Antennapod: Allow exact control of download location

[shsorbom]

---

Currently, trying to set the Download location only allows users to select a "base location". It would be nice to be able to create the necessary file structure on an SD card and point to that.

[shsorbom]

see my comment on issue #1628

[mfietz]

The other issue is closed, i.e. we will continue here.

You probably created this issue/request on a mobile device so that you did not see our template
Most importantly: Which Android version are you using? Pre-4.4, 4.4 and post-4.4 work quite different in this regard and we even use different UI elements to set the data folder.

[shsorbom]

App version: 1.6.23 (Play Store)

Android version: 4.4.4

Device model: Coolpad 3300A

Sorry about the template, I thought that was specifically for bugs.

[freiform]

Sorry for dragging this up. Freely customizable folders aside, is there a specific reason for AntennaPod not downloading into a public folder, i.e. DIRECTORY_PODCASTS or _MUSIC? If I would want to send a Podcast to a UPnP/DLNA renderer, the apps cannot access the current download directory.
Or is AntennaPod conceptually considered as single stop player, i.e. downloaded files are considered application cache?

For my personal use, I use a rather hacky but simple fix: 3141007.

[dkozel]

@freiform's patch to change the default directory to the DIRECTORY_PODCASTS provided by the OS's Environmental Variables is exactly the change I came to propose. For me what that would enable is being able to play the Podcasts on a Sonos system from my phone. The closed source Sonos app checks the DIRECTORY_PODCASTS but cannot be set to look in a custom location.

Would a PR based off of the above change be considered if it provided appropriate fallbacks and checks if the environmental variable was not available?

[mfietz]

@dkozel of course

[wehkah]

I would like to set the storage location individually, too, because I need to share the storage location between different apps: I want to synchronize the folder on several devices using my NextCloud, and I need to access the download folder with a different player when I am driving my car.

I am sure there are more good reasons why an individual path makes sense.

For my personal use, I use a rather hacky but simple fix: 3141007.

Could you provide a short instruction how to use this patch, eg what SDK is needed? (I am using Linux on my machine.) I have neither written nor compiled any Android app myself yet, but one is never too old to learn something new. ;)

[dkozel]

As an update, I am now using a custom build that uses the system DIRECTORY_PODCASTS directory hardcoded and this works well with the Sonos app. I do not feel competent to add in checks to migrate existing files. I could work on a PR that handles new installations.

If DIRECTORY_PODCASTS exists and is writable, use it for all files, else fallback to current behavior. Is that a sufficient improvement to merge? I don't have the time to figure out migrating existing files and updating databases etc.

[ByteHamster]

If DIRECTORY_PODCASTS exists and is writable, use it for all files, else fallback to current behavior. Is that a sufficient improvement to merge?

Unfortunately not, sorry. Starting with Android 11, apps can only write to their specific data folder. If they want to write to other folders (such as podcasts), they need to use the storage access framework, which basically means AntennaPod needs a rewrite of its file handling to support that.

[dkozel]

Apps can request legacy behavior for Android 11, but that is likely to be removed in a later release.
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.attr#requestLegacyExternalStorage

Is there interest in the project of moving to the storage access framework or even to the MediaStore API? If not, it sounds like custom download directories are a feature that it will not be possible to support and this issue can be closed.

Thanks for all your work on AntennaPod, it's a great app!

[txoof]

@ByteHamster Thanks for the clear explanation in #4415

I have a pretty good appreciation of how hard it would be to update this.

For my use case an option may be to use Antenna Pod on my mobile device with a local gPodder instance on a headless machine and gpodder.net to sync everything up. This makes the whole chain of services a lot more complex, but offers an excellent workaround for keeping everything in sync.

Keep up the good work. This is by far the best podcast app out there.

[keunes]

In #2920 it was requested to 'add possibility to cast/stream to Sonos'. According to @geraldo:

Actually Sonos looks up the device default podcast folder, usually /storage/emulated/0/Podcasts/. So it would be enough if AP would offer this location as an option in "Choose Data Folder" Settings.

So maybe we should have several options (if possible, idk if it is): default (in-app), 'Podcasts', custom.

[returntrip]

In #2920 it was requested to 'add possibility to cast/stream to Sonos'. According to @geraldo:

Actually Sonos looks up the device default podcast folder, usually /storage/emulated/0/Podcasts/. So it would be enough if AP would offer this location as an option in "Choose Data Folder" Settings.

So maybe we should have several options (if possible, idk if it is): default (in-app), 'Podcasts', custom.

Would sharing the folder with the Sonos app also share the listening progress of the podcast (how much/little you have listened through the podcast)?

[cryobry]

At the very least, the fixed storage location should be changed from /storage/emulated/0/Android/data to /storage/emulated/0/Android/media to allow a wider scope.

[keunes]

Would sharing the folder with the Sonos app also share the listening progress of the podcast (how much/little you have listened through the podcast)?

@returntrip Not if they simply have access to the media files - there would need to be an actual interaction between the two software packages (Sonos internal & AntennaPod). Don't know if Sonos supports this. If they do, this could be another, separate feature request for AntennaPod.

[Corey-Keller]

I would just like to also express the desire for additional media locations (/storage/emulated/0/Podcasts or DIRECTORY_PODCASTS at least; honestly anywhere that can be r/w from file managers would suffice for me). I understand the difficulty (and significant rewriting) that this would involve, but I'd like to offer $25 towards a "bounty" on this getting done.

