JRT Studio

Cheetah Sync 1.5.0 - True Two-Way Syncs

2012-01-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

We are very happy to announce that today we released a new update for Cheetah Sync, version 1.5.0!

Why is this exciting? Mainly because in prior versions of Cheetah Sync, the "Sync Deletes" option was unavailable for two-way syncs; so anytime you deleted a file from either your computer or Android under a two-way sync directory, the "missing" file was automatically re-copied back. In order to delete a file on both your Android and computer, you had to delete it on both the computer and the Android, which was quite inconvenient.

No longer. With Cheetah Sync 1.5.0, the app "remembers" the files that you synced during your last two-way sync, and knows if you've added files or deleted them, so if you turn on Sync Deletes for your two-way sync jobs, when you delete files on your Android, they will be automatically deleted on your computer (or vice versa).

This new version of Cheetah Sync also manages file and folder renames with ease. Just rename a file or folder on your computer, and your next sync will automatically rename the file for you on your Android (or vice versa).

Because of the large amount of development required to add Two-Way Sync Deletes, you must have purchased the Premium upgrade via an in-app purchase in order to turn on Sync Deletes for two-way syncs. We believe that true two-way syncing is well worth the investment for our customers that require this advanced feature. The premium upgrade also allows the creation of unlimited sync jobs and disables in-app advertisements.

We hope everyone enjoys this great new feature!

iSyncr License Error With MTP

2011-12-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

This post is meant to help customers that are having issues with licensing on Android 3.0 and later.

First, make sure you are using iSyncr 2.6.3 or later. This version of iSyncr reduces the chance of seeing this error. If you are using iSyncr 2.6.3 or later, read-on.

Background (Optional): Starting in Android 3.0, Android devices use "MTP" instead of "Mass Storage" for sending files over USB. This is an improvement in security and file integrity. However, it is not a speed improvement and it does have more software behind it that has to be maintained. As a result, sometimes customers see a "license missing" error from iSyncr. This a result of Android's MTP implementation not being seasoned yet. We have filed bugs with the Android Open Source Project about this (early in 2011).

Here is the problem, visually

This license file is on the device, but doesn't show up on the computer. So all we need to do is get the file to show up on the computer. As we find more options, we will list them here.

Solutions
1.) Try deleting the "license" file (found at the path "/mnt/sdcard/syncr") using an app such as Astro File Manager on your Android device. Then launch iSyncr on the Android device and press the "Installation" button. This will regenerate the license file. Now try plugging into your computer and see if we can see the license file from the computer side.
2.) Try the following tutorial in order to refresh the Android database that holds MTP information.
3.) Just use iSyncr WiFi. :-)

Cyanogenmod 7 Note

2011-12-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

To all those using Cyanogenmod 7 with iSyncr, the storage areas are reversed. Where you see "Internal Storage", iSyncr will write to the SD Card. Where you see "SD Card", iSyncr will write to the "Internal Storage". If your device only has internal memory or an SD card, just ignore this message. :-)

How To Sync Google Music Back To iTunes Using iSyncr

2011-11-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

Today November, 17, 2011, I spent some time trying to figure out how to sync music back to iTunes that you "pin" to your phone in the new Google Music app. I have nothing against cloud streaming services, but iTunes has tons of options that I'd like to keep using. As such, I want to get the music I purchased out of Google Music and into iTunes. I doubt I'll be the only person looking to do so.

After some research, here is what I found.

The files from Google Music are stored with a ".nomedia" file. This file tells the Android OS, "No other music player would be interested in this". It was this way through the beta, but I'm very surprised that Google is dead set on keeping music you purchased locked into their music app. They know it is far from the best ones available and I thought the motto went something like "Don't be Evil". Weren't they in a tussle with Facebook because you could get your info out of it easily?

Moving on from the ".nomedia" file. We can also see the files are named "1201.mp3". I thought, OK, they are just making sure if you have two songs with the same name, they won't have any conflicts, right? Maybe. However, try to read the ID3 tag off of one of these files. Turns out they've stripped them of all information. Google Music has stored all of this info in a private database inside the app. That sucks.

