How to Sync Music to Your Pre in a Post-iTunes World 72
Since Apple has decided to take their iTunes ball and go home, Palm Pre owners who had come to depend on the software as their synchronization solution have found themselves out in the cold. Do not distress, for there are many options available for you to continue delightful synchronization of your music. Several of these options even come with more options than iTunes itself, and if there’s anything we like here, it’s options.
Our list is by no means comprehensive, but it is broad and touches upon the various options available for iTunes synchronization, as well as ways for non-iTunes users to get their music easily onto the Pre. If there’s something else that you use, or a sync solution that you need, sound off in the comments!
Plug the Pre into your computer and select USB Drive. Yeah, it’s a bit of a hassle to move from automagic iTunes sync to manually dragging and dropping songs onto you Pre. But it does have some advantages, namely that it is OS and music player agnostic. On the other hand, there’s no playlist support.
Use iTunes 8.2 [Mac and PC]
Yeah, don’t upgrade to 8.2.1. That’s a solution that will work and work exactly as advertised (until we reach the point where an iTunes upgrade is more or less mandatory). “But I already updated!” you say? Have no fear, for iTunes 8.2 is still available, at least for Windows users.
doubleTwist [Mac and PC]
If you feel like sticking with iTunes and don’t want to deal with the hassle of not updating, then doubleTwist media sync is for you. As the iTunes library is stored as a simple XML file that Apple has not [yet] tried to lock down, it’s wide open for third-party developers (Palm, you listening?) to crack open and enable their own sync solutions. With doubleTwist you connect your Pre in USB Drive mode - or most any other USB drive device – and sync your stuff from iTunes without using iTunes. doubleTwist also supports the importing of YouTube videos. Playlist support is somewhat half-baked, though we can blame that on the Pre. While you can select playlists in doubleTwist to sync, the music (and not the list) will be sent to the Pre. On the bonus side, though, is doubleTwist’s double side: it syncs from your Pre to iTunes, so any tracks you purchase off of Amazon MP3 are synced back into your iTunes library. Be sure to check out PreCentral's full profile of doubleTwist.
Salling Media Sync [Mac and PC]
Connect your Pre via USB Drive mode and Salling Media Sync can handle your iTunes synchronization needs. Even better, they specifically and purposefully released a 1.1 update with Palm Pre support shortly after Apple pulled the plug. Salling Media Sync comes in two flavors: free and paid. The free has all the features of the paid version, it just happens to be excruciatingly slow later on because it copies the entire sync list to the Pre every time, whereas the paid version ($22) syncs only new or changed items. Unlike doubleTwist (on the Mac, anyway), Salling Media Sync also comes with full playlist synchronization support.
Dazzboard [PC]
You don’t want to install a whole new program on your computer just to get your music to sync, and frankly, we don’t blame you. There’s a half-solution, however: Dazzboard. With support for over 100 devices, including the Palm Pre, Dazzboard lives inside your browser as a mere plug-in that in conjunction with their website allows you to seamlessly transfer media from your computer to your device and visa versa. It even supports pulling videos off of YouTube and photos from Photobucket and Flikr, and even uploading of content to all those and Facebook. As Google engineering VP Vic Gundotra recently said, webapps are the future over native installations.
iTuneMyWalkman [Mac]
Got a Mac? Then iTuneMyWalkman is for you, even if you don’t consider your Pre to be a Sony device (it’s not, don’t worry). iTuneMyWalkman has three distinct components, so the installation can be as invasive as you like. You can manage your media from inside the program, or install plug-ins that let you manage it all with iTunes. Since this is a Mac product, it also can integrate nicely with other Mac programs, like iPhoto. Plus, it’s completely free and glorious open source.
MediaMonkey [PC]
If you can mount it as a USB drive (or iPod), you can sync it with MediaMonkey. As it would turn out, the Pre can do that, so sync it too can. Unlike many media players, MediaMonkey scours your entire computer for music and can help you keep it all organized with features like automatic renaming and tagging. While the free version will sync just fine with your Pre, if you pony up $20 for MediaMonkey Gold you get on-the-fly format conversion as well as several handy features for your desktop experience.
The Missing Sync [Mac]
Coming soon for PC, but for now only on the Mac side, is the perennial saver of Mac user skins: The Missing Sync. While not as desperately needed as it was for the Palm OS or Windows Mobile days, The Missing Sync does bring a bevy of local synchronization features to your webOS device, including iTunes synchronization. It even supports the ability to cut ringtones for the Pre from your music library. Oh, and it can sync your contacts, calendar, photos, videos, and files with ease.
