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Not feeling the love

D

Dom Orsler

Newbie
So I got really upset with Apple a short while ago due to the excessive cost of their phones and felt as if moving to Android might, somehow, constitute a departure from drinking the Koolaid. It's pretty much been three months of headaches and 'wtf's with my Galaxy Note 4 since then. I have to be honest, I find this platform and phone so hard to work with, I'm considering spending a small fortune on an iPhone and going back to the Koolaid, because at least back then I could do stuff.

For example:

How the heck do you listen to music on this thing? Without subscribing to some online music marketing scam, I mean, like Deezer? I appreciate local stuff just isn't cool anymore and we're not supposed to store anything on, you know, like our phones and stuff, but seriously...!? My Android guru friend of mine keeps suggesting it's the Rogers 'skin' that's screwing things up, but that doesn't cut it. He suggested I use Airdroid to manage synchronization between my phone and where I keep most of my music (on my PC), so I downloaded it and am honestly none the wiser. I've taken to carrying around an ancient iPod, for Christ's sake, along with my phone. I feel like freaking Marty McFly.

I should add, I live in a rural area that doesn't have great bandwidth, so fully migrating to the cloud at this stage and keeping everything on DropBox or something just isn't currently an option.

Yes, I am a noob and no doubt sound painfully uncool right now, but I also work in IT and know my way around OS's and the guts of how things work. But I don't want to spend my evenings configuring my phone; I just want it to work. For all the price fixing, cynical marketing and Koolaid, at least my iPhone 'worked' and let me listen to music.

These days, if I download (e.g.) a phone tracker I suddenly find my monthly data consumption has gone through the roof because the thing I downloaded contained all kinds of tracking spyware junk. I'm not saying this can't happen with iPhones, but it never happened to me in about six years of iPhone us and has now happened using Android about six times in the past few months. I also seem to find all kinds of stuff spontaneously downloads itself to my phone without me asking for it. It feels like a much more 'markety' platform that iPhone and I feel constantly bombarded by offers, apps, and all kinds of other nonsense.

I can't seem to update contacts. Yes, no doubt there's a reason as to why integration between all the different social platforms my clever phone tries to do prevents me from being able to edit my local record, but, again, that simply doesn't 'work' for how I use a phone. Another Android friend of mine walked me through it and spent about half an hour trying to work through settings to fix it, but, again, whether or not I understand how to configure my phone and why things need to be set a certain way, I really don't care; my life is not currently suited to spending this long trying to get a phone to work.

Can someone help me out? Offer a pep talk? This is my last chance before ditching the thing and going back to iPhones.

How do I listen to music on this? I have a very large iTunes library and am at a loss.

Many thanks.
 
You can upload all of your music from iTunes into Google Play Music.

Play Music is both an app on your phone:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.music&hl=en

And a desktop app you can download as well:
https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/manager

I would suggest using the desktop app to get all your music from iTunes into Google Play.

I agree that the organization and flow is really annoying for people who are used to just storing an organized list of MP3s on their physical phone. But after uploading all your music from iTunes into Google Play you should be able to make it work how you want.
  • Open the Play Music App
  • Open the slide out menu on the left
  • Open Settings
  • Toggle "Download via Wi-Fi only" to on so that you don't use bandwidth and incur data charges
  • Go to "My Library" > Albums
  • Tap the overflow button (the three dots) on each album and then tap "Download"
  • When you're done downloading, open the slide-out menu again and toggle "Downloaded Only" to on so it only shows music physically downloaded to your device
This should solve most of your problems. I'm guessing there may be other apps you can download that would do a better job of managing music the way you prefer.
 
Everything has a learning curve.

What carrier do you use? My N4 never has downloaded anything without my permission.

A good tip for Google Play is to stay in the top 100 apps. Downloading little known apps way way down the list is asking for problems.

If your concerned about spyware use Avast (i've used it for years on PC and android) it scans apps when there installed and reports suspicious app permissions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avast.android.mobilesecurity&hl=en
 
I have alot of friends who have iPhones, I used to feel like it was my job as a Android user to make them wiser and let them understand their was a better option out there. I dont do that anymore, heres why;

  • Sometimes, people have their minds made up that they are either going to like or dislike something, regardless of the outcome. It's human nature, and you may be having that feeling with your phone. Buyers remorse is a real thing. Regardless, I stopped suggesting Android vs. iPhone to friends because its up to them whether they like something beyond my control. I dont want to be blamed if something goes wrong.

  • If a person switches phone platforms after such a long time, its usually because they are upset that the phone has been failing them for quite some time (in this case phone storage getting expensive and cloud based options are not viable)....
 
