Moving Music & Video to Nexus 7

[groberts0]

Have just bought a Nexus 7, which is my first experience of Android - great product but completely different to my computer experience, currently using Windows7 and I'm battling with the protocols.
1. I have successfully ripped music to Windows Media Player which streams OK to my Tablet, I guess via my Google Account? However, I would like to actually copy the music to the Tablet so it can be played independent of an internet connection. How do I do this?

2. Would also like to know how to copy my DVD's to the Tablet?

For both of the above - the idiot's guide please - I have read a number of posts on these matters and just don't understand the language and technicalities; sorry but I have to start somewhere.

Thanks in advance.

 

[repligation]

For Music
1. To rip CDs, I would use something other than Windows Media Player--It rips to wma format by default but you can set it to mp3. I have an older version of Nero with plugins on my old desktop that lets me rip and encode audio however I want. I like flac but I use mp3 on my N7 and S3 because of the storage limitations. There are tons of free programs that will do that better than Windows Media Player but it will do if you rather stick with what you already have. Perhaps someone else can recommend something that works for them.

2. If you are using Windows 7 you will need to place the ripped music in your public folder and set it to share with your local network. (Windows XP just right click on the folder to set sharing, Not sure how Windows 8 has it set up for folder sharing permissions)

3. You need a file explorer app loaded on your N7 (I recommend ES File Explorer) to copy the content (mp3s) from the public folder to a folder on your N7.

For DVDs (on your PC)
1. Copy the DVD in Main Movie only mode using DVDFab
2. Use Handbrake to convert the resulting copy into an mp4 (mv4) which the Google Movies app can play. Handbrake is set to convert to mp4 by default and it will automatically reduce the size from the 5GB DVD to about 1GB.
3. Copy the resulting mp4 into the Movies folder on your N7 using the file explorer app

Every Step above is free

 

[B. Diddy]

It's actually pretty easy to use WMP to sync music over to your N7. And you can sync WMA files (most of my library is WMA).

1. Connect your N7 to your desktop/laptop via USB cord. If it's the first time you've done so, wait for Windows to install the proper drivers.

2. You'll know if the N7 is properly hooked up if a window pops up asking you what you want to do with it, or if you can see it in Windows Explorer as a separate drive/folder.

3. Start WMP. If you press the Sync tab on the upper right, your N7 should show up (for me, it's labeled "asus").

4. Now drag and drop songs or albums over to the sync sidebar, press Sync, and there you go!

For ripping DVDs, I use Audials Tunebites, which works well, and can rip a movie directly into mp4 or wmv format. Then you can drag and drop it into the Movies folder using Windows Explorer. I suggest installing MX Player on your N7 as your video player, since it is more functional and powerful than the stock player.

 

[groberts0]

Thanks everyone - excellent & helpful responses - will try tomorrow & report back.

 

[bigtroutz]

Actually, the easiest way to transfer files back and forth is to plug the USB cable that came with your Nexus 7 into a pc or laptop and just drag n drop the files into the \Music \Movies or \Pictures Folders or vice versa......


Faster, easier, painless.

 

[B. Diddy]

That is an easy way, but since the OP has used WMP to rip music, it's probably easier to use WMP to sync music to the tablet, since the album and song organization on WMP is a little easier to navigate than the file folder hierarchy.

 

[mathelm]

Hadn't thought about the handbrake thing. But just encoded Galaxy Quest (1:42) in both the Android "High" (720x480 source original) and "Mid" (480x368) settings. Both look great via "MX Player" (stretch to fit). High = 680meg while Mid is only 100 meg. Thanks B. Diddy...

btw Have frame per sec set at 25 as apposed to the default 30 (29.97). That's what it is at the theaters and figured it would save space....


Edit: OOPS... Mid is actually 496meg...

 

[mathelm]

That MX Player plays everything I throw at it. From Windows media center files (Win7 "WTV" and Vista "DVR-MS") to Security camera vids. And it does it so well. It even started playing a large Windows HD video (6gb WTV) while it was still copying onto my nexus 7 via USB. Why oh why can't they make a version for a windows PC?

 

[groberts0]

Have tried USB cable and dragging ripped music to sync list, under N7 sync column on the right of WMP, then syncing. However, whilst there is a sync successful report, the music does not appear on the N7; the streamed music remains in place but greyed out i.e. will only work as streamed music still. What am I doing wrong? Am I looking ion the wrong place perhaps - I'm going to My Music, is it somewhere else?

The BigTroutz method sounds good too but what folders do you mean - where are they located?

 

[B. Diddy]

If you're using Google Play Music, and you have the same song both in the cloud and on the device, it will show up twice. If you're not connected to the web, the one from the cloud will be greyed out, but the one on your device should not be grey. It may be that it's hard to find the music you just ripped. Try selecting the option to display music on device only, which will hide all music from the cloud.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

 

[groberts0]

The Device Only has done the trick, many thanks. I shall finish with the music then try video.

If you'll forgive me, while on the music / sound theme, two supplementary questions:

A. For some reason I've lost the carousel display for music - how do I get it back?

B. How do you download a podcast to the N7?

 

[bigtroutz]

The BigTroutz method sounds good too but what folders do you mean - where are they located?

The default folder for mp3 on the Nexus 7 is \Music --- I put all my folders, playlists and songs in there with \Music as the top folder and all the players find everything with no problem - i use several players still while deciding which i like best.

I also have one 32GB microSD flash card with most of my music that I mount on the USB when I want some more tunes or something in particular. It has a similar folder arrangement and Nexus Media Importer plays music thru my current default player by generating it's internal stream. Kinda hard to describe how NMI works, but if you use it, you will learn...not rocket science.

 

[B. Diddy]

A. For some reason I've lost the carousel display for music - how do I get it back?

Google Play Music doesn't have a carousel display. You might be thinking of iTunes.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[groberts0]

Unless I'm going mad (quite probable!) I am absolutely certain that initially the N7 music (before I started to download) had a carousel display!! No big deal, once you get more than twenty or thirty albums the list display is probably better

 

[bigtroutz]

go take a look at the desktop widgets displays and see if it's in there. The default setup had a bunch of the Google built in app widgets showing, like Currents (looks like magazine covers), etc

 

[dralezero]

Landscape orientation, Recent is the only way I see it. Artist, Albums, etc show as thumbnail grid in landscape.

 

[B. Diddy]

Oh, now I remember seeing that. Sorry about my incorrect post before. I remember thinking it odd that the only way to get this cool interface is with Recent, and not with Albums.

 

[groberts0]

As previously said, looks like the music transfer is working fine.

I tried a number of approaches to videos - as I've never ripped a DVD before this has been my biggest problem. After trying various software - most of which I found way too complex, I've settled on DVD Catalyst-4. For a nominal cost of just under ?7.00 it is a model of simplicity. Choose the output device (N7 in this case, but if caters for a very wide range of alternatives), put in the disc and BINGO.

I am slowly starting to get a handle on Android, which to my surprise (I don't know why) is very different to my previous computing experiences (I don't have smartphone either). I chose an Android based tablet as I did not like the closed system of Apple products. Whilst this has helped in the transition I've a long way to go but am enjoying the results, though I think the guide book could be vastly improved to cater for some of these basic tasks. Thanks again for all the help, I'm sure it won't be the last time.