x51 Windows Media Sync Troubles

mottsmith · 10-10-05, 05:27 PM

I'm posting this in case it helps anyone else avoid the major headaches I've just experienced trying to sync protected music content to my X51v.

I have an X51v with a Hitachi 6GB compact flash microdrive. I have a library of about 1,000 tunes on my desktop, including both protected (purchased from Napster) and unprotected content that I want to take with me in my Axim.

Microsoft recommends transferring music from your desktop to your Pocket PC through Active Sync 4.0, which is set up to synchronize the licenses with the mobile version of Windows Media Player. But in my case, Active Sync was woefully unable to handle any more than 80 or 100 tunes before it would start spitting error messages out at me, aborting the sync of the vast majority of the tunes and, worst of all, repeatedly screwing up the formatting of the microdrive.

I tried several solutions, and here are directions for the one that worked for me, in case it helps anyone else who wants to use his or her Axim along with high-capacity microdrive as a media device:

- Place the microdrive in a card reader, connect it to the desktop computer and open Windows Media Player 10.

- Perform a sync directly to the card with all the music you like. (As far as I know, there is no way to transfer any protected content this way, but WMP 10 will decide for itself what to transfer and what no to.)

- Place the microdrive into the Axim. Open the mobile Media Player. Select "Menu" then "Library." On the pulldown menu from "My Music," select "CF Card."

- Select "Menu" than "Update Library." This will add all the tunes on the CF card to the device's library.

- Place the device in the cradle.

- On the desktop machine, select the "Sync" tab in WMP 10. In the window on the right side of the screen, select "CF Card" from the pulldown menu.

- Go to the "Options" menu, located under the "Tools" pulldown at the top of the screen. Select the "Devices" tab. Highlight "CF Card" and then select "Properties."

- A new dialog box will open. Select the "Synchorize Tab." UNCHECK the box that says "Create Folder Hierarchy on Device" ( I believe this keeps WMP 10 from messing with the drive too much and erasing the tunes that you just added directly from the desktop . . . )

- Click the "Settings" button and and a new dialog box opens. Check the box saying "Synchronize Device Automatically."

- Check the box next to the playlist "Music Tracks with Content Protection." MAKE SURE NO OTHER BOXES ARE CHECKED!

- Hit OK. The device should now synchronize, adding the protected content from your library without harming the unprotected stuff already on your microdrive. There's no need to use the Windows Mobile Media Player's "update library" function at this point, the sync handles this for you.

I'd love to know if anyone else has experienced similar problems and/or found any other solutions.

Good luck!

jediassassin · 10-10-05, 05:31 PM

I have Windows 2003 SE and to sync my music I connect my Axim to my comp. Open up Windows Media Player and go to the Sync tab. There I see the SD card I use on my Axim and I select the playlists I want to copy. Haven't had any problems...

mottsmith · 10-10-05, 05:34 PM

That's interesting. I used to have an X50 with 2003, and this synced well, albeit EXTREMELY slowly (USB 1.1 speed).

The WM 5.0 on my new X51v allows for a much faster transfer rate (USB 2.0 speed), but gets confused very easily.