Are there any apps or software that can manage my music, pictures and videos available?

[ultrariver]

HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Hi everyone!
I am quite new at the forum and after years of iPhones, I recently switched to HTC One and I am in love. The device is wonderful, fast and first class design. However, when it is time to use it with my Mac, well, different story.
Generally speaking HTC Sync Manager sucks. It is extremely buggy and slow, it won't respond when syncing a few pictures and videos with iPhoto and I always have to force it to close.

With my music, I have more than 10000 songs, everyone perfectly tagged and with album art. When it is time to see them in HTC Sync Manager, it is a disaster. Many album arts are gone, 2 disc records are not recognised and all songs are just listed by number (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3...). I tried converting all my songs from mp3 format to AAC, deleted may album art and got them back. Sometime Sync Manager finally shows the art, others it won't. I just can't find a pattern.
With 2 or more disc records I had to retag them as "Disc title Disc 1", "Disc title Disc 2" and so on. I really miss my iPhone with this.

With iPhoto, as I said, HTC Sync Manager takes ages to sync 5 pictures and 2 videos and overtime I connect it to the Mac, it syncs the same pictures and videos again and again, duplicating them in iPhoto! I had to delete everything in my phone to avoid this, but I can't show mi pics to anyone now unless through my computer.

Is there any other piece of software that can manage my music and pictures/videos available? I am so happy with the phone, I just do not want to get frustrated whenever I need to do something so easy like syncing music.

Many thanks.

Alessandro

 

[jaleesag88]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

I use iSyncr for my music and dropbox for my photos. I don't sync anything else but music and photos with my mac and my one.

Sent from my HTCONE using Android Central Forums

 

[slackerjack]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

I use iSyncr for my music and dropbox for my photos. I don't sync anything else but music and photos with my mac and my one.

Sent from my HTCONE using Android Central Forums

This...best software out there for the op's original problem.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[pistos]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

There are many guys on here who use their One with a Mac, and have a great experience with it. So, don't give up hope!

You are right about HTC Sync Manager... it sucks hard on Windows too. It is a useless bit of software in my opinion. Does more harm than good, creates more problems than it solves, and gives HTC a black eye when they have such a beautiful phone.

You are encountering the serious downside of the walled garden of Apple, which is designed to trap its users into using only their hardware and software. This is my single biggest issue with Apple and why I refuse to give them a single cent of my money anymore.

My recommendation would be for you to move your digital life out of the Apple closed system entirely and start using systems that are more open and willing to "share" with the rest of the world. Google's own Gmail system and the many associated apps is excellent and continually improving. Gmail, contacts, calendar, Google Music, Google Drive, etc are all very well integrated with the One and make it a real pleasure to use.

Apple makes things really smooth and simple as long as you stay in their closed system. But if you try to step outside of it you face troubles. They have designed it that way on purpose to keep you inside their system and to make you afraid to leave it.

Run! Don't turn back or you will be turned into a pillar of salt! ;-)

 

[ultrariver]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

This...best software out there for the op's original problem.

Posted via Android Central App

Tried iSyncr yet album art will not be displayed correctly.

 

[adriandb]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

You are encountering the serious downside of the walled garden of Apple, which is designed to trap its users into using only their hardware and software. This is my single biggest issue with Apple and why I refuse to give them a single cent of my money anymore.

This is a matter of perspective. One could just as accurately say that Apple is focused on providing a trouble-free, consistent user experience that "just works." They do this and they do it by limiting the variables that would create a permutation of support options that would be unmanageable.

My recommendation would be for you to move your digital life out of the Apple closed system entirely and start using systems that are more open and willing to "share" with the rest of the world. Google's own Gmail system and the many associated apps is excellent and continually improving. Gmail, contacts, calendar, Google Music, Google Drive, etc are all very well integrated with the One and make it a real pleasure to use.

This would be fine if there was anything nearly as attractive as Apple's ecosystem anywhere else. My solution is to basically live in both worlds. I use iCloud and Mac based solutions as my primary repository of data and Google services as an intermediary to support my One. It isn't pretty, but it's usable.

Here's what I've come up with:

1. Calendar - I use BusyCal on my desktop and it reads/writes to both my iCloud calendars as well as my Google calendars. On the One I use SmoothSync Cloud for Calendars
2. Mail - I use EnhancedEmail. It handles iCloud, Gmail, IMAP, POP, Exchange 2010, etc.
3. Contacts - I use [URL="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/contacts-sync-for-google-gmail/id451691288?mt=12&at=10l3Vy]Contact Sync for Google Gmail[/URL] on my Mac
4. Music - I use Google Play Music here, but it's a bit of a hassle if you have a large library. Most of my stuff worked fine, but older DRM'ed stuff from iTunes won't work and I had to make a duplicate set of all the music I keep in Apple Lossless just to upload to Google. They have a 20,000 track limit which is also super annoying.
5. Photos/Videos - And this is the most painful part. Since the One won't simply mount as a volume/device iPhoto and Aperture aren't even aware of it. You'll need to manually pull photos/videos off and drop them into iPhoto/Aperture. It's like taking a giant step back, but it's workable. Given the fact that I haven't been super impressed with the camera anyway, I've found myself taking my DSLR with me a lot more often and not relying on the One's camera.