[ByteHamster]

anywhere that can be r/w from file managers

AntennaPod's folder on the external storage is readable and writable from file managers.

[Corey-Keller]

anywhere that can be r/w from file managers

AntennaPod's folder on the external storage is readable and writable from file managers.

I'm assuming you're referring to the Android/data/de.danoeh.antennapod/ folder being r/w when on an external SD card? That's great, but useless to those of us with devices without SD card slots (for example myself on a Pixel 5).

[ByteHamster]

I have a phone without an sd card slot but the data is still accessible. It is stored on /sdcard/Android/data/de.danoeh.antennapod/ (that path is there for historical reasons and actually is stored on the device flash memory).

[cryobry]

I would bet that a lot of the people affected by this are using syncthing
to share the podcast storage directory (AntennaPod has the sanest storage
layout of any podcast app). The /Android/data directory is not accessible
by Syncthing, while /Android/media is after granting the all storage access
in Android 11.

On Thu, Nov 5, 2020, 2:43 PM ByteHamster [e-mail] wrote:

I have a phone without an sd card slot but the data is still accessible.
It is stored on /sdcard/Android/data/de.danoeh.antennapod/ (that path is
there for historical reasons and actually is stored on the device flash
memory).

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[Corey-Keller]

I have a phone without an sd card slot but the data is still accessible. It is stored on /sdcard/Android/data/de.danoeh.antennapod/ (that path is there for historical reasons and actually is stored on the device flash memory).

I assume you aren't on Android 11 then (or you're rooted)? Because on 11 the Android/data folder is 100% empty from a file managers perspective

[cryobry]

I can see files in Android/data using OnePlus file manager in Android 11,
unrooted. They just aren't accessible from some non-system applications,
which is why it would be better to keep them in Podcasts/ or Android/media.

On Thu, Nov 5, 2020, 3:01 PM Corey Keller [e-mail] wrote:

I have a phone without an sd card slot but the data is still accessible.
It is stored on /sdcard/Android/data/de.danoeh.antennapod/ (that path is
there for historical reasons and actually is stored on the device flash
memory).

I assume you aren't on Android 11 then (or you're rooted)? Because on 11
the Android/data folder is 100% empty from a file managers perspective

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[ByteHamster]

Oh, right. I am not using Android 11.

Maybe, alternatively, AntennaPod can still use its own folder without a rewrite but make it accessible to other apps. That can be done using a file provider. Something like Termux does here:

[Corey-Keller]

@ByteHamster that could work if it is r/w. My specific use case for this is that a podcast I support only makes their ad free episodes available as direct downloads. I still want to listen to them in AntennaPod so I have to replace the regular episode with the ad free episode

[ByteHamster]

I still want to listen to them in AntennaPod so I have to replace the regular episode with the ad free episode

That sounds like a strange work-around :D AntennaPod is not meant to be used that way :smile: That makes the displayed durations of the episodes wrong. If they add chapter marks, they would also break.

How about contacting the podcast host and asking if they could make the ad free episodes available as a password protected feed? That would be a lot easier than having to download twice and then replacing AntennaPod's file structures for every single episode. Alternatively, you can use AntennaPod's new "Local folders" feature that will be available in version 2.1.0 where you can select a folder on the sd card that then becomes a "virtual" podcast.

[Corey-Keller]

How about contacting the podcast host and asking if they could make the ad free episodes available as a password protected feed?

Already barked up that tree to no avail, but thanks for the suggestion.

Alternatively, you can use AntennaPod's new "Local folders" feature that will be available in version 2.1.0 where you can select a folder on the sd card that then becomes a "virtual" podcast.

OOH! That is EXACTLY what I'm needing! Can't wait for 2.1 then.

[Corey-Keller]

@ByteHamster How does "local folders" select what to add? Does it use a folder picker (that could also be used for setting the download location)? Or is the location hardcoded?

[Matth7878]

@Corey-Keller with version 2.1.0 which is on beta you can go to add a podcast and select "add local folder"

[ByteHamster]

Does it use a folder picker (that could also be used for setting the download location)?

It does use a folder picker but the same can not be used for setting the download location. The picker actually returns a URI that could be located anywhere (within an app, on the storage, etc). AntennaPod interacts with a file provider - those files can not directly be read/written like we do it for downloads.

[Corey-Keller]

@ByteHamster Is there any plan to make beta releases available outside of Google Play? I had to uninstall the F-Droid version after joining the beta on GP to be able to use 2.1. I don't know if F-Droid supports beta channels, but I know Github supports beta releases.

[mathstuf]

F-Droid does sometimes do beta builds (they're not automatically recommended as upgrades though). It might take an issue on the F-Droid side to make them aware to make beta builds for AntennaPod available though.

[ByteHamster]

F-Droid has beta versions but it does not have a way to automatically check for beta versions based on tags. That means that all beta releases have to be added to F-Droid manually. I can tag beta releases as soon as they are ready (when the Google beta does not expose a really bad crash) but someone else has to do the pull requests for F-Droid. This needs to be a person who is experienced with git (but no Android development needed). The reason is that just filing an issue for F-Droid increases the workload of their maintainers and is probably slow. If there is something important to fix, an update needs to be rolled out instantly.

So, beta releases on F-Droid basically just need someone who does the work and agrees to continue doing that over a longer time period to ensure that this does not fall back to me, in the end.

[antennapod-bot]

This issue has been mentioned on AntennaPod Forum. There might be relevant details there:

https://forum.antennapod.org/t/apk-on-github/367/2