Winamp [PC]
Already used by many music lovers anyway, the latest version of Winamp not only lets you import your music and playlists from iTunes, it also features the miraculous ability to sync with iPods - and thus your Pre. You can automatically sync music and playlists and podcasts, or if it suits your fancy you can roll up your sleeves and manually manage your iPod’s media.
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There's a sampling of some of the sync solutions out there. Anything we missed?
72 Comments
What stinks with DoubleTwist is that it is only set to watch the iTunes folder in hte Music Folder of My Docs. I use Zune Marketplace and it would be nice if you could set the folder structure yourself. This way I could sync my free songs from Zune to my Palm Pre. Other than that I like what DoubleTwist is trying to do.
We've been able to sync Windows Mobile with iTunes forever
What about a program that's called itunesync? It syncs any non apple device with itunes.
Have a look at Helium Music Manager
http://www.helium-music-manager.com/
It does iPod-syncing and a lot lot more
Soooo itunes made an upgrade that made it not be compatible with the Pre?
What rock did you just crawl out from under?
Because that was necessary right?
Wait, you mean there is life outside of forums?
What are the advantages to sync-ing over just drag and dropping in USB mode? Is it just playlists?
Playlists, yes. But also with a proper sync solution if you delete a song from a playlist or library in iTunes it should be deleted from the phone when you sync. I don't think drag-n-drop can manage that very efficiently without some manual intervention.
Are there any options that will let you do wireless syncing on a PC. Aramok on the Mac supports this. Currently, media syncing is the only reason I ever have to plug my Pre in. Everything else I do wirelessly. Just curious.
For Daryl,
Have you tried telling DoubleTwist to use the Windows Media Player library instead of iTunes? I don't know what file format you use, but my WMP and Zune libraries are identical, with the exception of a few .mp4s WMP can't read, of course.
Apple is darn silly. I dont wish for anyone to lose money or stock value in this economy but come on. You have a thrid party who wants to play on your itunes. Connect to your iTunes store and buy music from you but no... you want to ban them. Not a smart move at all. Reduce your market share? I am sorry but Palm shares should have not drop... Apple shares should have. No one is going to stop buying Ipods or iPhones. The only thing apple did here is lose an audence of die hard Sprint users that now were going to start using thier services... Oh wait.... is the issue that Palm made a better product and Apple might lose market share? Hum.... either way Apple made a bad business move.
Apple uses the closed ecosystem to drive sales of iPods and iPhones. For those that don't know that an iPod is just another mp3 player (as opposed to some magical device), there is a good chance that they think it's iTunes or nothing. Giving those people the option of another smartphone that is allowed into the walled garden would limit sales of iPhones.
I agree that Apple would still want non-iPhone users to buy music from iTunes, but I'm pretty sure that they make a lot more money from the sales of iPhones than music.
I don't even used iTunes...never have, never will!
But if the issue is ripping CD's and managing media purchased through Amazon, etc. then Windows Media Player works just fine for syncing. Haven't got playlist support to work but since my previous MP3 player was a 256MB Sony Network Walkman it was never really an issue before (LOL).
What about Windows Media Player? It works as well, if not better, than any of these programs. You just have to put the Pre in USB mode and WMP picks it up and you can sync everything to it.
Is this confirmed?? I was trying last night and it wasn't seeing it in USB mode. Ill try again because I prefer WMP. Anyone got their pre syncing through windows media player?
Yes, I have synced my Pre (in USB mode only) to WMPlayer. You just have to make sure all your music is in MP3, now WMA formats.
im not much of a 'computer' person but how am i able to use windows media player to pt music on my palm? can u do like an 'idiots guide' for me? u can email me at: japanese_girl60@yahoo.com. plz and thank u!!
i was under the impression that the fact that you didn't need to use itunes with the pre was a major advantage... itunes is horrible.
Amen to that!
So Apple finally took theirs toys and went home - GOOD!
Never liked itoons as I hated its intrusive nature and talk about BLOATWARE OMG!
If you don't want to use iToons I am really gald to hear I you can use almost any other (paid or free) media player app!
Now that's what I call choice !
I'll try Windows Media Player first as I used Windows Media Centre also.
I will convert video to the PRE format using http://www.ipod-video-converter.org/ and save those files to my sunc'd folder for Windows media player to pick up.
Its free so it avoids me having to put up with paying for a fully functional MediaMonkey
What about Real Player? It will download any video that streams online, and convert it specifically for your device. Palm Pre was just added to the list. It will also work for music, but I haven't tried that yet.
I'm in the "I don't use iTunes" camp. I just keep all my music on my Pre. I have over 2000 songs and re-encoded them for the Pre at a slightly lower quality than the copies I have on my computer so they will all fit. Even after putting all my music on my Pre, I still have room for TV shows, movies and apps.
