Hi All,

I'm not sure if this is relevant here or not so sysop please feel free to delete this thread if you feel that it isn't.

I love iTunes as I feel that it's one of the best music organizers around (and it's FREE too). However, I can't stand iPods and so I opted to use another portable audio device (a Sony Walkman) as the MP3 player of choice in both of my MINIs. The problem is that iTunes will only work with iPods and so there's no way to synchronize the music you have stored in iTunes with your (non-iPod) portable audio devices.

This bugged me so much that I decided to go ahead and write a small program that does just that for you. It's called iTunesMyPortable and it allows you to synchronize any portable audio device that can be accessed as a Mass Storage Device (i.e. that shows up as a separate drive letter in Windows Explorer/My Computer) with the music you have stored in iTunes playlists.

I absolutely love it as I can now organize all my MINI's driving music in iTunes playlists on my PC and then quickly send it over to my portable audio device using iTunesMyPortable. I then simply connect my portable audio device with my MINI's factory radio via the $40 OEM AUX input cable.

If you'd like to check out iTunesMyPortable, you can do so here:

http://www.iTunesMyPortable.com

My intentions aren't for this to be an add for the program, but it makes such a great addition to my MINI's audio system that I really wanted to share it with you all. Most folks don't even know that it's possible to use iTunes without having an iPod. Now you know.

-- MIKE

EDIT: BTW, if you use a Mac there are similiar programs out there for OS X as well. Some are free and some charge a small fee to use the program. If you want more info on the Mac versions, just give a shout and I'll point you in the right direction. I don't do Mac (as I'm a PC only guy) and so I don't know anything much about them.

 

What's bad about the ipod that you don't like? As long as it plays mp3s in my MCS, it can be any player.

It's great you found away around it. For me, I owned many mp3 players and find ipod the one with the most accessories. That's whats most important for me. Especially in the car, there are almost countless things you can get for you ipod.

Actually I'm surprised that you like itunes. I have friends that aren't willing to buy an ipod because you have to use itunes. Can you sync songs you bought from itunes to other mp3 players? or sync self own mp3s only.

I have the oem ipod adapter and happy that the ipod is hidden in the glove box everyday. The only thing I hate is there's no id3 tags which I think they are coming out with a new oem version.

 

Oh, please don't get me wrong as I'm not knocking the iPod at all. It's a great device, but it's just not for me is all. I've never been a big fan of Apple or anything they've ever done. That's just my opinion is all and I have nothing against folks who like them.

With that said, it is indeed strange that I like iTunes (since it comes from Apple). I just find it very easy to use and it works well at what it does.

I simply wanted to let those folks who opted not to go the iPod route in their MINI's know that there is still some pretty cool options available for them too.

My portable audio device of choice is actually a Sony Ericsson W800i mobile phone with a built-in Sony Walkman player. I love the fact that I don't have to carry around two devices at once (i.e. both an MP3 player and a phone). My phone does it all. It can hold up to 8 GB of music on a removable memory stick and it can still do all of the functions of a full-featured MP3 player (plus it plays AAC/M4A formatted songs as well). That's something that the iPod just can't do (although the Moto ROKR comes close but is limited to just 100 songs). Not to mention the fact that it's also integrated into my MINI via Bluetooth (see these Motoringfile.com articles I wrote: Integrated Aftermarket Bluetooth and Integrated Aftermarket Bluetooth: Part 2)

Thanks for your feedback and thanks for sticking up for the iPod.

 

Hi All,

Okay, I've now had a couple of requests (via PM) for the Mac versions that I know of. Here they are:

Dreamsicle

iTuneMyWalkman

SyncTunes

iTuneSEnabler

I don't know anything about them as I don't do Mac. Most of them appear to be geared towards the SE phones with Walkman capabilities, but I do believe that most of them (if not all of them) can also be used with other portable audio devices as well.

Again, my iTunesMyPortable program is for use with the Windows 2000 and Windows XP version of iTunes only.

I hope this helps some...

-- MIKE

 

Looks like I overlooked this part...

Yes, you actually can, but there's a caveat. You need to use iTunes version 5 and a free program called JHymn to remove the DRM protection from the songs you've purchased from the iTunes Music Store (i.e. M4P files) before you can use them on your (non-iPod) portable audio devices. Unfortunately, the latest version of iTunes version 6 won't work with JHymn. If anyone needs a copy of iTunes version 5, I'd be happy to provide it to them. Just PM me.

For more info on this take a look at question number 6 (Q06) on iTunesMyPortable's Frequently Asked Questions page:

http://www.iTunesMyPortable.com/faq/

 

You can always burn your iTunes Music Store songs to Audio CD, then rip them back to MP3. Yes, this is lossy. There's a HUGE audiophile arguement here.

But try it and see if you actually notice. My ears have had too many colds and too many mosh pits without earplugs to notice on most songs.

--dwf