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Is it a bug in Jelly Bean 4.2.1 that subdirectories within the Music directory are not scanned for music files?

UPDATE: I just verified that copying using cp or using Nautilus on Ubuntu or Windows Explorer works just fine. They are scanned immediately by the player. But if I use rsync they are not! This is very strange. I also checked file permissions and they are the same in both cases.

I am trying to sync the music collection on my desktop to my Nexus 4. On my desktop my music is organized as follows.

    Artist1/
        Artist1/Art1_Track1.mp3
        Artist1/Art1_Track.mp3
    Artist2/
        Artist2/Art2_Track1.mp3
        Artist2/Art2_Track2.mp3
    ...

When I copy the same directory structure into the Music directory the stock music player does not scan the music in subdirectories. It works fine for files in the base Music directory though.

FYI, I use rsync to sync the music collection to the Music directory. I am using Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean on the LG Nexus 4. The device is mounted using go-mtpfs on a Ubuntu installation.

Update: Some summary from the comments (by Izzy)

  • the problem only exists when files are transferred using rsync. While rsync is in progress, files get a temporary file name extension like e.g. .test.mp3.xdGHsk -- but they are correctly renamed to .mp3 once the transfer is finished (normal behaviour for rsync)
  • there are no .nomedia files in the affected directories
  • Rescan Media is used to force the Media Scanner to update the library after rsync completed its job

Update: More summary from the comments and correction (by Srinath)

  • USB connection mode is MTP, on the Linux PC the device is mounted using go-mtpfs (MTP file system implementation in Go language)
  • The files transferred using rsync can be viewed and played using a file browser app like ES File Explorer
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3
  • I just added a sum-up from the comments to your question, and now will remove my corresponding comments. Please check what I've missed, edit it in, and also remove your corresponding comments (you can do so by clicking the little red "x" appearing at the end of a comment when hovering the mouse over it).
    – Izzy ♦
    Feb 10, 2013 at 22:06
  • Are you suggesting that "Rescan Media" does actually resolve the problem?
    – MrWhite
    Mar 3, 2013 at 12:14
  • I just wanted to say that I have the same issue on my Nexus 5 running KitKat. Using cp, the files are picked up by the Google Music Player and Doubletwist, using rsync, neither are picked up. I'm also cinnecting over usb using go-mtpfs
    – sinclairjesse
    Mar 19, 2014 at 5:40

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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If the problem is really that rsync renames the files, try rsync --inplace.

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  • This worked for me. I had the same issue as Srinath.
    – sinclairjesse
    Mar 19, 2014 at 5:46
0

Try and clear the app data. Settings > Play Music > Clear data. This should re-scan your whole SD card for music. If this doesn't work, uninstall Google play music, remove your MP3 files, the reinstall Google play music. If that still fails, try another app like DoubleTwist.

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  • Sorry for the delayed response. I just clearing data with Google Play Music and this does not seem to help. I would prefer not to use a 3rd party app but I have installed DoubleTwist. I will try this and get back.
    – Srinath Sridhar
    Feb 16, 2013 at 13:17

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