HDX Kindle Fire HDX 2013 Excels in MUSIC !

[sirmaru]

If there is one reason to buy the Kindle Fire HDX 2013, its the advanced handling of music. I've spent just a few hours reading on it but I've spent most of my time importing, arranging and listening to music.

First you must install the Amazon Music Importer. Then every song imported is compared to the Amazon catalog and the file you get is an ultra high class rendition with lyrics added in many cases. Just moving a file to the HDX will not get this treatment. Plus, one does NOT get this treatment by just uploading files to the Amazon Cloud storage site. One must use the Amazon Music Importer to get this treatment.

Those, who have moved songs direct to the Cloud would be well advised to delete them and then re-import using the Amazon Music Importer unless a call to CS could arrange for that processing to take place separately in the Cloud.

I keep my brightness at about 50% for great reading in dusk, the best time for me to read at my bay window. HDX fonts at that brightness setting and with fading ambient light is far better than any fonts the PW 2013 can produce. The HDX screen has eliminated almost all the glare of the HD 2012.

As one reads, the music lifts up from the HDX In a very high level of purity and sound making the HD 2012 obsolete and makes the Paperwhite 2013 a primitive device.

Plus, just a sweep down while reading produces a link to the artist where one can test other songs by the same person. Instead of the prior 10 second sample, one gets almost the entire song to play. Then, if one likes, enter the pass code set up previously and the song downloads to the HDX AND the PC inside the Amazon Cloud Player but also available to Media Monkey and Windows Media Player.

Plus, when reading in bright sunlight the music can be streamed to Grace Internet radios to play while reading with the Paperwhite 2013.

However, nothing matches the purity and high quality of the HDX sound. The speakers were definitely upgraded from the HD 2012. PW 2013 only purchasers are missing the main accompaniment to reading: MUSIC !!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

However, nothing matches the purity and high quality of the HDX sound. The speakers were definitely upgraded from the HD 2012.

Glad they improved this feature, instead of weakening it.

I love the speakers on my HD 7.

[Jessica Lares]

Oh yeah, LOVE the sound on my brother's HD 7. Nice that it's even better on the X.

[Blossom]

You can't put songs on the Cloud without importing them so there's no need to delete the ones on there. You can do this by Amazon Cloud Player Desktop program or through Amazon music Importer. It's has been like this since last year with the desktop program being new this year.

It will play the lyrics to any song it matches that has lyrics included. I have several non Amazon purchases that do this but it has to be match on Amazon's Cloud Player or it wont work. I have not tried added the lyrics manually to the tag to see if that would work.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

You can't put songs on the Cloud without importing them so there's no need to delete the ones on there. You can do this by Amazon Cloud Player Desktop program or through Amazon music Importer. It's has been like this since last year with the desktop program being new this year.

It will play the lyrics to any song it matches that has lyrics included. I have several non Amazon purchases that do this but it has to be match on Amazon's Cloud Player or it wont work. I have not tried added the lyrics manually to the tag to see if that would work.

I tried to use the Amazon Cloud Player first to import music but it gave an error saying I was required now to use the Amazon Music Importer which I installed.

Also, I tried several times to just copy files to the HDX and received two warnings: 1. file may not be visible; 2. file may not play correctly. Since the Amazon Song Importer actually changes the file structure, that may be true. I looked at file names with Windows Explorer of those I was trying to copy versus those which were imported to the HDX and they are substantially DIFFERENT. The Importer CHANGES the file names and structure.

That problem did not exist in the HD but, even then, I could only sync files from Windows Media Player to the HD but, when I tried to copy, the "paste" function was greyed out. With the HDX the "paste" function is not greyed out but I did get those two error messages and halted the copying.

I also found that prior music files I had imported a couple of years ago stayed in the Cloud along with new files for the same song. Thus, I had two copies of many songs which could not be deleted from the Cloud. One had the high grade music and lyrics and the other file did not. I had to leave both on the Cloud but was able to delete one copy on my HDX.

Due to the file name being exactly the same I am not sure now if I deleted the proper one on my HDX especially if lyrics were not involved. It would take too long to actually play both copies of each song to see which had better quality.

Also, files downloaded to my PC of exactly the same songs as were on the Cloud did not have lyrics or high grade sound. It appears the HDX firmware is required to get that and the PC does not have it.

