Android Music from iTunes - Take Two

Just to update an earlier post, software to synch music between your computer and iTunes.

While I still like Doubletwist Lifehacker is now recommending iSyncr (available here). They now favour this over Doubletwist as you only need to install this on your Android phone; Doubletwist needs an iTunes lookalike program installed on your PC or Mac.

Like Doubletwist there's both a wired and wifi version available.

CD Ripping and not an iPod in sight

Clients often ask for help, typically how do they get the DVDs containing their music from our DVDs through their PC and onto their iPod. So it's interesting to be asked how to get music onto an Android mobile phone.

The process up to loading the phone is the same as for an iPod, we import the DVDs into iTunes. As iTunes can't recognise anything that wasn't made by Apple we recommend an additional item of software, Doubletwist, which replicates iTunes, then manages the flow of music from your hard drive onto the phone. So I loaded the music into iTunes and as we were chugging through the final DVD the client picked up her phone. Amazing, the music was there already.

Synch was happening, not via iTunes / Doubletwist but via her subscription to Spotify. Virtually instantly Spotify was finding the music tracks and making them available to her subscription account. Brilliant, we decided it wasn't necessary to continue with Doubletwist.

Apple and Android

If I were Apple I'd be worried. Here's why.

This week, a short week here as we had a public holiday on Monday and today's Thursday, we had two calls about syncing music with an Android smartphone. Yes, two clients who have music, computers and are investing in Android phones on which they want to listen to music. Just like an iPhone - only not made by Apple. If we were to rip their CDs how could they sync?

We found an answer - CD ripping for Android - and picked up two new clients. Incidentally this also applies to BlackBerry, PSP and Pre.

With Android outstripping iOs / iPhone in America if I were Apple I'd be worried.

iPod Killer? Android?

Over the last seven years running a CD ripping service I have mainly been working with Apple iPods. When we started it was something of a gamble, there were so many vanilla flavoured MP3 players around, so many people preferred Windows Media Player to iTunes. Quickly it became apparent that Apple had secured pole position in the race, the rest is history. Today pretty much any portable music player will, like hoover and xerox before, will be described as an iPod.

Over the last seven years I've lost count of the number of times I've read of the coming of an "iPod killer". Remember the various cute players from Sony? Sansa? Archos? These devices have popped up, received critical acclaim, and largely sunk without trace. Who today even knows what ATRAC is let alone has software to play it. According to Nokia its all down to ecosystems. Certainly that's why they have done so badly in the smartphone market and why Apple and Android have done so well. Ecosystem, not the cute device, however cute.

So my mind said "iPod killer?" when I saw that a small manufacturer (Cowon of Korea) has launched an Android based portable music player. As I've read so many times before this unit has some great features (brilliant screen, wi-fi, plays any music file type, tremendous sound, apps) alongside as many negatives (price, battery life and more) but it did make me think "ecosystem". If there were an end to end music support package to compete with iPod / iTunes / iTunes Music Store the Android umbrella is a great place to be. Plus, you get the support of Google who seem to be just about the only company able to lay a finger on Apple.

Watch the Android space, an iPod killer might just be lurking in the shadows.

Jeff Underwood
www.podserve.co.uk