So, yes. You can use iSyncr to sync these mp3 files into iTunes, but it wouldn't be terribly useful. You would have to manually add all of the song information after listening to it. Hopefully Google opens up the Music API, or at least doesn't take steps to make sure you have to use their player to play pinned files. A moderately decent intern could reverse these changes to the music app in a day.

-Justin

iSyncr - Honeycomb And Later Tutorial

2011-11-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

iSyncr is an application that will help you sync songs from iTunes to your Android device. This tutorial is meant for people with Honeycomb tablets (Android 3.0) OR Ice Cream Sandwich devices (Android 4.0). If you have an Android device using Android 2.3 or earlier, please use the iSyncr for PC or iSyncr for Mac tutorial.

1.) Download iSyncr for PC from the Android Market or the Amazon Appstore or download iSyncr for Mac from the Android Market or the Amazon Appstore.

2.) Open iSyncr on your Android device after it is installed

3.) Press "OK" when the license is successfully installed

4.) iSyncr offers to allow you to email yourself the following link.

5.) Select an app to email yourself with. Here we've selected Gmail.

6.) Download and install iSyncr on your computer..

7.) Now it is time to take a USB cable (one probably came with your device) and connect it to your computer

8.) On Windows, the device should show up in "My Computer". On a Mac, the device does not show up in Finder.

9.) If you click on iSyncr, which runs in your tray (it is called the "Menu Bar" on a Mac), your device should now show up.

10.) Click on your device to being the sync process.

11.) Select some playlists and press "Sync"!

12.) Your music and playlists should be available on your Android device a couple of minutes after unplugging the device.

Cheetah Sync for Mac 1.20 Issues

2011-10-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I just found out that we have a major issue in Cheetah Sync 1.2.0 for Mac users. Basically we added some code to check for invalid characters in Mac filenames to either abort the sync, or skip the files in question (if you set the option in the Sync Job). But this code appears to be broken, marking files as invalid which should not be.

I will be fixing this bug ASAP, and hopefully we can release 1.2.1 with the fix very soon. Extremely sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Cheers,
Hexar

UPDATE:
This issue has now been fixed. If you are using Cheetah Sync on a Mac, please update to version 1.2.1 in the Android Market.

iSyncr WiFi 1.5.0 Released

2011-10-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce a new update for iSyncr WiFi! Here are some of the changes we've made in this revision:

Mac Illegal Characters Bugfix

It's unfortunate that we didn't find out about this issue and fix it sooner. Basically, there are several filename characters which are valid on Mac OS X, but are not valid on the Android filesystem. Namely, the following characters: "/\*?<>|

For this reason, we added some code to remove / replace these characters when syncing tracks to your Android device.

Android 1.6 Crash Fixed

Some users running Android 1.6 were experiencing crashes due to a bug in our notification service code. This has been fixed =)

Major UI Overhaul

We spent a significant amount of time and effort in this release trying to improve the overall look and feel of the UI, as demonstrated by some of the following screenshots:

We hope that our users will find this new UI fresh and appealing =)

Cheetah Sync Firewall Guide for Mac OS X

2011-09-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Far and away the largest number of support emails we receive for Cheetah Sync have to do with connection issues. Our users will download and install the Cheetah Sync Server on their Mac, then open up the Cheetah Sync app on their Android device and hit the Sync Jobs button, and... the Mac cannot be found.

We wrote the server and app code specifically to try and make it easy and painless for the Android app to auto-discover the computer, and most of the time it works. However, for users for whom it doesn't work right away, almost always it's a firewall issue, either on their wireless router or their computer. This guide is intended to show our users the optimal firewall configuration so that their Android device can easily talk to their Mac.

Home Networks vs. Public Networks

It's worth mentioning that corporate, university, or public WiFi hotspots often have a built-in firewall in the wireless router which automatically prevents any kind of network traffic between connected devices. Unfortunately, Cheetah Sync cannot circumvent this kind of network restriction; for this reason we generally recommend our users to use a home wireless network if at all possible.

