Accessing an Mp3 player

[dev_nll]

Ok, so I've done a bit of searching to try to find out how to get my mp3 player recognised, and most of what I've learned is that its hard, and varies a lot based on the mp3 player. Still, I'd appreciate any pointers that anyone can give.

So I've got a Samsung YP-T9 mp3 player (Yes, its old. Yes, its crap. But it was free, and its got my music on it now...) I plug it in to my brand new install of Kubuntu 9.10 with its USB cable, and I see in dmesg:

[ 5099.431278] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
[ 5099.584066] usb 1-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

(I do NOT see any message about it using drivers or mounting anything at this point, which quite a few posters of similar questions have reported seeing.) lsusb tells me that it sees the USB device:

Bus 007 Device 003: ID 046d:0a0b Logitech, Inc.
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 046d:c016 Logitech, Inc. M-UV69a/HP M-UV96 Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 413c:2003 Dell Computer Corp. Keyboard
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 04e8:507f Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

solid-hardware tells me (as I understand it) that hal has seen my device, and recognised it as of type PortableMediaPlayer:

$ solid-hardware query "IS PortableMediaPlayer"        
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_4e8_507f_ed3fc920000000f1_if0'

$ solid-hardware nonportableinfo /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_4e8_507f_ed3fc920000000f1_if0                               
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_4e8_507f_ed3fc920000000f1_if0'            
 camera.libgphoto2.name = 'Samsung YP-T9' (string)                         
 camera.libgphoto2.support = true (bool)                              
 info.capabilities = {'portable_audio_player'} (string list)                    
 info.category = 'portable_audio_player' (string)                         
 info.parent = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_4e8_507f_ed3fc920000000f1' (string)    
 info.product = 'YP-T9' (string)                                  
 info.subsystem = 'usb' (string)                                  
 info.udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_4e8_507f_ed3fc920000000f1_if0' (string)    
 info.vendor = 'Samsung' (string)                                 
 linux.hotplug_type = 2 (0x2) (int)                                
 linux.subsystem = 'usb' (string)                                 
 linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0' (string)        
 portable_audio_player.access_method = 'user' (string)                       
 portable_audio_player.access_method.drivers = {'libmtp'} (string list)              
 portable_audio_player.access_method.protocols = {'mtp'} (string list)               
 portable_audio_player.libmtp.protocol = 'mtp' (string)                      
 portable_audio_player.output_formats = {'audio/mpeg', 'audio/x-ms-wma'} (string list)       
 portable_audio_player.type = 'mtp' (string)                            
 usb.bus_number = 1 (0x1) (int)                                  
 usb.can_wake_up = false (bool)                                  
 usb.configuration_value = 1 (0x1) (int)                             
 usb.device_class = 255 (0xff) (int)
 usb.device_protocol = 0 (0x0) (int)
 usb.device_revision_bcd = 256 (0x100) (int)
 usb.device_subclass = 0 (0x0) (int)
 usb.interface.class = 255 (0xff) (int)
 usb.interface.number = 0 (0x0) (int)
 usb.interface.protocol = 255 (0xff) (int)
 usb.interface.subclass = 255 (0xff) (int)
 usb.is_self_powered = true (bool)
 usb.linux.device_number = 5 (0x5) (int)
 usb.linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0' (string)
 usb.max_power = 100 (0x64) (int)
 usb.num_configurations = 1 (0x1) (int)
 usb.num_interfaces = 1 (0x1) (int)
 usb.num_ports = 0 (0x0) (int)
 usb.product = 'USB Vendor Specific Interface' (string)
 usb.product_id = 20607 (0x507f) (int)
 usb.serial = 'ed3fc920000000f1' (string)
 usb.speed = '480' (string)
 usb.vendor = 'Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd' (string)
 usb.vendor_id = 1256 (0x4e8) (int)
 usb.version = '2' (string)

I set up a rule for Device Manager to do... something... when it detects a PortableMediaPlayer:

$ cat ~/.kde/share/apps/solid/actions/Samsung-MP3.desktop
[Desktop Action open]
Exec=echo "%i" > /tmp/thing
Icon=unknown
Name=Samsung MP3
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=desktop_kdebase-workspace

[Desktop Entry]
Actions=open;
Type=Service
X-KDE-Action-Custom=true
X-KDE-Solid-Predicate=IS PortableMediaPlayer

...and this seems to work, inasmuch as Device Manager now pops up when I plug in the device, and clicking on the icon it brings up does in fact write to /tmp/thing. I chose the action as something fairly foolproof, because I just wanted to test out the detection. %i is the only variable that I could find which is set to anything - it is set to the uri used by solid-hardware.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

My question is; now what? Is there a way I can mount the device somehow? Or otherwise make it available for access by one of the various players already on the machine?

- rob.

[Snowhog]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

When plugged in, does it show in Devices in Dolphin? Can you access it via Dolphin?

[Marlin]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

My experience is such that when it shows in the notification window, click on it and it will open in dolphin. At that point it is mounted.

You should be able to then drag and drop files from the hard drive or other storage onto the music player. The player is of course set to "MSC - Mass Storage" or something similar? I have had issues with MTP even with MTP Tools installed.

[dev_nll]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

When plugged in, does it show in Devices in Dolphin? Can you access it via Dolphin?

