# Software to sync/manage my mp3 player?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-to-sync-manage-my-mp3-player/441906>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 19, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-to-sync-manage-my-mp3-player/441906 "2008-03-19T03:59:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-to-sync-manage-my-mp3-player/441906/1 "2008-03-19T03:59:01Z")

</div>

I have a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra jukebox (40GB) … I have a music collection on my computer that is arranged the way I want it [i.e., folders/filenames/etc are how I want them and I don’t want that changed]

…so what is the best software to keep my mp3 player sync’d to my music collection without having to rename/rearrange my current music collection etc?

Free/cheap is better, fwiw.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-to-sync-manage-my-mp3-player/441906/2 "2008-03-19T04:49:03Z")

</div>

[http://freeware.pulonangka.web.id/mp3tag-v239](http://freeware.pulonangka.web.id/mp3tag-v239)

I have found that freeware indispensable for managing my music. It has powerful, easy to use tools for renaming, retagging and reorganizing your music based on either the filename and location or the tags themselves.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-to-sync-manage-my-mp3-player/441906/3 "2008-03-19T09:05:30Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=OpalCat]  
I have a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra jukebox (40GB) … I have a music collection on my computer that is arranged the way I want it [i.e., folders/filenames/etc are how I want them and I don’t want that changed]

…so what is the best software to keep my mp3 player sync’d to my music collection without having to rename/rearrange my current music collection etc?

Free/cheap is better, fwiw.  
[/QUOTE]  
[MediaMonkey](http://www.mediamonkey.com/) is pretty good (apart from not co-operating with my samba share) and fast, and does MP3 syncing.

[Songbird](http://www.songbirdnest.com/) may be a bit too bleeding edge, but is looking rather nice.

Amarok is not ready for Windows yet, but does a really good job on my Kubuntu laptop.

All of these use the existing folder structures and tags. They can do rearranging if requested, but I can use all of them together and not screw up my server share.

I really, really dislike iTunes, and want to get rid of it as soon as possible. It just deleted (without asking) a pile of music off my daughters ipod as it tried to do an automated sync - just appalling.

Si