One of the big features we’ll be releasing as part of Songbird 0.5 is MTP device support.
MTP, or Media Transfer Protocol, is used by many types of devices these days. It ends up being pretty awesome because it enables device manufacturers to create devices that can all have the same great user experience when interacting with the contents and managing it from Songbird! Sweet.
Initial support for MTP devices includes manually managing the contents of your device, managing playlists and transferring media files to/from your device.
So far we’ve gotten Sansa, Creative, Nokia and HTC devices to work within Songbird. Awesome.
I’d also like to mention the names of all of the engineers that worked on this feature, without their dedication, none of this would’ve been possible. So, without further adieu, here is your MTP device team: Aus, David, Erik, Keisuke, Mark and Steven!
Tell us what you think! 
You can try it out by getting the latest nightly and add-on here.
Aus
P.S. If you are a device manufacturer and you would like Songbird to support your MTP device, do get in touch with us.
37 Comments
SubscribeWhen are Linux users going to see this? Before 0.5? You only mention Windows. Rhythmbox uses libmtp and it works really well now, but I’d like to use the cross-platformy sweetness of Songbird. My new little Creative Zen Stone Plus is dying to be used in Songbird.
i agree they shold uses libmtp or make sure what the use works on windows mac and linux before version .5 comes out
No support for removable devices, Now no support for MTP…? Wats on your mind ?
I know its difficult due to various flavours involved. I would love to have thi on linux …currently there is no good “web Player for linux”
I’m not that it’s sad, but sadly, 0.5 is very near completion and Linux and Mac support for MTP devices is slated in the next release of Songbird.
It will most likely use libmtp but we may end up writing an MTP stack from scratch.
I sense a little bit of resentment in that comment.
Here’s the deal. Writing device support in a portable manner is no joke. And honestly, to get the best integration, you should always use the APIs provided by the OS you are operating under, otherwise, the user experience is most likely going to suck.
Because of this, we will be rolling out MTP support on Linux and Mac only after 0.5. This will give us enough time to do it right instead of just rushing to cram it out the door in a barely working manner.
And, to answer your question directly: I’m thinking we need to support all three platforms, however, we can’t do them all at once. I’m sure you understand that.
Sorry, that’s just not going to happen in that timeframe.
This is exciting news. I can hardly wait for MTP support on Linux (although dismayed to see the whiney nature of the previous comments regarding multi-platform MTP support). Anyway, I’ll have to start looking into libMTP and see if there’s any way I can help out. Any idea if Samsung MTP devices will be supported? (It works in rhythmbox)
Ah, screw these jerks complaining about the Windows support. I’m looking forward to 0.5 regardless of whether it has great device support on Linux—I can get by with using Amarok and my iRiver for a little longer.
I’m just glad to hear MTP is already planned for Linux! Hope libmtp serves you guys well, would hate to see it forked or you guys having to write your own stack.
Well now I can’t wait until the 0.6 release! (well, the 0.6 nightlies with MTP support)
Good to see it in sight for us Linux folks!
Sad thing is, that I dont own a mtp device
Only usb mass storage here. So. To let me test this bugger out, someone please contact me and send me such a device. Clearly for developers purposes, that is.
USB Mass Storage should work fine under the MTP device.
Works quite right with my old Creative Zen.
The building of the library is slow though and memory consumption is an issue (140 MB for songbird is little excessive).
Something else I’ve noticed, the tracks’ titles are not listed if they’ve not been played once (weird !)
That just got fixed. If you get the nightly extension tomorrow, you should see the right data.
is there a list of what devices are supported and on what platforms?
Nice work, thank you guys.
Is there any more news on Linux support for MTP in songbird, I’m hanging in there at the moment but I really want to use my N95 with my music and podcasts. Please don’t make me switch to amorak
Cheers,
Alex
Awesome work on Songbird… Wondering if someone has explored the idea of building a simple media management CAB for windows mobile 6 that could interface with Songbird in a fashion similar to MTP? A Songbird transfer client that runs on the device…
Is there any more news on Linux support for MTP in songbird, I’m hanging in there at the moment but I really want to use my N95 with my music and podcasts. Please don’t make me switch to amorak
i agree they shold uses libmtp or make sure what the use works on windows mac and linux before version .5 comes out
Nice work, thank you guys.
