gMTP

Install gMTP

sudo apt install gmtp

Prepare the audio files

Audio files may need some modifications before they’ll work with older devices.

  1. If the files aren’t MP3s, you may need to convert them first, e.g. to convert MP4 files:

    find . -iname "*.mp4" -exec sh -c 'ffmpeg -i "$0" -codec:a libmp3lame -b:a 64k -ac 1 "${0%.*}.mp3"' {} \;

    (see ffmpeg#audio for more information)

  2. (Optional) Open the files with Puddletag and make sure these tags are set:

    • Artist
    • Title
    • Album
    • Track (unless the file will be part of a playlist)

  3. Convert the MP3 tags to the format supported by the device, e.g. for the Creative Zen Mozaic:

    find . -iname "*.mp3" -exec eyeD3 --encoding=utf16 --to-v2.3 {} \;

Connect to a device

  1. Plug the device into the computer

  2. Open the file browser and unmount the device

  3. Open gMTP and click Connect

    ⓘ Wait a bit as the connection process may be a bit slow

Copy files to a device

  1. Connect the device (see above) and browse to the folder where you wish to copy the files (e.g. /Music)

  2. If you wish to keep the directory structure, drag folders from the file browser to the gMTP window

    Otherwise, click the Add button in gMTP

  3. Click Disconnect when you’re done to make sure the changes are synced before unplugging the device

Working with playlists

  1. Connect the device (see above)

  2. In gMTP, click Playlists

  3. Make the Playlists window bigger so you can see all the tags in the left side of the window

  4. To create a new playlist, click Add, create the playlist, then click Close, finally click Playlists again

    Otherwise, the new playlist may appear to have content in it already

  5. Select the playlist from the top dropdown

  6. Select one or more files on the left and click Add File

  7. Rearrange the items on the right to reorder the playlist

  8. Click Close when done

  9. Click Disconnect when you’re done to make sure the changes are synced before unplugging the device

Album art

  1. Connect the device (see above)

  2. In gMTP, click Album Art

  3. Choose the album in the dropdown

  4. Click Upload

    ⓘ On the Creative Zen Mozaic this seems to frequently fail with the error “Couldn’t send album art”. This needs some testing but at the moment it seems to only work with very small image sizes (~10 kb). It may also only work with resolutions lower than the device resolution (128 x 160).

Albums

  • Albums are automatically created by gMTP when MP3 files are imported
  • To delete an album, delete the .alb file (it should be in the same directory as the MP3s)
  • To create an album, the MP3 files must be deleted from the device and re-imported