How To Make The Standard Music Player Find My Files

My App downloads some mp3 files to sdcard. I want to play them with other music players installed on the device. But the other music players don't automatically find my downloaded

Solution 1:

You can force the scan of media file with a broadcast:

sendBroadcast(newIntent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_MOUNTED, Uri.parse("file://" + Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory())));

Solution 2:

Make sure the folder that your files are in do not have a file called ".nomedia" in them. That file tells the MediaScanner not to check there.

(note: there is a "." in front of nomedia, which means it may be hidden)

Solution 3:

Here is an easy 'single file based solution':

Whenever you add or remove a file, let MediaStore Content Provider knows about it using

sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE, Uri.fromFile(imageAddedOrDeleted)));

Main advantage: work with any mime type supported by MediaStore

Note:

sendBroadcast(newIntent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_MOUNTED, Uri.parse("file://" + Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory())));

is too expensive and scan everything. My advice: if you can, use the 'per file' approach.