WMA Lossless and USB music support

[bsd107]

Nobody could answer my questions about these, so after picking up my Lumia 920 last night, I answered these myself:

1) YES, WP8 DOES support WMA Lossless. I tested this hard just to be sure. I synced a couple of WMA Lossless files on Windows 7 through Zune and the Windows Phone software. I had created two WMA Lossless files: one in 16-bit 44kHz format, and another in 24-bit 96kHz format. BOTH of these songs played flawlessly on the Nokia 920.
Now, I then suspected that the Windows Phone software used to actually sync the media files might have converted the song files (as the Zune software would do with WP7.x). So, I removed the files from the phone, and then copied them directly to the phone through the USB drive access from Windows 7. Again, both songs played perfectly.

2) One question I've had is whether the phone will present itself as a USB drive to NON-WINDOWS machines. The answer to this question is very elusive, as all of the quotes from Microsoft imply that this only works when connected to Win8, 7, Vista or XP. Anyway, I connected the Nokia 920 to a 2009 BMW via USB cable. This BMW can read USB thumb drives and play music off of them. It immediately recognized the Nokia 920 as a USB drive, and was able to play the podcasts and music stored on the 920. So, yes, WP8 does present the files as a USB drive to other devices, too (not just PC's)!

Hope this info helps anyone who is looking for answers to the above.

 

[rclifton]

Nobody could answer my questions about these, so after picking up my Lumia 920 last night, I answered these myself:

1) YES, WP8 DOES support WMA Lossless. I tested this hard just to be sure. I synced a couple of WMA Lossless files on Windows 7 through Zune and the Windows Phone software. I had created two WMA Lossless files: one in 16-bit 44kHz format, and another in 24-bit 96kHz format. BOTH of these songs played flawlessly on the Nokia 920.
Now, I then suspected that the Windows Phone software used to actually sync the media files might have converted the song files (as the Zune software would do with WP7.x). So, I removed the files from the phone, and then copied them directly to the phone through the USB drive access from Windows 7. Again, both songs played perfectly.

2) One question I've had is whether the phone will present itself as a USB drive to NON-WINDOWS machines. The answer to this question is very elusive, as all of the quotes from Microsoft imply that this only works when connected to Win8, 7, Vista or XP. Anyway, I connected the Nokia 920 to a 2009 BMW via USB cable. This BMW can read USB thumb drives and play music off of them. It immediately recognized the Nokia 920 as a USB drive, and was able to play the podcasts and music stored on the 920. So, yes, WP8 does present the files as a USB drive to other devices, too (not just PC's)!

Hope this info helps anyone who is looking for answers to the above.

I answered you a few days ago in your original post that WP8 did indeed play wma lossless.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8-os-discussion/200960.htm

 

[John Smith2639]

I connected my wp7.8 to my wife's Macbook but it was not recognised. I then downloaded the wp app from itunes and got a message saying it could see the phone but couldn't connect. It advised to remove the usb cable and reconnect it. Not only did it connect to the phone but correctly identified the make and model (HTC Radar 110e) and not just a usb drive. She was then able to drag and drop the tracks she wanted from her Macbook to the phone.