FINALLY figured out music playlist sync on Captivate/Galaxy S!

[wezli]

Every way I have tried to synch my music onto the captivate has had a big problem - the music got copied, but it didn't recreate the playlists in the phone's media player. Now I've discovered a way to do it.

The bad news is, it requires an app purchase (iSyncr, $2.99 US), the good news is it works great and will synch your media from iTunes INCLUDING the playlists themselves.

Here's the short instructions:

1. Buy iSyncr from the Android market
2. Run iSyncr
3. Plug in your phone and mount as USB mass storage
4. Find the isyncr.exe file on your card and run it.
5. It will load iTunes - just tell it what to sync and click "Sync"

For the full iSyncr FAQ and instructions go here: JRT Studio: iSyncr FAQ


*NOTE: If you are a MediaMonkey user (like me) you will need to export your MediaMonkey playlists (Tools>Scripts>Export All Playlists...) and import them into iTunes (File>Library>Import Playlist) first.

 

[getDange]

Why do people use iTunes if it is not required for their phone? I suggest you find some app that extracts your music out of iTunes and frees you up!

 

[randy_c]

I used doubletwist sync all my music and playlist to the phone then have 2 option to play music with all playlist in itune. Download doubletwist from market or use the stock music player for android 2.1 (will see and play all playlist) I have to download load stock music player from XDA...

 

[wezli]

I used doubletwist sync all my music and playlist to the phone then have 2 option to play music with all playlist in itune. Download doubletwist from market or use the stock music player for android 2.1 (will see and play all playlist) I have to download load stock music player from XDA...

I tried doubletwist but when it sync'ed the music the playlists didn't appear in the music player. So far only iSyncr has worked to do that (and sadly it requires iTunes).

 

[Infinite-t]

I tried doubletwist but when it sync'ed the music the playlists didn't appear in the music player. So far only iSyncr has worked to do that (and sadly it requires iTunes).

Same here, tried double twist, spent a few HOURS making playlists of my vast MP3 collection, synced, and the playlists did not sync. Instead, i have about 4500 mp3s in a bigass list on my phone, then had the pleasure of going thru them 1 by 1, over and over to create separate playlists..

Later, I found that iSyncer app. gave it a try and it worked like a charm, too bad I already waisted so much time on the other methods. I came from iTunes/iPhone, and I would love to leave them behind... but so far I havent found anything for Android that simply and easily does this.. im still trying to get my album art back...

I dont want google to copy apple, but I would like to see them do more to simplify the method of adding, buying and organizing media on these phones...

Ill probably catch some crap for saying that, but hey thats just my .02 from an Apple to Android convert.

 

[evil5826]

Every way I have tried to synch my music onto the captivate has had a big problem - the music got copied, but it didn't recreate the playlists in the phone's media player. Now I've discovered a way to do it.

The bad news is, it requires an app purchase (iSyncr, $2.99 US), the good news is it works great and will synch your media from iTunes INCLUDING the playlists themselves.

Here's the short instructions:

1. Buy iSyncr from the Android market
2. Run iSyncr
3. Plug in your phone and mount as USB mass storage
4. Find the isyncr.exe file on your card and run it.
5. It will load iTunes - just tell it what to sync and click "Sync"

For the full iSyncr FAQ and instructions go here: JRT Studio: iSyncr FAQ


*NOTE: If you are a MediaMonkey user (like me) you will need to export your MediaMonkey playlists (Tools>Scripts>Export All Playlists...) and import them into iTunes (File>Library>Import Playlist) first.

Or you can use iTunes Agent for free
iTunes Agent

 

[Chew]

iTunes Agent does not sync your playlists in the Samsung music player.

The question for wezli: Can you please look into the phone's folders and try to find out HOW these playlists are formatted and their location?

 

[SuperAkuma]

Double twist sync the playlist to the phone but you have to use there music player to get the playlist. Personally the music player app double twist is a lot better then the stock samsung music player.

 

[randy_c]

You have to sync the phone with Doubletwist then download doubletwist from Market. It will see all the playlist and playing fine. Try stockandroind music player NOT samsung stock music player.

 

[jasonsmith]

Why do people use iTunes if it is not required for their phone? I suggest you find some app that extracts your music out of iTunes and frees you up!

In my case I have a few iDevices around the house that need the app support. If I was going to switch I would probably try Songbird first, I've had a lot of buggy bad luck with Doubletwist.

 

[Chew]

I just read the iSyncr FAQ and he specifically says playlists are NOT supported on Galaxy S phones with the default music player.

JRT Studio: iSyncr FAQ - Advanced

Are playlists and play counts supported with the Samsung Galaxy Default Music Player?
No. The Samsung Galaxy and Captivate use a different music player that iSyncr does not recognize. However, you can still use the music apps listed in this FAQ in order to use playlists and record play counts.

 

[Jacob111]

Hey guys, looks like I found a decent solution for the time being. Looks like the stock music player that comes with the Galaxy is just stupid and refuses to acknowledge user playlists. I downloaded a free app called "Music Player" (it's logo is a circular shape that has a play arrow in the center). I then used Banshee Media player (linux software) which copied several .m3u playlists to the "sd/sdcard/Music/Playlists" folder. This new music player recognized and played music from my playlists.

The obnoxious part is that "Music Player" doesn't have controls from the lock screen. If anyone finds a better app that does this and still recognizes playlists, let me know.

 

[randy_c]

Stock music player was the best for me. 5.1 chanel, album in back ground while display EQ.
Isyncr really did the trick. The funny thing was Isyncr generate playlist with m3u extention but stock music player will recognize the playlist. Others also generate m3u playlist but stock player will not see the playlist

 

[Segfault]

I'm using Media Monkey on my pc to organize my music. The Cubed music play recognizes the media monkey play lists and plays them.

