HTC phones have become more and more media oriented, and the blackstone, with an aestheticly appealing music player and 8 gb memcard enclosed, as well as a headphone jack, is definitely contending as an iPod replacement. However, a lot of people already have or have had iPods, and with all those playlists... well, there really isn't a good substitute. There are roundabout ways to transfer it all through WMP or other things, but nothing especially good.
I bring you Black Berry Media Sync, or Salling Media Sync Pro. Both sync just like an iPod. I'm not looking for something that's just as visually appealing, just for something with the same functionality. Anyway, since I can't code, I figured I might as well unleash the idea. I put it in the Blackstone forum because the Touch HD is definitely the most media oriented HTC so far.
Please, if anyone can code, this is a forum for ideas. I can't do much, but go ahead and try!
I second this request. It is the MAIN feature I miss from my iPhone.
I would add however that whatever the solution is that it works on a Mac too.
Windows media player together with ActiveSync or without it can sync media, except much better than iTunes in that it won't do the stupid renaming of files and your library will be accessible to any application including itunes. Apart from this, almost any media player for Windows can sync with external drives and devices. So I fail to see what you are complaining about. There's much more functionality available compared to ipod!
Musicfone is an interesting solution to sync with Itunes . I am using it for the podcasts and I am
Regards
Okay, musicfone seems nice, but I'm talking specifically Windows Media Player for WinMo. Probably the main focus isn't transferring music, as I can already do that by syncing iTunes with WMP and WMP with my phone with Active Sync, but instead translating iTunes playlists into WMP playlists. Good idea? Please, if anyone knows willing coders, ask.
Related
Hi there,
Is anyone using Windows Media Player to play music on their SD card ?
At first glance Windows Media Player seems great being able to sync with your playlists and have Album covers displayed on the player similar to an ipod. A2DP works and you can control music with AVRCP ..but.. It seems to be the most unreliable piece of software out there. From personal experience syncing seems to hang after 4-5 songs unless you tap the device screen. The song library on the SD card suddely disappears and you have to delete the MSMETDATA directory and the WMDRM directory on the card to be able to get WM player to find the files and add it back to the library.
So what other Players are people using instead?
Hmm, this may not be helpful to you, but I use WMP with no problems, BUT, I manually transfer my music to my SD card. I know there are other players out there that most people here like better than WMP, but for my purposes and what I do (listen to music on my SD card but no synching ever required, and also stream music/video from my home pc to my Tytn) WMP works more than fine for me. Even though the other players are hands-down more rich in features, I'd rather not use up precious storage space when WMP works great for me.
Sorry if that doesn't help, I know your question seemed to be more geared toward synching music. If you're synching DRM'ed music files, good luck, sometimes nothing can be more of a pain in the a**!
By the way, I'm assuming you're talking about version 10 of WMP as far as what you have on your desktop? Microsoft just announced today that WMP 11 is out of beta and is full release version now. It specifically talks about addressing issues with synching to Pocket PC in the description of the updates that have happened since it's first beta. Give it a shot.
Everyone complains about WMP on PPC or SP; but I love it. It does everything I need, sure it uses a lot of ram, but if I'm just listening to music, do I need it to do anything thing else?
All my music is mp4a. WMP won't stream mp4a out an A2DP connection.
I refuse to buy music from iTunes, so I don't have that problem
Yeah, but mine's got album art that gets displayed by CorePlayer
Does CorePlayer support AVRCP?
I use PocketPlayer to listen to music from the SD card without problem, although the interface can be a little 'laggy'. It plays gapless .ogg vorbis files so that is a major boon. I've tried PocketMusic which claims to have gapless but doesn't work correctly. WM10 is just too much of a pain in the ass when trying to load music, and has no EQ etc.
I do use WM10 for watching movies though (until Coreplayer gets divx/xvid support for the TyTN that is!). I have been playing mp4 films with some degree of success, however if I pause the film at any time the Audio disappears. I need to restart WM10 to get it working again. Very annoying!
My T-Mobile VARIO II together with Windows Media 11 and HP Bluetooth Stereo Headset (well I know there are better ones)
A Golden combination.
Stereo music easy sync and the best the Album art is also included when you sync via the Windows Media. Also I am using the Windows Media today plugin which was published somewhere here in the Hermes forum (it comes from the iMATE ROM) Perfect!!!!!!!!
The Windows Media Player eats up a lot of memory but I do not complain, even with other things running I seldom see my device having less than 17 MB of program memory .
