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[AndromAK]

Hello there,

I am a happy user of JRiver Media Center since 2005, and as many of yours, I am very disappointed that MC couldn't synch music with an iPhone, as it can do with any other handheld devices.
I hate itunes, so I found a solution to synch MC (that i LOVE), with a 3GS iphone with 3.1.3 firmware (but it can works with iphone 4)
It is legal.

1) You need a jailbroken iphone

Jailbraik is legal by DCMA laws (Digital Millenium Copyright Act).
You can jailbreak your iphone here--> http://spiritjb.com/ or here --> http://www.jailbreakme.com/ (iphone 4)

2) Install OpenSSH via cydia

Just go to cydia/search, type "openssh" it's free

3) Your iphone must be on wifi with a static IP

You have to set your local network to work with static IP (no DHCP) because your iPhone must have always the same IP on this lan.
Be sure you have set your network to work with static ips, and your iPhone ( settings/Wi-Fi/IP adress, etc...) to have a one ip adresse.
Now you know the IP of your iphone on your lan.

4) Install PwnTunes on your iPhone

download here : http://www.pwntunes.net/ (not free put trial available)
pwntunes allows iphone to synch ipod app with mp3 stored in a particular folder on the iphone.
once installed, run it once, in order to create the good folders on the device.

5) Install ExpanDrive on Windows

download here: http://www.expandrive.com/windows  (not free put trial available)
Now we can map a drive letter on windows explorer to the mp3 folder.
So let's configure Expandrive to do so:





- by default, the SSh login/password is root/alpine
- set a name for the drive (iPhone for example)
- Type the known ip adress of the iphone
- Port is 22 for SSh
- Be sure to set the directory parameter to "show only one directory..."
and set to : /var/mobile/Media/My Music (this folder is used by pwntunes)
- choose a drive letter

In order to ExpanDrive  to work your iphone must be awake.
If so, then clic "connect" : a new drive letter maps the mp3 directory.

6) Configure JRiver Media Center with a fake handheld

now the easy part:

in MC: tools/Options/HandheldDevice Management/Add Device...
choose a name '"iphone" and the choosen letter device.


and voila:

you can now synch your iphone with your playlist from JRiver Media Center.
Be sure the iphone is awake during the process.

When you will run the app ipod on the iphone, pwntunes will import mp3 with tags, covert art, etc...
You can now listen your music from your JRiver media center library!

and the synch is wireless! On the wifi! You don't need itunes or USB connecting to upload your music on the iphone.

It works very well for me, and i'm happy to use JRiver Media Center with my iPhone.

I hope what it will help some of yours...

[sunfire7]

Great!  

I have some questions:

1. ¿Can the synch be wired? Wireless is very cool but I dont mind the wire, and its faster. I guess you only need to point the MC synch handled to a folder in the iphone (as appear as a drive in explorer?)

2. Is there a difference in the sync between this way and the official sync with itunes? I Mean inside the Iphone, will the tags / covers / lyrics etc import right or with flaws?

Thanks a lot for sharing this info!

[AndromAK]

hello,

1) I don't know how to synch with the wire.
The synch is possible if a drive letter is pointing to the right folder. ExpanDrive can do that, but with the device on the local network, on wifi.
I know other tools to access the iphone by ssh, (iphonebroswer, for example) but i dont know how to map a drive letter with these tools.
If anybody knows such a software, please let me know, because you're right, sunfire7, wifi is slowler.

2) when you run ipod app on the iphone, pwntunes make the app import the files in the ipod database (i don't know how).
All tags seems to be well imported, and the app can be used like after an official synch. But I noticed that some cover art weren't shown (some big ones, like 1024x1024 size)

PS. excuse my bad english, i'm a froggy from France

[glynor]

I appreciate the effort to document your method, but I'm afraid that any "solution" where a Jailbreak is required is really no solution at all.  If I wanted to hack my phone and endlessly tweak little things here and there (and worry about the associated stability problems) I'd just get an Android device...

I'll stick to my iTunes updating scripts.

[park]

Glynor, I dont think that jailbreaking is the issue. I think the convulted process is. I will have no problem jailbreaking my iphone when someone creates a simple method for me to be able to sync to it from MC. At the moment there are still too many hoops to jump through, but the change in the law is less than a month old. A bit more time, and maybe I can ditch itunes forever!

[Magic_Randy]

I tend to agree with glynor. I'm not interested in jailbreaking.  Maybe if you are only concerned with a single device you can make it work, but many of us have multiple devices - iPhones, iPads, iPods, ...

Even then there are lots of other things you need iTunes for anyway - especially the App store. Music you can get elsewhere like Amazon.

So for now I will continue to use prod's MCiS. I do everything in MC and let MCiS sync it with iTunes. The only thing I use iTunes for is a sync engine and the App store.

[rossp]

Guys, What we really need is this app to be finished:  http://code.google.com/p/iphonefs/

Then life will be sweet either jailbroken or not.

Ross

[glynor]

So for now I will continue to use prod's MCiS. I do everything in MC and let MCiS sync it with iTunes. The only thing I use iTunes for is a sync engine and the App store.

I wish I could use Prod's MCiS.  Unfortunately, his "driving focus" of developing that plugin is basically just the opposite from what I need.  From what I can tell, the goal of MCiS is to keep iTunes and MC completely in sync at all times.  This is absolutely NOT what I want.

I want MC to use iTunes as a handheld.  I want the files in iTunes to be handheld-formatted copies of the files in my MC library.  Most importantly, I do NOT ever want my full MC library synched over to iTunes.  I want the media in iTunes to be "temporary", generated on-the-fly when I "sync" to it, based on a set of SmartLists that I've set up in MC.  I keep iTunes set to sync EVERYTHING in the library over to my device.  I don't want to have to manually choose which files I want on the phone, and certainly not via the crappy iTunes UI.

I don't care about getting any information back from iTunes into MC at all.  I mean... The play counts and ratings might be nice, but that's pretty low on my priority list.  I manage my music in MC, not iTunes.  Like Randy said above... The only thing I want to use iTunes for is as a sync engine and app store.

[raistlin2k]

Homepage of pwntunes states that it allows direct access to the iphone memory from windows explorer.

Will it work that way as a handheld in MC over the USB-wire?
Could someone try this out?
I don't have an iphone yet, but if this works I would probably leave my old WinMo phone and get an iphone

Thanks
Raist

[rossp]

Unfortunately NOT, pwntunes does give you access to the "My Music" area to allow auto importing music into the iphone/itouch database.

You can't use it directly with MC as pwntunes does not assign it a drive letter and MC therefore does not offer it when you add the handheld.

Ross