 

[alphadog00]

I think the trick is to figure out where and how the default music player stores its playlists. So far i can't find them - must be in a DB somewhere.

 

[mkj011]

Hi everyone
Thanks for all your inputs above, I have tried some of them.
I too have a Samung Galaxy S (i9000). Now I could say the same thing as the thread's author has quoted ! yes, I have found a way to sync my itunes playlist too.! but this time with FREEware..
Am using itunemywalkman
iTuneMyWalkman for Mac - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

However I had to do following adjustment in my itunes
1. I renamed all songs GENRE FIELD same as PLAYLIST.
i.,e say I have a 'B&W Classics' playlist : I opened the playlist , selected all the songs in the playlist (COMMAND A) then i clicked on COMMAND I , and i wrote "B&W classics" in the Genre field.

After you install itunemywalkman, do the following.
1.In itunemywalkman,Click on EDIT PREFERENCE chose following
Number of directory levels :ZERO
Create folders for: GENRE ( This was chosen in the dropdown menu that is there).

I really don't think the step mentioned above for ITUNEWALKMAN is necessary.

I had to defer doubletwist and tune sync agent because after i had tried it out both (lite versions)consequently i had weird looking files inside my music folder on samsung.Now am not sure which caused it , definetly not itunewalkman .
anyway so am using itunewalkman, and best part is i can use the feature 5.1ch with ituenwalkman as am only using samsung's own player.
Hope above helps for people looking for freeware solutions.
rgds
Krish

Anyway, to round it up, now when after I sync , all i have to do in galaxy S is create a NEW PLAYLIST (RENAME it as i want, in this case B&Wclassics) then I go for ADD MUSIC
then i slide to GENRE FIELD on top of samsung music player

 

[alphadog00]

There is another way to create play lists with the Samsung music player

- add new music to phone; on phone open music player; go to playlists; recently added->menu->add to playlist; select all -> add to playlist -> create new playlist...

It makes sense once you try it.

The only downside is if your music collection is to big to fit on the phone and you are used to just syncing playlists; you need to change your habits.

 

[commenter01]

^ clever solution

However, I believe true .m3u support shouldn't be impossible to incorporate into the samsung player (which is the best one imho).

 

[alphadog00]

^ clever solution

However, I believe true .m3u support shouldn't be impossible to incorporate into the samsung player (which is the best one imho).

I agree, but i don't think the Stock player supports this at all. I have tried creating new playlists on the phone and then looking for any new or modified files with the current date/time.

All i have found so far is some freshly built album thumbnail files that seem to correspond to the CoolIris viewer. I think CoolIris is the skin that gives us the cool album browser in landscape mode.

My guess is that the playlist is stored in some Database on the phone, but i have yet to find it. If we could find where and what format the phone keeps its playlist it should be easy to convert an m3U or some other format to the captivate format.

 

[looksbetterinred]

I have been using Easy Phone Tunes, free from the market. Syncs up great with playlists in itunes.

 

[mterrence5]

I tried double twist and I think it sucks. It spent two days trying to laod all my MP3s (140 gb) and then I just forced closed it. Never imported my playlists either.

I want to load one playlist of about 1000 songs that I sync with my nano (which I could then sell) and put in on my captivate but havent found any good software to do it yet.

 

[tiber1978]

not sure if anyone else threw this out there, but for those of you who still have XP, I just selected all the music I imported into my phone (after I mounted to SD to windows) and just changed the "Genre" to "Playlist [whatever]"
when I went to genres, it listed all the music from the new playlist as the same genre (because that attribute is not TERRIBLY important to me) and then I just added using the built in "add all"

I would also like to just put this out there and say "Samsung....you FAIL"
if HTC can figure out how to integrate this into their phones, a relatively new company (as far as I know) and someone who has created an industry standard CAN'T seem to make a decent music player on a SINGLE one of the phones I have tried, then how do you expect to compete when other providers come out with phones who suck just somewhat less than yours?
....srsly...get it together

 

[antifaithstl]

Why do people use iTunes if it is not required for their phone? I suggest you find some app that extracts your music out of iTunes and frees you up!

The reason is that it syncs smart playlist metadata (playcount & ratings) between your Android phone & iTunes. I had lots of ratings & playcounts in iTunes already, and yes, Doubetwist will pull them in, but when I play songs on my Captivate, there's no other way to sync that metadata BACK to update my smart playlists. ONLY iSyncr can do this, and it's well worth the $2.99 you pay.
The millisecond Doubletwist adds smart playlists, I'll gladly dump iTunes & thank iSyncr for holding me over. Until then, iSyncr is the double-dipped SHIZNIT!
p.s., it syncs fast too! AND

 

[JadeEyedWolf]

I just wish that Android natively supported .m3u playlist files...

 

[Loba]

can someone give this a shot so that the default music player can read m3u playlists? Method 1 has worked for me so far on 2.1 while I'm trying it out on 2.2

Method 1
FLAC and mp3s (done manually...)
1. Install iSyncR
2. Drag flac/mp3 files to Playlist creator to create m3u
3. Copy and paste the m3u and the flac/mp3 files into a folder manually
4. (app to properly read FLAC tags) Download extended media scanner

Method 2
Mp3s (Since I don't like using itunes and I use WMP instead)
1. Install isync on your phone
2. Create a lot of playlists in windows media player
3. Import over to doubletwist on PC
4. Connect your phone on mass storage
5. Sync the selected playlists on your doubletwist with phone, playlists will all appear in native player.