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Exporting iTunes playlists to non-iPods? - Ask DLS
A little over a year ago I wrote a post entitled How to Fix iTunes. One of the utilities I pointed to in that article is called idleTunes, and I used it to keep my iTunes library tuned up, and to export playlists of podcasts to my non-iPod MP3 player. While I still love idleTunes, it stopped working with iTunes back when Apple updated to iTunes version 6, and has not been updated since last summer. So, I finally went looking for a suitable replacement, but I'm having very little luck. The only utility I can find that is supposed to do what I'm looking to do is called iTunes Agent, and unfortunately for me it does not seem to want to play nicely on my computer. Once started, it takes over 30 seconds to respond to any command, and has become totally unusable to me. I'm fully willing to consider the fact that the problem could be my PC, given the number of downloads I test. But a reinstallation is not on the cards right now, considering that otherwise my system is working fine. So I need to find an alternative solution.
Here are my needs:
- Needs to be able to export any playlist from iTunes to any specified folder or drive
- Needs to generate an M3U playlist to keep the audio files in the correct order
- It would be nice if it could optionally delete the tracks from iTunes (and the hard drive) upon successfully syncing to a folder / device
- It would be nice if it could add new tracks and delete dead tracks from the iTunes library
Comments
24
Subscribe to commentsRCRJan 11th 2007 8:57PM
Media Monkey works pretty well.
BobJan 15th 2007 2:45PM
I too have a non-apple mp3 player (a creative Zen Vision:m) and I was looking for something similar to this so that I could easily create playlists. I never found anything, but I heard that Winamp now supports creative devices, so I tried that and it works beautifully, even minus the exorbitant amount of system resources that iTunes likes to use.
DavidJan 11th 2007 7:27PM
I've heard in the past that Winamp had a plugin available that allowed you to sync songs from Winamp to an iPod. After doing a quick Google, I found this (http://www.mlipod.com/). I've never used this (as I have a 5G iPod) and can't vouch for it, but this looks like it might be a good alternative to using iTunes to manage and transfer music.
DavidJan 11th 2007 7:47PM
I misinterpreted the post entirely (got the scenario reversed). Please delete above comment.
DavidJan 11th 2007 7:48PM
I misinterpreted the post (got the scenario reversed). Please ignore my initial comment :)
TylerJan 11th 2007 8:57PM
I've tried MediaMonkey http://www.filehippo.com/download_mediamonkey/ before, and it tends to work pretty well. I haven't used it recently, but when I used it before it seemed like it needed polishing in a few spots. Otherwise, it seemed pretty good. It seems more like an itunes replacement than anything.
What music player are you using? If it is one supported by http://www.redchairsoftware.com/ then I would recommend their software over anything. I use the ipod version, but it is available for many other players as well. It integrates with the shell, and creates a right click menu to send an album/mp3/audio to the player directly from windows explorer. It doesn't integrate with itunes, though, but does transfer files between a device and computer very well.
Jason ClarkeJan 11th 2007 8:58PM
I think I should clarify that I'm currently using iTunes, and have some significant amount of time invested in rating my songs, building smart playlists, etc. So what I'm looking for is a utility that will allow me to grab pre-existing playlists from iTunes, and move them to my MP3 player.
Scott DupuieJan 12th 2007 10:52AM
What you want is iTunes Export.
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/index.html
Jason ClarkeJan 12th 2007 12:01AM
Hi Scott - that's almost it; unfortunately it only does the playlist, not the actual files. I need a utility EXACTLY like iTunes Export, but that also copies the MP3s to the destination folder.
MattJan 12th 2007 12:04AM
I use HotRecorder for Music (www.hotrecorder.com) -- it converts iTunes and Yahoo music files to .wav or .mp3 files (which I then transfer to my Creative device).
JamesJan 12th 2007 3:05AM
I'm sure all your guys suggestions are much appreciated, but I'm not sure that's what he's after- I know I'm not. It's quite a simple thing. You have an MP3 player, you have all your songs/playlists in iTunes, and you want some basic ability to sync. Simple.
There's gotta be something out there?
edJan 12th 2007 10:07AM
try mass storage synchronizer. i use it to sync a non ipod device with my itunes. after some tweaking, works pretty well!
edJan 12th 2007 10:09AM
try mass storage synchronizer. i tweaked it a bit and works great.
TorontoKevJan 15th 2007 2:54PM
I've found iTunes agent to be very useful and doesn't give me a problem SO LONG AS the device has a drive letter.
BUT the new PLAYS FOR SURE devices don't do that - they make a special MEDIA PLAYER section in my computer - and i've not found anything that works with them. which is rubbish - i got my mum one for christmas, and she's technically challenged - and it would be great if she could plug in, wait 10 seconds, unplug, and have it sync'ed (podcasts etc), just like an ipod, without having to touch the keys or mouse.
tenguJan 12th 2007 4:20PM
Media Monkey all the way, I've never used anything else for my iPod and it keeps getting better with new releases. It does things like add album art from the music folder to each track as its been transfered to the iPod and cool stuff like that.
I've never need anything else.
Kiddie CarJan 12th 2007 5:55PM
Instead of iT*, I use:
foobar2000 audio player
Copyright (C) 2001-2006, Peter Pawlowski
Portions copyright (C) 2005-2006 Holger Stenger
... with the foo_dop.dll add-in. I removed crappy iTunes and have no desire ever to use it again.
Tony WilliamsJan 12th 2007 10:16PM
I have just the tool for you - it's #4 on my list - itunes export http://www.digg.com/software/Top_10_FREE_MP3_Utiliites_That_Money_Can_t_Buy
it will export playlists to your chosen format, including m3u to your chosen folder and it can also include/exclude protected files, AAC files
I run it once a week so I can play my iTunes playlists on XBMC on my Xbox, as Apple stopped using the daap protocol with iTunes 7 (bastards!)
Feel free to plug my site Jason ;-)
WoNdErGeEkBoYJan 15th 2007 6:10PM
Funny you asked! I've actually just wrote a simple C# program that exports from iTunes to Windows Media Player. The only thing my program doesn't have is to delete the tracks from iTunes. Email me if you like a copy.
JamesJan 17th 2007 8:29PM
Alright, from one of the links already given I found it. BadApple, from http://www.badfruit.com allows you to sync playlists and music to any DAP that mounts as a drive, from within iTunes.
TorontoKevJan 22nd 2007 2:27PM
But what about devices that don't mount as a drive, like all PLAYS FOR SURE devices that mount as a Media Device?
Like:
Sandisk Sansa
Creative Zen
etc...