 

[pistos]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Photos/Videos - And this is the most painful part. Since the One won't simply mount as a volume/device iPhoto and Aperture aren't even aware of it. You'll need to manually pull photos/videos off and drop them into iPhoto/Aperture. It's like taking a giant step back, but it's workable.

Have you tried fddling with the Camera Upload and syncing features of Dropbox and how that might be used to integrate your photos into your system on the Mac? As I have indicated before, I got out of all of the Apple stuff a few years ago, so I can't try this myself. But, the thought occurs to me that you Mac guys may be able to "sync" with the One's photos by going through Dropbox. It sounds indirect on the surface, but it may actually give you a simplier way of mangaing your photos. Just an idea.

 

[adriandb]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Have you tried fddling with the Camera Upload and syncing features of Dropbox and how that might be used to integrate your photos into your system on the Mac? As I have indicated before, I got out of all of the Apple stuff a few years ago, so I can't try this myself. But, the thought occurs to me that you Mac guys may be able to "sync" with the One's photos by going through Dropbox. It sounds indirect on the surface, but it may actually give you a simplier way of mangaing your photos. Just an idea.

That's not a bad idea, but if you're using Zoes like I am that's a lot of data to sync to the cloud. I've turned off cloud syncing of my photos for this reason.

 

[Jon_Doh]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Tried iSyncr yet album art will not be displayed correctly.

Cover Art Downloader will find the album covers for you and associate them with your files.

 

[fmcgirt]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Hi everyone!
I am quite new at the forum and after years of iPhones, I recently switched to HTC One and I am in love. The device is wonderful, fast and first class design. However, when it is time to use it with my Mac, well, different story.
Generally speaking HTC Sync Manager sucks. It is extremely buggy and slow, it won't respond when syncing a few pictures and videos with iPhoto and I always have to force it to close.

With my music, I have more than 10000 songs, everyone perfectly tagged and with album art. When it is time to see them in HTC Sync Manager, it is a disaster. Many album arts are gone, 2 disc records are not recognised and all songs are just listed by number (1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3...). I tried converting all my songs from mp3 format to AAC, deleted may album art and got them back. Sometime Sync Manager finally shows the art, others it won't. I just can't find a pattern.
With 2 or more disc records I had to retag them as "Disc title Disc 1", "Disc title Disc 2" and so on. I really miss my iPhone with this.

With iPhoto, as I said, HTC Sync Manager takes ages to sync 5 pictures and 2 videos and overtime I connect it to the Mac, it syncs the same pictures and videos again and again, duplicating them in iPhoto! I had to delete everything in my phone to avoid this, but I can't show mi pics to anyone now unless through my computer.

Is there any other piece of software that can manage my music and pictures/videos available? I am so happy with the phone, I just do not want to get frustrated whenever I need to do something so easy like syncing music.

Many thanks.

Alessandro

I agree with most of what you say and is the main reason that I try most of the mainstream Android phones and wind up back with my iPhone no matter how much better the other phone is - the ability to sync with my contacts, calendar and media libraries with no hassle always seems to outweigh the neat features of the other phone. I can't even get HTC Sync Mgr to start on my iMac running OSX10.8.4 so with the HTC One which I really like better than the iPhone 5 this is what I am presently doing:

1. Use K9 Email app to sync with iCloud mail - works great.
2. Use SmoothSync for Calendar app to sync with iCloud calendar - works great and then aCalendar, aCalendar+ apps to provide additional features that I like in the iPhone calendar.
3. Use SmoothSync for Contacts to sync with iCloud contacts - works great.
4. Use MissingSync for Android to sync iTunes music library - works pretty good but not perfect as iTunes - iPhone music sync. Seems to get screwed up between playlists and albums.
5. Use MissingSync for Android to sync iPhoto pics library - works OK to upload pics to phone. To download pics from phone to desktop I use Android File Transfer to manually copy the pic files and then import into iPhoto. Not great but I can create event folders, etc. as I want.

So all is really great except for music and pics. Music is not that big a deal but I use the camera a lot and really appreciate the hassle free iPhone/iPhoto syncing. On the other hand I think the HTC ONE camera is better for my use so I am sticking with it for the time being. I am sure though that when the iPhone xx comes out with a significantly improved camera that I will happily go back to it with a big sigh of relief for no more sync hassles - at least for a while. If an Android developer ever comes up with the app(s) that sync an Android device with the Mac as effortlessly as the iPhone then they have me forever.

