Syncing music without iTunes...or can you?

Question

I just switched from iPhone to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and realized that music syncing isn't going to be the same - but maybe it can be better.

I downloaded doubleTwist from the Play Store because it had gotten amazing reviews on the web and the reviews on the Play Store seemed to back up the love it was getting on the web.

I tried to connect via USB and then became aware of the "USB mass storage" setting being unavailable in Jelly Bean 4.1.1. I paid for doubleTwist AirSync and it stunk.

So now, if I just move folders of music over to my Note 2, it's all recognized by the standard player, but I'd really like to sync it all and not just add and delete folders.

Is there one good app that will sync my music, let me create play lists, show album art and details and won't force me to sync over Wi-Fi? When it comes down to it, is there a way to get functionality like iTunes, but for Android?

Answer 1

I would try out Google Music. It will be the most native with your device, and gets relatively close to syncing, in theory.

The first thing you will have to do is go to the Google Music Homepage and download the Music Manager tool. Once downloaded, you tell the Music Manager where your music is on your computer, and it uploads it all to the cloud!

This music becomes visible as soon as you log into Play Music on your phone with the Gmail account that you used to set up Google music on your computer.

Then whatever music is placed on your computer in your music folders is accessible at music.google.com and on all of your Android devices.

The difference is, your music does not actually sync to your phone, but is streamed when you choose it on your mobile device.

This can be slightly modified by selecting an album or such on your device, clicking the little expansion arrow (usually at the bottom right of the item), and choosing the Offline music option (it has a picture of a pin next to it). Your phone will then download this music so it does not have to be streamed to play later.

You would have to do this with all of the music you do not wish to stream, but if you have a decent internet connection, streaming is very much a viable option. And saves TONS of space on your phone!

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

• Google Music -Your can upload your music files from your computer to Google music cloud storage. Then the uploaded music is automatically available in your android device and also you can listen to those music in web interface. You can upload up to 20,000 songs. The problem is that your have to use Google Music player in your android phone and the uploaded music won't be available if you use other players. And also this service is not available in all countries as of now.
• Media Monkey music player. It recognizes almost any Android devices. You can configure it to automatically sync media files from computer to phone whenever you connect your phone through USB cable. I use it for syncing my Music to galaxy nexus with android 4.2.1. I tried multiple players including windows media player but this one seems to working well.

Answer 3

I'm a huge fan of iSyncr. It syncs to iTunes, so if you're coming from an iPhone you can use the playlists you already created. What sealed the deal for me was the fact that iSyncr syncs play counts and ratings back to iTunes. Not to mention the fact that you can sync over wi-fi or sync via USB cable.

EDIT: I see you're asking about syncing without iTunes, but if all your music is already there iSyncr will work.

Answer 4

If you want to use Google Music you will need to upload your iTunes M4P music to Google Music.

However, Google Music only supports .mp3, .m4a, .wma, .flac and .ogg files. And DRM-ed M4P music is not supported. In order to upload M4P to Google Music, you need do a conversion first.

Since iTunes M4P music are protected by Apple's DRM, you cannot use a common audio converter to convert M4P to Google Music supported MP3. What you need is an all-in-one DRM converter that can both remove DRM protection from M4P and convert M4P to MP3 for Google Music.

Aimersoft is taken as the best choice to help you transfer iTunes M4P to Google Music. With it, you can legally strip DRM protection from M4P files and convert it to MP3. In addition, it can convert audio files that are not supported by Google Music like .wav and .aiff. Now download it and follow the steps below to convert iTunes music for Google Music.

http://www.aimersoft.com/drm-media-converter.html

How to convert M4P to Google Music supported MP3

Add M4P files

After downloading the DRM converter, install and launch it. The main interface is as below. You can either click the "Add..." button to add M4P music files of directly drag the files to the main interface. As you can see, you can also add video files to convert.

Specify MP3 as the output format

Then you can click "Audio files to" and select "MP3" as the output format. Note that Google Music prefer MP3 with 320kbps Bitrate. Here you can click "Settings" and choose the Bitrate as 320kbps.

Start converting M4P to Google Music MP3

When all the settings are OK, click the "Start" button on the main interface to start the conversion. When the conversion finishes, you can tap "Find Target" to access to the converted DRM-free MP3 files. Then you can upload them to Google Music as you like.

Apart from that: Why not utilize what you already have - especially if that iTunes list is big.

Here are 2 alternatives:

TuneSync™ allows you to sync your iTunes playlist and songs with your Android™ device. It copies the unprotected music to your SD card and creates playlists that match your iTunes playlists. TuneSync™ does this all over your wifi connection. There is no need to connect your Android™ device to your PC or Apple Mac.

See its home page for tutorial setup

http://tunesync.com/

Google Play Store Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.highwindsoftware.tunesync

I think a better alternative to what you might consider is to use Winamp (for Mac):

WinAmp(for Mac) can take any existing iTunes playlist (which is what you already have) and sync it directly to an Android device without jumping through any other hoops.

Features:

Wireless and wired sync with an Android phone, requires Winamp for Android

One-click music and playlist import from iTunes and Mac desktop

Keep Winamp updated automatically with Watch Folders and iTunes library sync

Play local files, create playlists, and manage playback with a play queue window

Instructions

Download and install Winamp (link depending on PC or Mac)

http://www.winamp.com/

http://www.winamp.com/mac

Launch Winamp and you'll be prompted to add media to Winamp library. Select "Import from iTunes". This will import all of your music in your iTunes library into the Winamp Media Library.

Click "Library-> Import iTunes Media Library" in the bottom left-hand corner of the player.

Sync the playlist to your Android phone connected to Mac or PC previously.

Other than serving as an easy way to sync iTunes to Android, it also makes for a decent desktop music player.