Sat 22 Jul 2006
Synchronizing Music Files and Podcasts From iTunes to S60 Phones
Posted by Antony Pranata under SynchronizationA couple of weeks ago, I have discussed how to synchronized music files from Windows Media Player to some latest N-Series phones, such as Nokia N91 and N80. Today, I will show you how to synchronize from Apple’s iTunes in Windows operating system to your S60 phones.
Before we continue, I have to give pre-warning that you cannot synchronize protected files downloaded from iTunes Music Store. Why? This is because all S60 phones does not support Apple’s FairPlay DRM system. What can we synchronize then? You can still synchronized non-protected files, such as MP3 files, and your PodCasts subscription.
What do we need to synchronize music files and podcasts from iTunes to S60 phones?
- First we need S60 phones that can be connected to the PC as USB mass storage. Most of the newer S60 phones, such as Nokia N71, N80 and N91, can be connected as USB mass storage. You can check whether you phone support mass storage or not very easily. Plug-in your phone to the PC. If you see a dialog that has “Mass Storage” option (or “Data Transfer” in some other phones), then your phone is on the list…

- You need also a large memory card, such as 1 GB or 2 GB. Of course, nothing prevents you to use small memory card.
- Next you need Apple’s iTunes. I assume that you must have iTunes installed on your PC now because you are reading this blog….
- The last thing is the most important one, i.e. iTunes Agent. It is an open source project that enables us to synchronize any USB mass storage device with iTunes.
Click here to download iTunes Agent
Now let’s start:
- Connect your S60 phone to the PC as USB mass storage.
- Run iTunes Agent. You should be able to see iTunes icon in Windows task bar (near clock).
- Open Windows Explorer and create a new file in the root folder of your memory card. Choose a unique name, for example “iTunes_N73″. This file will be used by iTunes Agent to recognize your S60 phone. You can choose any name.
- Now we have to configure iTunes Agent so that it recognizes your S60 phone. Right click iTunes Agent in the Windows task bar and select Preferences menu.

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Click New button to create a new device.
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In the Name box, enter any name that you want.
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In the Synchronize pattern box, choose the directory structure you want to have, i.e. iTunes, Artist Folder or Flat.
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In the Music folder box, choose the directory you want to store your files. Note that the previous contents of your folder will be deleted during synchronization. So, make sure that you don’t have important files in that folder.
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In the Recognize by folder/file box, enter the unique file name that you have created in the previous step. In my example, it is “iTunes_N73″.
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In the Associate with playlist box, enter the playlist that you want to synchronize with your S60 phone. In the example here, I use the same name as my device name, which is “Nokia N73″. You can, of course, create your own playlist from iTunes and change it again later from this dialog.
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- Now you are ready to synchronize. Copy your music files or podcasts to your playlist. As I said earlier, you can copy your files to any playlist you want. Just remember to change the preference in the iTunes Agent.

- To start synchronization, right click iTunes Agent and then select Synchronize devices menu.

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July 23rd, 2006 at 4:48 am
I use SyncTunes to do the same thing on Mac OS X.
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:41 am
[…] S60Tips.com recent tips shows you how to sync a S60 device to your iTunes. Well, actually, you can use the tip to sync any MP3 player that can be mounted as a mass storage device in Windows. […]
July 23rd, 2006 at 9:00 am
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the tip that I described here is for Windows operating system only.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:01 am
Great tip! Do you know if there is a similar way to sync with Winamp over MSC?
July 24th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Does this solution or the SyncTunes solution handle overcome the limitation that the S60 music player can’t read track information from unprotected iTunes AAC files (.m4a)?
July 24th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
@some dude: This solution does not fix any S60’s Music Player problem. It just helps us to transfer files from iTunes to S60 phones.
July 27th, 2006 at 4:39 am
Damn, e-series (well, at least my E61 and E70) has no Mass Storage support. Any workarounds for this? Grrr…why wouldn’t they add this for e-series!?
July 27th, 2006 at 4:45 am
Or….is “Data Transer” the same thing? I’m trying that now…
July 27th, 2006 at 5:11 am
My PC was giving me hell about not having a later version of .NET installed, I went here and downloaded it and it fixed it…
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en
July 27th, 2006 at 6:18 am
So I set it to “Data Transfer” on my E70, iTunes Agent says, “E70 connected successfully, you now may synchronize with your playlist” (or something like that). But then I get some weird errors when I try to synch.
