit site
Hi Guys.
Thanks for some input. The wma files have worked fine for us for many years on our pcs. This is our first tablet and did not know the issues we would encounter with non-compatibility issues with Android. I know these files are converted for our old ipods (sorry to mention that!). I guess there must be some type of conversion in the scheme of things as the wma files I uploaded to Google Play Music are streamed back and play to the Nexus 7
 

B. Diddy

Senior Ambassador
Moderator
Mar 9, 2012
165,602
4,751
113
Visit site
I understand the reasoning behind using a format like wma for conversion, buy why rip into a format that you know will have problems with portability?
I wouldn't touch wma with the proverbial ten-foot pole.

It's just the legacy of having an old Creative Zen Vision:M (which still works great, along with the Cambridge Soundworks speakerdock I found on eBay) as well as a Zune HD that I got cheap at Costco when it was being discontinued. I like having small, very portable (but still high capacity) music players to use at the gym and when traveling, because I don't want to bring my phone onto the gym floor, and I don't want to use up phone battery too quickly when I'm traveling. I ripped music to WMA specifically for those players (and they still play fine on my Razr Maxx as well). So portability hasn't been an issue for me.
 

repligation

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2012
292
0
0
Visit site
Hi Guys.
Thanks for some input. The wma files have worked fine for us for many years on our pcs. This is our first tablet and did not know the issues we would encounter with non-compatibility issues with Android. I know these files are converted for our old ipods (sorry to mention that!). I guess there must be some type of conversion in the scheme of things as the wma files I uploaded to Google Play Music are streamed back and play to the Nexus 7

You might want to try the PowerAmp free trial version to see if it will play your wma files directly from your n7 internal memory. You will have 15 days to make sure it plays them. If it works then that would be $ well spent to save the drudgery and problems of reconversion.

There are wma types that require the chipset on your device to support playback. I'm guessing that if you've been ripping your CDs to wma the same way the whole time that either they will all work or they will all fail.

I went through a similar quest a while back when I was looking for a free music player that would support cue sheets and flac. Fortunately I found one that I keep handy for those situations.
 

Trending Posts

Forum statistics

Threads
943,177
Messages
6,917,647
Members
3,158,862
Latest member
danishpeer