Transfer MP3 Songs in Raspberry Pi to Android Phone Using Bluetooth

Introduction

Chances are you have lots of mp3 files stuck in a PC like I do. I wanted to listen to the songs when I am out. So that's my motivation for making this instructable.

Scope

This instructable will show:

• How to install Bluetooth in the Raspberry Pi
• How to make Android Phone become a Bluetooth File Transfer Profile (FTP) server
• How to make Raspberry Pi become a Bluetooth File Transfer Profile (FTP) client
• How to transfer mp3 file to the Android Phone using a Bluetooth File Transfer Profile (FTP) client in Raspberry Pi
• How to test successful transfer

This instructable will NOT show how to operate MP3 Player in Android

Target Readers

This instructable will mostly benefit Linux users, especially Debian and its derivatives like Raspberry Pi running Raspbian OS.

System Environment

Raspberry Pi with the following specification:

• Model B
• Debian 7.6
• Bluetooth Radio USB Adaptor
• Mains-Powered USB Hub

Android Phone with the following specification:

• Android Kitkat
• Bluetooth Interface

Follow all the steps in my "Install Bluetooth in Linux System" instructable.

Follow all the steps in my "Make Android Phone become a Bluetooth File Transfer Profile (FTP) Server" instructable.

Open Terminal Emulator like LXTerminal.

Install Bluetooth FTP client program

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install obexftp

sudo apt-cache show obexftp

Output of terminal emulator

Package: obexftp

Version: 0.23-1.1+rpi1

Architecture: armhf

Maintainer: Hendrik Sattler

Installed-Size: 82

Depends: libbfb0, libbluetooth3 (>= 4.91), libc6 (>= 2.13-28), libmulticobex1, libobexftp0, libopenobex1

Conflicts: libobexftp1

Provides: flexmem

Homepage: http://triq.net/obex

Priority: optional

Section: comm

Filename: pool/main/o/obexftp/obexftp_0.23-1.1+rpi1_armhf.deb

Size: 29922

SHA256: 5c7c496ce977179265e25841048cc4fea82eceabc3c62dbfa0c4def7cbc7e08a

SHA1: 152048a8188394157cf1fce2d19b1bb663231923

MD5sum: 21cf4cd13a7b917973c19f2130c7b712

Description: file transfer utility for devices that use the OBEX protocol

OBEX, the OBject EXchange protocol, can best be described as binary HTTP.

OBEX is optimized for ad-hoc links and can be used to exchange

all kind of objects like files, pictures, calendar entries (vCal)

and business cards (vCard) over bluetooth, IrDA, USB and serial cable

links.

.

This is the command line front-end that fully uses the capabilities of

libobexftp.

In Raspberry Pi

Open terminal emulator like LXTerminal

Scan for nearby bluetooth device:

hcitool -i hci0 scan

Output of terminal emulator

Scanning ...

Z8:E0:79:31:7F:C1 JEBAT-MOTO

Remember the Bluetooth address Z8:E0:79:31:7F:C1

In Raspberry Pi

Open terminal emulator like LXTerminal

Run an pairing agent that whose function is to receive a pairing request

bluez-simple-agent

Output of terminal emulator

Agent registered

In Raspberry Pi

Open terminal emulator like LXTerminal.

Change directory to where the song is stored.

cd /home/pi/my_songs

Recall the bluetooth address (eg. Z8:E0:79:31:7F:C1) of the Android Phone found in the previous step because the address is one of the input to the next step.

Send file using Bluetooth File Transfer Profile (FTP) client:

obexftp -b Z8:E0:79:31:7F:C1 -c Music -p song.mp3

In Android Phone

Look at the Android Phone for any prompts

Android Phone may issue a "Bluetooth Pairing Request" event

Swipe down from top with one finger to display status screen

Tap on "Bluetooth Pairing Request" event

Android Phone may display a "Bluetooth Pairing Request" dialog box

Enter a pin for pairing: 1234

Tap on done button

In Raspberry Pi

Look at the terminal emulator window that is running bluez-simple-agent program

The bluez-simple-agent program may prompt you to enter pairing pin

Output of terminal Emulator

RequestPinCode (/org/bluez/2044/hci0/dev_F8_E0_79_31_7F_C0)

Enter PIN Code:

Enter the same pin as in Android: 1234

Look at the terminal emulator that you had executed the program "obexftp -b Z8:E0:79:31:7F:C1 -c Music -p song.mp3"

Observe the log messages being printed

Output of terminal emulator running "obexftp -b Z8:E0:79:31:7F:C1 -c Music -p song.mp3"

Browsing F8:E0:79:31:7F:C0 ...

Connecting..\done

Tried to connect for 1931ms

Sending "Music"...|done

Sending "song.mp3"...\done

Disconnecting..|done

The following line in the output indicates successful transfer:

'Sending "song.mp3"...\done

The following lines in the output indicates failed transfer:

Sending "song.mp3"... failed: song.mp3

The operation failed with return code 1

Status

So the above transfer was a success.

In Android Phone

Open MP3 player. (I highly recommend "Rocket Player")

Make the MP3 player rescan the device. (This rescan function is available in Rocket Player but I could not find such a function in Google Music Player)

Look for the song

Status

The transfer of MP3 file is successful if you located the song.