 

[mistyisland]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Ultrariver,

I have a 6 year old mac, and if I can do it, anyone can. Sorry I can't help with music, but pics are easy. Download dropbox on your mac. It will show up in "places" in the left on finder. Upload your pics to dropbox from your phone. It automatically syncs with the dropbox on your computer. If you want to put the pics in iphoto, load iphoto, and go to import to library. Then choose dropbox. Then choose your pics. I've never done music, but if you can upload to dropbox, I think it's doable.

I don't know if you got the deal with 25G of dropbox storage with your One, some did, some didn't. If not, you do get 2g free, so just use it as a conduit and delete the pics from dropbox to save space once you get them on your computer. No need to delete from the phone.

Edit: Ok, so after writing the above, i did some Googling, and it does appear that you can use Dropbox for music. Here is a link that tells you how to do it--(you have to read down the page a ways)

The Cleverest Ways to Use Dropbox That You're Not Using

 

[adriandb]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

1. Use K9 Email app to sync with iCloud mail - works great.

I tried K9 and while I like its features, it doesn't support Exchange 2010 so I had to dump it. It does work great with iCloud though.

 

[ultrariver]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Cover Art Downloader will find the album covers for you and associate them with your files.

Thanks, I will give a try!

 

[ultrariver]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

That's not a bad idea, but if you're using Zoes like I am that's a lot of data to sync to the cloud. I've turned off cloud syncing of my photos for this reason.

Oh, I forgot about Zoe! I love the idea, but now I have hundreds of pictures, basically repeated, in my iPhoto because they are imported as a video PLUS every single frame. I won't use it anymore.

 

[bembol]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

After a few minutes with HTC Sync Manager I shut it down.

My first issue was Android File Transfer app not opening. I figured it out that the USB must be directly connected to the iMac not the Keyboard.

Second was the Album. Under GET INFO Album Artist and Album must be filled in. What's ****ed up is that you CANNOT have the same ALBUM like "Greatest Hits." It will duplicate it.

SHIFT_tapatalk 2 s4 SGH-I377M

 

[ultrariver]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

I agree with most of what you say and is the main reason that I try most of the mainstream Android phones and wind up back with my iPhone no matter how much better the other phone is - the ability to sync with my contacts, calendar and media libraries with no hassle always seems to outweigh the neat features of the other phone. I can't even get HTC Sync Mgr to start on my iMac running OSX10.8.4 so with the HTC One which I really like better than the iPhone 5 this is what I am presently doing:

1. Use K9 Email app to sync with iCloud mail - works great.
2. Use SmoothSync for Calendar app to sync with iCloud calendar - works great and then aCalendar, aCalendar+ apps to provide additional features that I like in the iPhone calendar.
3. Use SmoothSync for Contacts to sync with iCloud contacts - works great.
4. Use MissingSync for Android to sync iTunes music library - works pretty good but not perfect as iTunes - iPhone music sync. Seems to get screwed up between playlists and albums.
5. Use MissingSync for Android to sync iPhoto pics library - works OK to upload pics to phone. To download pics from phone to desktop I use Android File Transfer to manually copy the pic files and then import into iPhoto. Not great but I can create event folders, etc. as I want.

So all is really great except for music and pics. Music is not that big a deal but I use the camera a lot and really appreciate the hassle free iPhone/iPhoto syncing. On the other hand I think the HTC ONE camera is better for my use so I am sticking with it for the time being. I am sure though that when the iPhone xx comes out with a significantly improved camera that I will happily go back to it with a big sigh of relief for no more sync hassles - at least for a while. If an Android developer ever comes up with the app(s) that sync an Android device with the Mac as effortlessly as the iPhone then they have me forever.

Apple will need to reinvent the iPhone to get me back. I was so bored of it and I just can't keep using a phone with such a small screen, also for business reasons. I tried everything, Nokia Lumia 920, Blackberry Z10, Galaxy S3 and when I see the design of the One and how HTC Sense influences the stock Android, I just felt in love.
Fortunately I do not have issues with either contacts or calendar because I use Exchange and I have everything in sync over the air.
I was thinking in The Missing Sync, but you say it won't do the job the right way for both music and photos. The camera of the One is fairly good to me (actually I feel it is better than the iPhone 5's). I have a discount to apply for The Missing Sync and I may give a try.

I am currently using Windows in my Mac through Parallels to avoid mail compatibility with clients and colleagues using Outlook (sorry, but Outlook for Mac nor Apple Mail will do the job). So, considering all the issues listed, should I entirely switch to Windows to properly have a full compatibility with my One? Would this solve everything?

Many thanks!

