[KOR]

Hi All,

How are you syncing media, particularly music? What I'd like to do is sync media, converting on the fly to the lowest bit rate. My environment it Windows XP, Storm running the latest OS, library all in .mp3 format. In the past I've used Media Manager, but we've found that when it's installed, computers spend a long time on the 'Applying computer settings' screen when booting, which I'd like to avoid.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

[ronx]

I just drag and drop into the music folder (using USB data mode). It doesn't do any bitrate converting or anything, but it maintains any album art that is saved into the mp3 files (of course). I wouldn't want to convert any bitrates down anyway -- high quality vbr mp3 is about the lowest quality I listen to my music if I can help it.

[Shaun]

I'm in the same boat as ronx. I use iTunes to manage the Music directory on my network, then drag and drop to the Music folder on my Berry.

[341EastOf]

I use BlackBerry Media Sync.

[ronx]

and just to be a little more specific... I manage my folder structures manually (and sometimes use Tag&Rename to tag and organize mp3s if I have a lot of miscellaneous mp3s in the same folder -- which doesn't happen often). I use iTLU to keep my iTunes database updated since I frequently add and delete mp3s from my computer outside of iTunes. I usually download cover art from Amazon and drag it into iTunes so that the artwork lives in each mp3 -- as opposed to iTunes' "Get Album Artwork", which doesn't actually put the artwork inside the mp3 file, so it doesn't always carry over to other applications (winamp, etc).

I don't use iTunes playlist sync with BB nor do I drag from iTunes into the music folder of the BB (though that would work too, as Shaun suggested)... I just drag from one Windows Explorer folder to another ;)

[KOR]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. Was hoping to do bitrate conversion as I always rip at the highest setting, but I'll just have to shuffle a little more often. If drag & drop preserves album art, sounds like the way to go for me.

Thanks again.

[ronx]

Originally Posted by KOR

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. Was hoping to do bitrate conversion as I always rip at the highest setting, but I'll just have to shuffle a little more often. If drag & drop preserves album art, sounds like the way to go for me.

Thanks again.

as long as you've embedded the album art into the mp3, it should work fine.

[dcpuser]

I organize my music via iTunes and then use media sync to bring them over to my Storm.

[341EastOf]

Also, I believe that the very recently released Blackberry Media Sync update now incorporates the album art.

[Vertioch]

I tried the media sync, then realized iTunes sucks and doesn't store all the info in the tag the way it ought to...

So, I then switched to my other favorite music program (mostly for creating mixes and fixing tags etc) MusicIP. With MusicIP, it adds music to any mapped drive, so it simply copies it over and voila, music on my Storm. (open up Media and it scans and updates it's info). I haven't quite figured out how best to move over a playlist... but I tend to listen to a complete shuffle anyways so it doesn't matter.

[KOR]

Originally Posted by ronx

as long as you've embedded the album art into the mp3, it should work fine.

Worked well. Thanks again for the info.