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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0013131MMAPlaybackpublic2017-02-22 22:30
Reporterrusty Assigned To 
PriorityurgentSeveritycrashReproducibilitysometimes
Status closedResolutionwon't fix 
PlatformAndroid 4.3 
Product Version1.1.3 
Target Version1.3.0 
Summary0013131: Silent playback on some Jellybean devices
DescriptionWhen initiating playback on some Android 4 jellybean devices, playback appears to proceed (i.e. the seekbar moves), but no sound is output. Moreover, playback stops after a single track.

Debug logs:
Hisense Sero 7 (Android 4.3):
1 Initiate playback
--> Silence during playback: E2S9PRP9WQ
--> At completion, next track doesn't start: Y2XY9ZZTBA
2 Initiate playback and then press pause/play 2x
--> Playback of the track proceeds normally: FS6CYH844Z
--> At the conclusion of the track, the next track starts playing silently: 3YR9XH8Y0L

Note:
- The tests above were done for playback via an SD card, but the problem occurs for playback off the SD card or from internal memory
- I tested on Android 4.4 / 5 / 6 devices and could not replicate the problem
Additional InformationI tested this out because there was a report last week in the Google play store:
----
Jess C. Feb 8, 2016
I'm not sure if I got this right. I've used MediaMonkey with no SD problems until about a couple weeks ago. Now, it will only let me access the files individually, but won't recognize them when accessing to the library folders I set up. Does MediaMonkey no longer support Jelly Bean? Thanks.
----

It sounds as if his experience was a bit different than mine, but I suspect that it's the same problem, and that it was introduced around build 541.
TagsNo tags attached.
Fixed in build

Activities

peke

2016-02-17 00:20

developer   ~0044169

Not reproducible on ZTE Blade Q 4.2.2 also

rusty

2016-02-17 00:52

administrator   ~0044170

I tested all the way back to build 1.1.2.419 and am still experiencing the problem, so it appears to be a longstanding issue (though I don't understand how I never noticed it because it occurs on a device that my son uses periodically).

Note:
- the problem does not occur with other players incl. Google Play, ES Explorer, Bubble player.
- the problem does occur with MMA even when playback of tracks external to the library is initiated via ES Explorer (i.e. it's not a sync issue)

We probably should fix this, but if there's a lot of risk to the fix we can fix it in a future update.

martin

2016-02-17 13:31

developer   ~0044172

Also I can't replicate it on any of my devices, but I have no device with Android 4.3. I also tested it on emulator (Android 4.3) and it works well.

It seems on some device specific issue.
Did you try restart device?
If restart doesn't help, try to change audio transitions to "None"

rusty

2016-02-17 16:11

administrator   ~0044173

Yes--the issue does seem to be specific to the Sero 7 device. But it is quite consistent.

To answer your questions:
- Rebooting has no effect
- Changing audio settings (including setting audio transitions to 'none') has no effect

Other new findings:
- The problem is specific to MP3 files (it doesn't occur with m4a, ogg, or wav files).
- The problem is caused by MMA 1.1.3.551 putting the device's MP3 codec into a state in which it plays silently. The following example will illustrate what I mean:
1 Install MMA 1.1.2.419 and play MP3 files
--> Normal playback
2 Install MMA 1.1.3.551 and play MP3 files
--> Silent playback!
3 Uninstall MMA 1.1.3.551 and install MMA 1.1.2.419 and play MP3 files
--> Silent playback!
4 Run Player Pro and Play an MP3 file to 'reset' the codec
--> Playback works as expected (though an extra Play/Pause step is required initially)
5 Play MP3 files in MMA 1.1.2.419
--> Playback works as expected! Somehow Player Pro seemed to reset the MP3 codec so that the older version of MMA works again--which also implies that the problem was introduced in more recent versions of MMA.
6 Install MMA 1.1.3.551 and play MP3 files
--> Playback is broken again (Silent playback)
7 Run Player Pro and Play an MP3 file to 'reset' the codec
--> Playback works as expected in Player Pro (though an extra Play/Pause step is required initially)
8 Run MMA 1.1.3.551 and play tracks
--> Silent playback

Summary: it seems that MMA 1.1.3.551 does something that causes the MP3 codec to break (for MMA at least), and that other players don't experience this issue (and can in fact resolve the problem that MMA causes with the MP3 codec). Moreover, the original hypothesis that MMA 1.1.2 also experienced the problem is incorrect--it only experienced the problem because MMA 1.1.3.551 triggered the problem in the codec, and the problem persists even after rebooting the device.

I'm now doing further tests to see which build of MMA introduced the problem.

rusty

2016-02-17 17:20

administrator   ~0044174

Please ignore my comments at 0013131:0044173 re. which builds experience the bug. It turns out that rebooting the device _has_ an effect on whether the bug occurs, and I wasn't careful about documenting when I rebooted the device. So upon further testing I can confirm that:

a) The bug occurs with MMA 1.1.2 _and_ 1.1.3
b) Rebooting the device, does have an effect--it triggers the bug! To trigger the bug, simply reboot the device and then attempt to play MP3 files in MMA.
c) The bug can be made to disappear (until the next reboot) by playing MP3 files in Player Pro.

Since the issue exists in MMA 1.1.2 it probably makes sense to look into this for 1.2 and not hold up the release.

martin

2016-04-18 14:32

developer   ~0044455

Rusty, please try it with latest version and send me crashlog, if issue persists.

rusty

2016-11-03 22:45

administrator   ~0046096

Retested with 1.2.0.619 and the bug still occurs on this particular device.

0 Reboot
1 Play 'A Certain Girl - The Yardbirds'
--> no sound
2 Click NEXT to play 'A Church is Burning - Simon & Garfunkel'
--> no sound
3 Move the seek bar
--> sound starts playing

Debug log: 8PELM42NEI

Note: I haven't seen the issue on any device except this Hisense device running Android 4.3 and haven't seen it reported recently, so I would be tempted to just push it. However, the fact that some other users have reported it on other devices makes me wonder if it is something worth investigating in case MMA is doing something incorrectly with an Android API. So I leave it to you to triage.

rusty

2017-01-19 22:01

administrator   ~0047022

Resolving as won't fix since the issue appears to be device-specific. Moreover, I haven't seen reports of this problem in some time, and the percentage of jellybean devices is getting lower.

peke

2017-02-22 22:30

developer   ~0047322

Closing, Unable to reproduce on 4.1.1 and 4.2.2