I've had a few issues with Missing Sync 1.0.0 (Mac) so far. First the good news...it does do the basic job of transferring music files from iTunes 8.2 (haven't updated yet) correctly. The main problem I have is that several of my playlists in the Pre Music app are incomplete, i.e. are missing songs, and one playlist doesn't show up at all. I can see the .m3u playlist files on the Pre in USB mode and their contents look okay to my untrained eye, but it's as if the Music app doesn't like them. I don't know if this is a Missing Sync problem or a Music app problem. I'll take it up with Mark/Space this week.
A secondary problem is when I sync the Pre, the Missing Sync application window closes so I can't see the progress.
Just for the sake of completeness I want to mention Palm Music Assistant as a footnote. It's available from Palm at http://palm.com/support --> Phones --> Palm Pre --> Downloads. It's not a full-fledged sync solution. All it does is transfer your purchased Amazon tracks from the Pre to iTunes, removing them from the phone. (You have to sync them back to the phone.)
Works great with K3B and Rhythmbox and those are some of the best music management programs I have ever used.
Go Linux!
I've been a long time itunes user for podcasts, manually syncing files via usb. I quickly got used to the automatic sync with the Pre, but once Apple programmed itunes to block this, I felt irritated with apple and deleted itunes from my main use computer. I've starting using the Zune software for getting podcasts, and windows media player to sync. I haven't figured out if it is possible to make playlists that I can sync to the Pre. I might even delete itunes from all my computers and choose another service to download movies, like Netflix.
For such a brilliant company Apple can really be stupid sometimes. How does it hurt them to let other devices be seen by Itunes? Do they really think they will sell one more ipod becuase of this? They should be positioning Itunes to be the industry standard in media syncing. It would be more people using Itunes to purchase thier music. These devices are only meant as corrots to get people to sign up for data plans and such. Very short sighted in my worthless opinion.
To make money Apple needs to sell iPhones and iPods, not music.
Isn't there a Palm Music Assistant? I think I d/l'd from the Palm website but I haven't used it yet...I'll look around...
I use Amarok2, it works perfectly.
for those using amarok or rhythmbox, how did you get it to work. i know many people on here (including me) who tried and it would seem to sync files, but they would just disappear when you looked for them on the pre.
Keep in mind, this is amarok2. I plugged in the device, had kde4 mount it (clicked it's icon in the device notifier). It appeared in amarok as a "collection", I right clicked the albums I wanted and copied to another colletion.
How do I remove the podcasts from iTunrs?
Songbird seems to do a decent job as well. Best of all, it's free.
Does doubleTwist (or any of the other choices) sync or support album art?
With Doubletwist..click on edit in the top tool bar then preferences. Then all you have to do is check windows media player to have it import your wma library.
I found a program for mac that works on pre-intel mac also that i have used instead of iTunes for awhile now, its called Floola www.floola.com/
It works well to put music on you iPod AND PRE for those who can't run intel only mac apps (like me)
EDIT: AND its FREE!!!!
WinAmp Rocks! It always has... and now it Rocks even more. I was ticked a few years back when WinAmp added an iPod sync option, because I HATE iPods/iPhones/iEverything. However, now I love it, because it allows me to use the iPod sync control to perfectly and easily sync songs and playlists with my Pre!
If you don't have/use WinAmp... Get it! It's featured packed, easy to use, extremely stable... and it's still FREE!
Pre & WinAmp... NICE!
hi,
when you write pc, you mean linux and windows, or just linux?
Seriously, this whole ordeal is a NON-ISSUE if you simply refrain from updating your iTunes. Yup, that's it. DON'T UPDATES iTUNES. I mean really, what major changes do you see from update to update in iTunes? Most important/necessary updates only come along at the release of a new iPod anyway. So just don't update.
*
What works the best to bring over the 1)music, 2)synch it, and 3)tie the album artwork to the songs, and 4)leave the Artists as I want them? I found I-Tunes totally messed with my artists and I ended up with Artists listed in ways I would not want them. I found Double Twist a little troublseome to work with as the options were a little limited. I think Media Monkey had lots of options (maybe more than I wanted). Anyone have better luck with WinAmp or others?
WinAmp works GREAT! See my post above about 5 sections. I tested both WMP and WinAmp, and WinAmp does a far superior job. Easy setup and consistent syncing!
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sara
http://smallbusinessgrant.info
Gawd.......iTunes...
I understand that so many folks use it. And I guess if you are a MAC user you are stuck....but Why anyone would use that thing on Windows and they don't have to is beyond me. Unless you have DRM music, you owe it to yourself to at least try something else.
