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Access to Hardware MP3 Player Device

 Keywords: Access Copy Hardware MP3 Player Device MTP MCP mode 

Question:

I have a small MP3 device I would like to access using Winbatch. When I insert it into my PC it appears as a folder under My Computer but does not get assigned a Drive Letter. I want to use the File Commands in Winbatch to copy MP3 files to device. I can use Windows Explorer to drag and drop files but as there is no Drive Letter assigned so I can't find a way to access the device? If I do properties on the folder in Windows Explorer it returns 'My Computer\U4\Internal Storage\Music\' and a list of MP3 files can be found at this location. Any ideas how I can access the folder?

Answer:

What you are observing is a Windows Explorer Shell Namespace Extension, which is commonly referred to by the acronym "NSE". A NSE basically takes some hierarchically structured data and presents it within the Windows Explorer as a series of folders and files. The folders, however, are not real directories on a real file system on a real volume. The same goes for the files that are being viewed via the NSE.

The only way that you can interact with the content of the MP3 player is to use the Windows Explorer and to navigate into the portion of the Explorer's namespace that is controlled by the MP3 player's NSE. Typically, this means simply working with the Windows Explorer in an interactive manner. There is a possibility of using some of the Explorer-related COM objects that are provided via WSH [Windows Scripting Host] such that you might be able to automate some file transfer operations between the MP3 player and an actual file system.

Sometimes devices can be switched between two USB modes: MTP and MCP. It sounds like your device is in MTP mode. If possible, try switching the device to MCP mode (on my Sansa device, it's under "settings") This makes the device act more like a drive, with a drive letter and everything. If you don't like the behavior, you can just switch it back.It's worth a try, if you have not already.

User Reply:

Thanks for the information. I did investigate the available modes on the MP3 Player and found Removable Disk / MTP settings. Once switched to Removable Disk the MP3 players now appears as a Drive and can be accessed in the normal way. Many Thanks
Article ID:   W17904
Filename:   Access to Hardware MP3 Player Device .txt
File Created: 2009:09:11:11:59:34
Last Updated: 2009:09:11:11:59:34