A2DP and AVRCP work a treat without any tweaks.
For me Microsoft Rules!
And in regards to Apple, well I find it ancient that you have to convert files to different format if you want to use the songs on more devices. I mean guys if I rip my CD into iTunes then this is it only the iPOD can use it.
Anyhow when Zune is there then I am afraid Apple can kiss their arses goodbuy in regards to jhaving the majority of the market in hands.
P.S. BTW I also use my QTEK 8500 in the same setting and that is even more sweet then VARIO II because you can see everything without opening the device.
Sleuth,
WMP displays album art for all of my mp3's and wma's as well.
Churchill,
As much as I'd love to agree with you and see the Ipod get taken down by the Zune, I think it will be a cold day down south before that ever happens. Tech analysts the world around are predicting the Zune to be the biggest failure of Microsoft's ventures, ever. I hope I'm wrong, but as much as I hate the proprietary nature of Apple's music platform, the sheer style of the Ipod, IMHO, cannot be beat. And the new full touchscreen Ipod that is coming out will just re-solidify that.
Anyway, sorry to hijack... this thread is about Windows Media Player
stpete111!
I totally agree with you about the styling of the ipods, but as they say "looks might be deceiving" I mean Of course looks are important but if because of it I have to have less functionality or incovenience, man I would walk around with a brick around my neck
I agree totally. I'll just bet though that very few of the people that the Ipod has reeled in since 2001 will be pulled away from it by the Zune.
You should have had another choice for "don't use PPC for media" or something to that effect... I still say GET AN IPOD!!!!
I really think I'm the only one who absolutely hates everything that is Apple...
stpete111 said:
Sleuth,
WMP displays album art for all of my mp3's and wma's as well.
Churchill,
As much as I'd love to agree with you and see the Ipod get taken down by the Zune, I think it will be a cold day down south before that ever happens. Tech analysts the world around are predicting the Zune to be the biggest failure of Microsoft's ventures, ever. I hope I'm wrong, but as much as I hate the proprietary nature of Apple's music platform, the sheer style of the Ipod, IMHO, cannot be beat. And the new full touchscreen Ipod that is coming out will just re-solidify that.
Anyway, sorry to hijack... this thread is about Windows Media Player
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I owned an ipod briefly and was so disappointed with the sound quality I took it back to the shop for a refund. I did some research and settled on iRiver in the end. Far better sound quality and styling than the ipod IMO.
I also personally don't think Zune will be a failure... People said xbox would be a failure, and to some degree it was (I read in the press they lost millions on it) but as that's just pocket change to Micro$oft they just come back again with something bigger and better, e.g. the xbox 360. And boy what a device that is. If the Zune loses money they'll just go back to the drawing board and make it better until it becomes a success. That's the great thing about having a bottomless pit of money.
I actually think the Zune sounds like a great device so far anyway - and with the Wifi option to share music with other people, how can they go wrong? Assuming they don't DRM sharing music files somehow. If they do some clever bugger will just create some custom firmware for it anyway... guess we'll have to wait and see!
darkjedi said:
I really think I'm the only one who absolutely hates everything that is Apple...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're probably right!
Until iTunes runs on PPC (which I don't see happening anytime soon), there is no way I'd give up my iPod -- it simply sounds better and it's easier to use... imagine that!
Darkjedi - you are NOT the only one who hates everything that is Apple. I'm not saying that I hate everything Apple... I used to, then I saw the 24" Intel Core Duo Imac in CompUSA and almost sh** myself. Wow, what a friggin piece of equipment. And don't even get me going on their G5's and rumored Octocore sets coming out. BUT, I know a good number of people that DO hate everything Apple. Anyway, I just hate DRM and proprietary platforms, and while Microsoft bows to the RIAA with DRM just like Apple does, Apple's platform is much more restrictive, in my opinion.
Goesto11 - I definitely cannot argue with the fact that Itunes is about the easiest and best organized app to use for digital media, and, I had an Ipod Shuffle for a few months and I couldn't believe the sound quality coming from that thing. They definitely have that down.
goonerz - just so you know, there will be DRM imposed on the Wi-Fi sharing with the Zune. Once you share a song with someone, they can only listen to it 3 times, then they are given the choice to purchase the track (or more like the DRM key) or it gets deleted. I agree with you totally though, it likely won't be long until that's cracked. I of course would never condone stealing in any shape or form And trust me, if the Zune isn't a failure, I'll be the first to gladly eat my words. I truly hope that it is not.
