[BeingBoston121]

I have a Samsung YP-P2 and it is a great flash MP3 player. The bad part is that I'm in the iTunes eco-system. I modded the firmware of the P2 so that it would act like a USB Mass Storage device and I started dragging and dropping music.

This was painful when I had playlist of music waiting for my in iTunes so I started digging into Automator. I created this small app that will copy any one iTunes playlist to any location, including a USB drive.

I'll attach it to this post in a zip file. Check it out and see how it works for you. It'll copy over anything in the playlist. So if you have Apple DRM music it'll copy it but you won't be able to play it. Also I have created a smart playlist that contains other playlist. This way i can add new genius list or update recently added music. It's not the best solution, but I find it works pretty well for me.

Any and all feedback is welcomed.

Tim

[StefanP]

Windows alternatives to syncing itunes playlists with a mass storage device:
SourceForge.net: iTunes Agent
iTunes Sync: Free iTunes MP3 Player Integration | Binary Fortress Software

I've tested both, they're not too different, so either one will do.

[coorspate]

cool, thanks guys. does any of those bring album art with it?

[BeingBoston121]

cool, thanks guys. does any of those bring album art with it?

The one I use does do Album art for some, but not all. I haven't looked into the rhyme or reason yet.

Tim

[Derek Kessler]

The one I use does do Album art for some, but not all. I haven't looked into the rhyme or reason yet.

Tim

One possibility: if it's an AAC file, the album art is integrated into the file - with MP3 it is not.

[cary328is]

bigredgpk - thanks for posting that. I'll give it a try whenever the dang phone gets released

[zionixi#AC]

It was rumored in January that the pre should be able to sync with iTunes. But no one has been able to get to the bottom of that, as far as I can tell.

[ADGrant]

It was rumored in January that the pre should be able to sync with iTunes. But no one has been able to get to the bottom of that, as far as I can tell.

That has to be the craziest rumour by far. There is no way Apple would allow it (and Palm isn't interested in desktop syncing anyway).

[Derek Kessler]

That has to be the craziest rumour by far. There is no way Apple would allow it (and Palm isn't interested in desktop syncing anyway).

Apple has left iTunes open enough that all sorts of devices can be synced with iTunes so long as somebody is willing to whip up the necessary code.

[headcase]

Or you can just use SyncTunes, which I've been using on my Macs for the last few years, without any problems:
http://mac.majorgeeks.com/download4834.html

(use one of the mirror links to download, as the app was discontinued by the author last year, but still works great on 10.4 and 10.5)

[BeingBoston121]

Apple has left iTunes open enough that all sorts of devices can be synced with iTunes so long as somebody is willing to whip up the necessary code.

If you had the time, you can create an app that would transfer the music along with playlist for the Pre or any other device. the entire itunes library is in xml format along with numerical ID for each song. it wouldn't take long to parse the file if you knew what to look for.

Tim

[jhoff80]

One possibility: if it's an AAC file, the album art is integrated into the file - with MP3 it is not.

Not true, an ID3 tag (the tagging system for MP3) can definitely include album art. Anyway, for tagging purposes, I highly recommend MP3Tag (Mp3tag - the universal Tag Editor (ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2)).

[TRgEOff]

Is there any way to tag songs on an iTunes playlist (in which the songs are drawn from an assortment of artists/albums) so that they will then be recognised by pTunes:

(1) ideally, as a pTunes playlist?

(2) if not as a playlist, then as some other category used by pTunes?

cheers

[headcase]

Is there any way to tag songs on an iTunes playlist (in which the songs are drawn from an assortment of artists/albums) so that they will then be recognised by pTunes:

(1) ideally, as a pTunes playlist?

(2) if not as a playlist, then as some other category used by pTunes?

cheers

Yes, as I said above, try SyncTunes on your Mac -- it can create a playlist of your choice, and install the entire playlist in your MicroSD card:
http://mac.majorgeeks.com/download4834.html

[TRgEOff]

Yes, as I said above, try SyncTunes on your Mac -- it can create a playlist of your choice, and install the entire playlist in your MicroSD card:
|MG| Free Download for Macs - SyncTunes 2.0.0b r2

Thanks for the tips.

