Android smart phone questions

[sandman_1]

Finally got a smart phone, HTC EVO 3D, and it is great.

I am trying to stream music, FLAC and APE, from my PC (SMB) using ES File Explorer but when it asks which program to open the file with, it only gives me two programs of which neither can play FLAC nor APE. How can I change the file association settings so that Power AMP is the default apk for opening FLAC and APE in ES File Explorer or in Android? I googled around and couldn't find anything that would help. Some sites suggested "Clear Defaults" but ALL the programs have this option "greyed out".

Can you recommend a good NZB downloader, either paid or free?

[mjmacky]

Some sites suggested "Clear Defaults" but ALL the programs have this option "greyed out".

That's the way to do it, Manage Applications --> Launch by Default --> Clear Defaults. Don't know what to tell you if it's greyed out other than the obvious explanation. I'm not impressed with the ES File Explorer player, I prefer the Mobo Player myself.

[sandman_1]

I don't use ES File Explorer as the player but I use it to stream. Unfortunately Power Amp is not listed when I try to stream a FLAC or APE file. I tried Mobo and it was listed and I thought "Awesome!" but then i tried playing one of my APE files and it failed, fudge me. Damn can't win lol :frusty:

[mjmacky]

These other apps don't have a built in protocol to access the stream via SMB, and samba never seems to be well enough supported on linux devices in my experience. So, sorry for not paying attention well enough the first time... yes you need to be able to select the program from a list within ESFE. So it's strange that it's not showing it to you.

You should run some tests, e.g., can you play a FLAC or APE locally when using ES File Explorer to browse your SDCard? Will it play when you use the default "My Files" explorer? Also, don't know if Power AMP is registering itself as audio or video playback (not familiar with it), but did you try opening them as different media types?

The reason Mobo Player won't play it, is because it needs to use soft-decoding (ffmpeg library) to playback. AFAIK, that option can only be enabled while browsing from withing Mobo Player, which can't browse your samba network. Catch 22, I feel there is a solution but I don't have such files to test with.

Another suggestion: You could try to initiate a download under ES, then play the local file as it downloads with appropriate app.

[sandman_1]

You should run some tests, e.g., can you play a FLAC or APE locally when using ES File Explorer to browse your SDCard?

Ok I tried that and that exposed the problem. I guess ESFE thinks if you are going to stream, it must be video and therefor looks for an app with video playback, which Power Amp isn't. When I tried to play the FLAC and APE files on my phone, ESFE gave Power Amp as an option to use. So I guess I need to find a media player that can do flac and ape, lol.

[Cabalo]

As for NZB downloading, I haven't tried it yet, but NZB mobile pro seems quite nice.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/nzb-mobile-pro/com.brockoli.android.NZBMobilePro

[mjmacky]

Hmm, when I try to open files, it asks me whether I want to treat it as:
Text
Audio
Video
Image

i.e. "Open As"

You seem to have a default type set for that type of file in ESFE. Try clearing defaults or try long pressing on file to "Open As"

[sandman_1]

Yea that's how I have been doing it, long press open as and then audio.