Mac OS X Firewall

Follow these steps to configure your firewall on Mac OS X:

Open up your System Preferences (Apple -> System Preferences).
Click on "Security".
Click on Firewall.
Now you have two options:
1. Click on "Allow all incoming connections". Click the red X. You're done!
2. Click on "Set access for specific services and applications".

Wireless Router Configuration

In some cases, you might need to tweak your wireless router settings in order for Cheetah Sync to connect. This is because some wireless routers might have a built-in firewall preventing traffic, or it might be preventing multicast packets. Steps for configuring your wireless router:

Access your wireless router's settings.
Enable multicast packets. This eHow guide should give you a good idea of how to do this.
Configure the firewall. Routers vary greatly from model to model, but there may be an option to allow traffic to the Cheetah Sync port (35000 by default).

Other Connection Tips

Make sure you're close enough to your wireless router to have a strong WiFi signal.
Rebooting the router, phone, and/or computer sometimes helps.
Turning Bluetooth off sometimes improves WiFi connectivity.
Changing the router's wireless security type sometimes helps.
Changing the router's wireless speed sometimes helps.
Changing the router's wireless channel sometimes helps.

Problems? Questions?

If you need help using Cheetah Sync, or if you have any questions or comments, please email folders@jrtstudio.com for support.

Cheetah Sync Firewall Guide for Windows 7

2011-09-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Far and away the largest number of support emails we receive for Cheetah Sync have to do with connection issues. Our users will download and install the Cheetah Sync Server on their computer, then open up their Cheetah Sync app on their Android device and hit the Sync Jobs button, and... their computer cannot be found.

We wrote the server and app code specifically to try and make it easy and painless for the Android app to auto-discover the host, and most of the time it works. However, for users for whom it doesn't work right away, almost always it's a firewall issue, either on their wireless router or their computer. This guide is intended to show our users the optimal firewall configuration so that their Android device can easily talk to their PC.

Home Networks vs. Public Networks

Windows 7 Firewall

Follow these steps to configure your Windows Firewall in Windows 7:

Open up the Control Panel.
Click on "System and Security".
Click on "Allow a program through Windows Firewall".
Click on "Change settings".
Find "Cheetah Sync" in the list and check both "Home/Work (Private)" and "Public".
Click OK. Click on "Windows Firewall".
Click on "Advanced settings".
Click on "Inbound Rules". Click on "New Rule..."
Click on "Port". Click Next.
Click on TCP. Type "35000" into the "Specific local ports" text field, unless you're using an alternate port number in your server settings. If so, enter that port number. Click Next.
Click on "Allow the connection". Click Next.
Ensure that "Domain", "Private", and "Public" are all checked. Click Next.
Type "Port 35000" into the "Name" text field. Click Finish. You're done!

Wireless Router Configuration

Access your wireless router's settings.
Enable multicast packets. This eHow guide should give you a good idea of how to do this.
Configure the firewall. Routers vary greatly from model to model, but there may be an option to allow traffic to the Cheetah Sync port (35000 by default).

Other Connection Tips

Make sure you're close enough to your wireless router to have a strong WiFi signal.
Rebooting the router, phone, and/or computer sometimes helps.
Turning Bluetooth off sometimes improves WiFi connectivity.
Changing the router's wireless security type sometimes helps.
Changing the router's wireless speed sometimes helps.
Changing the router's wireless channel sometimes helps.

Problems? Questions?

If you need help using Cheetah Sync, or if you have any questions or comments, please email folders@jrtstudio.com for support.

Cheetah Sync + Tasker

2011-09-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

In Cheetah Sync 1.0.4, we are introducing Tasker support. Why did we go through this trouble? Because you can do some pretty powerful things with it! Cheetah Sync is great if you want to sync on a schedule, but what if you want to sync every time you get home? What if you want to sync every time you plug your device into its power cable? Then this is the feature you've been wanting.

Since we have already created this tutorial for iSyncr WiFi, we are just going to use that one. Just click here, and in step 13, enter "com.jrtstudio.SyncFolders.Sync" instead of "com.jrtstudio.iSyncr.WiFi.Sync". That's it!

