BlackBerry® Pearl™

[fdkjordan]

Two weeks ago I loaded three 'test' albums on to my media card - worked great.

Last week, spent too many hours trying to load more music on - nothing worked.  Used Roxio and Explorer.  Explorer can 'see' the stuff I've loaded on, but Pearl won't recognize them or play them - only the original three.

Tried reformatting. Interestingly enough, the Pearl still 'sees' the original three albums I've posted - BUT THEY'RE NOT ACTUALLY THERE!

Running low on patience... these are not iTunes files (no DRM issues).

What am I doing wrong? It shouldn't be this hard to load music, seriously now!

[tbilisoft]

I use my blackberry as an external usb-flash drive to transfer music, pictures and videos.

Check this instruction:

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=BlackBerryDesktopSoftware&message.id=...

And please note, when you have "Device Storage Mode" turned on, files on micro-sd card cannot be accessed from device until you unlug usb-cable from the device. You need to unplug the cable before you can access these files on your Blackberry.

So, please check the instruction.

Transferring files from computer to device is easy.

Ah, forget to say, do not use Roxio Media Manager. For God's sake

It is not necessary and you'll save a lot of your nerves.

Message Edited by tbilisoft on 24-02-2009 10:14 PM

[fdkjordan]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I followed the link you suggested, and read through it before installing the drivers.  It seemed to imply that I should remove my original installation first, which I did, including the Roxio Media Manager.  Then I installed the v4.5 drivers and software.

Next, I connected and opened up the window (connection to the PC isn't a problem and wasn't before).  The list of songs on the Pearl are what I was expecting (good so far).  Then I disconnected, and opened up the list of music files in my Blackberry - same problem.  There is the original list of songs and albums from two weeks ago - no changes.

For the sake of continuing mystery, I selected one of the songs listed by the Pearl - won't play.  It goes to the 'now playing' screen... but nothing happens.

So, in summary; I have a phantom list of songs on my Blackberry that it can't play, and I have a real list of songs on my Blackberry that it can't 'see'.

I haven't found anything on the forum that would deal with this.

Any suggestions, solutions, or help would really be appreciated.  It's especially frustrating that it worked like a charm originally, but now won't work at all.

Thanks again

Message Edited by fdkjordan on 02-24-2009 06:20 PM

[tbilisoft]

Connect to the memory card from your desktop computer.

And delete BBThumbs.dat file from every folder.

Check the image below.

Message Edited by tbilisoft on 25-02-2009 09:59 AM

[tbilisoft]

BBThumbs.dat is a hidden file. If you do not see it in your windows explorer do the following.

Open "My Computer"  and select from menu: "Tools - Folder Options" (see picture below)

In displayed dialog select the "View" tab and select "Show hidden files and folders" (see picture below)

Message Edited by tbilisoft on 25-02-2009 10:06 AM

[fdkjordan]

Hello and thanks again for your help.

I have done as instructed and deleted the .dat file.  No change.  The Blackberry still 'sees' the phantom list (the songs that aren't there), but will not 'see' the files that are actually there.

For continuing mystery, I added back one of the original albums that is on the phantom list.  Now, when I click 'Play', it plays the songs from that album.

So, for good measure, I reformatted the media card again (it only took about 5 seconds... should it take longer?).  No change.  My PC shows that there are no songs on the Blackberry, but the phantom list is still there according to the Blackberry.

I'm beginning to feel that irrational emotion when something so simple doesn't work.  Especially when it worked so elegantly the first time.

Any additional suggestions or solutions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[tbilisoft]

Very interesting.

Open Media icon on the device. Select "Music" icon but do not click on it.

Click on Menu button and select "Explore"

Now navigate the memory card.

Do you see the correct files there ?

[fdkjordan]

Yes.  The correct (real) files are there.

[tbilisoft]

It won't solve your issue but you can select a folder with music files inside and open menu and select "Play subfolder"

It will play mp3 files into this folder.

It does not work if there is a nested folder with mp3 files into folder which you have selected.

Regarding issue with list of songs - I suspect there is something wrong with device OS music software, particularly in part which reads mp3 tags and file information.

Try to use a software to set/check mp3-tags on files you have written on memory card.

Mp3-tags is an informational chunks saved inside mp3 files, mp3 tags show singer name, album name etc.

Perhaps this information processed in wrong way. 

I think your memory card is OK. There is something wrong with mp3 tags or mp3 tags processing in music application in device OS.

Message Edited by tbilisoft on 25-02-2009 07:17 PM

[fdkjordan]

Alright... I appreciate your advice with this.  Perhaps I will have to take it back to the dealer.  I just got this new phone about 3 weeks ago, so it is pretty frustrating that it has already gone wrong.

I do have another question, but I will start a new thread on that one.

Thanks again for your efforts.