MTP / gphoto2 device not showing files

[Lee]

In Ubuntu 9.04 (64-bit) when I connect Sony MP3 player NWZ-S615F, Nautilus (1:2.26.2-0ubuntu2) shows "These files are on a digital audio player" with a button to open Rhythmbox, and does not display the files (just blank empty list, and "gphoto2://[usb:001,011]/" in the address bar). I expected standard removable disk behaviour. Rhythmbox also doesn't seem to recognize it, and I wasn't able to connect to it via other media-player applications in Linux.

Workaround (and why I think this is a nautilus issue):
When messing around to fix the problem (adding/removing MTPFS, gphoto2 drivers etc) I did occasionally manage to trick Nautilus into mounting/displaying the files as a normal removable disk (which would be fine), which suggested to me that the problem is that Nautilus tries to do something too clever in trying to implement the MTP interface (but failed when it came to the crunch). I found that by uninstalling nautilus (which I did by mistake trying to remove the gphoto2 packages) I was in Dolphin which correctly showed the mounted removable disk. My workaround is therefore to live without Nautilus and use Dolphin instead, which is not pretty or desirable in a ubuntu desktop. I have also tried reformatting the disk (in Windows) but this didn't help.

If this is too difficult to fix properly, could the libgphoto2 / MTP functionality be optionally turned-off in Nautilus, allowing it to just display as removable disks? I'm quite happy with dragging/dropping files and don't need all the bells and whistles of MTP (though I do desire the ability to view meta-data columns like album/title/date-picture-taken etc in the list-view of nautilus, like in XP: separate feature-request coming soon). By-the-way XP also had problems with this MP3 player, and I had to upgrade Media Player to get it to communicate, so this is not just a Linux issue. If I'd have realised the MP3 player would not behave like a standard removable disk I would never have bought it, though otherwise it's a really nice little gadget.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for your report, that's something to send directly upstream at http://bugzilla.gnome.org by someone having the issue, for forwarding instructions please read http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME, Thanks in advance.

[Sense Egbert Hofstede (sense)]

The reporter apparently also reported the bug upstream. Therefore I'm setting the status of this bug to Triaged and will await the response upstream.
If meanwhile the bug got fixed, please let it know.

[Lee (lee-eden)]

So now in ubuntu 10.4 the device mounts as a standard USB removable device (memory stick). There is no longer a light-blue band with "These files are on a digital audio player" and basically I'm happy enough (I can drag and drop my podcasts and music from hard-drive to MP3 player).

However if the intention was to provide additional functionality in nautilus for MTP devices (e.g. provide meta-data columns - see my feature request at http://live.gnome.org/Nautilus/Ideas/multimedia-upgrade ) then I do think it's still worth pursuing - as I really do crave that stuff.

Now I don't know what the point was of "These files are on a digital audio player" or how it was supposed to behave, so it is difficult to define whether this is still a bug or not. Previously I considered it a bug because I was unable to mount the MP3 player as a removable disk, so couldn't upload files to it in ubuntu without the work-arounds I described. That is now resolved, though I suspect that the behaviour is still not quite what the developers intended.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

on the upstream bug report "Lee"(who is the reporter of this bug too) said this problem is fixed with nautilus 2.30.1 "issue not occuring in Nautilus 2.30.1" Since the bug was fixed for the reporter I am marking it fixed here too.

[Lee (lee-eden)]

Yes I agree. As I stated on 16th Sept, the key issue has disappeared in Ubuntu 10.4, as the MP3 player now mounts as a standard USB removable device. For me that is good enough (though I still desire those meta-data columns...)