Ultimate guide to syncing music and playlists using MediaMonkey

[cwgtex]

There is a lot of discussion on how to best sync music to the Pre. People have problems getting playlists and album art show up correctly on their devices. I decided to write a how-to for what is, in my opinion, the best option.

MEDIAMONKEY

Before you begin, download MediaMonkey here. Just download the normal free version, you don't need the Gold version. Add all your music to the library. I highly suggest using the built in tools for finding duplicates, properly tagging music, adding album art, etc. Play with it some. However, this how-to is just for syncing to the Pre, so lets move on.

MediaMonkey is compatible with the Pre in two ways:

* via the d_USBMass1.dll and d_WMDM.dll plugins. This option would sync just the same as if you copied and pasted files onto the Pre in USB mode. It is not recommended since playlists will not work properly.

* via the d_iPod.dll plugin, as of MediaMonkey version 3.1.2.1275. This is the option we will be using.

To use the iPod plugin, follow these steps:

1. Connect Pre to computer.
2. Select "Media Sync" (IMPORTANT!) (if you don't see media sync, go to the device info app > preferences > enable media sync)
3. Start MediaMonkey.

4. MediaMonkey configuration



With your Pre plugged in, go to the device configuration for your device within MM, accessible as shown above.

5. Auto-Sync list tab



From the "Auto-sync list", you can choose what music will be sent to your player. Send tracks by file location, album, or artist, or choose "All tracks" from the "Music" tab. If you want to sync playlists, you must check those playlists you want to sync from the "Playlists" tab. Depending on how much memory you have free, you may or may not want to sync all of your music. You will see a running total as you select more items to sync. You can use filters, sync music only from playlists, sync all of your music, or sync a random selection of music up to the device capacity.

6. Auto-sync options tab



Check that the “Delete tracks that aren't on the auto-sync...” box is checked as well as the “Confirm deletion” boxes are checked within this tab, as shown above. An option for you is whether you would like MM to sync to the device as soon as it is plugged in. If so, check the top box. If not, leave the box unchecked and MM will sync only when you tell it to. To always exclude a folder from the deletion check, add that folder to the exclude folders section (I added \ringtones to the excluded folders).

7. Device configuration tab



Match your settings to the settings shown above for maximum compatibility. There will be an option to "Force iTunes style folders". This should be checked.

8. Synchronization with MM



Hit the iPod button in the toolbar (right next to the config drop down menu you clicked earlier. Alternatively you can right click and use the Send to -> feature, though with “Send to” you risk not retaining your playcounts and ratings being synced back, as well as doubles showing on your iPod.


If you follow these directions properly, the Music app (or Music Player Remix) will recognize the playlists and album art just fine. If this tutorial has helped you please hit the {thanks} button.


Sources:
MediaMonkey » Free Media Jukebox, Music Manager, CD Ripper & Converter
Palm Pre - MMWiki
Guide to ipod sync - MMWiki
Device Profile Setup - MMWiki

P.S. MediaMonkey has this awesome feature in Windows 7 where if you have the player minimized and mouse over the icon, you get player controls and album art for the current song. See:

[Ozmodiar]

This guide was what finally pushed me over the edge to try out MediaMonkey...bye, bye iTunes!

I have a dumb question - I still have stuff on my Pre from when I was synced to iTunes on my old computer. If I just go ahead and sync to MM, is it going to screw anything up?

[cwgtex]

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

I have a dumb question - I still have stuff on my Pre from when I was synced to iTunes on my old computer. If I just go ahead and sync to MM, is it going to screw anything up?

I am honestly not sure. If I were you, I would manually copy the music on your device, import it into MediaMonkey on your computer, auto-organize it, remove duplicates, and then erase everything from your phone and sync it fresh with MediaMonkey.

The iTunes synced music on your phone will be in a hidden folder named iPod_Control.

[Ozmodiar]

Thanks. I plugged my phone in last night and was about to hit "sync" when I thought better of it.

I did notice I was able to browse all of the music that is on my Pre through Media Monkey, so I think I'm going to just delete everything with Media Monkey before syncing...or do you think I should just delete everything from iPod Control and proceed that way?

[cwgtex]

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

Thanks. I plugged my phone in last night and was about to hit "sync" when I thought better of it.

I did notice I was able to browse all of the music that is on my Pre through Media Monkey, so I think I'm going to just delete everything with Media Monkey before syncing...or do you think I should just delete everything from iPod Control and proceed that way?

Back up the iPod_Control folder, import the music from it into MediaMonkey, auto-organize, then erase iPod_Control from your Pre.

Then re-sync your newly updated MediaMonkey library to your Pre as shown in the original post.

[Ozmodiar]

Haha. Great minds think alike. That's exactly what I did.

