My Winamp/iTunes >> Android Sync Tool

[BSG75]

Hi there.

I'm a developer, Android Central regular, and open-source fan. Back when I was using a Blackberry Storm, I had a rough time with the awful BB media sync tool. I was also using iTunes at the time. So I created my own tool: mdSync. You can still get the older versions from my website, and see it's unique features.

I have since moved onto Android (would never consider any else currently on the market). I started using Winamp as my media library, which I love, but it does not preserve album art when you use it to sync. That is pretty much a deal-killer for me.

So I created this latest version of mdSync. It's 0.5.*.*. I realize that there are already a lot of other tools out there. DoubleTwist was always too freaking slow for me. I tried it a few times. Agony. Maybe it was my machine. Winamp doesn't do album art. I know there are paid tools, but I'm not paying for something I can create myself. I also know there are some other free tools, but it was simple and fun enough to make one that does exactly what I want.

I have updated my relatively simple tool and I offer it to anyone that wants to give it a shot. It's beta, but I and my lone beta-tester have hammered it pretty thoroughly. Still, nothing is perfect. If anyone is interested, it's now available for download from Google code.

Source and installer downloads.

Here is a YouTube demonstration. Feedback is appreciated.


Again, think of this as my own personal tool that I am making availanle rather than my attempt to take of the sync world. I expect Winamp and dT to get their houses in order, and I expect wireless syncing and streaming from Google, too.

Note: This does exact byte-for-byte song copies. If you have embedded album art it will be preserved. If you use iTunes and have NOT embedded the album art, it won't show up after using mdSync. Consider embedding your album art to make sure it always goes with your music.

 

[BSG75]

Saved.

 

[tbhuang2]

Winamp's lack of album art was the deal killer for me, as well (WINAMP, Y U NO KEEP EMBEDDED ALBUM ART?). Winamp was also pretty slow in general, in terms of detecting my phone and the file transfer process. During the sync, it would also bug me every time about what to do about every non-music file (e.g., ring tones, alarm sounds, other sound files...) on my SD card. Like BSG75, I have also tried doubleTwist but it just didn't work well, at least on my computer.

I just wanted a simple and dependable way to sync specific playlists from my PC iTunes or Winamp library, and this straightforward application works perfectly for both. The playlists it synced work on Winamp as well as the AOSP stock music player. I haven't tried others, but I imagine it would work for any Android media player. In fact, this program can sync to any mounted volume on your PC, so I think it should also work for any MP3 player or any USB storage drive, for that matter.

This is simply the most elegant method I've seen for syncing iTunes or Winamp playlists to an Android device. It just works, unlike Winamp.

 

[BSG75]

Thanks for the kind words, c00ller! I'm glad it's working well for you.

C00ller was my beta tester.

 

[Bolt_of_Thunder]

Alrighty so I decided to try out your program after being unsuccessful with wireless sync using Winamp and also failing to get the HTC sync app to work. Now I'm running into a hiccup with mdsync. It found the playlists I setup in Winamp but when I switch to itunes its not finding any of my playlists. Some notes about my music file setup:

- the majority of my itunes music is on an external hdd. I did hook up the drive before using mdsync and mdsync recognizes the hdd in its dropdown menu.
-the playlists I have setup in Winamp are with songs that are located on my laptop and not on the external hdd.

I'm wondering if where I have my music files located makes a difference. Any ideas on what to do? I guess I could just say screw itunes and remake all of my playlists in Winamp. Looks like ill need to get to work on embedding album artwork also.