Introducing Cheetah Sync

2011-09-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our customers have been asking for a general sync solution for some time. We are please to announce that we now have one. Cheetah Sync is a folder based wireless syncing program. Just download Cheetah Sync from the Android Market. Then download the server from JRTStudio.com. Now you are ready to begin syncing!

Once everything is installed, just follow these easy three steps.

Select a folder on your computer. Select a folder on your Android device. Choose your settings.

That is it! Enjoy the software and let us know what you think about it.

Honeycomb SD Card Support For Mac Released!

2011-08-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

If you have the following things....

A Honeycomb Tablet
Android 3.2
An SD Card
A Mac
iSyncr

You can now sync to either the internal storage or SD card. Just head over to http://www.jrtstudio.com/iSyncr/iSyncrForHoneycomb and download the latest Mac version. Once installed, run a sync like you normally would, but now you should see the following dialog which will allow you to select which memory location to sync to.

Cheers!

Justin

How To Refresh The Android Media Database On Honeycomb

2011-08-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is not something you should usually have to do. However, sometimes this is just the medicine to fix media issues on a Honeycomb device. When you are seeing weird playlists issues, or new songs are missing, these steps can help you out.

The problem with clearing Android's Media Storage data is that you don't know when it is rebuilt. Luckily, iSyncr comes with the ability to let you know when Android's media scanner is running. So let's start by enabling that.

With the notification enabled, we will now clear the data for the Media Storage database. Let's start by opening the settings.

Once in the settings, we need to go to "Applications".

Now choose "Manage Applications"

Then choose "All" because "Media Storage" came with the device and was not downloaded

Once in the list of all applications, just scroll down to select "Media Storage"

Finally, we get to the Media Storage and can press "Clear data". This does not remove any media from your device, but does clear the database that most applications use to look for new songs, playlists, photos, etc.

Now that we've cleared the cache, we will rebuild it. For this step, you will need to reboot your Honeycomb device. Just hold down the power button and choose to power it down. Then turn it back on. Once it reboots, you should see the notification in the following picture. Once that notification goes away, the cache is rebuilt and you can continue using your device like normal.

That's all! Just let us know if you any further questions.

Happy Anniversary of iSyncr WiFi!

2011-08-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

Just over one year ago, we released the first public beta of iSyncr WiFi 1.0.0 on the Android Market. Since then we've introduced countless bug fixes, improvements, and new features. Here's a quick list of some of the things we've added since our first version:

Much better auto-discovery when connecting to your computer
Manual entry of the computer's IP address and port
Syncing ratings back to iTunes
Uploading Amazon MP3 purchases from your Android to your computer
Unplayed Audio Podcasts virtual playlist
Mac OS X support!
Customizable sync folder
Video play count support (when used with Ultimate Theater)
Uploading your Android's photos and videos to your computer
Multi-Drive support
Countless bug fixes

Anyway, I hope you'll join us in celebrating a year of wirelessly syncing your iTunes Library with your Android!

Google Shows iSyncr Some Love

2011-07-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

While searching for iSyncr in the Android Market is not going so well right now, Google has shown it is not doing it on purpose and has shown iSyncr some love. They've featured both iSyncr for Mac and iSyncr WiFi in the Media & Video category. So obviously, I think the addition of featured apps on a per category basis is excellent!

OK, back to playing with the new Market again.

iSyncr WiFi 1.4.3

2011-07-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

Today we released a new version of iSyncr WiFi, version 1.4.3. This is mainly a maintenance release, with the following additions:

Fix for Droid Eris

The Eris has some brand new file paths for internal / external storage, so we had to add these file paths for the app to detect drives properly.

Evo 3D picture support

The Evo 3D can take 3D photos, which are stored as .mpo files. These files are now scanned by iSyncr WiFi when uploading photos to your computer.

Better detection of metadata changes in songs

This one's a bit tricky to explain, but I'll try. Let's say you sync a playlist to your Android, and then later change the genre of some of your songs to a different genre. Before this change, iSyncr WiFi would compare the songs already on your Android to the ones on your computer by looking at the file sizes, album, artist, and song name. If something else changes in the song metadata, such as the genre, iSyncr WiFi wouldn't know about it and wouldn't re-sync these songs. So in order to sync and pick up these genre changes, you'd have to delete the songs from your Android and then re-sync them.