I am now using Media Monkey and I am MUCH happier than I ever was with iTunes.

Thank you very much for this post, the recommendation, and the help.

[cwgtex]

Absolutely, you are very welcome.

Spread the word about MediaMonkey! I don't know why there is so much debate about the best way to sync music, MM is hands down the simplest, most elegant way to make playlists and album art work right. And the tagging and organization tools of MM are the best out there.

Now I just wish they would develop a version for Ubuntu!

[Ozmodiar]

Originally Posted by cwgtex

Ubuntu!

*drool* That would be amazing.

[nbock01]

Great Write up!!!

I notice that my music program is more responsive by this method than just copying and pasting the mp3s in a folder. I mean it is a serious difference in performance on the phone. And MM is an excellent mp3 organizer!

Thanks again for the write up.

[cwgtex]

Originally Posted by nbock01

Great Write up!!!

I notice that my music program is more responsive by this method than just copying and pasting the mp3s in a folder. I mean it is a serious difference in performance on the phone. And MM is an excellent mp3 organizer!

Thanks again for the write up.

I didn't think about this before, but I think you are right. I bet its because the music player has to index all the mp3s in a folder, but doing it in iPod file structure creates a database of all the songs.

[sclifton57@yahoo.com]

What about video files?

[vandelay]

I've been using Media Monkey for over 3 years now and have found it to be the best option for ANY mobile device. It just gives you so much more control than itunes does, and seems to be compatible with everything. Plus it has so many useful tools for organizing your music collection and in my opinion, has a nicer, more functional UI than itunes, not to mention it's also a lot faster.

Some people who are used to Apple's controlling environment take time to comprehend that just because you buy or sync your music with itunes, they are just audio files on your computer that can be used with any program you wish (with the exception of DRM, which I believe Apple got rid of, or is it back?)

[vandelay]

Originally Posted by sclifton57@yahoo.com

What about video files?

Media Monkey can't sync video files yet, but I think they may be working on it. Either way, I don't think you need to sync videos to the Palm Pre, but can just copy and paste them to the videos directory (I have not tried this)

For converting video formats, this free program seems to always do the job for me. Format Factory - Free media file format converter

[cwgtex]

Originally Posted by sclifton57@yahoo.com

What about video files?

MediaMonkey doesn't support video, so I guess no love there. I only keep a couple of movies and funny clips on my Pre, so I just copy and paste those, no need for a playlist of movies.

[jcdlg76]

cool

[bopodoq]

nice work! Thanks!

[vara411]

Curious. I followed these directions to the letter and my playlist synced, but my album art did NOT.

Even more disappointing, my previous SUCCESSFULLY transferred album art that I made it over with playlists via J River Media Jukebox are now gone! I think I've given Media Monkey enough auditions... even though its auto-tagging is second-to-none right now, I think I'll stick with J River Media Jukebox. It's great because it syncs both playlists AND album art easily. Not only that, it loads faster, and has built-in access to the Amazon MP3 store.

Double Twist is the only other program I've been able to get to sync playlists with album art, but it's pretty bare-bones feature-wise. J River Media Jukebox gets my vote.

(Sorry to raise some debate... *cowering* ... LOL!)

[jmcintosh]

Need some help.

I tried with and without "forcing iTunes folder naming" and seem to be slamming into a limit of 1024 files in a directory. Got any suggestions? I have about 12GB of music to move and back tracked to loading via USB drive.
Thanks

[jaileer]

Media Monkey is brilliant for a windows machine. For Macs you may want to try Doubletwist:

[cwgtex]

Originally Posted by vara411

Curious. I followed these directions to the letter and my playlist synced, but my album art did NOT.

Even more disappointing, my previous SUCCESSFULLY transferred album art that I made it over with playlists via J River Media Jukebox are now gone! I think I've given Media Monkey enough auditions... even though its auto-tagging is second-to-none right now, I think I'll stick with J River Media Jukebox. It's great because it syncs both playlists AND album art easily. Not only that, it loads faster, and has built-in access to the Amazon MP3 store.

Double Twist is the only other program I've been able to get to sync playlists with album art, but it's pretty bare-bones feature-wise. J River Media Jukebox gets my vote.

(Sorry to raise some debate... *cowering* ... LOL!)

Hey no need to "cower" debate is what these forums is all about

For your album art problem, I have an idea. Album art is stored one of two ways: in the same folder as the song, or saved to the songs tag. MediaMonkey will recognize both. The Pre only recognizes album art saved to the tag.

Try this: in MediaMonkey, highlight your whole library and hit and click tools > advanced tag management > synchronize tags. Or just hit ctrl+s. This should get the album art saved to each song's metadata. Do this and sync to your Pre again and let me know if it works.