I’ve received two different errors, now I’m receiving one that says, “An error occured while synchronizing: Unable to delete empty folder on device. Do you want to try to continue wiht other tracks or cancel this operation?” I push OK then it says, “Synchronize error: Unable to delete empty folder on device.” (I have no idea why it needs to delete empty folders??)
This only works in Data Transfer mode, the other two will quickly throw error, “No device to synchronize with”.
July 27th, 2006 at 6:51 am
Okay, it worked!
I had some sort of problem with the directory I gave it. I switched it to root (I left the field blank) and now it works.
July 27th, 2006 at 8:02 am
@Phil: E-Series support USB Mass Storage too. They only use different term, “Data Transfer”. So, if you plug-in your phone in “Data Transfer” mode, it should work too.
July 27th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Yeah I figured they did. It would be nice if they’d use the same terminology.
Thanks for this fine tutorial, Antony!
July 27th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Excellent tutorial Antony!!!!
July 27th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
@Phil: Yes, sometimes different terminology in different devices confuse the users…
July 29th, 2006 at 11:17 am
good tutorial. good news! anthony you have a n73 already?
July 30th, 2006 at 4:01 am
can you use the root folder that you created as the music directory to store your files? And also when you choose to synchronise with itunes, does it remove other music files that you may have on your phone, ie they may have been sent via bluetooth or downloaded from an alternative site? Or do these remain? Or is it best to store in the sound/digital/ folder on the phone where it normally automatically stores all your music?
July 30th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
can you make the root file in your folder as your music directory place to save files? Or does that folder have to remain empty? Or do you suggest we use the original nokia created folder under sounds/digital. When we synchronise, does it get rid of other music files that we may have on our phone via other methods, ie downloaded from another site, bluetoothed from another handset etc…..
July 31st, 2006 at 9:57 pm
@dani: Yes, you can create a folder to save the files. Just specify the folder name in Music folder box of iTunes Agent.
I don’t recommend to use Nokia music folder because all the files will be deleted during synchronization. It’s better to use special iTunes folder so that you don’t lose any other files.
August 1st, 2006 at 12:09 am
Ouch!!!! Did the above before i received your message. Oh well, those songs are lost now. Thanks for letting me know, i will correct my set-up.
August 1st, 2006 at 8:06 am
Uupss.. sorry for replying so late so that you lose your songs. I should have notified everybody earlier…
August 6th, 2006 at 5:50 am
ok. What i’ve done is use the root folder i created as my music directory to store my files and so far its working well. Just a reminder to people, when you connect your phone as data or mass storage device it asks you to change your message memory from memory card to phone memory. Dont forget to change it back when you’ve finished. Thanks to you Antony for this guide. Its really useful to have a separate directory for my n80, as i have 14gb of music on itunes and only 2gb memory on n80 so i have to be very selective.
August 6th, 2006 at 8:17 am
@dani: Thanks for the additional tip. I myself would prefer to use “iTunes” mode as synchronize folder.
August 9th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
all files are stored in folders (wich are automaticly made) in the root of memorycard, this way my musicplayer won’t reconize the mp3 files. so know i have to copy paste all mp3 to the root in oder to add them to my library…..??
Any help? thx!
August 26th, 2006 at 6:36 am
[…] Synchronizing with iTunes […]
August 27th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
does this work with nokia 6681?
August 28th, 2006 at 5:44 am
Does anybody tried this one?:
http://teavuihuang.com/massstorsync/
August 28th, 2006 at 7:44 am
@Oscar: I haven’t tried the software, but it seems it uses the same approach as iTunes Agent. So either one of them can be used to synchronize with iTunes.
August 28th, 2006 at 7:48 am
@Onski777: It doesn’t work on Nokia 6681 because it doesn’t support USB Mass Storage. As far as I know, USB mass storage is supported in most S60 3rd Edition phones, such as Nokia 3250, 5500, N71, N73, N80, N91, N92, N93, E50, E60, E61, E62, E70.
Hope this helps.
August 28th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Thanks Anthony, as you said it didn’t work but i refused to quit so i found a way. Just take the MMC out and place it on the computer and follow the same steps as above and it will work, i already tried it and works like a charm. Thanks for the reply anyway!
