HP Play...... IS AWESOME.

[fxspec06]

So I downloaded the new HP Play beta today. But before I let you know what I think of it, let me give you a little background information:

I've been an avid iTunes user since 1999. My music library has grown and grown and grown, and has gone through many different pieces of software and many iterations of iTunes. I've used tons of tagging software and have tried nearly every music software in the last 10 - 15 years. iTunes works for me. It has the features I want, in the interface I want. I've owned many iPods over the years as well, probably about 15 - 20 of them all at various points at various times, but never more than 2 at once. I currently don't own an iPod.

When I first got my Pre+ phone back in September, I was excited but disappointed at the same time. It wouldn't natively sync with my library, because I had already updated to the latest version of iTunes (insert South Park joke here). I couldn't go back to an earlier version. I looked for syncing options everywhere, but none did what I wantd the way I wanted. So I backed up my library in two places and converted to MediaMonkey. I liked for a while, but grew out of it fast. Then I found J. River Media Center, which was, FWIW, the *second* best music player I have ever used in my entire life. If you hate iTunes for whatever reason, I can't say enough about J. River. It synced all my music, did what I wanted it to, and was fairly user friendly. It had its problems, but for the most part was a breeze and a joy to use.

Then along comes HP Play, -beta- version, mind you.

First thing I do this morning is copy my old iTunes library back to its folder in My Music, and copy the new music from when I stopped using iTunes into its old folder to get ready to import. Because I had planned so well (and because of a new iTunes feature in 9.0), iTunes had my old library up as soon as it finished copying. I didn't miss anything. In a couple hours I had my new music and playlists from J. River into iTunes, and I was ready to try HP Play.

I fired it up, and -immediately-, all of my iTunes songs and playlists, sans smartlists, began importing. Awesome. Just what I wanted, just what I needed, just what I've been waiting for. I can't begin to say how much this means to me. This is huge. This is a game changer. I let HP Play do its thing in the background. A little % in the bottom left lets me know how well it's doing. In about 30 - 45 minutes, it's finished importing my library. I see all song ratings, every single song, every single playlist, every single album artwork, all the correct tags... nice! Ready to sync.

I plug in my Pre 2. I select USB drive mode, and HP Play instantly recognizes it. I move over to the Pre 2 screen, and there it is! All the options to sync all of my playlists... exactly the way I want it!!!!!! Easy, intuitive, iTunes syncing. From HP.

I'm sure there's a hundred million iTunes users who need this feature. Not all for the same reasons as me, but they're valid reasons nonetheless.

A+

[sorli]

Yes I also like...would love video support to make things easier transfer wise, but thankfully they are making good progress and keep up the great work HP! Sorli...

[mafu6]

;lkjuytyhujklI like the opening post have used many different types of media manager including Zune MediaMonkey SongBird WinAmp to be fair this is no different really. This only my first impressions the skin is also a bit boring. What i do love about it though is the way it works with my Pre 2 and because i love my Pre 2 im going to give this alot more time.

[fxspec06]

The thing I love best is that I can use iTunes to manage my music, and then every time I load HP Play, it refreshes my iTunes library. This way I only open HP Play to sync.

[lougw]

So I downloaded HP Play last week, 7/1, when I brought the TouchPad home. Is it going to update itself or do I have to manually go in and download new versions?

[Crossville]

HP Play does not transfer all my itunes to my TP.

[siobhanellis]

It nolonger supports MAC :-(

[Crossville]

Originally Posted by Crossville

HP Play does not transfer all my itunes to my TP.

I went and used the old drag and drop method today. To transfer my music from Itunes to my TP. Works better than the HP Play.

[dignitary]

Awesome? Really? This POS always crashed on my Mac.

Drag and drop always worked better.