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downloading MP3 bird calls to an iPad (1 Viewer)

tapaculo

Mildly Obsessed
I would appreciate suggestions on how to download MP3 bird call files to an iPad, mostly for learning calls. My inclination to avoid using iTunes seems to be widely shared...

Last year I followed a peculiar process to "play mp3 files on iPad without connecting to iTunes (no jailbreak needed)", using the iFunBox and Tonido apps. It worked fine, but the iOS 8.3 upgrade blocked it!

Options I am aware of include two common apps for general file-sharing: DropBox and Microsoft's OneDrive. I've just watched a video for CopyTrans Manager, which makes moving files to the device look very simple... but it's very oriented towards downloading music files (e.g. copying the album cover!) As must be obvious, I'm not very technically adept, so I hope someone can share their experience relating to bird calls.

Thanks,
Steve
 
May not be an appropriate solution but how about a cheap bespoke mp3 player ; drag and drop all bird call files from pc/laptop. In conjunction with headphones or cheap portable speaker. Sorry I'm not a user of Apple products but keep bird calls on Android tablet, cheap phone and mp3 player.
Russ
 
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There is a birdcall app which you can download... That said I copied my files to an Iphone4 so can't imagine that it wouldn't work on an ipad.

ps As well as 'roche' downloads I paid for a birdcall app but have to be connected to internet for it to work so when abroad its limited.
 
Dropbox is what I use for what you want. On your PC, make a folder with an appropriate name inside dropbox, download files from e.g., xeno-canto into that folder, rename the file so that the first few characters make some type of sense, and close the folder. Open the ipad, open dropbox and let it sync, then click the filename and play it directly from dropbox. Files are easily made available offline by hitting the down arrow.

Niels
 
Contrary to what is said about iTunes I did use it this week to gather my downloaded birdsounds for Sri Lanka. I put them in a playlist in Itunes and attached a picture of the bird to each sound, using album art. When I select the playlist in my ipad and play a sound, I also see the picture of the bird. It took some work, but I like the result.
Peter
 
Thanks, Niels, that sounds like just what I need. I got nervous when you wrote "let it sync", because I have many folders and files in DropBox that I do not want on my mobile device, but since only files I select will be downloaded, that will not be a problem.

I am not sure where the files will go/appear on the iPad, so that I can select and play them, but I will try downloading a few and find out what happens...
Steve

(Thanks also Russ, rosbif, and Peter, for other good options.)
 
Steve, I access the files through the Dropbox app on the ipad, where they reside is not of concern to me.

Niels
 
The App Documents https://readdle.com/products/documents is a great file manager that you can use to copy files and folders from a computer and has its own mp3 player so handles it all without using iTunes or using an all encompassing sync. It will also work with Dropbox etc.
 
I am just curious, why not use Itunes? You just have to make playlists and if you name them carefully you can organize your birdsong recordings anyway you want. Regarding synching you can always choose to select files manually for the synch process.
 
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