I have indicated in the past that I am a Zune HD user so I have never had much of a need to sync music to my HTC Incredible or Motorola Droid. On the other hand, a couple weeks ago my wife was heading to the gym and asked if there was a way to put music on her Droid Eris as her iPod battery was dead. Then, I got an email from a new HTC Droid Incredible user asking “how do I put music on my phone?”. This is the reason I created a blog. I wanted to answer all the questions of my friends in a single location. Now I just forward a link vs. having the same conversation over and over again. In all honesty, I find myself sending out links to past posts but it really is a better way to explain topics. My answer to this question of music sync has always been a single statement, “Use DoubleTwist to sync music to your Phone.”
I wanted to give a rundown to anyone out there who is wondering how to put music on their phone. DoubleTwist supports a wide variety of devices. doubleTwist supports Windows and Mac. The screenshots below are for the Mac but the instructions are the same on both platforms.
Drag and Drop doubleTwist to the Application Folder
Launch DoubleTwist and Accept Warning
Sign-in or Create a doubleTwist Account
If you already have a doubleTwist account, just enter your Email address and password to logon. If you’re reading this I suspect it is because you do not have a doubleTwist account, so click the Create Account button.
I forgot about the need to be online when you initially setup doubleTwist, so make sure your online or the product is useless to start.
doubleTwist Account Setup
When I first setup doubleTwist for my wife I used a cool feature of Gmail. I am always concerned about email address getting sold, so I setup the email address as username+doubleTwist@gmail.com. If you’re not aware, Google allows you to create disposable email addresses on the fly. I like using this option as I can quickly route all relevant mails to a specific folder and if my address is sold I will know who sold the address. This is no slight to doubleTwist it is my own paranoia speaking here. Regardless, read the EULA,Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy and create your account.
doubleTwist Looks Like iTunes
The fact that doubleTwist looks like iTunes reduces the learning curve for so many people. There are tons of things you can do with doubleTwist but I wanted to focus on the things you need to know to solve the problem, “How do I get my music on my Mobile Phone?”
Enable iTunes Playlist Syncing
- If you’re an iTunes user click on the Playlist Setup.
- Next Check the box Automatically import iTunes playlist changes
- Finally Click Import iTunes Playlists
The nice thing here is if you change a playlist, it updates automatically to iTunes
Tell DoubleTwist What Folders to Monitor
Open doubleTwist Preferences and you can add folders to monitor.
By default doubleTwist monitors folders for updates. Essentially, if you add movies, music, or pictures they will be added to doubleTwist, and this is a feature iTunes does not have.
Verify Your Music Is Added
You will notice is that I have two iTunes libraries. I like this option as I can filter what is currently in my view.
Get Started Syncing
Grab your USB Cable and plug your phone into your computer. On Android devices you must pull down the notification panel and tell the phone to mount as a USB hard drive. On the Incredible it says:
Disk Drive
Mount as disk Drive
Select that radio button and click done
Determine How to Sync Music
This is no different than iTunes. Decide how to sync music, photos, and music and away we go. Personally, I like to sync by iTunes playlists. For example I use smart playlists, DJ Playlists, and ratings to create playlists. Pick your passion and you’re off and running.
I wish I could say more on this topic but doubleTwist really makes it easy to buy and sync content. I personally use the Zune Market to get my free 10 songs every month or I buy directly through Amazon MP3. One thing you may want to check out is using doubleTwist to search for new Android Apps. Going through the Android market can be difficult but using doubleTwist makes the experience a bit easier.