Sorry, I know this thread has taken a left turn (or a hijack if you will) but I don't care... I love talking about this stuff
I love the look, design, and feel of the Zune, right down to the UI, but DRM is going to CRIPPLE the Zune, and people aren't going to like it at all.
I would like Itunes on my HD2 as all my songs are currently in Itunes and don't want to start all over again with windows media player. Is this possible and NO I don't want to go buy an Iphone as my HD2 rules
Jammie_1989 said:
NO I don't want to go buy an Iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not?
You seem bent on using a terrible piece of software, why not also a terrible phone?
Try Salling Media Sync
If you want to sync the playlists from the iTunes in your PC with your HD2, then you can go for Salling Media Sync. Its Free
There is also an excellent music/ internet radio player and iTunes sync software called Pocket Tunes costing $20, but available for a 15 day trial.
For the HD2 you'd need an extra 'skin' downloaded for it to work, and some of the menu options are a little less finger friendly as they are designed for stylus use, but still quite usable.
The PC client will sync iTunes files and playlists (though not those with DRM, as that's not allowed by Apple). The demo version won't work with WMA files as Microsoft don't allow that!
We did a review of this on 4WinMobile!, though its not been updated for a while
The only reason for having itunes would be the podcasts but this guy has fixed that for us.
He has converted the itunes xml to html using google appspot. So you can now access itunes store and download podcasts straight to your device. It is not the nicest UI but works on IE Opera and skyfire.
http://app-store.appspot.com
If someone wants to make it all nice and tidy feel free.
Just did a search on the forum and noticed that no one had mentioned iTunes Agent (http://ita.sourceforge.net/).
"iTunes Agent is a tiny application which rests in your system tray, constantly looking for devices being connected to your system. If a device it recognizes is connected it enables you to manage it via a playlist in iTunes. You may even associate your player with a Smart Playlist, such as "Party Shuffle", and always have a new collection of tracks on your player!
When you are done modifying the list of tracks for your player you can synchronize it with two small mouse-clicks!"
I thought it was good to mention as i have a itunes server service which i use for music and also a ipod touch and keeping them all in sync inc HD2 and any other device is very handy.
http://www.binaryfortress.com/itunes-sync/
This does a similar sort of thing, doesnt need to start with windows and hide in your tray though!
itunes and HTC HD2
Can itunes be downloaded and purchase the songs, games, and music on the
windows os? Are the games scaled to work on the HTC HD2? If so, how do you do this?
nuke1201 said:
Can itunes be downloaded and purchase the songs, games, and music on the
windows os? Are the games scaled to work on the HTC HD2? If so, how do you do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
music will work videos might work and games defiantly wont work at all.
itunes sync
Found a very good free app (doubletwist) that syncronizes itunes / iphoto/ video libraries between the Mac and any storage device. I have been using it on the HTC HD2 for a week and it syncs all the playlists from itunes and even photos and videos. it is linked to amazon music store and content can be downloaded directly. The interface is just like itunes and seems very very easy to use...just select your device from the panel, select playlists and click sync....all the playlists created get recognised by the HTC sense media player.. google doubletwist and download ...and you are all set.....
doubletwist
doesn't work for me. my hd2 is running windows mobile 6.5 and while the app recognizes my device after it's plugged into my computer and also sees the itunes files and playlists, nothing shows up after the supposed sync takes place.
Interested in such an app for my HD2 on WM 6.5
Tried Itunes agent, not really user friendly and didnt manage to add my HD2 on it.
Ive got loads on myusic on itunes, would like to put one of my playlist songs (around 500 mbs of music) on my HD2.. is there a simple way? Copying items from itunes doesnt seem to work.. and there is a mix of MP3 files and AAC files... will they read allright on HD2?
If they where bought from the iTunes store..and no explicitly DRM free, then no, they will not work no matter how you copy them to your device.
A week ago I posted about the TuneLink car adapter that allowed me to use Bluetooth to Aux in in my car. With this app in place my phone is now my sole source of media outside of my house.
The problem I have is there is no native desktop software for Android music. Zune doesn't sync with android and recently switched to a zpl playlist format that adds too many steps to move files from Zune-> Windows Media-> To my Evo.
Doubletwist just isn't a finished product. The desktop application is lackluster and slow. Moreover I hate their media player, I prefer MIUI's player or the stock Droid player.
