Accessing resources on device

Question

How would you access resources, such as media (mp3) stored on the device (flash card), list available such resources, download and save (rather than to the record store) etc.?

Answer 1

A little summery for future ref:
Intro
"The FileConnection API [JSR-075] gives access to file systems and support for file-oriented operations. The API assumes the existence of a file system in the device that can be located, for example, in removable memory cards, flash memory, or other types of persistent storage. This API is not meant to be a replacement for the Record Management System (RMS) but rather a complement to it allowing MIDlets to interact with native applications. For example, a MIDlet could access and manipulate images previously captured by a native application using a built-in digital camera. Those images are commonly stored in the device�s memory and with the FileConnection API they are made accessible to CLDC/CDC1 applications."
"The API is very simple containing just one class, two interfaces, and two exceptions. The most important part is the FileConnection interface, which extends the Connection interface and gives access to directories and individual files. Implementations of FileConnection are created using the Connector.open() method. The argument of the open() method is a URL with the format file://<host>/<path>, as defined in RFC 1738 [RFC 1738] and RFC 2396 [RFC 2396], where host is normally left empty and path starts with the root of the file system down to a particular file or directory. An example of a typical file URL in a Symbian device looks like the following: file:///C:/Nokia/Images/Image(001).jpg The roots of the file system are device-specific and they don�t necessarily correspond to physical memory units since they are logically defined by the device�s operating system."
"Since the FileConnection API is an optional extension, a system property has been added to indicate the API�s presence. The microedition.io.file.FileConnection.version system property contains the implemented version of the API. Currently this property should have the value 1.0 to indicate the current status of the API or null if the API is not present."
supporting environments:
IBM's J9, PalmOS 5, Windows Mobile 2003.
Some mobile phones supporting FileConnection are listed here: http://www.benhui.net/modules.php?name=Midp2Phones
Links:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-pda-op/
http://jcp.org/aboutJava/communityprocess/final/jsr075/index.html
http://itpapers.techrepublic.com/abstract.aspx?docid=104503
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=524143&tstart=210