Android Smartphone device won't connect/display in Windows Media Player 'x' [SOLUTION]

Today I was wanting to transfer my music from my Windows Media Player to my Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (GT-18160) Android smartphone.

Yet after connecting my smartphone via USB Cable to my PC; it wasn't recognising it as a device. It was recognising it as a camera and I was able to view the files within Windows Explorer so it wasn't a connection problem. However the device would not show within Windows Media Player (version 11 in my case on a 32 bit Windows XP system).

After Googling around I discovered majority of people are having similar problems.

The fix for most cases is you have to install Samsung's software called "Kies". Also install the codec option - really important bit!

After a reboot and connecting my device this time around Windows Explorer recognised the device fully AND Windows Media Player also found the device.

I was then able to sync my music from within Windows Media Player library (see here for aid on syncing your music with Windows Media Player).

OTHER FIXES:

- You need to make sure you have Windows XP SP2 or above!

- You need to make sure you have Windows Media Player 10 or above! Get the latest version here.

Recommended Addons for Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird !

Last Update on 13th Oct 2013

Why use Mozilla Open Source?

Mozilla is open source software which is highly recommended by many IT professionals. It is simplistic to use and considered to be better than most pay ware products. Their software is extremely customisable and if like me, you can even use themes to make it look like internet explorer so it won't take you long to adapt.

Mozilla FireFox (Open Source Web Browser) + Recommended Addons

Firstly you will need to download the FireFox browser.

Then I would recommend downloading and installing the following addons:
* Clicking on a link will allow you to learn more about the addon

1. Adobe Flash Player
2. Windows Media Plugin
3. PDF Download Addon
4. Dictionary
5. X-Notifier for gmail, yahoo, hotmail, aol and more webmails
6. Download Manager Tweak
7. Prevent Tab Overflow
8. InstantFox Quick Search
9. Copy Plain Text 2

The above links are those that I highly recommend you install (I use these).
The below links are those that I have seen which you may want yourself:

1. Autofill - auto fill form fields in
2. Popup ALT Text display - hover over images to see the alt text displayed
3. FoxTab - FoxTab brings innovative 3D functionality to your Firefox browser
4. Private Tab - browse a web site or page without it being saved to your history
5. Tab Badge - alerts you of (for example) new messages on Facebook etc
6. Firesizer - great for web site designers
7. Panic Button - quickly hide all browser windows with a click of a button
8. Extended Status bar - a status bar with speed, percentage, time and loaded size (similar to Opera's one)
9. Download Status bar - View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing

Extensions library contains many more addons which you can research yourself.

Themes (feel free to browse as there are a lot).

Mozilla Thunderbird (Open Source Email Client) + Recommended Addons

Firstly you will need to download the Thunderbird Email Client.
Then I would recommend downloading and installing the following addons:
* Clicking on a link will allow you to learn more about the addon

1. StartupMaster - Excellent for Password Protecting
   
2. Dictionary
   
3. Minimise to Tray - Revived
   
4. Duplicate Contact Manager
   
5. Update Checker
   
6. Copy Plain Text 2
   
7. Contacts Sidebar
   
8. Smilie Inserter Plus
   
   * Download and install the Skype Emotions. Once installed, simply link to the directory you installed them to.
   
   
9. How to backup your emails (requires Mozbackup as explained in the article).

Just one thing, to make sure your outgoing mail is wrapped, make sure you set the following below. This basically stops the annoyance of recipients having to scroll left and right to read messages that you have sent them.

1. Go to Tools > Options > Composition
2. On the general tab set the default Wrap plain text messages at 72 characters
3. Under HTML set the Font to one you prefer
4. Then click on the button 'Send Options' (towards the bottom right)
5. Select from the drop down menu "Send the message in HTML anyway"

Get your recipients to set their clients to do the same so you both don't have to scroll left and right:

• Outlook Express 5 / 6 (comes with Windows, on Vista / Windows 7 / 8 it is called Windows Mail)
• Outlook (MS Office - All Versions)