Obviously this is not ideal, so we added some code to detect when the "last modified date" of the songs on your computer are later than the last modified date of the songs on your Android. If so, they should be re-synced because they have been changed since the last sync.

Search King Losing Its Edge?

2011-07-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows Google got its start by ranking sites, which gave birth to the Google search engine. That is what they are known for. Being able to return the best results, in the best order, saving users time.

Since then we have seen them move into enhancing users' web experience with products and technologies such as Gmail, Chrome, Docs, Reader, Picasa, etc. After all, one can sell more ad words if people spend more time on the web. Not a bad strategy at all for an advertising company. However, I'm beginning to wonder if they've lost focus and it is affecting what they are known to do best: search. Mainly because it directly effects my company, my contractors, and my family.

Let me illustrate. How do you find something in the Android Market? For the longest time, it was just search and Categories. Google has been trying to make app discovery easier by adding more and more ways of finding apps. But I'd argue the interface is getting cluttered with "New", "Editors", "Trending", "Featured", "Featured Tablet", "Top New", "Top New Paid", "Top Grossing", etc. At some point you just search. The good news is that you have the world's best search company providing the results.

Let's say I want to find an app to sync music to my Android phone. My company, my contractors, and my family hope you do!

Searching "Music Sync", would be what I'd type. I've come to expect that Google will take into account all the variables and return the best results and trust me, I realize this is hard work. As an intern at a company, I wrote a search engine based on Larry and Eric's page rank paper. It was not only difficult to implement, but to make usable. Dev forums have tons of backlinks, but that isn't what you want to show first and foremost. But I digress. Let's just say search is not an easy business. So what are some of the variables Google could use when ranking search results? As it affects me, let me give you some things I'd use to rank apps.

Number of downloads
Number of active installs
Number of ratings
Average rating
Average rating in the past month
Price
Grossing amount
Category
Keywords in description
Page rank of the app name on the web
Page rank of the app name in the Android Market

What does Google use? I certainly don't know. What I do know is searching "music sync" won't return a result for iSyncr, my company's music syncing app, on any of the search result pages. It has more 100,000 downloads with a 4.5 star rating and over 7,000 people have taken the time to rate it. I would assume users would want to see such an app when they search. I know I am biased, but I would expect one of the top music syncing apps to show up somewhere on the four pages of search results for "music sync".

Wait, that doesn't make sense. iSyncr's description says "sync" 10 times and "music" 11 times. That alone warrants iSyncr showing up somewhere in the results, even if it is dead last. It is clearly relevant. Google's job was to sort the results, not cull them.

So what really happened here? From some trial and error, you can figure it out. Search "Music" and only apps from the category "Music & Audio" show up (figure on the right). Well, that is pretty horrible. What if someone has made an app for finding local music shows in your area based on social media sites? Since the app can only be in one category, which do they choose? If they choose "Social", they will never show up in a "music" search.What if it has 50 million downloads? Wouldn't it deserve to show up somewhere when you search "music"?

At this point we are guessing that iSyncr doesn't show up in the query "music sync" because iSyncr is in the "Media & Video" category. In fact, today the PC version is sitting at number two, the WiFi Add-On at number four and the Mac version at number eight. So why is iSyncr in this category? Well, it used to be in the "Music" category, but at some point that split and Google put iSyncr in the new "Media & Video" category. While I could move iSyncr to the "Music & Audio" category, I've been hesitant to because the Android Market is a black box. If I move iSyncr to the "Music & Audio" category, what will happen to its ranking? Will it start as the worst app in "Music & Audio"? If so, that would be a very, very expensive move which could end JRT Studio. So, I've left it in "Media & Video" because iSyncr does sync media and video. It isn't an incorrect category, and iSyncr is sitting high in it. It is staying put for now.

Why has a company built on search failed so badly at this? I don't know. Only showing results from a category if that keyword is used it fundamentally flawed. Let's have some fun with it by searching "music tool". Oops, that would use two categories. What do you think will happen? Click on the preview above to see.

Let's have some more fun. Let's search "music iSyncr".

