THIS PLUGIN IS DISCONTINUED AND UNSUPPORTED ANYMORE (THOUGH IT MAY WORK FOR YOU). IT'S RECOMMENDED TO USE IPOD & IPHONE DRIVER 2.0 PLUGIN INSTEAD

You can download iTunes 9 from oldapps.com.

Description

Allows to use iPod/iPhone by the means of iTunes. It synchronizes tracks, playlists, playcounts, ratings and ID3 tag information from MusicBee to iDevices. Useful if you need to sync an Apple Device that MusicBee does not support.

Installation

Extract content of archive to plugins subfolder of MusicBee installation folder (e.g. to "c:\program files (x86)\musicbee\plugins").

Setting up iTunes

• Disable "Edit> Preferences> Advanced> Keep iTunes Media folder organized" option in iTunes.
• Enable "Edit> Preferences> Devices> Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically" iTunes option to speed up working with your device. If you need to auto-synchronize your device use device preferences in MusicBee.
• Turn off "Edit> Preferences> Advanced> Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" option.

• Clear iTunes music library before using plugin.
• Setup device preferences in iTunes as follows:

• Under each kind of media in device settings, only "Sync Music" should be ticked, with all other types of media unticked for sync setting:

How to use plugin

Click "Tools> Turn iPod & iPhone Driver on" menu item. Connect your device to computer. Setup device (auto) synchronization settings. If you need to finish working with iPod/iPhone right-click on the device and select "Safely Remove".

NOTE 1:
You can assign a hotkey or toolbar button to "iPod & iPhone Driver: Turn on" command.

NOTE 2:
If you are using this plugin your device library will always be synchronous with iTunes library.

NOTE 3:
Plugin makes copy of track if track is format-converted due to device settings or if track artwork wasn't embedded (iDevices support only embedded artworks). Track copies are stored in "AppData\iPod & iPhone Driver" folder. Track copy is automatically deleted if track is no longer contained in device media library.

Uninstallation

Go to 'Edit> Preferences> Plugins'. Click 'Uninstall'. Plugin will delete all automatically created files (e.g. settings), but you need to exit MusicBee and manually delete all files that were included in plugin .zip.

Limitations and known issues

• Podcasts, audiobooks and videos are always added to "Music" category of device media library (this hardly will be ever fixed due to a bug in iTunes API).
• You can use several iPods/iPhones with MusicBee, but media library will be the same on all devices.
• You can synchronize iPod/iPhone, browse it and play tracks from it, but you cant manually add/delete tracks to/from device.
  
  

License

Do all you want with plugin binary and source code at your own risk.

Plugin status

Working for some users, discontinued, unsupported anymore.

Source code

MS VS 2012 project, C#. Most people don't need this.

Backup download

Google Drive, all my plugins and their sources