I vote for Mozilla Songbird also.
Mozilla Songbird works nicely as an Itunes sync substitute.
Winamp & the Ml_iPod plugin gives me the control I need.
I can save my music files how & where I want, named how & what I want, and sync with my Pre & iPod.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sara
http://smallbusinessgrant.info
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sara
http://smallbusinessgrant.info
I too use Windows Media Player. Works like a charm and if you want to view your music on your Pre in a logical way, Music\artist\album\songs than this is the way to go.
iTunes saves you music in some funky folder listing that doesnt make sense.
I believe that Palm and Apple have got to break this cycle of abuse of the customers of both companies. All this unnecessary "updating" of PalmOS and iTunes just to keep the compatibility wars going is ridiculous. It's doing nothing but pissing off customers on both sides, and that's never good for business.
Can't they all just get along?
I guess there are no Rhapsody users here? I just upgraded from a Centro (love that phone) using Pocket Tunes streaming radio (ala Pandora) and Rhapsody (formerly Yahoo Music) for managing songs\playlists and DRM music (ala iTunes).
So today I fire up Rhapsody, set Pre to Media Sync and
Anyone have anything for Napster-to-go? I'm also firmly in the "I hate Mac/Apple/iTunes" bunch, and so refuse to even mess with that. But, I really like my $15 unlimited upload plan with Napster and would like to eliminate my mp3 player and just use the Pre. Napster's suggestion was to buy a different phone - that's not an option. I'd be more likely to dump Napster, but other than this I've been perfectly happy with it - any ideas?
Diana, have you tried plugging in the Pre in "Media Sync" mode while Napster is running? All Music programs should detect it just like an ipod so you don't need to have specific Pre compatibility. I used my Pre with Rhapsody which is the competitor app to Napster. :)
I what ever music software you choose supports ipods, your all set.
it is broad and touches upon the various options available for iTunes synchronization, as well as ways for non-iTunes users to get their music easily onto the Pre.
Version 8 of iTunes for Mac is available here:
http://www.oldversion.com/iTunes.html
I have had no problems syncing to WMP. I have not tried syncing playlists.
I need advice. I live in a family of two camps. My wife uses iTunes and I don't. She has an iPod and I have my Pre. Does anyone have a suggestion on one program that can utilize both systems together so that I may streamline my media needs?
I have read all the posts in this comment list and no fewer than 10 media players/organizers have been mentioned. I'm not inclined to download all of these and test which works best. I would enjoy input from the Pre community.
I didn't read all the posts thoroughly, so if this has been covered please forgive.
many of the music sync clients listed here are great and work well with the Pre.
It didn't notice if anyone had mentioned Windows Media Player. i just started playing with sycing music and photos the other night and decided to try WMP since I am not an iTunes user or fan. WMP seemed to work perfectly.
I am not a huge music person and was not aware of Songbird. I am definitely a fan of Mozilla so I will be testing out Songbird here in the near future.
I just wanted to mention WMP for those who might like to use it.
-Edweirdo
Maybe I am missing it, but is there a way to use the Napster to Go feature on the Pre?
I felt irritated with apple and deleted i tunes from my main use computer.Thanks for post..........
under armour
the iPod_manager plugin for Foobar works too for those of you who use foobar, i'm in the process of syncing right now :)
..though it seems to be going kinda slow.
I had an issue with syncing but it works well now. I have not had a problem since.
whistleblower
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so does all tht mean i cant use my windows media player to download music from media to the palm?? if so, tht rly sucks! if not, can someone tell me how to do tht?? plz and thank you!!
I have read all the posts in this comment list and no fewer than 10 media players/organizers have been mentioned. I'm not inclined to download all of these and test which works best. I would enjoy input from the Pre community. +2
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I used DoubleTwist forever, until recently a glitch caused it to not support iTunes playlists on webOS (at least in some devices, if not all). I just switched to MediaMonkey and can't believe I stuck with DT so long! MediaMonkey rules (free version... haven't messed with paid version)! In fact, I just set it up to be our sole media interface device, even with our iPods! Works great!
Currently DoubleTwist is having trouble making playlists work on the Palm Pre. Its all because they make the playlist in all lower-case text. They said they were fixing it - but that was at least 6 months ago. I wrote a Windows VBScript that will convert all your playlists directly on your phone. Just plug your phone in as "USB Drive" and run this script. It will ask you for the drive letter of your Palm device. Then it will create a new set of playlists (m3u files) that work. You can leave both the old and new playlists out there or delete the old and rename the new. I ran it against my phone just fine. If anyone is interested - email me at "thebentwoods-brian@att.net".