A way to synch iPhoto albums and iTunes music play lists to my Nexus 7?

[douglerner]

Hmm.. I downloaded iSyncr for my Mac and installed it and it's in the Applications folder, but it just won't open when I double-click on it. Nothing happens. Not exactly reassuring...

doug

 

[douglerner]

Thanks for your continued updates--it's always nice to know how things are going after a discussion about a problem.

That DRM issue is always a pain in the rear. You could always try a program like Tunebite that legally allows you to remove DRM (from tracks that you own, of course), essentially by rerecording the track while it plays. There will likely be some loss in fidelity, but probably not much. Tunebite does cost some money, but at least you don't have to pay an annual fee. I think there are some free solutions out there, but I'm always a little wary of free programs in this field, since I imagine there's a higher risk of malware.

I tried burning an album onto an actual CD-R (I had some lying around) and the sound quality sounds just as good to me. Interestingly enough, the bit rate listed for the CD-burned-and-re-imported song says 256 kbps and the original protected verson says 128 kbps. When burning it used some Apple Plus option for burning. Anyway, this looks like the way to go. Just minutes to burn a whole CD and re-import it. Plus I have a CD now. So I could send it to my sister to listen to.

doug

 

[crankerchick]

Hmm.. I downloaded iSyncr for my Mac and installed it and it's in the Applications folder, but it just won't open when I double-click on it. Nothing happens. Not exactly reassuring...

doug

Hmm. I use it on Windows so I'm sorry I can't help with that. I will say I've contacted the developer before when I couldn't figure out why my WiFi server no longer saw my phone and the dev was very responsive. Don't give up without contacting him. My problem actually ended up being simple once I figured out the issue (isyncr was running on husband's user account too) but the developer was nonetheless easily accessible and responsive in helping m troubleshoot.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[douglerner]

I did send off a support email. I also wanted to confirm whether it can synch photos, because I'd like to synch both music and photos from iTune.

Thanks,

doug

 

[douglerner]

I'm wondering now if there is any good sync solution for both photo albums and music playlists between my Mac and Nexus.

The description of DoubleTwist seems to imply you can select iTunes photo albums and sync them to a Nexus 7, albeit via AirSync because of the kind of USB storage the Nexus uses. But an iSyncr rep told me that isn't true and to get photos from iTunes over to my Nexus I still have to use something like Android File Transfer and drag photos over manually. I was hoping DoubleTwist could sync both music playlists and photo albums from iTunes. Is it not able to do that?

Are there any more complete solutions?

Thanks

 

[douglerner]

Hmm. I use it on Windows so I'm sorry I can't help with that. I will say I've contacted the developer before when I couldn't figure out why my WiFi server no longer saw my phone and the dev was very responsive. Don't give up without contacting him. My problem actually ended up being simple once I figured out the issue (isyncr was running on husband's user account too) but the developer was nonetheless easily accessible and responsive in helping m troubleshoot.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

I got a response indicating that iSyncr was in my menu at the top of the screen. And sure enough it is there.

But... even after that... is there in fact a Desktop app which you can open up, select playlists to synch from iTunes, etc., as with DoubleTwist? I don't see any Desktop app opening up anywhere. I can get into settings via that menu item, but don't see any place to set the playlists you want to sync with the Android app.

It's certainly not obvious to me.

Thanks,

doug

 

[crankerchick]

I got a response indicating that iSyncr was in my menu at the top of the screen. And sure enough it is there.

But... even after that... is there in fact a Desktop app which you can open up, select playlists to synch from iTunes, etc., as with DoubleTwist? I don't see any Desktop app opening up anywhere. I can get into settings via that menu item, but don't see any place to set the playlists you want to sync with the Android app.

It's certainly not obvious to me.

Thanks,

doug

You choose the playlists to sync from the phone. After iSyncr is installed on the PC/Mac, I think by default it streams the WiFi server but you can check this in the settings. Presumably it works the same as on Windows. You can click the icon in the system tray and see the settings. Then you launch iSyncr on the phone and choose playlists to sync.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[mysterygirl]

As far as itunes, have you tried syncing to Google Play Music? Stores matched music in the cloud, but you can also keep it locally on your N7.

You basically upload (or match) the music you want from me your iTunes via Music Manager app you install on mac, and it then resides in Google cloud, but you can choose to download to the N7.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/topic/2450455?parent=1663424&ctx=topic

Posted via Android Central App

Another vote for using Google Music. I use iTunes to manage music on my iMac and have had few issues syncing with Google Music. Playlists all present. The only issue is for DRM protected music, and even that has eased as Google extended its collection and started it's match service.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[crankerchick]

Another vote for using Google Music. I use iTunes to manage music on my iMac and have had few issues syncing with Google Music. Playlists all present. The only issue is for DRM protected music, and even that has eased as Google extended its collection and started it's match service.

Posted via Android Central App

The only caveat is if you use smart playlists in iTunes. These won't sync with Google Music *but* this is where iSyncr (or DoubleTwist) comes into play.

I'm loving my setup with iSyncr. Moreso than with the ridiculously buggy iTunes Match.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Farish]

I just noticed this thread.