August 30th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
plzz help me im not able to run itunes agent
thnx in advance
August 30th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
@ayush: Have you installed Microsoft’s .NET Framework 2.0? iTunes Agent requires this framework in order to run.
August 31st, 2006 at 12:06 pm
thnx a lot
i’ll rply soon , after downloading
ps : - u rock !!!
September 1st, 2006 at 12:37 am
Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86)
i got this version but itunes agent is asking for another version(2.0.50) which is not available online
September 1st, 2006 at 6:59 am
guys is there any gnubox like software for 3250 (s60 OS9.1)
thnx in advance
September 1st, 2006 at 7:57 am
@ayush (#35): I am not aware of similar software for S60 3rd Edition yet. I have no idea either whether gnubox will be ported to 3rd Edition or not.
September 1st, 2006 at 8:00 am
@ayush (#34): Have you contacted the developer of iTunes Agent, Jaran Nilsen (http://www.jaranweb.com/). Perhaps he can help you.
Just an additional note, actually what I have in my machine is also .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86).
September 1st, 2006 at 10:49 am
thnx i ‘ll contach him
September 17th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Hey will this still works with iTunes 7 ?????
September 17th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
@mause: Yes, it works. Yesterday I tried with iTunes 7 and it still works fine for me.
However, there may be some problems. Some iPod users have reported that they have problem synchronizing their iPods with iTunes Windows. That’s why there may be a problem with S60 phones too.
October 13th, 2006 at 4:23 am
Hi Anthony,
thanks for the great post!
I have a question: I use the default E61 music player. I successfully synchronized my E61 with my iTunes library. Anyway, all the songs are imported but not categorized, I mean, all the songs are imported in the ‘Unknown’ category. Did I miss something?
Thanks again.
October 14th, 2006 at 9:52 am
@E61Fan: Does category mean Genre? I never have problem with Genre. Have you checked ID tag of your MP3 file? Are they correct?
November 14th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Will this work over IRDA or just via cable? When I connect via IRDA I can access the phone folders in explorer, but it’s not assigned a drive letter so I guess that’s why iTunesAgent isn’t finding the device?
Thanks,
Curt
November 14th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
@Curt: You’re right. It won’t work in IRDA or Bluetooth. It works with USB only because we need USB Mass Storage mode.
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Great stuff… but does anyone know why my N80 won’t display the artist/title of m4a files? all i get is Unknown Artist - Whatever Filename, and its annoying as hell (since the N series supports and plays m4a files).
January 20th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
One more little tip related to music. I was able to use Itunes Agent with Itunes to sync a Lyra 2010 USB player with an SD card in it. Each memory shows up as a separate device in Explorer, so I just set each one up as a separate MP3 in Itunes Agent. The tip? Make sure you delete the other set up devices. I was getting an error when trying to sync, and in desperation deleted the other devices from the Itunes Agent list (Erickson phone for example). Works like a charm.
January 21st, 2007 at 11:18 am
@deltadad: Thanks for additional tip.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:06 am
Does this tutorial work for nokia 6630? please say yes…
January 31st, 2007 at 8:17 am
@MJ: Unfortunately, I have to say “no”. It won’t work on all S60 2nd Edition devices, such as 6630.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
It works perfectly with my sansa E-140,so thanks a lot.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
when the iTunes Agent sync with the player, it does delete every song inside the folder? I mean, if I want to change not all, but some of the files that I have in the player, the files which I don\’t modify in \
February 8th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
…modify in “My devices” from iTunes, do they are deleted and written over? that would be bothering.
sorry about triple posting,
March 5th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Nice, useful post AP. I got it to work fine after a bit of faffing around downloading .NET 2.0 (final)
One point to note (which I may be wrong about - sure someone will let me know!): I have an N73 and the Nokia Music Manager method of transferring files to the phone which I have used previously (drag & drop from iTunes) seems to very conveniently transcode tracks in various formats to a version of AAC format for playing in the Nokia Music Player.
The effect? I can store many more tracks on my memory card than if I simply move over tracks as MP3s.
I suppose you could change all your MP3s to AACs first, but I have a strange affinity for the little devils…
Andy G
April 11th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
is it possible to get coverflow on a series 60 phone? (nokia n95)
April 11th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
@Ziggy: It is possible, but it’s a bit of work because iTunes stores the album art differently from Nokia devices. Please visit my other posting here, http://www.s60tips.com/?p=117.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:22 am
This procedure works without issue on the Nokia 6120 classic. Goodbye Nokia Music Manager.
