How do I listen to Dropbox mp3s offline on Android?

[javhar]

I have a collection of mp3 stored in Dropbox. How do I play them on my Android phone while offline? Here's what has not solved my use case:

• Use a cloud music player that can cache them to my phone. Will not work: My mp3s are not music. They're not on any of the cloud services.
• Make the Dropbox folder available offline and play them from there. Does not do what I want: I'd have to click on them one by one to play them. I can't just set it to shuffle play and go do something else.
• Use an mp3 player app that can play local files. Have not been able to get it to work: Dropbox stores them in the Dropbox cache which is somehow very hard to find.
• Download file from Dropbox to phone storage. Apparently no good: I'd have to download them one by one. I can't do it for an entire folder, so far as I know.

Anyone have a good solution? Surely I can't be the only one wanting to listen to mp3s on an airplane.

[Rich]

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@javhar wrote:

I have a collection of mp3 stored in Dropbox. How do I play them on my Android phone while offline?

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• Make the Dropbox folder available offline and play them from there. Does not do what I want: I'd have to click on them one by one to play them. I can't just set it to shuffle play and go do something else.

That's really your only option. Dropbox is not a full-featured audio player. While it can play audio files, it does not have most of the common features you would want in an audio player. The basic functionality is meant for previewing files. It doesn't advance to the next track or have shuffle capability.

You only other option is to download the files, individually, to your device storage and use a proper audio player.

[alissa914 · Accepted solution]

There's a great app called DropSync.  I've been using it for years and it will do what you need.  It keeps your folder and PC in sync with Dropbox.  If you add songs on either device, it syncs it back, if you make tag changes, rename them, etc, it will sync back.  Delete them and they will delete too.  Great convenience this.

[peterk]

Cloudplayer will stream from dropbox clud to your phone. If you install the Dropbox app on your phone and select make the files available offline, cloudplayer will stream directly from the Dropbox cache on your phone with or without internet connection

[miohtama]

Can someone please explain to me why I need to a sync application for my file sync application to properly listen to my music on my device?

This is a joke. Please bring old Dropbox back.