Sync Other MP3 Players (besides iPods!) to iTunes

This post breezed by on LifeHacker, but I thought it was worth a second look. A free software application called iTunes Agent lets you sync up your non-iPod mp3 player with your iTunes library. Seriously! As great as iTunes is, it is, unfortunately, locked down so you can only use it with an iPod. With iTunes Agent, you can create a playlist for your non-mp3 player in iTunes and then sync that playlist to your mp3 player. iTunes Agent rests in your system tray, always on the lookout for new devices being connected to your system. If a device it recognizes is connected, it enables you to manage it via a playlist in iTunes. You can even associate your mp3 player with a Smart Playlist, like “Party Shuffle”, and always have a new collection of tracks on your player.

The software supports almost any non-iPod device from your PSP to your Walkman phone to your Creative Zen. In fact, the only criteria to determine whether or not a device is supported is whether or not you can map it to a drive letter under “My Computer” in Windows. Since Microsoft Zunes don’t show up as a drive letter, you would first have to follow the steps in this hack to get your Zune to show up as a drive letter before you could sync your Zune to iTunes with this software (in theory…anyone who tries this please let me know! Especially with Zune 2 software!).

To use the iTunes Agent software, you’ll need to install the .Net framework version 2.0 (if you don’t already have it), then download the iTunes Agent software. Although the website doesn’t specifically say, it appears that the software supports both mp3 files as well as acc (m4p). Of course, if you run into trouble with your device, you could always rip the DRM from your iTunes music by using QTFairUse software.

Even better, stop buying DRM’d music!!