Hi I tried using my Sony Ericsson 910i and it only synched to the phone memory. Is there any way I can point it at the memory card instead?
thanks
I’d like to have same support also with Linux. I think it’s just a matter of deciding it.
Thanks
Schöner Bericht hier. Dank an euch alle!!!
a year after the thread started and version 1.1 still doesn’t have mtp support for linux?
Nice work, thank you guys.
saol kanka
maynet
MTP support for Linux: please respond if you are working on this. If there is no-one working on it, I would like to have a go – I am at least somewhat familiar with the internals of libmtp which would appear to be the best choice of library for such an implementation. I am NOT, however, familiar with Songbird add-on development – so pointers to that side of it would be much appreciated (especially as it concerns “front-ending” an existing library).
Im keen to get mtp support Running for my creative Zen under Linux using libmtp ive done reasonable amounts of development in the past none using libmtp or songbird but im keen to give it a shot. If you can help me out by letting me know where i can get a copy of the windows source to get ideas let me know @ the address listed at the about me section of my site.
This is exciting news. I can hardly wait for MTP support on Linux (although dismayed to see the whiney nature of the previous comments regarding multi-platform MTP support). Anyway, I’ll have to start looking into libMTP and see if there’s any way I can help out. Any idea if Samsung MTP devices will be supported? (It works in rhythmbox)
@medyum, Songbird does only support MTP through the Windows Media Player, since all MTP player are supporting Windows, it should work with yours. And the most users are whining, since it is now over a year and there is no specific date or at least a milestone which you can find “MTP for Unix”.
I believe they don’t really want to support Unix. Since it is too unimportant for them.
можно в яндексе поискать)) ну или в гугле, например))
Thank you very much for everything
I bought a Zen V Plus 4gb yesterday, got home and installed everything from the CD, but when I connected my Zen and the program tried to register it, it said it found no unregistered components. I ignored it and tried to open the Media Manager to add songs. It said there’s no player connected. I opened Windows Media Player and clicked ‘Sync’ and there’s no player there, either. Every time I connect the player, a Windows Wizard comes up asking me if I want to connect to the internet to install the driver for it. I tried clicking ‘yes’ once, but it said it couldn’t find any drivers. I checked the Device Manager and it says there’s a Creative Zen V connected but there’s a yellow warning icon next to it. I’ve tried reinstalling the software from the CD 4 times, and restarted my PC numerous times as well. My player does seem to be charging, as I left it connected to the PC for about 2 hours and now when I disconnect it the battery display is about 1/3 of the way full.
I tried the troubleshooting on Creative’s website, but no luck. I also tried a fix that seemed to be working for a lot of people with this problem, which was modifying the registry permissions for USB. I did that, but still no luck.
I’m running Windows XP Service Pack 2, 768mb ram, 2.8Ghz Pentium 4 on an HP Pavilion a410y machine.
This is an interesting development: my dad got one of these (a 1gb Zen V) for his birthday, and installed all the software on his PC (an HP Pavilion, different model than mine, 512 ram, 3.0ghz pentium 4). He succeeded in putting all his songs on my player, so I decided to try his PC, since he already had all the software. His PC’s Media Explorer recognized my player… and my player can play the radio and everything, so I’m guessing the problem is with my PC.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Yeah! Nice!
I really like song bird! I would like to put more comments but they are all closed.. =(
So, february 2010 and still no support for MTP in MAC??? I see posts from 2008, come’n, people is getting their new mobile phones (n900 for instance) and their new beatiful macs, this is the time when the industry starts to battle the iphone and the itunes, I guess (for your future sake) that these basic features are very near to be presented. Otherwise, not mentioning that a group of users (me included) will be crying out there, you will lose a good oportunity to face itunes.
However, perhaps itunes is not you enemy, but spotify is …