Remote for iTunes? Um. That is the best and only result for searching for an app that says music 11 times in the description and one of the keywords in its title? Google Google Google. Don't forget how to search.

If you want to kill some time at work...here are some fun searches to try. Hopefully they will fix them soon.
iSyncr Music
Music Social
Music
Music Tool
Social Productivity
Finance Tools

UPDATE: I just found an Android Market forum with 1500 posts about this issue! Seems like I'm not the only one frustrated. What is Google's critical mass for a response?
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=1e575cf9e437736c

Ignore the "Verizon" Drive

2011-07-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

Verizon has started a practice of including an extra drive when you plug your Android phone in. For my Droid Incredible, this drive shows up as a CD drive and contains Verizon installers for stuff I do not want. Furthermore, I have found no way to get rid of this.
Besides being annoying, this software is confusing some iSyncr users. This tutorial is going to show you what I see and what most likely you see, and how to get around it.

Let's start with a simple screenshot of what my "My Computer" screen looks like before plugging my Verizon phone in.

As you can see, I've got two CD-ROM drives, and that is it. Now I'm going to plug my phone in, but I'm not going to select "Disk Drive" or "Mass Storage" just yet.

Now we can see this "Verizon" CD-ROM drive and an H: drive and an I: drive. At the moment, the H: drive and I: drive cannot be opened. Windows just gives me an error when I try to. However, when I open the Verizon drive, there is just junk in there and not the phone's memory as we would expect when we hit "Disk Drive" or "Mass Storage". I can see how this would confuse a lot of people who just want to use iSyncr, or even drag photos onto their phone.

Now I'm going to pull down the notification window on the phone, and change the connection type to "Disk Drive" or "Mass Storage".

Since I had drivers for the phone installed, I can now open up the H: or I: drives and run iSyncr.exe, which is all I wanted to do to begin with.

iSyncr WiFi 1.4.2 Released!

2011-06-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce that we just released the newest version of the iSyncr WiFi app for Android today, version 1.4.2, with several new features.

Custom Amazon MP3 Upload Folder

The biggest new feature we added in this release is the ability to specify the sync folder for uploading Amazon MP3s. Previously, users were stuck using the "amazonmp3" directory on the root of their SD card or internal phone storage. So we just added a new setting that lets users customize the upload folder path.

Simply tap the "Amazon Sync Folder" option in the Settings page to change the upload directory.

By default, the upload folder is set to "amazonmp3" at the base of your SD card and/or internal phone storage. But you can change it to anything you want.

Also note that the path is allowed to contain subdirectories if you add slashes here, for example "/mp3s/upload". But keep in mind that this path is not absolute; it's relative to the base of your storage. So "/mp3s/upload" would actually mean "/mnt/sdcard/mp3s/upload" if your SD card's root file path is at "/mnt/sdcard".

One other good change that goes along with this is that it's no longer necessary for your MP3s to be in the same file/folder structure as Amazon MP3s. Before, each track had to be located on disk in the format ArtistName/AlbumName/SongName.mp3. Now, we simply search all subdirectories of the Amazon MP3 Sync Folder for tracks to upload.

Lastly, I want to mention that even though this feature is called "Upload Amazon MP3s", we also reverse-sync AAC tracks (with the .m4a extension).

Last Sync Status

Another new feature in this release is called the "Last Sync Status". It's fairly self-explanatory: The main screen will now display whether or not the last sync succeeded, and when it occurred:

Other Changes

Other miscellaneous changes in this release:

Now backs up photos imported onto a Honeycomb tablet from your camera
Lowered the number of notifications on Honeycomb tablets
Added support for reverse-syncing .m4v videos to your computer
Other miscellaneous bug fixes

Syncing back to iTunes

2011-06-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

iSyncr has the ability to sync music downloaded to your Android device back to iTunes. It can do this using iSyncr WiFi or iSyncr USB. To help get you started with reverse syncing back to iTunes, we've created the following tutorial.

Reverse Syncing over USB
When you run iSyncr on your computer, you'll have the option to set up some options, by pressing the "Options" button.

Once you've pressed the options button, you'll be able to set up your reverse syncing options.

