So, I have this Samsung YH-J70J mp3/ogg/wma player device. I picked it up used for $200, which is not too bad for a 30gb device. Anyways, it uses the MTP protocol (which is Microsoft BS for ‘we want to anally probe you with DRM), and doesn’t work under Linux. Actually, it doesn’t work under Windows either, unless you specifically have XP and WMP10. WMP11 doesn’t even work, but that’s besides the point. So, anyhow, after going insane for a while trying vainly to get libmtp to work, I finally found a little blurb on the blog of some guy from France about this device. Said blurb mentions that if you turn on Hold, hold down the Record key, and plug in the USB, the player will mount in UMS mode. I did this, and voila, a USB hard disk appears in Linux. I can now copy music to/from my device, no issues. So, hooray for undocumented options.
Fast forward to this morning, and I’m reading up on these Samsung devices, and I find out that the Asian versions have no DRM, and therefore, no lame MTP… I decide then and there to try upgrading to Asian firmware. I hit the Samsung Singapore site (which is conveniently in English) and find firmware for 3 YH-J70 models. I realise they all point to the exact same firmware file, so I figure… hey, maybe these things are all basically the same…! A couple clicks and a download later, I copy the firmware to the root directory of my device, unplug, reboot, and… nothing. I get kind of confused, then I check out the firmware for the North American version. Aha, the Asian firmware is all named j70_32.bin, whilst the North American firmware is named j707j_32.bin. So I rename the Asian firmware, unplug, reboot, and…. a firmware updating screen comes up! I wait for it to hit 100%, and reboot the device. At this point, I am greeted by a blank white screen. My heart of course sinks into my stomach, and I get worried. However, I plug in headphones and… I hear music! So, obviously, the firmware upgrade worked, the screens just don’t seem to be compatible for some reason. I manage to plug in the device, it mounts all on it’s own as a USB Drive (UMS is the default in the Asian firmwares), and copy back the North American firmware. Unplug, reboot, and … nothing. I realise the player expects to see j70_32.bin now that it has the Asiany firmware, so I rename the North American firmware to that, mount the drive, copy it back, unplug, reboot AGAIN, and I get blank white screen that stays on. After a bit it goes dark, I power up the player, and voila, I can see the screen again. So, end result is I will have to keep using the ‘undocumented feature’ to mount in UMS mode.
