How to get a list of installed media players

Question

In my app I have a menu item that I want to open up the user\'s preferred media player, only interested in audio. Ideally the first time the user chooses this item it would

Answer 1

OK here is how I ask the OS for a list of installed audio players.

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
Uri uri = Uri.withAppendedPath(MediaStore.Audio.Media.INTERNAL_CONTENT_URI,"1"); 
intent.setData(uri);
List playerList;
playerList = packageManager.queryIntentActivities(intent, 0);

playerList will then be populated with ResolveInfo objects for every app on the phone that claims to handle audio. From the ResolveInfo you can get things like package name to launch the activity, you can get icons and app names. I use it to populate a custom dialog that looks and acts like the stock Android dialog for choosing an activity to launch. I also have the option for the user to set the chosen app as default.

This isn't perfect. You are at the mercy of the OS and the app's intent filters. I have tried this with a few phones and the following apps show up properly: Stock media player for original Droid, stock media player for HTC phones, doubleTwist and MixZing. However, I installed Zimly and it does not show up. I suspect their intent filters aren't set up for audio.

I was also worried there may be cases when MediaStore.Audio.Media.INTERNAL_CONTENT_URI does not have any audio. I have tried this code immediately following a reboot and it works. I have not tried it on a phone with no user media installed.