 

[jrsharp70]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Apple will need to reinvent the iPhone to get me back. I was so bored of it and I just can't keep using a phone with such a small screen, also for business reasons. I tried everything, Nokia Lumia 920, Blackberry Z10, Galaxy S3 and when I see the design of the One and how HTC Sense influences the stock Android, I just felt in love.
Fortunately I do not have issues with either contacts or calendar because I use Exchange and I have everything in sync over the air.
I was thinking in The Missing Sync, but you say it won't do the job the right way for both music and photos. The camera of the One is fairly good to me (actually I feel it is better than the iPhone 5's). I have a discount to apply for The Missing Sync and I may give a try.

I am currently using Windows in my Mac through Parallels to avoid mail compatibility with clients and colleagues using Outlook (sorry, but Outlook for Mac nor Apple Mail will do the job). So, considering all the issues listed, should I entirely switch to Windows to properly have a full compatibility with my One? Would this solve everything?

Many thanks!

You could get a windows machine... But then you'd have a windows machine. You'd have a substandard computer, then you could get a windows phone with no apps, and a surface to match.

Or...
Just use Google music. The music question gets asked every day on here. Just log in to Google music, hit "upload", select the folders you want synced, and sit back. You can download music from amazon (cheaper), iTunes, or whatever... And you don't have to do ANYTHING, it'll just show up on your phone automatically.

With pictures, have you tried airdroid? You can mirror your phone and just drag and drop photos, files, etc. Although, I don't understand why people don't just set their photos to sync with Google over wifi only. They will show up on your account when you log in.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[fmcgirt]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

Apple will need to reinvent the iPhone to get me back. I was so bored of it and I just can't keep using a phone with such a small screen, also for business reasons. I tried everything, Nokia Lumia 920, Blackberry Z10, Galaxy S3 and when I see the design of the One and how HTC Sense influences the stock Android, I just felt in love.
Fortunately I do not have issues with either contacts or calendar because I use Exchange and I have everything in sync over the air.
I was thinking in The Missing Sync, but you say it won't do the job the right way for both music and photos. The camera of the One is fairly good to me (actually I feel it is better than the iPhone 5's). I have a discount to apply for The Missing Sync and I may give a try.

I am currently using Windows in my Mac through Parallels to avoid mail compatibility with clients and colleagues using Outlook (sorry, but Outlook for Mac nor Apple Mail will do the job). So, considering all the issues listed, should I entirely switch to Windows to properly have a full compatibility with my One? Would this solve everything?

Many thanks!

First I would try Missing Sync, especially since you have a discount for it. I may not be understanding or using the control panel for music just right since there are separate options to click for Playlists, Albums, Artists, Songs, etc. and it seems that I have to manually do this across all of these options. In other words just clicking a particular playlist doesn't get everything loaded properly for that playlist. But as I said I may be messing it up.

As for going completely to Windows using Parallels, I am the last person to ask. I have been the Parallels route with other Windows products and it was a major hassle and I was finally able to go pure Mac. But if you need it already I would ask for comments here about how well the ONE is syncing in the Windows world. I think the comment above about going to full Google support with Gmail and other Google apps sounds pretty good.

 

[ultrariver]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

First I would try Missing Sync, especially since you have a discount for it. I may not be understanding or using the control panel for music just right since there are separate options to click for Playlists, Albums, Artists, Songs, etc. and it seems that I have to manually do this across all of these options. In other words just clicking a particular playlist doesn't get everything loaded properly for that playlist. But as I said I may be messing it up.

As for going completely to Windows using Parallels, I am the last person to ask. I have been the Parallels route with other Windows products and it was a major hassle and I was finally able to go pure Mac. But if you need it already I would ask for comments here about how well the ONE is syncing in the Windows world. I think the comment above about going to full Google support with Gmail and other Google apps sounds pretty good.

Tried Missing Sync, no way. I mean, I am not searching for the perfect ecosystem between a Mac and an Android, of course I am aware this won't happen. However, I am just looking for a feasible and smooth alternative to HTC Sync Manager yet it seems there is not. I actually use Google Music yet streaming all the time takes a lot of data and by the way it synchronize whenever I add new music into iTunes, but not when I remove it. I need to do it directly in Google Music.
I guess I am stuck with HTC Sync Manager, hoping for a major improvement any time soon.

Thank you all.

 

[pistos]

Re: HTC One and Mac: what a pain!

That's not a bad idea, but if you're using Zoes like I am that's a lot of data to sync to the cloud. I've turned off cloud syncing of my photos for this reason.

Adriandb: Sorry I have not responded to this sooner (was out of town). Regarding the concern about data use for syncing, just tell your Dropbox app to only sync via wifi, and then it doesn't use data at all. I use it that way. And, the phone's Dropbox is intelligent enough to know what has and has not been uploaded since the last time I was on a wifi network and takes care of it all. It happens in the background so fast that I never notice the upload taking place.