Nobody mention that all music is DRM free now on itunes and you can download your older purchases as such.

Just check your purchases to make sure that the songs are listed there. Delete them and download them again. Make sure you have a backup first before you do this because anything can go wrong.

For syncing I don't have a great solution for you. I use AirDroid to transfer my songs,photos, and videos wirelessly manually.

 

[douglerner]

So much interesting new info! The Google Music Manager with matching sounds very interesting and I think I'll try that first since the 3rd party solutions iSyncr and DoubleTwist are not working ideally for me yet. Might as well try the Google native version first.

Regarding DRM free redownloads from Apple, I already "un-DRM"'d everything by burning the protected songs to CD and re-importing them. It was only 104 songs out of my 1,133 song collection and I had some old CD-Rs lying around. It was my first time to use the optical drive in a few years!

I understood that the only way to do the redownload of the DRM free version from the Apple store was to purchase a $25 Match subscription. It seemed a lot of my songs were NLA (no longer available).

If I redownload what is available it will replace what's there with higher quality DRM free music?

Does Google Music cost anything?

And... What's the best solution for photo albums?

Thanks, everybody!

Doug

 

[Farish]

So much interesting new info! The Google Music Manager with matching sounds very interesting and I think I'll try that first since the 3rd party solutions iSyncr and DoubleTwist are not working ideally for me yet. Might as well try the Google native version first.

Regarding DRM free redownloads from Apple, I already "un-DRM"'d everything by burning the protected songs to CD and re-importing them. It was only 104 songs out of my 1,133 song collection and I had some old CD-Rs lying around. It was my first time to use the optical drive in a few years!

I understood that the only way to do the redownload of the DRM free version from the Apple store was to purchase a $25 Match subscription. It seemed a lot of my songs were NLA (no longer available).

If I redownload what is available it will replace what's there with higher quality DRM free music?

Does Google Music cost anything?

And... What's the best solution for photo albums?

Thanks, everybody!

Doug

I use Google Music it works great. On the iTunes Match, it isn't neccessary nor would it work for you anyways. If the song is no longer available, they wouldn't be able to match it regardless.

For Photos I use copy.com to upload a backup and then my iMac will automatically put them into my Picture folder. You can transfer them manually with Airdroid.

 

[douglerner]

I use Google Music it works great. On the iTunes Match, it isn't neccessary nor would it work for you anyways. If the song is no longer available, they wouldn't be able to match it regardless.

For Photos I use copy.com to upload a backup and then my iMac will automatically put them into my Picture folder. You can transfer them manually with Airdroid.

For pictures, I was actually mostly interested in going from my Mac to the Nexus, rather than the reverse. It would be hard to just drag them out of the pictures folder using the android manager I think, because everything is organized into albums. I'm talking about tens of thousands of photos over a few decades, and only wanting to bring over maybe a dozen or so albums.

Is there a solution for that?

Thanks,

Doug

 

[douglerner]

I use Google Music it works great. On the iTunes Match, it isn't neccessary nor would it work for you anyways. If the song is no longer available, they wouldn't be able to match it regardless.

For Photos I use copy.com to upload a backup and then my iMac will automatically put them into my Picture folder. You can transfer them manually with Airdroid.

I'm trying Google Music. It seems to work easily.

Note to International users: You can't download from all countries. It particular you can't download it from Japan. It's free, but you need to signup for Google Wallet. I was able to download it because (1) I used VPN so it thinks my Mac is in the U.S. and (2) I have a U.S. credit card and address too. After you download it and sign up you can disconnect from VPN and it seems to work fine.

All the playlists I wanted to sync did so quickly (it grabbed them from my selected playlists) and I could immediately hear them on my Nexus 7.

Question: What is that awful "surround" setting? It makes all the music sound awful. It's not on by default but if I toggle it on the sound is awful. Maybe it's there to show you how much better it is with it off, even though the speaker sound quality is nothing to write home about. Rather on the tinny side.

Anyway, it works. But how do you set which songs actually get stored on your device rather than stream? I set it to "cache while on wifi and charging." I see some "on my device" now, but nothing "queued for downloading."

Thanks,

doug

 

[douglerner]

Never mind about "how to set which songs actually get stored on your device question." It's the "pin-the-item" feature.

doug

 

[crankerchick]

Never mind about "how to set which songs actually get stored on your device question." It's the "pin-the-item" feature.

doug

Just to note, if you do want to maintain the play history of your iTunes library, iSyncr will work with Google Music. If you just want your music on your Nexus 7 then you are good to go, but if you want to be able to rate songs and keep the actually last played and play count updated, it might still be worth it to get iSyncr going. This is my setup along with Simple Last.FM Scrobbler from the Play Store and I love it!

And yes the surround setting is awful. I use a custom preset with that off!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[douglerner]

Just a note on sound quality for music.

I'm no audiophile, but the Nexus 7 speakers aren't that great. I would rate the sound quality of the the following devices in best-to-worst order:

Best: iPad 2
So-so: iPhone 5
Worst: Nexus 7

doug