[missing-sync-palmos-talk] questions about itunes conduit, playlists, podcasts, syncing, etc.

[David Duff]

(i'm new to this list.  i tried browsing the last few months of list  
archives and did not come across much info relevant to this issue, so  
here goes...)

i'm looking to use my treo (650) as an "ipod-surrogate" and i'm  
looking for suggestions on how to use the missing sync itunes conduit  
effectively.   to seed the discussion, here are some specific questions:

regarding the basic operation of the conduit:  if i have a playlist  
that contains 10 items, then i sync, then i delete 5 of the original  
items from the playlist in itunes, and add five new ones, then sync  
again.  what files end up on my treo?  only the remaining 10 items  
from the most recent state of the playlist?  or all 15 files that  
ever appeared in the playlist?   some docs on the web suggest it  
should be the former, but what i have observed seems to indicate it  
is the latter.

anyone have any clever tools/techniques/workflows for doing podcasts  
on a palm device?   do people use itunes and the conduit for this?   
or are there other itunes-independent podcast apps for the palm?

can anyone suggest palm player software that works well with missing  
sync and comes closest to emulating an ipod?   ideally, here are some  
things that would love to see:

+ playlists that are selected for synchronization actually get copied  
to the device (the lists themselves rather than just the union of all  
of their contained songs), allowing you, for example, to keep  
different categories of files separate (rock, jazz, podcasts, books  
on tape, etc.) and also in the same order they appear in the  
playlists vs. whatever random (filename-based?) sort the program  
might choose.

+ position information is sync'd for audiobooks (like the ipod) so if  
i'm listening to a book on tape and i am 35:45 into chapter 3, i can  
stop, sync, and then later pick up listening again on my treo (or  
vice versa).

+ last played, play count, and star ratings info gets sync'd.   if i  
am going to take advantage of this info in smart playlists and such,  
then i want to include info about what i've listened to on my treo as  
well as directly within itunes (like the ipod).   also for podcasts,  
for example, if i sync across a bunch of them and listen to a subset  
of them, i would like to identify which ones i have not yet listened  
to (i.e. via a smart playlist), and perhaps automatically delete  
those that i have listened to.

i guess some of these features are pretty ambitious requests...  i  
wonder if it might make sense for mark/space to team with an existing  
vendor of palm player software to bring these to market...  might be  
a win-win in terms of increasing sales of missing sync or could lead  
to an attractive bundling deal.

david duff
duff at alum.mit.edu