No, when plugged in its still not visible to Dolphin.

My experience is such that when it shows in the notification window, click on it and it will open in dolphin. At that point it is mounted.

You should be able to then drag and drop files from the hard drive or other storage onto the music player. The player is of course set to "MSC - Mass Storage" or something similar? I have had issues with MTP even with MTP Tools installed.

Its only started showing in the notification window since I made a separate rule for devices of type PortableMediaPlayer; I don't think its being recognised as a Mass Storage device at all, so its not being recognised by dolphin. I did try to make my custom rule for PortableMediaPlayer run dolphin, but since I don't get a file path to a device name in any variable that I can find (just the udi used by solid-hardware that I mentioned in the original post) I didn't know what to point the file browser at.

[dev_nll]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

I had an additional thought or two: could I write a script to manually mount the device myself, and run that script from my custom Device Manager rule?

Grabbing a path to the device from the output of solid-hardware nonportableinfo, I find it apparently at:

/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0

I've tried mounting this path (read-only) as a couple of different filesystem types, but I get nothing intelligible. You can probably tell I'm a bit out of my depth at this point; is this just a totally stupid approach? Or is there something I could do that might make this pan out?

[Snowhog]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

Have you installed kubuntu-restricted-extras? This package:

Description: Commonly used restricted packages
This package depends on some commonly used packages in the Kubuntu
multiverse repository.
.
Installing this package will pull in support for MP3 playback and decoding,
Java runtime environment, Flash plugin, DVD playback, and LAME (to create
compressed audio files).
.
Please note that this does not install libdvdcss2, and will not let you play
encrypted DVDs. For more information, see
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...ts/PlayingDVDs
.
Please also note that packages from multiverse are restricted by copyright
or legal issues in some countries. See
http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/licensing
for more information.

[dev_nll]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

Have you installed kubuntu-restricted-extras?

Yep.

[Snowhog]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

Does your mp3 player have the ability to switch between MSC (USB Mass Storage device Class) and MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) mode? If it does, set it to MSC.

[vinnywright]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

my Mp3 player read's as storage.........but in synaptic doing a seartch for mtp I see

mtpfs
mtp-tools
libmtp8
and
qlix

all for mtp device acsess

VINNY

[Snowhog]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

mtpfs

Description: FUSE filesystem for Media Transfer Protocol devices
MTPfs is a FUSE filesystem that supports reading and writing from MTP (Media
Transfer Protocol) devices, such as MP3 players, video players or digital
cameras.
.
In addition to revealing media files on the connected device, MTPfs exposes a
virtual directory called "/Playlists" which contains the device's playlists as
m3u files.

Which, if the mp3 player runs only in MTP mode, is likely a package you want to install, if it isn't already.

[dev_nll]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

Thanks much guys; mtpfs is exactly what I was looking for, a way to mount the device.

[vinnywright]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

well let us know if it works
as I sead mine reads as stoage but it would be nice to know I could use somthing elce to.
VINNY

[Snowhog]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

With my Sansa e280, set to MTP mode, the Device Notifier doesn't see it when plugged in, nor is it seen in Dolphin. It does however, appear in Amarok (and works fine there). If I set it to MSC and plug it in, the Device Notifier sees and reports it, and it's seen in Dolphin. I appears in Amarok as a plugged media device (not as the Sansa e280 reported by Amarok in MTP mode), and has to be 'read' - right-click 'Read' - so that it is scanned. Once that is done, all the albums/music are shown and can be moved to the Play List and works just fine.

[vinnywright]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

ya mines a PHILIPS gogear SA3020/37 but reads as USB storage so no problem adding files

the vid on the other hand is in .smv format ............. I did finaley find a converter that uses mencoder to do the work made by Yuri Chernyavsky cald smv_gui & smv_encode.

that he made a .deb for 8.04 ubuntu........I instaled it wile I was sill runing Kubuntu 9.04 and it survived the on line upgrade to 9.10 and still works just fine.

VINNY

[dev_nll]

Re: Accessing an Mp3 player

Yep, works a treat.

Installed mtpfs and start it automatically on system boot. You could start it as part of the device manager action when it detects the device being plugged in (see below), but I found that it doesn't unmount the device properly when I unplug it, so any second or subsequent time you plugged it in the mount would already be set up, and you'd get an error. Easier just to fire it up on boot. For my own purposes I found it useful to use the following options:

mtpfs /mp3 -o uid=1000 -o gid=1000 -o umask=0x755

where the uid and gid are those of my account.

If you want the Device Manager to recognise the player in MTP mode when you plug it in, and give you the option to run something, you just need to create a custom device action. Unfortunately the GUI for doing this under System settings seems to break if you have only a single predicate in the rule; I just created the file myself:

1) Create a file with whatever name you want it to use (e.g. "MP3 Player") in the directory ~/.kde/share/apps/solid/actions.

2) In that file, put:

[Desktop Action open]
Exec=amarok
Icon=unknown
Name=Samsung MP3
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=desktop_kdebase-workspace

[Desktop Entry]
Actions=open;
Type=Service
X-KDE-Action-Custom=true
X-KDE-Solid-Predicate=IS PortableMediaPlayer

...replacing "amarok" with whatever app you want to run.