But two things of note:

1. From the SyncTunes website (my bolding)

"I have now received two more instances where SyncTunes has deleted files outside of the destination folder, from the root folder and down. I don’t know which version of the application was being used in one case but the other was v2.0.0 R1 which was replaced by R2 last September. Obviously, I don’t want anyone to lose their files and if anyone else has experienced this and not written to me, I sincerely apologise to you too. I have tested with v2 release 2 and cannot replicate this bug, but this is no help to the few that have been affected. Since I haven’t received any volunteers for SyncTunes and I haven’t sufficient time to allocate to it myself, I’ve decided to withdraw SyncTunes and have removed all download links to it. I have informed both Versiontracker and Macupdate of this too."

2. I can already install entire iTunes playlists onto my SD card, using MissingSync. However, once they are there, pTunes can only recognise the standard tags of Genre, Artist, Album etc, ie it does not recognise whatever sort of tag iTunes uses to recognise mixed songs of a playlist it has created. I therefore have to laboriously recreate the playlist from within pTunes.

Before I start looking for some non-removed copy of SyncTunes, can you confirm that playlists are not just migrated to the Card, but are recognised as pTunes playlists once they get there?

Thanks for your time!

[RC46]

I use doubletwist which is free software that allows you to sync Itunes to any USB Mass Storage. You can sync play-lists, artists or your entire library. Since the Pre presents itself as USB mass storage to your PC I am 99.99% sure it will work perfectly.

[headcase]

Thanks for the tips.

But two things of note:

1. From the SyncTunes website (my bolding)

"I have now received two more instances where SyncTunes has deleted files outside of the destination folder, from the root folder and down. I don’t know which version of the application was being used in one case but the other was v2.0.0 R1 which was replaced by R2 last September. Obviously, I don’t want anyone to lose their files and if anyone else has experienced this and not written to me, I sincerely apologise to you too. I have tested with v2 release 2 and cannot replicate this bug, but this is no help to the few that have been affected. Since I haven’t received any volunteers for SyncTunes and I haven’t sufficient time to allocate to it myself, I’ve decided to withdraw SyncTunes and have removed all download links to it. I have informed both Versiontracker and Macupdate of this too."

2. I can already install entire iTunes playlists onto my SD card, using MissingSync. However, once they are there, pTunes can only recognise the standard tags of Genre, Artist, Album etc, ie it does not recognise whatever sort of tag iTunes uses to recognise mixed songs of a playlist it has created. I therefore have to laboriously recreate the playlist from within pTunes.

Before I start looking for some non-removed copy of SyncTunes, can you confirm that playlists are not just migrated to the Card, but are recognised as pTunes playlists once they get there?

Thanks for your time!

As I mentioned in my first post, I've used SyncTunes the last few years on 10.4 and 10.5 with no problems. I did see this note by the developer back then, and since it's worked perfectly for me every time on my Macs, I can still recommend this app to others, in good faith.

Try it out, and see if it meets your needs.

[headcase]

I use doubletwist which is free software that allows you to sync Itunes to any USB Mass Storage. You can sync play-lists, artists or your entire library. Since the Pre presents itself as USB mass storage to your PC I am 99.99% sure it will work perfectly.

Neat app - will be interesting to see how it works with the Pre. Here's a link, for those interested:
Sync, Play & Send to BlackBerry, PSP, iPod, iPhone with doubleTwist

[TRgEOff]

Headcase

Many thanks! Yes synctunes does generate the iTunes playlist in pTunes with title and all, so that's fantastic!

rc46

Thanks too, I played a bit with doubletwist, it seems a bit more cumbersome for syncing, that being just one of its many features, but will keep testing

good to sneak in a bit of old-fashioned PalmOS Q&A, in the guise of sPreculation!

cheers