Big Problem: Lumia is terrible at being an MP3 Music player-- Help

[Stephen Pedersen]

So I had a WP7 for quite some time and loved it. When Windows Phone 8 arrived on the scene I decided to wait a while so Microsoft could fix the majority of the bugs. I saw some reviews. I finally bought a Nokia Lumia 521 two months ago. It works well as a phone, but I also wanted to use it as a mp3 player. Well... it sucks as an MP3 player. These are a few of my gripes with using the lumia as a MP3 Player:
-The same song duplicates.
-Playlists just disappear!
-Music ALWAYS gets labeled as "unknown artists" and "Unknown albums" ]after a few days. XBox music corrupts itself somehow.
-It slows to a crawl when searching through the "songs" search category, which happens to be the only way to search for music after it corrupts itself after a few days.

Ive tried everything from tagging my music, to not rebooting my cell phone. I've done factory resets, too. The onlye thing that would work just for a few days is either a hard reset or deleting all of my music then starting from scratch.

I consider this a major problem. After countless searches, I'm getting the feeling that Microsoft isn't doing anything to fix their bad programming. Has anyone heard any news about how Microsoft will fix their mp3 player software for windows phone 8? Don't worry I wont complain for too much longer. If they don't fix it with Windows Phone update 8.1 then I'll buy an iPhone. I can't believe microsoft has not fixed this problem. I've used cheap mp3 players before but this one takes the cake.

If anyone has a solution that I havent tried let me know please. I'm all ears.

 

[11B1P]

Try this for eliminating the duplicate songs:

Go to Settings > swipe to the right > music+video > Connect with Xbox Music "On" > Xbox Music cloud colletion "Off" > Now playing on Xbox "Off".

They may help with your other issues, but I don't really dive that much into the Music settings. I listen to my music, but mainly when mowing the yard.

 

[John20212]

I never had any issues with WP8 and playing music. I don't use Xbox music as a service and don't use any cloud sync. I just load my mp3's or m4a's from my PC using file explorer and I am set. Never had WP8 corrupt my files, or the metadata.

 

[troylytle]

I think it is your SD card.

 

[Jupast]

Personally i turn off the Xbox Cloud stuff and use mp3tag on my pc to make sure files are tagged correctly, and then MPATool on the Phone for Artist background images.

Haven't trusted Microsoft's tagging of music since Windows Media Player days.

 

[bozza72]

trouble free here too, maybe it is your sd card & dont forget when you use the sd card for music or photos it will lag as its an external drive & is slower to read the files,(get the best sd card you can), i had lag on my 820 as it used an SD card but now have a 920 and get no problems as it uses the internal memory
i drag n drop all my music and came across duplicates when i used windows media player to create playlists
try this method for playlists http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/206708-wp8-creating-playlist-easy-way.html

 

[interiorlulu]

Never had a problem. Don't use desktop client, just drag my files to phone via explorer and then use xbox music pass to download new stuff direct to phone. Had a 710, 625 and 2 1020's and never had any issues. MPA tool is useful too.

 

[John20212]

Personally i turn off the Xbox Cloud stuff and use mp3tag on my pc to make sure files are tagged correctly, and then MPATool on the Phone for Artist background images.

Haven't trusted Microsoft's tagging of music since Windows Media Player days.

+1, mp3tag is one of the best tools for tagging music, never trust Microsoft WMP or Xbox music (in Win8 or 8.1) with tagging as it always somehow manages to screw up my meticulous tags created through mp3tag.

 

[raycpl]

ya... Hope the OP is using good fast SD card..

I think it is your SD card.

 

[ktl88]

I don't have any such problems on my 920. It definitely misses the option to create playlists etc... At it's current state, it is a basic mp3 player.
Waiting for the 8.1 update to bring more features.

 

[rex.reyesiii]

Uhm. How about the sound quality? I will be using separate On-Ear Headphones.

 

[Chris Sandiford]

There's a shed load of threads on this topic - search for "duplicate" and you'll find lots of answers.

Main rules have been covered. Get a decent card, turn off XBL music, reboot if you can, delete any music stuff that appears in the Phone/Music folders (because even if you specify card as the music source, you still get little files popping up in the phone part - dunno why), don't use the awful desktop tool.

It has to improve though as WP progresses because workarounds (as much as we all tolerated/went along with them with Nokias) will not suffice in the long run.

