Is there a way to sync my iTunes library to a USB stick so I can play my music on my car stereo?
I realise I can just copy the files to the USB stick but, if possible, I would like to be able to set it up so that the stick shows up as a device in iTunes and fully syncs.
MacBook Pro with Retina display
FlashTunes, which you can find on the app store, does what you want.
FlashTunes, which you can find on the app store, does what you want.
No, syncing is a feature of an Apple mobile device. The best you can do with a flash drive is copy files to it and possibly set up playlists (depending upon details of your car's stereo).
Disappointing. I expect that this is technically possible, but Apple just don't want to allow it. As is usually the case, it will cost them in the long run as people will be enticed to jailbreak, or use other software to manage their music..
A flash drive has nothing to jailbreak. It's just a plain stupid storage device. If this conversation was held a decade ago you'd be asking about syncing to a floppy disk.
We don't know what Apple's policy decisions are. Apple is a for-profit company and that will likely guide their decision making. Still, I invite you to think, how might Apple answer? Many players now enable playback from iOS devices. Why the need for something extra when all you need do is plug your iPhone or iPad (both of which you own, of course) into the car?
Sure, look for an alternative to iTunes. There's a few (e.g., Songbird) but I don't see people moving to them in droves. iTunes isn't perfect but being free it has killed the competition. (Its only competition really was Soundjam which in fact became iTunes.) Until millions of people see the need to sync to a flash drive and either somebody comes up with a free or low-cost alternative, the alternatives just aren't there, sorry.
The only thing you're really missing in full syncing is the ability for iTunes to also remove content on the drive. You can set up a playlist in iTunes, then drag the whole thing to the flash drive open in a Finder Window and it will copy to the drive.
If your player supports m3u playlists, you can create those with iTunes.
Look on the web. I know several years ago I came across an Applescript to enable pseudo-syncing with a Sansa Clip player.
It's too bad itunes-sync is for Windows only. Anyone know of MacOS software that will do this? The best thing would be to just have something that would allow a storage device appear as a device iTunes so you can manage music to it like you would for any other Apple device.
it's a very old topic, but here's a solution for someone who searchs for.
syncs itunes playlists to removable disk.
regards
Sync iTunes to USB stick?
