Playing MY MP3s on my new LG VX8300 phone

When I chose the LG VX8300 as my new Verizon mobile phone, I liked the idea of being able to play music on the phone. However, the 8300 is set up to push you to buy Verizon's VCast Music. It was not immediately obvious how to get the phone to play my own mp3s.

Thanks to some folks who posted their tips on the web, I finally got the 8300 playing my own music. Here's what I had to do:

1. Buy a microSD card (1 GB) and card reader. I bought the microSD from Fry's Outpost.com for about $25, and the Hummingbird 56 in 1 Card Reader (I've got several other card formats for other devices) from Fry's in Fountain Valley, CA for another $25.
2. Enable the phone to play mp3s. Press OK to access the menu; press 0; press all 0's for the Service Code; scroll to Music Settings; then turn on MP3 Enable.
3. Format the card. Insert the card into its slot on the right side of the phone (after removing the slot cover). Press OK to access the menu, then the right arrow key over to Settings & Tools; then scroll down or press 8 for Memory; then scroll down or press 3 for Card Memory. Press the right minus key (-) for Options, then OK to Format Card. If asked for another code, enter the last 4 digits of your phone number.
   
4. Now copy your mp3 files from your computer to your microSD card. Remove the card from the phone by pushing in on it; it should pop out. Insert the card into the SD adapter which came with it. Insert the SD card into its slot in the card reader. Plug the card reader into a USB port on your computer. It should show up as a Removable Disk drive on your computer. Use Windows Explorer to drag and drop mp3 files into the my_mp3 folder on the card. Apparently the phone does not support subfolders, so just dump them all in that one folder.
   
5. Remove the card from the reader and from the adapter, and put it back into your phone.
   
6. Set the phone's Play key (on the outside of the phone) to play your own mp3s. Press OK for the menu; go to Settings & Tools; press 5 for Phone Settings; press 2 for Shortcut Key; press 5 for the Play key; then choose My MP3s.
7. Now, press and hold the Play key on the outside of the phone for a few seconds until your music titles show. Press the Play key again to start play. The Forward and Back buttons jump from track to track as you would expect.

Thanks to Andy M's blog post and Rondald M. Cronovich's review on Amazon for much of this information.