I recently made the commitment to the Droid. It took me quite awhile to finally make the plunge into the world of the smartphone.  As much as I loved the thought of having one, I wasn’t ready to personally commit my own cash to an expensive data plan, or separate myself from the Verizon network.

Anyway, after about a year of fence-sitting and waiting for the next gotta-have device to hit the market, I chose to buy a Droid. It is a bit of a wonder-device and so far I’m really digging it.

One of the first things that crossed my mind after I opened the box and got it activated was, “OK, how do I play my media files on this thing?” Or, more specifically first, “How do I get the media files on and off of this thing?” Well, let’s take a look…

Note: I’m using Windows 7, so your “experience” may differ slightly if you are using a different flavor of Windows.

Connecting the Droid

Physically connect your Droid to your computer with the supplied USB cable.

You’ll notice the little USB icon appear at the top. Tab and drag it down with your finger…

This will reveal the USB Connected message. Tap to open…

Now, click “Mount.” As, the message indicates, this will allow you to copy files back and forth. Note: You’ll want to Unmount before disconnecting your Droid. More on theat later…

You should see the AutoPlay window appear. Click on Open folder to view files.

If you don’t get the AutoPlay pop up, you should be able to access it through Windows Explorer.

Your folder structure may have some different entries, but you should see a DCIM folder. Double-click on it to open.

Again, folders may vary.

Assuming you’ve actually used the camera, either for photos, or video, you should have a Camera folder. Double-click to open and you’ll see your image and video files. Photos are in .jpg format while video is recorded as .3GP files.  Now it’s just as simple as copying or moving the files to your computer just like you would any other files.

If you want to transfer media to your Droid, it’s just the same. Simply copy the media file to a folder on the Droid. You can create your own folders to store specific media through Windows Explorer. What I did was create a folder called Videos. You really could name it anything, Movies, TV shows, films, or whatever. Then I copy a few video files onto the Droid for later viewing.

When you copy video or image files onto your Droid, regardless of which folder you copy them into, they will appear in the Gallery. Note: While your phone is “mounted,” you won’t be able to view any multimedia files.

Click to play and you’ll be enjoying your video….

Disconnecting the Droid

When you’re finished, don’t forget to Unmount your Droid. Tab and swipe the top bar again.

Tap “Turn off USB storage.”

This might be a bit confusing, but you want to tap “Turn Off” to unmount the device and turn off the USB storage.

Now you can disconnect your Droid. This process isn’t too bad. Actually, I like the thought of transferring items manually. Although, there are other way (Apps) to handle transferring your media files. I’ll be taking a look at those down the road.

I’ll also be looking specifically at the best ways to convert your video for playback on the Droid, and how to convert those 3GP files that Droid creates when you use it to capture Video.