I also found that Amazon placed dozens of songs free into the Cloud for me with similar genres as those I like. I could play them on the HDX but could not download them to my PC. Maybe they are meant as free samples to encourage the customer to buy more.

I also found that all songs Imported were matched to the Amazon catalog of my purchases and those I had purchased in the past were not subtracted from my 250 non-Amazon song credit. In the end I had about 90 slots for free songs to still import. Since I only buy songs from Amazon now, those slots will never be used.

[Blossom]

I think we are talking about two different programs. I am talking about this program here Not Amazon Cloud Drive which no longer has anything to do with music it's just for Docs and Videos.

I just open the program and choose import to cloud it takes me to my Cloud player on Firefox then I choose import. It's really simple use.
Alot of my music is from over the years before everything went digital. I rip them from CDs I have several artists that aren't available digitally and never will be.

I use MP3tag to fix up problem songs. For Amazon to recognize their purchases from older years you have to make sure the comment filed in the tag is still there with the songs Amazon ID.

Amazon wont try to match anything 320 bitrate or higher. Seeing their music is 256kbps which is okay on some Albums not so okay on others.

I don't know why you can't copy music from your PC to HDX I can without any issues.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I think we are talking about two different programs. I am talking about this program here Not Amazon Cloud Drive which no longer has anything to do with music it's just for Docs and Videos.

I just open the program and choose import to cloud it takes me to my Cloud player on Firefox then I choose import. It's really simple use.
Alot of my music is from over the years before everything went digital. I rip them from CDs I have several artists that aren't available digitally and never will be.

I use MP3tag to fix up problem songs. For Amazon to recognize their purchases from older years you have to make sure the comment filed in the tag is still there with the songs Amazon ID.

Amazon wont try to match anything 320 bitrate or higher. Seeing their music is 256kbps which is okay on some Albums not so okay on others.

I don't know why you can't copy music from your PC to HDX I can without any issues.

I have that program installed but it gives me an error message if I try to import with it and indicates I should use Amazon Song Importer instead. Do you have Amazon Song Importer installed? Maybe that program originates the error messages if one tries to copy songs to the HDX 2013.

However, even with the HD 2012 my "paste" button was grayed out and could not be used with it. Then I used to sync songs using Windows Media Player from the PC to the HD.

Many times I have ended up with TWO copies of a song in the Cloud - one when I purchased it and another from using Amazon Song Importer. Once there, neither can be deleted from the Cloud. I end up with 2 copies on the HDX as well but am able to delete one from the HDX. That may be a bug in the Amazon Song Importer.

One interesting event is, when I Imported "The Blizzard" by Johnnie Cash, which I taped on wire in 1960, Amazon replaced it with the same song from their current Catalog from a Cash Compilation of 16 songs and the quality was upped immensely. The original was moved from wire to tape and then played into a PC where it was converted to MP3.

That upping of the quality happened to many of my songs including songs made in Japan of Vera Lynn from the UK on wire over a short wave in 1942. Its amazing how all the static disappeared on the conversion.

That conversion advantage may be the reason the Amazon Song Importer may be placing those error messages if one tries a direct copy from a PC. I notice the high quality renditions of songs Imported can NOT be downloaded to the PC. One would have to buy them from Amazon to get them. The free sample songs can not be downloaded to the PC either. Maybe that is why Amazon is doing this. It must be increasing their sales of songs.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

As one reads, the music lifts up from the HDX In a very high level of purity and sound making the HD 2012 obsolete and makes the Paperwhite 2013 a primitive device.

Your mention of the PW is somewhat puzzling; the PW is not a music player, but a book reader. It has no sound.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Your mention of the PW is somewhat puzzling; the PW is not a music player, but a book reader. It has no sound.

I agree with that. However, isolated reading without music is a primitive way to read IMHO.

I still like my PW 2013 to read in bright sunlight. The HDX cannot match it there. When I do that, I play music from my Grace Internet Radio streamed from my PC but it comes over in low quality Monotone while the HDX is high quality Stereophonic.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I have that program installed but it gives me an error message if I try to import with it and indicates I should use Amazon Song Importer instead. Do you have Amazon Song Importer installed? Maybe that program originates the error messages if one tries to copy songs to the HDX 2013.