Upload MP3s --- This turns reverse syncing of MP3s on and off
Delete MP3s ---If iSyncr uploads the MP3s to your computer successfully (which it validates with an MD5 checksum), do you want it to delete the MP3s from your Android device.
MP3 Folder Name --- iSyncr does not copy all of the MP3s from your Android device to your computer. It only copies them from this folder name. By default, the folder is "AmazonMP3", which is where the Amazon MP3 application store the music it downloads.
Upload Playlist Name --- The playlist in iTunes you want to add the MP3s to. It defaults to "iSyncr - Amazon MP3s", but you can rename it to whatever you want
Upload Path --- Where would you like the MP3s to be located on your computer after the upload?

Things to consider when reverse syncing over USB.

iSyncr will re-copy a file to your upload path if you delete the file from your upload path, but left the file on your Android device
Setting the upload path to the special "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder is not recommended. iTunes will quickly delete the file and iSyncr exhibit the problem listed in right above this tip.
The "MP3 Folder Name" is only a folder name. Slashes and special characters will be ignored.
If the "MP3 Folder Name" you entered turns red, the issue is that the folder does not exist or is the same folder as the "Folder To Sync To Options". iSyncr requires you to type in a valid folder name.

Reverse Syncing over WiFi
Setting up a reverse sync on the WiFi version is straight forward.

First launch iSyncr WiFi and then press the settings button.

Once in the settings, then you only have to press a couple of buttons to configure the sync however you like it.

Upload Amazon MP3s - Toggles whether or not the app will scan the filesystem for Amazon MP3s and attempt to upload them to the server for you.
Delete MP3s After Upload - Toggles whether or not the app should automatically delete Amazon MP3s on your phone after a successful upload. Take care with this option, since your only copy of these songs will be on your computer after a sync.
Upload New Photos - Toggles whether or not the app will scan your Android device for photos and upload them to your computer automatically.
Delete Photos After Upload - Toggles whether or not the app should automatically delete photos from your Android after a successful upload. Take care with this option, since your only copy of these photos will be on your computer after a sync.
Upload New Videos - Toggles whether or not the app will scan your Android device for videos and upload them to your computer automatically.
Delete Videos After Upload - Toggles whether or not the app should automatically delete videos from your Android after a successful upload. Take care with this option, since your only copy of these videos will be on your computer after a sync.

If you've toggled on any of the settings, then it will work automatically, using the defaults of the server app. However, you might want to tweak the defaults on you the server side, so here are those options too!

Amazon MP3 Path - This setting lets you choose where exactly the files are stored on your computer's hard drive.
Amazon Playlist - This setting lets you choose the name of the playlist that uploaded Amazon MP3s will be added to in iTunes.
Photo Path - This setting lets you choose where exactly the files are stored on your computer's hard drive.
Video Path - This setting lets you choose where exactly the files are stored on your computer's hard drive.

iTunes Communication Issue

2011-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

You've gotten iSyncr. You are really excited to use a simple, small application to sync your music to your Android device. Then you end up with a message that looks like the one below, which brought you here.

There are two main reasons that users see this error message:

The iTunes registration on your machine is broken and needs to be repaired
There is an issue with UAC / elevation

For #1, there are a couple of things to try:

Like the error message says, repairing your iTunes installation usually does it
Download and run the iTunes COM Fix app: http://www.binaryfortress.com/itunes-com-fix
Run “iTunes.exe /regserver” from an elevated command prompt from the iTunes directory (usually Program Files\iTunes\)
Repair or re-install iTunes

If the problem is #2, essentially, iTunes is being run as a different user than iSyncr is, communication can fail. (Remember that starting in Windows Vista, you can run applications as an Administrator, which is like being a different user)

There are three options to avoid or eliminate this error:

The error can be avoided by making sure you start both iSyncr and iTunes with the same user credentials.
Make sure iTunes is not running when you start iSyncr. Then allow iSyncr to start iTunes, which it does automatically. Since it is started by iSyncr it will have the same user credientials.
Go to Run and type dcomcnfg and hit enter. This will bring up the component servces snap-in. Select computers, My Computer and then DCOM Config. Find the iTunes icon under the DCOM Config. Right-click on the iTunes icon and select the Properties context menu option. This will bring up a dialog box. Select the Identity tab. On the Identity tab select the radio button named "The interactive user" and click Ok.