Anyway - for the OP - try iSyncr to sync with your iTunes music library and try Neutron Player for listening to it.

Five and half hours to sync contacts would make me dance in traffic. Tell me if you have your contacts on a Mac (Address Book), a Windows setup (name where, Outlook, etc), or just your iPhone/iCloud and I bet I can give you a short instruction stack to end the nightmare.

If you want, I can do the same with your pictures.

All respecting that you're not in a bandwidth rich situation.

Once the basics start acting basically for you, all that's left is the learning curve.

Which doesn't have to big confusing magilla either. Promise.

Can also help end the pain of being a marketing target.
 
(cont from my last post)...my last iPhone was a 3GS. I loved it, still use it as a ipod player today. As a music lover with a large music catalog, I will be the first to say, iTunes is "the best" music platform to store, sync, use for music. That brings you to a crossroads, lay down the money and keep buying iphones with increased storage, or find a new way to enjoy your music. Creativity is the mother of invention. After much trial and error, I am happy to share my experiances with you in hopes that you can find the answers you need.

  • First, purchase a high quality SD Card to maximize your phone storage. If your music catalog is as large as you say it is, this is a must. I use a Samsung 64GB card, and I havent filled it yet. It was my first 'light bulb' moment that Apple had been ripping me off for storage. Storage is one of the least expensive things to buy, and Apple shouldnt have to take advantage of its users to get it! Here is an article http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-microsd-card/ to help you decide and inform you why a quality microSD card matters. (To boot, the Samsung card is waterproof. Imagine dropping your iPhone in water and losing all your video, images and music because the phones memory cannot be accessed. Problem solved with a Samsung card)
  • (I assume you have have a Google account by now). Download Google Music Play, and transfer all your iTunes catalog to GMP. Now you have your music in the cloud. You can continue to purchase music in iTunes, and GMP will automatically place it in its cloud. Now you have some options going forward...
  • Their are several different way to get your music to your phone, and I'll explain more in a bit. You have to start thinking of your phone more as a computer, and less as a iPod with apps like iPhoners seem to do. How would you like to do that, you now have options. Samsung Keys (via USB), or downloading all your music catalog from GMP and saving to a folder seems to be the fastest way IMO. Transfer your music to the music folder and your nearly done...
  • Now, you mentioned you dont want to have to do this all the time, but lets be realistic. If you moved your house, it would take some time to relocate. Well, your music catalog is no different. Be patient, take the time to set up your phone correctly, and you will never have to do these steps again.
  • Finally, going forward, decide how you want to add new songs to your phone. If you use Amazon or Google play, your music will download to your phone. If you buy from itunes, you will need to transfer. To this day, I still purchase from itunes. I use an app called MobileGo from Wondershare when I'm on my desktop. I love it because I can grab the song from itunes and use a drag/drop method from the MobileGo window on my desktop, and it instantly/wirelessly transfers to my phone (I very rarely use GMP or Keyes anymore, unless its a really large transfer). IMO, MobileGo is probably the closest thing you can get to iTunes wireless syncing of music. What I like also, is the same drag and drop method can be used for images, files, etc.
  • One last note, as I've fiddled with music files and platforms etc, one of the things I relized is that I really dont need to carry my entire music catalog at one time. Consider that when setting up your music folders, and you may find that you dont need all that at one time (seriously, you cant listen to all your music in one sitting). I use the Recently added folder to listen to my new purchases, and other than that, I just listen to my personal playlist depending on my mood. Hope this helps, good luck, and happy listening.
MM
 
First of all, *many* thanks to all the kind people that took the time to offer help. I've been away and super busy, hence the extended delay in replying.

I really do want to make it work on Android and am certainly not cemented in my thinking regarding Apple vs Samsung. I have a pretty solid understanding of things like cloud architecture and appreciate the benefits (although am limited for now by my local bandwidth issues at home). Anyways...

Following the advice to download Google Play Music, having signed in and requested the desktop version, I'm told I have to pay $10/month...? Sorry, what? Why would I do that? I just want to be able to access my very large music library on my phone, not buy new stuff.
 
If you just want to listen to your own stuff, you don't need to pay. It's been a while since I tried to use Play Music, but from what I recall, it does make it look like you need to.
 
Not really getting the music problem. Why not just copy your music to your SD card, make a few playlists, and play them on your phone? The phone works no differently than an ipod as far as playing music files is concerned.
 
That's what I do. I use a Samsung 32GB SD card with no problems. Using a card reader I copy the music from my computer to the Samsung card, put the card in my Note 4 and I'm good to go.

Jim
 
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