Android Tablets, Spotify, SD Cards and Music

[Fnaar]

(Also posted in GeeksChat)
I'm interested in getting an Android tablet. I've had android phones for a few years, and I like android os, and want to stay with it (so no 'get an iPad' advice please ).
I don't play games much, I don't store movies either, but I have a lot of mp3 music files (about 16 gig worth) that I'd like to keep listening to.
I also use (on my phone) Spotify premium, and I have synced the sd card-stored music files over wifi so that they show up in spotify, and I can play them from the sd card, along with spotify-sourced music.

Now to the tablets; I've been looking around and was a bit surprised to read that from ICS onwards, Android no longer (easily, without rooting) supports storing apps on SD. I am a fairly heavy user of apps, too.

If I get a tablet with sd card slot, will I still be able to use the sd card to store my mp3 files, and play them in spotify. I want to be able to listen to them, but don't want to store them on the internal memory of the tablet, as presumably I'll need that space for apps.

Answers appreciated.

 

[ColinJ]

If you can't put your apps on the SD card, then surely you must be able to store your media files there, otherwise what can it be used for!

 

[Canrider]

How are you playing external SD music files via Spotify currently? A quick glance at the spotify forums suggests that you aren't supposed to be able to, that no-one is happy with this decision on their part, and that they're not being very forthcoming in explaining why this is the case or why they aren't fixing it.

 

[Davidc]

I have a recent Android phone which doesn't store app software on the SD card in the slot. 4GB of photos, 24GB of music and now about 2GB of data for and from software apps is on that though, and the Android tablet I've been being tempted by works exactly the same.

Like you I far prefer Android to the iOS stuff, having now used both.

 

[Fnaar]

@Canrider hi, Spotify made it a bit more difficult, but I have the mp3 files on PC and phone sd card. You then sync spotify from PC to phone over wifi, then your sd card mp3 files show in the app on the phone. I guess I was really wondering if I can do the same with the tablet.

 

[stumpy66]

Ive since moved from android to a windows phone and the last version of spotify i had on the android platform enabled you to store the music on the sd card despite the app being on the phones in built memory.

 

[Fnaar]

@stumpy66 yes, the spotify downloads are fine, just wondering (see my post above) if I will be able to do my mp3 trick on a tablet.

 

[redcard]

If you can do it on your phone you can do it on your tablet.

You can also upload all your music to Google Music and access it for free through an app or browser on every device you own. Up to 20GB is free, I believe

 

[Canrider]

If you've sorted it on spotify, you should presumably be able to sort it on the tablet the same way, but YMMV.

 

[Fnaar]

Thanks all... was a bit thrown when I realised ICS didn't support apps to sd, and then started to wonder what the sd card slots were for. You're right though, if I can sort spotify 'seeing' sd card files on phone, should be doable on a tablet.