Like the majority of people I have used iTunes for many years now and have often carried an iPod and a smartphone around – which to be quite honest was at times a real pain. Why did I need to carry two devices about?!
When I switched to using a HTC Desire I was keen to find a solution that allowed me to easily store my iTunes library on microSD card and play the stored music from the Desire. I had heard about doubleTwist and tried it out – I have never looked back since. My iTunes library syncs perfectly with the software and then to my device. No longer do I carry an iPod and a smartphone, everything is integrated.
So why didn’t I tell you about this before? Well to be honest I just hadn’t got round too it and I know that often people have a system that works and are reluctant to change. But, I did recently read an article by Elliott Yinger at www.androidguys.com who had a similar issue to me and explained doubleTwist and how it worked so perfectly that I am compelled to share it, because if you have an iTunes library and have wanted to get it to your Android smartphone then there is without doubt no better application than this, especially as it is FREE.
Elliott’s full article can be read HERE, but some of the highlights and key points are as follows:
I compared my iTunes to the dregs of media player society: Cell phone music players. Though I tried as hard as I could to use the players on my last two Android-less phones, they left a bur in my boot, instead of a beat.
iTunes does not work on Android, as is common knowledge. Thankfully, Android developers put their heads together, and decided to copy all the functionality of iTunes, and call it doubleTwist… this app is pure genius.
On your PC, you download their media player and it then mirrors your iTunes player. From there, you can load up playlists, podcasts, or pictures to your Android phone, just like it was an iPod. They also have an array of other devices they support: cameras, Blackberries, etc.
The player on the phone is splendid. It has a clean interface and is smooth like butter on my HTC Evo. You can sort you music by artist, albums, songs, or playlists.
There are a few minor downsides that I can see to doubleTwist. The first, being, that it works rather slowly when first initializing and copying your iTunes library. This isn’t a bad issue, since most of your time will be spent using the phone version, which works quickly. The second, being a rather elitist issue, is having to download Internet Explorer 8 to use the Android Market. Lastly, my podcasts did not import, so I had to sign up for them again and re-download.
This love affair is complete with the fact that it automatically checks your iTunes for updates to playlists and the like. I am going to have to give this my Android Essential rating, because a good music player is essential to enjoying your super phone. The app is currently free and in its “beta” stage. I would definitely drop my Five dollar a week budget on this once they take it out of beta.
You can download the desktop version of doubleTwist HERE and the Android application from Android Marketplace or byscanning this barcode.
Source: Android Guys
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