LG Fusic Cell Phone/MP3 player can’t play MP3s in the Subway
Sprint, in an effort to build hype, sent free LG Fusic phones to several bloggers. Joel Spolsky was one of those selected and he posted a very negative review of the phone. He points out that features are buried in menus and hard to use, MP3 playback is poorly designed, and that the fit and finish of the device leaves a lot to be desired. Other reviews on the net seem to be more favorable, however Joel’s complaints about the confusing interface have been echoed elsewhere.
While the overall quality of the phone is still under debate, Joel’s review highlighted one particularly insideous anti-feature. The phone can only play back MP3s when it has a cell signal, possibly to verify the authenticity of the music:
Put back the battery. Turn on the phone. Go into the MP3 player again. There’s no signal, and, guess what? You can’t get into to the MP3 player unless you can establish a network connection to the Sprint Music Store. Even to play your own MP3s!
OK, so this is an MP3 player that doesn’t really work on the subway and won’t work on a plane, the two places I’m most likely to listen to MP3s. Not very appealing.
In what appears to be an effort to thwart ring tone piracy, the MP3 player only operates when the phone can talk back to Sprint. Unfortunately, this limits it’s usefulness in places where there is no consistent cell coverage, like subways, rural areas, and planes.
11 Comments so far
Leave a reply
I’d vote for a bug.
“Never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity.” http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_J._Hanlon
[...] A week ago, I reported on the LG Fusic cell phone. According to reviews online, the cell phone’s much-touted MP3 playback features were artificially limited: In what appears to be an effort to thwart ring tone piracy, the MP3 player only operates when the phone can talk back to Sprint. Unfortunately, this limits it’s usefulness in places where there is no consistent cell coverage, like subways, rural areas, and planes. Uninnovate.com » LG Fusic Cell Phone/MP3 player can’t play MP3s in the Subway [...]
Insomuch as confusing UI is a bug, this is a bug.
There are two “media” players on the Fusic. One player is for the Sprint Online music store. Of course, this requires a signal.
The second player does not seem to require a signal. For example, I can switch the phone to airplane mode and this player still works.
Where is the ombudsman?
The fusic functions perfectly well without a signal from sprint. Obviously, you can not connect to sprint’s online store without service, but memory card access works pefectly.
You may want to update this post.. it’s completely wrong.
According to the Joel on Software article that I linked in the original post, there were two mp3 players on the phone. One of them wouldn’t work without a signal. The other worked without a signal, but didn’t allow the phone to go into sleep mode while a song was paused. Together, it made listening to audiobooks or podcasts on a subway nearly impossible.
Are you saying the information in the linked article was always incorrect or has an update for the phone been issued? If I update the post, I’d like to make sure the update is correct.
No, the other MP3 player WILL NOT work, even with the card, via the controls on the front of the phone, without an internet conncection. You can use it through tools on the menu options screen, but that defeats the purpose of the front controls. If you are reading this, thinking about buying this phone, do not, unless you are willing to buy an interent package to listen to the music you’ve already paid for. This phone is a scam by Sprint. If you do decide to purchase this phone, you do have 30 days to return it, which they will not tell you. Play with it as much as you can… if it doens’t do what you want it to RUN to reutrn it before 30 days!
If you go the music section and choose the option not to connect to the store, you can then create your own play list, which uses songs off your memory card. I have been able to successfully move mp3s from my laptop onto the memory card and then can play them in the phones mp3 player this way, without connecting it to the Internet. I can close the phone and it still plays. I can use the front controls to pause, rewind and fast forward, and incoming calls automatically pause the player. I read Joel’s review, and while I agree that the interface is very confusing and inefficient, with a little patience and research on how others have been successful, it can be done. It’s not like sprint is going to tell us how to use free mp3s on their phone.
The second mp3 player you are reffering to I belive is just to “listen” to your file much like you can in the same place view your images from the thumbnails.
Can you give me some instructions for getting the memmory card music to play on the front of the phone suzan?
Is anyone else having to power cycle because the front controls won’t turn off? Keyguard is on…Sometimes the control lights will pop on at random times during the day/night, and flipping it open and then closing it again doesn’t help, and in turn the phone gets really super hot. Ive gone to my local sprint store, and they have no clue, so I am hoping that someone somewhere will have a remedy or at least a suggestion for me.
I agree with susan, I have a 2gig memory card and I just transferred my personall music to my fusic via my computer.I am kinda frustrated though because I recently invested in a 4gig memory card at a sprint store and my phone won’t reconize it.I’m also frustrated that I can’t use the music I downloaded to my phone as ring tones. I came across this site by accident looking for a software program or instructions on how I can convert music that I have already bought into ring tones. other than that I’m quite content with my fusic. Cheers and Happy Holiday
I love the phone, I have internet completly turned off by Sprint. the front controls work fine for playing mp3’s off of the memory card. Although I just bought my phone a month ago. If anyone knows how to get mp3’s on the memory card to play as ring tones I would appreciate it.