Raz
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
im glad everyone was able to get this working. i was not able unfortunately. i did use http://teavuihuang.com/massstorsync/ as mentioned earlier. It has no multi-playlist support but did get my iTunes playlist to my N-5700 ok.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
This is excellent work! I was reduced to transferring songs through the (buggy) Nokia Music Manager or having to create another library for Windows Media Player. This one-size fits all procedure is brilliant.
For me, the AAC files that I previously converted using iTunes displayed well. I use the N73 ME.
No problems so far. All my data is still intact.
November 13th, 2007 at 4:14 am
I have just downloaded SyncTunes to connect my iTunes with my Nokia N95. But it isn\’t working. The phone and laptop are hooked up via USB. A SyncTunes window appears asking for playlists etc and inviting me to sync, so I do. The bar suggests that it\’s syncing and finishing but nothing seems to happen in the phone. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks!
November 13th, 2007 at 7:44 am
@Macman10: The application that I discussed above is iTunes Agent (not SyncTunes). Personally, I don’t have experience with SyncTunes.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Crap! You forgot to mention, it will delete existing mp3 files from device! Now i lost all my previous music and most importantly my own ringtones! Grrr
December 28th, 2007 at 8:11 am
@Janitor: Ops, so sorry about that. I have added this information to the posting.
January 10th, 2008 at 6:11 am
i tried this with my N95 but it doent work, what am i doing wrong, when i got to sync devices its says. there are no connected devices to sync.
anyone help me with this?
January 10th, 2008 at 7:30 am
@jon: Have you connected your device in “Data Transfer” or “Mass Storage” mode? Also make sure that you have created the “recognized by file/folder” on the memory card of your device.
January 11th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
help
I seem to have everything set up ad ready to sync but whichever track I try and copy over I get the following message…
Synchronizing \’s60\’…
0 track(s) was removed from the device.
Preparing to copy new files.
Failed to copy G:\\\\Compilations\\Saturday Night Fever Original Cast Recording Featuring Adam Garcia\\10 You Should Be Dancing.m4a.
-> Illegal characters in path.
What are the illegal characters and how to I remove them?
thanks
rich
January 11th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
@rich: I don’t see any illegal characters there. Does it happen on all your songs? Try to sync song with shorter file name.
January 12th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Hi Antony
Yeah, just tried it with a few different songs but I still get the same message, shame as this looks like a good piece of software to use!
rich
January 14th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Absolutely fantastic! Just synced my N95 8GB with my Itunes library!
January 21st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Does this work with nokia 6555?
January 21st, 2008 at 7:12 pm
One of the comments says to put your phone on data transfer mode and I was wondering wether to use server sync or PC sync.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:33 pm
@Zach: I am not sure about 6555. If it supports Data Transfer or Mass Storage, then it should support it.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I\’ve studied this… and I\’m assuming this will work with a MyMusix mp3 player.
I pluged it into the usb port, and it doesn\’t really give me an option for data transfer or mass storage.
Secondly, how do you create a root director — is this part of the \
March 11th, 2008 at 2:52 am
thanks a million, i just baught a nokia n95 8gb, i look forward to using this fantastic software
March 24th, 2008 at 10:55 am
wicked and the best and easiset to follow tutorial..i was looking for something like this for a long time and i found it and worked first time..no problems if you follow it step by step as on here cheers anthony.. real good teacher
March 24th, 2008 at 10:56 am
oh my phone was a N95 8GB series and like i said worked first time…just if anyone has the same phone i know it doesnt say if it works here with N95 but it does…try it if your a music fan
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Awesome! Worked perfectly well! Straight forward!
April 4th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Hey, great! works perfectly… however i want to sync my artowrk as well, (which i have already embedded) and it does not show up on my device… well on the odd occassion it does! and they are all 160 pixels at 80% jpegs. any ideas? many thanks
April 8th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Great!
Thanks for this tutorial. Beatiful!
Easy now to sync my N95 phone.
The mistake I first did was, not read and think at the same time. If you follow the steps it will work.
Peace!
April 20th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Iv jus installed itunes agent but wen i open it, it doesnt start up… and that usual \’send or dont send error report\’ stuff came up.
Can ane1 elp me ou? Thans
April 20th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Andddd iv also tryd reinstallin it several times as well as updating my version of itunes..