New Version of Nokia Music PC Client, I’m Back To iTunes
This is actually a really hard post to write. Yesterday, the Nokia Music PC Client launched a new update to the application, simultaneously graduating it from the Nokia Beta Labs, and moving the download location to a new Music.Nokia.com destination. I immediately downloaded and installed the update…and…promptly went over to download and install iTunes.
Now, I know you’re a bit dismayed at the news, and I was hesitant, as well, but I just can’t hold out any longer if I’m going to use my phone for music. After 3 versions of the Nokia Music PC Client, I’m still unable to do anything with my podcasts, and I still cannot setup my own custom playlists, which means it’s really rather useless, in my opinion.
Personally, I love Winamp on my desktop - always have, for years. However, Winamp’s portable sync feature is horrendous. So why iTunes? Because I have 11k+ tracks on my computer, and let’s face it - those get stale really quickly. What I want is to be able to setup custom playlists that automatically update themselves. I want to be able to limit those playlists to a certain number of tracks, or a certain total size, and I want to be able to exclude specific Genres. These playlists would automatically populate themselves with tracks that I have not listened to on my computer in the past XX days/weeks. This way, every time I sync my phone, I get a whole new batch of music that I’ve not heard in a while. Brilliant.
Unfortunately, iTunes is the only desktop application that I’m aware of that allows me to do that, and then sync it to my phone. I’ll be making use of Salling Software’s Salling Media Sync, and will check back in with an update.
To the Nokia Music PC Client Team: I want desperately to use your app and again cleanse my system of iTunes, but I simply can’t with the current limited functionality of Nokia Music PC Client. I’d love to keep trying out new versions, but without this basic playlist functionality, I simply have no use.
Genius Playlists, Podcast, Audio Books, Radio, TV Shows in HD, Movies, Party Shuffle, Library Sharing, One Click Download… Nokia have quite a bit of work to put in before the Nokia Music Client is even close to competing.
Aint that the truth.!
Yet, a clear example of being out of touch w/ the users’ base needs, pity.
I totally agree. had problems with library option and the software on whole was damn slow. Completely Avoidable.
Have any of you tried Songbird aka Mozilla Client for Music?
I used it for my iPod cause i hated iTunes and it was good. I’ll try songbird for mobiles and will tell you how’d it go. i dont knw if it supports cellphones but ill give it a shot.
All of the features you are looking for, except for playlist size limit, exist in foobar2000. (And much much more)
If you haven’t tried it so far, I strongly recommend you do. I have a N95 and I manage my music on the device and on my computer from foobar.
I also use it to automatically copy music to the device (using a smart file renamer/mover/copier which is an integral part of foobar).
Seriously, Check it out. (Did I mention its completely free and extensible?)
iTunes is miles ahead. Nokia need to realise that their phones can do much better with an integrated app for music customizations.
I haven’t actually tried it with my N95 yet but an alternative to iTunes that can create and manage all sort of media, playlists and smart playlists, check out J River’s Media Center over at http://www.jrmediacenter.com/. It’s not free but it’s fairly cheap and may do what you need.
Yes, the smart playlists on iTunes are brilliant. But I still want to use my iPod to listen to the songs I haven’t played recently because the play count / last played info is updated in iTunes Library on the PC next time I sync my iPod. I really really need this. I don’t want to listen to music on my nokia music player phone for only this reason. And that’s very important to me. Otherwise, the music phone is much more comfortable than the ipod.
The itunes is very sticky and its going to be very hard for nokia to get people move away from it after people have used it.
Hey Ricky it would be real nice if you could post a hows-to on using iTunes with a symbian device, i mean syncing creating playlists etc. i have never used iTunes before so would really like if i get a proper tutorial kinf od thing!
Chirantan: If you use a mac it’s dead easy. Google&download Nokia Multimedia Transfer
Then you get a library in iTunes named after your phone, any playlists put in this library can be played on the computer and phone, and will be synced automatically whenever you connect the phone.
I used itunes before, it’s too limited.
try mediamonkey. It’s the best!
I have had good results with itunes + salling media sync + mediamonkey.
iTunes of course is used to manage library and playlists.
media sync does the sync to the Nokia E71
mediamonkey I use only to get album art within the mp3 tag instead of outside like iTunes does it
You would think that Nokia could make this work easier with iTunes already using .xml files for the library.
The only thing I miss about my iPod now is the scroll wheel to quickly FFWD a song and the play count/ratings that I can adjust easily from my iPod and then get updated to iTunes.
No smart playlists — that is disappointing. I just got the 5800 (!!!) and want to use it to replace my iPod, but I use smart playlists very heavily. I know I can use iTunes with the phone, but is there any way to have iTunes update the play counts, ratings, etc, based on things I set on the phone? Also I know that I can download podcasts directly to the phone, but it’s very nice that iTunes will delete my podcasts once played — I wonder if I can make iTunes play as nicely with the 5800 as with the iPod. Any tips on iTunes and S60 devices?
Oct 9th, 2008 at 1:01 am
[...] is how music should be managed, period. I can synchronize my Smart Playlists (a feature Ricky was disappointed not to find in the latest Nokia Music client), I am no longer limited to sync just one playlist, I don’t have to click a thing to initiate [...]
Nov 3rd, 2008 at 1:11 pm
[...] useless, in my experience. Plus, its autoplaylist feature isn’t the best, either. The Nokia PC Music Client is making improvements, but it still doesn’t offer what I want. I’ve listed it out [...]