Unless you use Windows Media Player there is not an easy automatic synchronization option available for an Android device. I personally use the amazing Songbird media player, and have wanted the ability to sync a Songbird playlist to my G1 for some time. I finally found a simple solution thanks to the Songbird add-on FolderSync.

This solution will also work for any device that will get a drive letter assignment when it's connected to your computer.

Install/Update Songbird

Grab the latest version of Songbird from http://getsongbird.com/.

Install the FolderSync Add-On

You can also install the FolderSync Add-on by clicking here if you are viewing this page from Songbird.

Open Songbird and select Add-ons… from the Tools menu.


Click on Get Extensions in the lower right portion of the screen. This will open a new browser tab in Songbird.


In the search box on the upper right of the page, type FolderSync and click Search.
Locate the FolderSync Add-on and click the green Install button on the left of the page.
Restart Songbird after installation is completed.

Create/Select Your Playlist(s)

From the library tab in Songbird, create a playlist. Use the library views to drag songs, albums, artists, etc from your library to your new playlist to update it.

You can also use an existing playlist, or multiple lists. The only limitation in the case of is the available memory on the device.

Configure FolderSync

You can view the complete (and most up to date) documentation for FolderSync here: http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/User:Rsjtdrjgfuzkfg/FolderSync_Manual/FolderSync_Manual_English

From Songbird select Add-ons… from the Tools menu.

Locate the FolderSync entry and click the Options button.

Set your preferences in the options screen, for FolderSync 1.3, the following options are available:

1. Activate one-click synchronization of more than one playlist: Check this option to enable the "Sync All" button.
2. Delete not needed Files and Directories: Check this option to delete all files/folders as part of the sync process. I highly recommend you un-check this option:
   Important Note (hence the red text): DO NOT set the destination folder in the sync to the root of your device/sdcard with the Delete option checked. If you do, ALL OF THE FILES IN THE ROOT FOLDER WILL BE DELETED.
3. Write M3U-Playlists: Check this option to create a single m3u playlist (per Songbird playlist) in the destination folder.
4. Auto-format filenames and path: This option mimics the iTunes/Songbird music organization feature, but allows you to control the folder/file structure. I have mine set to this:
   %artist%/%album%/%tracknumber% %title%
   An example result of the above format would be: \Music\Alice In Chains\Dirt\1 Them Bones.mp3

Click Save to update your preferences, then restart Songbird to apply the changes.

Set Up A Sync Partnership

If you haven't done so yet, connect your device to your computer and mount your SD card.

To view the FolderSync interface, select Show Content Pane Bottom from the View menu.


If you have multiple Add-ons installed, you may need to switch the bottom content pane to folder sync. To do this, click on the menu icon on the top right of the content pane and select FolderSync.

1. Place a check next to each playlist (in the left pane) you want to sync to your device.
2. Click the button labeled Browse and navigate to the Music folder on your sdcard.
3. Check the sync folder on the right pane.
4. Click the Start Sync button to copy your files.

The first process may take some time depending on the playlist size.

The setup takes more time than anything, and the only enhancement I would really enjoy at this point is the ability for the sync to happen automatically. Since this is a file system-based solution, I understand that auto-sync can't really mimic the WMP or iTunes style of synchronization.

I hope you find these instructions useful… be sure to post a comment or any questions you have. Happy syncing!

This site is built using Umbraco 4, a .Net-based content management system. I recently upgraded to version 4 from version 3 and have been working to reconfigure my site to take advantage of the new features.

One excellent new package available for v4 is the iPhoneAltPage package. Once implemented, it allows users with rich mobile devices to view an Umbraco site with iPhone-style navigation.

To install this package:

1. Log in to your Umbraco site and click on the Developer section.
2. Expand Packages in the navigation tree and select the Umbraco package repository on the left.
3. Select WebSite Utilities; iPhoneAltPage should be the first entry.
4. Select Download and Install Package.
5. Once installation is complete, just add the Javascript block mentioned in the package description to the head section of your master template.

I modified the Javascript to include Android devices as well:

<script language="javascript"> if ( (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))|| (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i))|| (navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i))) { document.location.href='<umbraco:Item field="pageID" runat="server" xslt="umbraco.library:Replace(
umbraco.library:NiceUrl(umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById({0})/ancestor-or-self::node [@level=1]/@id),'.aspx','/iphone.aspx')"></umbraco:Item>'; } </script>

You can see the results by visiting this site on your mobile device. That's a ridiculously small amount of work to get a mobile site running.

If you want to customize the layout and/or style of your new mobile site, you can do so by editing the stylesheet and template files that were installed with the package. The stylsheet is located in /Settings/Stylesheets/iphonav, and the template is located in /Settings/Templates/IPhone.

Installation using the .CAB File: Download the .CAB file directly to your device, or download the .CAB file to your computer and transfer the file to your device using ActiveSync (see instructions for ActiveSync below). Once you have the file on your device, open File Manager or any suitable file explorer utility and navigate to the folder where you copied the .CAB file. Highlight the file, then select it to initiate installation. You should be prompted to install the file.

�Installation using the .ZIP File:

• Download the ZIP file to your desktop computer.
• Extract the contents of the file to your computer. Each theme should have two files: The JPG file for the background image and an XML document.
• Use the ActiveSync instructions below to copy the two files from your computer to your mobile device.
• If your mobile device supports the extraction of ZIP files, then you should be able to download the file directly to your device and copy the content into the Application Data\Home folder using File Manager (or any file explorer).�

� ActiveSync Instructions:

1. From the ActiveSync main window, select Explore from the toolbar.
2. The default view is your My Documents folder on the device. You can drag/copy the file directly to this folder, or navigate to another folder, start by selecting My Windows Mobile-Based Device. From there you should have access to your Storage Card (if installed) and any other folders.
3. For manual installation of themes using the ZIP file, select My Windows Mobile-Based Device, then navigate to Application Data\Home. Copy the extracted files from the ZIP archive to the Home folder.

This is the theme I used the most as a Windows Mobile/Motorola Q9c owner, it works really well with the phone and the contrast makes it easy to read in the daylight. The wallpaper is an original take on the Sprint marketing graphics that were used at the time.

This is a red and grey color scheme with an original wallpaper.