Once again, ***k you RIAA

I am starting to prepare my trip to Hong Kong, and suddenly think of something: can I access my files and music on the cloud while I am in Hong Kong?  I did some research and found out the answer: file, yes, music no.

It started with me trying to upload audiobooks to my Google Music account, and then found out that I already used up by 2 account linkage restriction (imposed by Google).  My account X and account D are linked to my office M6500 machine, and so I can't use that machine to upload music to another Google Music account.  Also, Google Music Upload Manager doesn't work in VM (VMWare).

But then, it's the internet. so when there's a will, there is a way.  Someone created a Chrome app to bypass the restriction, called Music Alpha.  It seems to work ok with real music files, but have problem with audiobooks, and eventually I gave up on uploading audiobook.

But the last nail on the coffin comes from my friend in HK.  He tried and told me that he couldn't access Google Music both on desktop or on Google vote.  So, game over.

However, access, Google Drive still works fine.

So you can guess where I will upload my audiobooks to.

My lastest favorite book reader(s) and video player(s)

After spending sometime sending up Nexus 7 for my friend, I got a better understanding on the functionality of a lot of apps, and thus, my opinion of my favorite app also changed.

For instance, I used to love Aldiko eBook reader.  And then I found Cool Reader, and was impressed by features like text to voice feature.  But now my default book reader is Moon+ Reader mainly because of the ColorDict support.  It makes eBook reading much better an experience.

And for video player, I like MoboPlayer because it's free without Ad, and it supports tons of formats.  I still use BSPlayer once in a while, but only if I have problem playing the file in MoboPlayer.

Little pitfall with File Manager (HD)

I like File Manager's ability to access files on my LAN, but there was a time that I encountered problem on setup, and that's because I entered MULTIPLE LINES of user name in the edit box.  It took me a while to realize that there are a "..." sign and the bottom of the text box.  Fixed that I have no porblem accessing the LAN.

Oh that's how Google Music works on Android ...

I was frustrated for a while with Google Music app on Android (my Galaxy Nexus).  Somehow it does NOT show any music on my Google Music cloud drive.  Eventually I found out the reason after reading the help file online:I need to leave the Sync on, and make sure that Google Music is one of the item that got synced.  It only syncs the music metadata, so it shouldn't harm too much on the bandwidth.

Also I found out that most music on Andorid honor the .nomusic file/folder system: if a folder contains a file or folder with the name ".nomusic", then music or photo apps will skip that folder. This is useful if you have media that you don't want to show up on music apps, like HKReporter mp3s or audiobooks.

 The odd thing, though, is that it seems to take a while for the system the pick it up.  I even tried rebooting the device and that doesn't speed up the process.  But if I have patient, wait for a while, eventually I found out that Winamp and Google Music picked up.  In fact I just saw the HKReporter podcast folder (located inside Download) on Google Music suddenly disappear. 

Maybe I should not even keep Nexus 7

After owning Nexus 7 for more than a month, I found myself not using it much.  When I need a phone, or need to access the net on the street, I grab my Galaxy Nexus.  When I need to read manga, magazine, browse the web, play game or read news, I grab my iPad.  Maybe partly because I don't have much time to read books on bed these days, which is a situation I enjoy using Nexus 7 the most.  Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoy paying with Nexus 7.  It's just that I don't have a lot of time to play (just keep work work and work), and maintaining another device (like keep charging battery) can be troublesome.  I even start to wonder if I should continue to keep Nexus 7.

No Nexus 7 Driver for Windows 8

Still no Nexus 7 driver for Windows 8.  Sad.