 

[Bartdog]

I had the duplicat issue before, but it hasn't happened in a long time. The only problem I have with my NL920 is I think a hardware one. It doesn't work well with headphones or powered speakers. bluetooth works fine, but sound on headphones is terrible, like the singer is in a bucket. Sound on plugged in speakers develops a bad buzz if music stops.

 

[Guytronic]

I have the L521 also.
Haven't been downloading songs or using cloud services for music.

I agree with previous advice concerning the SD card especially with a large collection on the phone.
Uninstalling XBOX and Nokia music (seldom used) and installing Music Player from the appstore has been working for me.

Also the I'm guessing since the 521 is light on RAM music players will glitch when other apps are backgrounding.
I know that loading an app while music is playing I get some dropouts.

Hope you can find solutions.

 

[MyNL822]

Am I the only one that has this issue that sorta messes up the song during repeat, like in "Holy Grail" it comes in saying "You take the food right out my mouth, and I watch you," but after repeating the song it will sound like this "You take the frrdht out my mouth, and I watch you." it will smash a little part of the the beginning of the song together, and like cuts a part out. This is quite annoying to me because it ruins the hook of many of my favorite songs.

 

[snowmutt]

I basically agree with this thread only for one reason: The basic consumer does not want a set of "work-arounds". They buy smartphones to be... well, smart. They want their music player to work, and MS wants people on their XBOX Music service. It needs to WORK, dang it. Just let me pick my music, let me figure out how to synch it, and WORK.

Everything I have heard from MS gossip sites and the "Windows Weekly" podcast I listen too says WP 8.1 honestly fixes this. Really. They MEAN it this time. The sync, the playlists, the problems with duplicate music tracks, the ease of use, all are supposed to be much better. Main reason why I have held onto my WP 7 devices. My L900 works fine with the Zune interface. I really do not want to give it up. I want a WP8, but I really like my music. As we are mere months from the WP 8.1 update, I am excited.

But I am also on pins and needles. If this isn't fixed a year and a half into WP8, when will it ever be?

 

[DennisvdG]

So I had a WP7 for quite some time and loved it. When Windows Phone 8 arrived on the scene I decided to wait a while so Microsoft could fix the majority of the bugs. I saw some reviews. I finally bought a Nokia Lumia 521 two months ago. It works well as a phone, but I also wanted to use it as a mp3 player. Well... it sucks as an MP3 player. These are a few of my gripes with using the lumia as a MP3 Player:
-The same song duplicates.
-Playlists just disappear!
-Music ALWAYS gets labeled as "unknown artists" and "Unknown albums" ]after a few days. XBox music corrupts itself somehow.
-It slows to a crawl when searching through the "songs" search category, which happens to be the only way to search for music after it corrupts itself after a few days.

Ive tried everything from tagging my music, to not rebooting my cell phone. I've done factory resets, too. The onlye thing that would work just for a few days is either a hard reset or deleting all of my music then starting from scratch.

I consider this a major problem. After countless searches, I'm getting the feeling that Microsoft isn't doing anything to fix their bad programming. Has anyone heard any news about how Microsoft will fix their mp3 player software for windows phone 8? Don't worry I wont complain for too much longer. If they don't fix it with Windows Phone update 8.1 then I'll buy an iPhone. I can't believe microsoft has not fixed this problem. I've used cheap mp3 players before but this one takes the cake.

If anyone has a solution that I havent tried let me know please. I'm all ears.

I highly recommend Spotify as your solution, it misses some features from the idroid versions but it works great! And it doesn't have any of the problems you are having with xbox music!

 

[Teo Ap]

I have a Lumia 625 and my problem is that I can't close / exit music!
I can only put on pause and exit the window. But when I push the volume button, the player appears on top of the screen.
The only way I could find to exit that was to reboot my phone. Which is really annoying.
I can't believe it has no other option.
And I can't manage my playlists, I don't find the option to add another song in an existing playlist.

HELP! Am I stupid or my phone is?

 

[Andrew Pattullo]

well update your phone with CORTANA !

on youtube! you set your language to AMERICAN ENGLISH then restart phone

then change location to UNITED STATES AMERICA

restart phone , then goto updates ?and search updates! it will take a few minutes then reboot ! turn on

"AND CORTANA IS THERE" in your apps ! awsome you asj her to "play all music on phone"

(please note if you change your lanuage back or location CORTANA will vanish untill you reset back "ive tried this "