Sense 6 came with a ton of new features for the HTC One, but for some reason, HTC decided to keep one of them hidden to all non-Harman Kardon editions.
Music Channel is a music visualizer that can also link into the GraceNote music catalog and display lyrics for any compatible songs. While it may not be the most revolutionary feature, it can definitely be a great app to have mirrored to your Chromecast.
Enabling Music Channel is extremely simple thanks for a hack uncovered by XDA member Carl Baker. This process will work for both the M7 and M8, just be sure you have root access and a root-capable file explorer, like ES File Explorer.
Step 1: Find Default.xml
We will need to edit a file located at /system/customize/acc/, but to do that, we will first need to make sure ES File Explorer has the right permissions. So from the sidebar, tap Root Explorer -> Mount R/W and make sure /system has RW permission.
After that, open up default.xml from /system/customize/acc/.
Step 2: Edit Default.xml
Open the file with ES Note Editor, then scroll all the way to the end of the file to find the line that starts with support_music_channel. Change the value to true, save the changes, then reboot your device.
Step 3: Enable Music Channel
After the reboot, open your Settings app and toggle on Music Channel. Now whenever you play a song through any music app, Music Channel will be activated and will display a visualizer along with the lyrics to your song, as long as GraceNote has it in its library.
This isn't something that you would use everyday, but it can definitely give you some sweet background visualizers when playing music at a party through your Chromecast.
Just updated your iPhone to iOS 18? You'll find a ton of hot new features for some of your most-used Apple apps. Dive in and see for yourself:
9 Comments
Hey Andrew! Saw this and thought I would try it on my One M7. When I go to ESFile Explorer and press Root Explorer on, I get the following message "Sorry, test failed. This feature can not run on this device".
Thoughts?
Is your device rooted? If it is check your super user app and make sure ES File Explorer isn't blocked.
It is (you helped me through that ordeal). When I click SuperSu I get this message "There is no SU binary installed, and SuperSU can not install it. This a problem! If you just upgraded to Android 4.3, you need to manually re-root-consult the revelant forums for your device!"
??
That means you have not rooted your device. You can use this guide.
This post is confusing for a couple of reasons.
1) My M7 (Sprint) has had this feature for quite some time. The HTC Music app (called simply Music with a red colored headset) lets you swipe from Queue to Now Plaing to Visualize. A single tap on the Visualize screen switches it to full screen and let's you swipe through different styles.
2) The string mentioned in your article does not exist in my default.xml file.
The visualizer is accessible through the music app, but not when when you are using another app (like Play Music). You can always add the string to your xml file just make sure you have your M7 updated to the latest OTA.
Hey nice article!But somehow i just can't seem to get it work on my rooted M7. .Ive modified and saved the default.xml and i can see that its true now. .still i dont get any options in the settings..any ideas?Thanks!
What Sense and Android version is on your M7?
never mind. .just sold my m7 and got a m8. .and i tried this and it works wonderfully well! Thanks a lot!
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