My answer was to give Itunes a try. We all know it manages music well and adds and adds artwork but I never tried a 3rd party sync platform.
My answer was Tunesync. It's an expensive $5 app that manages and syncs playlists wirelessly between my EVO and Itunes. Works well and doesn't eat up much battery life. For me this is perfect because I only have the 8gb stock memory card and I don't need my entire library on my phone, just my favorite playlists.
Finally, I used Windows Live Mesh to sync the "My Music" folders between my laptop and my desktop just in case I want to update my phone from the road or on vacation. I recommend this setup for anyone looking to manage their music.
Doubletwist airsync works well too..its just slow.
The Doubletwist desktop software is garbage. I need something more polished like Winamp, Zune, Itunes.
I use itunes for my desktop music. I just use doubletwist to transfer my music. Can't wait for google to finish up google music with the native sync service.
I agree that Doubletwist is not usable. For starters, they claim that they cannot sync smart playlists from iTunes. You can sync them to start, but if your playlist is updated, doubletwist won't pick up on the update. I mean, the main reason I want to sync with itunes is because of the smart playlists in itunes, which I LOVE. Doubletwist staff claims that it is due to iTunes' locked down system. That is bogus, because other apps do it fine.
Instead of tunesync, I suggest isyncr:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jrtstudio.iSyncr
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jrtstudio.iSyncr.WiFi
The UI isn't flashy, but all I need is something to sync my itunes playlists to my phone. It just works. The wifi addon is excellent. It recently got a feature called "live playlists" which is just like itunes' smart playlists, so you can create your own playlists on your phone from the music you sync to your device. The developer is really on top of things - he responds quickly to emails and is always adding features. He recently added the ability to upsync your photos and video, as well as the amazon mp3s you buy on your phone. I love it.
iTunes is the worst media manager for Windows IMHO. I'm surprised nobody mentioned MediaMonkey... it puts all others to shame.
For wireless sync with Android, WinAMP is definitely the way to go. I just can't give up PowerAMP on my Android, so I can live without wi-sync.
itunes is horrible on windows. I love it on my mac though. (I don't mean feature wise)
Anyone who says iTunes is good is using a Mac. That **** is like a virus on Windows.
I agree with a previous poster...Media Monkey.
Since Zune is now useless for syncing in WP8, I've decided the time has probably come to uninstall it. However, I'm loathe to let the iTunes virus onto my PC after a bad experience several years ago, so what is the best alternative music player/manager?
What are you using?
I still use Zune because I like the interface but you can also still sync with Windows Media Player.
winamp,foobar, mediamonkey or VLC - take a pick
but i tend to just listen to xbox music and dont use the local storage anymore.. shame actually
but smart dj is just a nice random mode
I agree with sinister1, Zune is amazing. Still using it.
I use Windows media player and Zune, but Zune is much better sounding than WMP.
Sent from the fetal position using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Winamp has been my choice for the last several years, but I recently decided to try foobar2000. Foobar...... lacks a lot of functionality in comparison to winamp. Still, the majority of Winamp's addons haven't seen updating for over 5 years (literally), and winamp being owned by AOL has some downsides (the installer tries to give you a lot of ****).
I don't think I'm going back to winamp, but that decision is more of a vague whim, since foobar can be very.... patchy. The modular nature of foobar means UI functionality across the program is incredibly inconsistent, even among the default components! People keep assuring me "everything is configurable" but that just doesn't seem to be true, short of writing a component from scratch to make it work the way I want. Still I've managed to overlook these flaws and settle in comfortably, I think.
Mediamonkey is fat. That might not matter on a newer computer, but I'm biased against software with inefficient (bad) programming. (Full disclosure, Winamp's modern skinning engine is fat- don't install that, it's optional, and get an older "classic" skin).
I found this app named MusicBee. I'm in the process of syncing all my music as far as tags once I'm done I will wipe my phone and try to sync using it, I will keep you posted; I have a very large collection so it might be a while.
Too bad someone can't hack Zune and make it wokr for WP8 just like they made WMDC work for WP7.
I used the Windows Phone 8 apps (both metro and desktop versions) and music syncing was pathetic. It also took up too much space and had no playlists. I removed all music from my L920 and set up sync with Windows Media Player. I got all my songs and playlists and increased my available storage by about 10GB. The only downsides are that I don't prefer WMP over Zune (who would??) and now nokias Rinstone Maker doesn't recognize pretty much all the songs as they are WMA and not MP3
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AIMP 3