nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Today, I wanted to download some songs to re-create the 'nature rock' playlist that I use for my Saturday hikes in the woods. I had just gotten a Samsung A03s to replace a dying Samsung Galaxy S5, and so far love the new phone (first for me) but it had one major issue that caught me off guard.
First, Amazon Music downloaded the songs I wanted, but Samsung Music (preferred music player) couldn't see anything but the Over The Horizon song it comes with. I tried rebooting the phone, rescanning, and attempting to browse via My files to no avail. I also tried many other file manager apps (even my old standby, a spare APK of ES File Explorer 3.x from Android 2.3) but no dice. Apparently, Amazon changed the location of downloaded files, even including purchased MP3s. It took me a long time (try two hours) of messing around and then viewing random Reddit posts but they did something to Android 13 to really screw with my sanity.
Apparently, Amazon Music no longer saves under the 'com.amazonmp3' folder like it did since, like, 2011? It has changed to the 'Android/Data/com.amazon.mp3/purchased' folder, but as of Android 13, that folder is no longer viewable (Why Google?!). So the only 'official method' is to use Amazon Music to play the downloaded songs. Their app would work for that I figured, so since that 'Nature Rock' playlist is indeed backed up to Amazon cloud, it shows up in the app. I had downloaded it ahead of time planning on playing it today. Unfortunately, while when I downloaded it, it had 50 songs, today, when I chose to play it, it only had 7. Literally more than 3/4 my songs are gone. Trying to look at all the purchased songs, a good 50% now show up only accessible via 'Amazon Music Unlimited'.
Oh, hell no! No way. I cleared data from the app (we're on hour 3 now, I planned my hike at 10, now it's 1) and re-logged in. Now all my songs show up, even all the 50 in that playlist, only now I no longer trust the app to work when I expect it to, like say, next week, will it go back to 7 again? I need to find out how to get them to show up under Samsung Music. I own the damned songs, they're MP3s, they obviously downloaded since they take up space, but only Amazon can see them (until it 'forgets again')
I don't know what Android 13 borked, but I was able to use an app called 'FV File Explorer' that can see and copy from /Android/Data/* so I was able to use it to copy the music to the Music folder on my SD Card, and rebooting, now Samsung Music sees all of it. I recreated the playlist in Samsung Music, and after 5 literal hours of hair-pulling frustration, it's back to where it was on my S5. But this is exactly why I despise modern tech, modern software. It can make the simple act of playing offline, purchased MP3s a royal, headache inducing pain in the empennage. I don't know why they keep trying to fix what ain't broken. So far this is the only major issue with my new phone, and hopefully the last. It otherwise works fine despite it being low-end. I still have to plug in the Type-C cable in twice before it recognizes the charger, but that's a Type-C bug that will likely never get fixed (much like how loose it feels, not like the far more secure 'click' I got from Micro USB)
First, Amazon Music downloaded the songs I wanted, but Samsung Music (preferred music player) couldn't see anything but the Over The Horizon song it comes with. I tried rebooting the phone, rescanning, and attempting to browse via My files to no avail. I also tried many other file manager apps (even my old standby, a spare APK of ES File Explorer 3.x from Android 2.3) but no dice. Apparently, Amazon changed the location of downloaded files, even including purchased MP3s. It took me a long time (try two hours) of messing around and then viewing random Reddit posts but they did something to Android 13 to really screw with my sanity.
Apparently, Amazon Music no longer saves under the 'com.amazonmp3' folder like it did since, like, 2011? It has changed to the 'Android/Data/com.amazon.mp3/purchased' folder, but as of Android 13, that folder is no longer viewable (Why Google?!). So the only 'official method' is to use Amazon Music to play the downloaded songs. Their app would work for that I figured, so since that 'Nature Rock' playlist is indeed backed up to Amazon cloud, it shows up in the app. I had downloaded it ahead of time planning on playing it today. Unfortunately, while when I downloaded it, it had 50 songs, today, when I chose to play it, it only had 7. Literally more than 3/4 my songs are gone. Trying to look at all the purchased songs, a good 50% now show up only accessible via 'Amazon Music Unlimited'.
Oh, hell no! No way. I cleared data from the app (we're on hour 3 now, I planned my hike at 10, now it's 1) and re-logged in. Now all my songs show up, even all the 50 in that playlist, only now I no longer trust the app to work when I expect it to, like say, next week, will it go back to 7 again? I need to find out how to get them to show up under Samsung Music. I own the damned songs, they're MP3s, they obviously downloaded since they take up space, but only Amazon can see them (until it 'forgets again')
I don't know what Android 13 borked, but I was able to use an app called 'FV File Explorer' that can see and copy from /Android/Data/* so I was able to use it to copy the music to the Music folder on my SD Card, and rebooting, now Samsung Music sees all of it. I recreated the playlist in Samsung Music, and after 5 literal hours of hair-pulling frustration, it's back to where it was on my S5. But this is exactly why I despise modern tech, modern software. It can make the simple act of playing offline, purchased MP3s a royal, headache inducing pain in the empennage. I don't know why they keep trying to fix what ain't broken. So far this is the only major issue with my new phone, and hopefully the last. It otherwise works fine despite it being low-end. I still have to plug in the Type-C cable in twice before it recognizes the charger, but that's a Type-C bug that will likely never get fixed (much like how loose it feels, not like the far more secure 'click' I got from Micro USB)