However, even with the HD 2012 my "paste" button was grayed out and could not be used with it. Then I used to sync songs using Windows Media Player from the PC to the HD.

Many times I have ended up with TWO copies of a song in the Cloud - one when I purchased it and another from using Amazon Song Importer. Once there, neither can be deleted from the Cloud. I end up with 2 copies on the HDX as well but am able to delete one from the HDX. That may be a bug in the Amazon Song Importer.

One interesting event is, when I Imported "The Blizzard" by Johnnie Cash, which I taped on wire in 1960, Amazon replaced it with the same song from their current Catalog from a Cash Compilation of 16 songs and the quality was upped immensely. The original was moved from wire to tape and then played into a PC where it was converted to MP3.

That upping of the quality happened to many of my songs including songs made in Japan of Vera Lynn from the UK on wire over a short wave in 1942. Its amazing how all the static disappeared on the conversion.

That conversion advantage may be the reason the Amazon Song Importer may be placing those error messages if one tries a direct copy from a PC. I notice the high quality renditions of songs Imported can NOT be downloaded to the PC. One would have to buy them from Amazon to get them. The free sample songs can not be downloaded to the PC either. Maybe that is why Amazon is doing this. It must be increasing their sales of songs.

It's not a conversion. It's a match service. What it does it scans your copy and see if it matches one of their copies. Amazon then adds their copy to your Cloud. Your copy does not get converted or uploaded. iTunes does this I am told as well for a fee.

It does not need to be a Amazon purchase song for it to be matched. Amazon just needs to have the rights. This is great for older music ripped in 128kbps before our ears knew any better.

Conversions from tapes are always sucky. I tried to buy the CD if it's available but I've had years to replace my tape collection.

I would never use WMP to transfer to the Fire. It sounds to me it may be that program screwing up your ability to drag and drop. Or if you do not have the correct driver installed so your PC sees the Fire in the right transfer mode. It could also be a Administrator issue with Windows....

That's very odd you can't redownload your music to your PC. I can. Maybe you have to pay for that option. I download from my collections all the time....

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It's not a conversion. It's a match service. What it does it scans your copy and see if it matches one of their copies. Amazon then adds their copy to your Cloud. Your copy does not get converted or uploaded. iTunes does this I am told as well for a fee.

How much does the Amazon service cost?

[HarryT]

Nothing at all.

[tubemonkey]

Only 250 non-Amazon acquired songs are free. After that it costs something.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It's not a conversion. It's a match service. What it does it scans your copy and see if it matches one of their copies. Amazon then adds their copy to your Cloud. Your copy does not get converted or uploaded. iTunes does this I am told as well for a fee.

It does not need to be a Amazon purchase song for it to be matched. Amazon just needs to have the rights. This is great for older music ripped in 128kbps before our ears knew any better.

Conversions from tapes are always sucky. I tried to buy the CD if it's available but I've had years to replace my tape collection.

I would never use WMP to transfer to the Fire. It sounds to me it may be that program screwing up your ability to drag and drop. Or if you do not have the correct driver installed so your PC sees the Fire in the right transfer mode. It could also be a Administrator issue with Windows....

That's very odd you can't redownload your music to your PC. I can. Maybe you have to pay for that option. I download from my collections all the time....

You are paying the $ 25 fee to Amazon for unlimited songs on the Cloud. I am not paying that fee and still have about 90 song slots unused from the free 250 slots which will never be used. Maybe that gives you extra rights. Since all new songs are purchased from Amazon by me, I will never use anymore of those slots.

Actually, I have not investigated the downloading thoroughly. Maybe I can do it. I usually play songs on my PC using Media Monkey - not Windows Media Player. The combinations of MM, WMP, Amazon software may be complicating things as well. Plus, I have Windows 8 which also changed some things.

Are you getting free sample songs from Amazon? I am getting those. Maybe that led me to the belief I could not use them on my PC. In any event, I prefer to listen to all music on my HDX over the PC. I like it much better since I can carry it around with me.

When I attach either the HD or HDX, it appears as a Music Player, not a removable disk. Maybe WMP sets up that appearance and that causes the difference in handling from a flash drive.

[tubemonkey]

I found it. It's called Cloud Player Premium and it's $25/year for 250,000 songs.