USB Drivers Links

2011-06-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

Some Android devices need USB drivers in order to show up as a removable drive on Windows PCs (especially Windows XP). As a convenience, we will try and keep the following list of drivers updated. Just email us if you know of a device that needs to be added, or a link that is wrong.

* Requires pressing the "Software" link to show the driver link
** Requires pressing "Resources" to show the driver download link

iSyncr + PlayerPro = Lock Screen Ratings

2011-06-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

From time to time I get questions from customers struggling to set up iSyncr combined with PlayerPro. These two apps work great together once setup, and we certainly do not want setup to be a hurdle, so let's walk through these steps right quick.

1.) Download and install PlayerPro or PlayerPro Trial
2.) Open PlayerPro
3.) Go Menu->Settings

4.) Choose "Music Library"

5.) Choose "Rating System"

6.) Choose iSyncr

7.) Choose "Scrobbling"

8.) Choose "Simple Last.fm"

Now you are all set up! You should see your ratings in the app and (if you configure one) on the lock screen!

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException

2011-06-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Experiencing a confusing error message when you sync with your PC that looks kinda like this?

If so, thanks to the help of one of our users and his server log, we've narrowed down the source of the problem. The error occurs when users try to sync the "Unplayed Audio Podcasts" playlist when they have more than 100 unplayed audio podcasts. We aren't retrieving the tracks for this "built-in virtual playlist" correctly, which causes the error.

Right now there are three workarounds for this issue:

Unselect the "Unplayed Audio Podcasts" playlist when you sync - everything else should sync fine.
Sync with your Mac instead ;)
Reduce the number of unplayed audio podcasts in your iTunes media library, either by marking some as played, or by removing them. You'll need to get the count down to less than 100.

We apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime. While investigating this issue, we also came to realize that users who have a large number of podcasts may also be experiencing timeouts when trying to retrieve the songs in this playlist. We will be fixing both of these bugs and updating the iSyncr WiFi Server for PC on our website very soon.

UPDATE: The fix is now included in iSyncr WiFi Server 1.4.2 and later, which can be downloaded from
jrtstudio.com.

iSyncr for PC Tutorial

2011-06-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

iSyncr for PC is an application that will help you sync songs from iTunes (on your Windows computer) to your Android device. This tutorial will help you get started. Please note, Android tablets and future Android devices running Android 4.0 will need to use the following tutorial, but most likely, this is the right tutorial for you.

1.) Download iSyncr for PC from the Android Market or the Amazon Appstore.
2.) Open iSyncr for PC on your Android device after it is installed

3.) Select where you would like to install iSyncr. If iSyncr detects more then one storage area, you'll have the option to select "Both". If your device has only internal memory or only SD card memory, iSyncr will show "USB Storage". Note that if you add an SD card at a later date, you will want to press the "Installation" button on the main screen and re-run this setup process.

4.) After installing, you get a message about ejecting your storage before unplugging the device. This is just a friendly reminder to hit the "Eject" button on your PC before unplugging your Android device. It is easy to forget.

5.) Optional: If your device has two storage areas, iSyncr needs to know which one will sync play counts and ratings. This prevents duplicates, but is important to remember. If you only sync with the wrong drive, you won't get updated ratings or play counts.
6.) Now iSyncr will have you walk through a full tutorial on the device. Note that you can view this tutorial at any time by going "Help->Tutorial".

7.) Now it is time to take a USB cable (one probably came with your device) and connect it to your PC
8.) Using the instructions from the tutorial on your device, get the device's storage areas to show up in "My Computer" as a removable drive. Note that some devices will need USB drivers in order for Windows to load the device as a removable drive.

9.) Open the drive in My Computer
10.) Run iSyncr

11.) Select some playlists and press "Sync"!
12.) When finished, close iSyncr, press eject and unplug your device
13.) Your music and playlists should be available on your Android device in a couple of minutes.