Make S60 a Passable iPod Stand-in with Nokia’s Multimedia Transfer Tool

In a previous post I proclaimed Salling Software’s Media Sync the best way to get music to your Nokia from a Mac. Turns out that verdict may have been a bit premature…

Corrupted Library?

Even though sending music to my E71 via Media Sync is but a one or two-click affair, there is an extra step required before I can actually play any of it from my handset. It looks to me like the Eseries Music Player has to load the transferred tracks into either RAM or a scratch file of some kind. And that “repairing corrupted library” message isn’t exactly encouraging, despite Media Sync going only one way — i.e. Mac to Nokia.

Thankfully for Mac users, there’s another way to get Music onto a Nokia device:

Nokia Multimedia Transfer Main Interface

Say hello to Nokia’s Multimedia Transfer utility for Macs! Like Salling’s Media Sync, this app is accessed through a drop-down window on your Mac’s title bar.

Playlists on iTunes

And unlike Media Sync Nokia’s utility puts a dedicated folder for your device in the iTunes sidebar — this can be a bit confusing at first as you can only drag playlists (and not individual tracks) into your device folder, as I discovered through trial and error.

Playlists on my E71

The good thing about this is that those same playlists get sent to your Nokia for easier navigation of whatever music you’ve transferred over, as you can see in the screen grab above.

DRM Alerts

In place of Media Sync’s vague and alarming “corrupted library” message, Nokia’s app is a bit more clear about what didn’t make it over to your handset and why. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: DRM sucks.

Nokia Music Player Manual Refresh

Sadly, you still have to manually refresh your music library — at least with the Eseries Music Player — before you can enjoy any tunes on your Nokia.

I won’t pretend for a second that this solution (or Media Sync for that matter) is anywhere near as elegant as using an Apple iPod or iPhone to take your music with you, but to paraphrase a famous saying about cameras, the best music player in the world is always the one that’s in your pocket…

Who Needs an iPod with Salling Media Sync?

I had no idea that my stuffy Eseries business handset could also be a kick-ass music player, but thanks to Salling Software’s new Media Sync, it is!

Media Sync's Drop-down Menu

Install Media Sync on your Mac (it’s also available for Windows) and you’ll find a little icon in your title bar for it — this is important, because the app doesn’t show up on the OS X dock when active for some reason…

Media Sync's Main Interface

But once you launch Media Player things get better real quick — as you can see above, each and every one of my iTunes playlists is available to be copied over to my E71. My previous issue with non-protected iTunes Plus tracks on Nokia handsets has magically disappeared; I’m not sure if it’s Media Sync or the improved music player on my phone that’s responsible for that, but no complaints here either way!

In fact, the one audio file type that Media Sync can’t handle is the protected AAC files for sale on the iTunes Music Store, so I made a Smart Playlist containing my top-rated music without DRM. DRM sucks.

Nokia Music Player

And here’s a random track (honest!) playing on my E71. I should note that album artwork is also copied over where available.

Media Sync comes in two flavours: a free download which can be upgraded anytime to a full version with “smart copying” — meaning that your entire music library doesn’t have to be wiped and replaced on your handset every time you connect it.

Given the relatively slow speeds of today’s microSD cards I’ll definitely ante up for the full version of Media Sync, but I’m going to have to get myself a stereo Bluetooth headset first. What’s that? Your iPod doesn’t support stereo Bluetooth? Well, boo-hoo for you…

Social Music Smackdown!

In the dark days of the early 1980s before the Sony Walkman arrived on North American shores, folks were known to broadcast their musical tastes far and wide courtesy of a ridiculously-large contraption called a boombox.

These days broadcasting one’s music is done largely through one of the three major music sharing services listed below. Want to know which one’s the best? Read on!

Pandora is a music sharing service which only works in the US and A — unlike the internet, which works worldwide. So thanks for stopping by, be sure to pick up your gift bag on the way out…

iLike is currently the darling of the Facebook crowd, currently boasting almost 5.5 million active users of its Fb app. Through Facebook you can find out when your favourite artists are coming to town — which is good — and spam your friends with musical trivia quizzes — which gets annoying real fast.

Last.fm also has a presence on Facebook, albeit with a relatively paltry 45,000 active users. But these folks have an ace up their sleeve — quite a few, in fact: Unlike iLike, which works only on social networks and from within iTunes, Last.fm has embraced software platforms of all kinds, including excellent clients for Nokia Internet Tablets and S60 smartphones.

Mobbler for S60

As you can see in the screen grab above, I no longer have to fiddle with getting my iTunes music onto my Eseries handset. The plug-in for iTunes scrobbles my music to Last.fm, and Mobbler streams that same music to my phone. What could be easier?

The Winner: If it isn’t obvious by this point Last.fm gets the nod for its multi-platform support — click here for the complete and staggering list!