Canadian Mac Forums at ehMac banner
Cancel

I can't hotsync music from itunes to my Palm Pilot

2774 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  TrevX, 
I
I'm able to sync my calendar and my mail but during the hotsync process, it stops at one point and I get a message that says - Operation was interrupted. Some of your data was not backed up. View Log. When I view the log I see that all of the music files failed to sync. The log lists each file with the message, Failed to install Chippawa Street .m4a to the Secure Digital Card. No application on your handheld to open these files. If you have recently installed such an application, please perform that operation and run a Hotsync operation.
I've tried everything but can't make this work. I'm exhausted and have been at this now for almost a week of trying and got no help from the Palm site, just a headache. I know that the Palm won't accept m4a or m4p files but the Palm manual says that you can drag iTunes files into the Send to Handheld droplet, which I did. This part seems to work as the files are being read somewhere. There is a 2GB SD card in the Palm as the manual instructs.
Anyone know what to do? Should I select USB or Cradle/Cable as a connection?

I am using a PowerBook G4 with OS 10.3.9
I have 512 MB of DDR SDRAM
It is a Palm Handheld TX connected via the cradle to USB on the PowerBook

Thanks for any advice.
Reply
Save
Like
1 - 7 of 7 Posts
TrevX
Well, you're sending a .m4a file and the Palm will not accept those. It tells you as much in the error message you received in the log. "Failed to install Chippawa Street .m4a to the Secure Digital Card. No application on your handheld to open these files."

That pretty much sums it up. Its checking to see if it can play those files, it realizes it can't, so it rejects them. Try sending a .mp3 instead.

Trev
Reply
Save
Like
I
TrevX said:
Well, you're sending a .m4a file and the Palm will not accept those. It tells you as much in the error message you received in the log. "Failed to install Chippawa Street .m4a to the Secure Digital Card. No application on your handheld to open these files."

That pretty much sums it up. Its checking to see if it can play those files, it realizes it can't, so it rejects them. Try sending a .mp3 instead.

Trev
Click to expand...
Ok, I get it. Then how do I get iTunes to make mp3's? All the files are .m4a's or .m4p's. Can I convert them to mp3's? How? Or do I have to install a Windows Media Player on my Mac to do my music? The iTunes version is 7.0.2 so it is recent. It feels like I am doing something wrong in the first place. It doesn't seem to matter whether I upload music from CD's or from the internet. I don't get mp3's. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Reply
Save
Like
TrevX
im2kewl4u said:
Ok, I get it. Then how do I get iTunes to make mp3's? All the files are .m4a's or .m4p's. Can I convert them to mp3's? How? Or do I have to install a Windows Media Player on my Mac to do my music? The iTunes version is 7.0.2 so it is recent. It feels like I am doing something wrong in the first place. It doesn't seem to matter whether I upload music from CD's or from the internet. I don't get mp3's. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Sounds like your iTunes is set to rip AAC files and not MP3. Go into iTunes Prefs, find the Importing tab (sorry, not on my Mac right now, not sure exactly which tab Importing is under, maybe Advanced?). Under the Importing tab you'll see a drop down for the format iTunes will rip your music to. Change it to MP3. Now, exit the prefs, find a song you want to put on your Palm, click it, and under the (guessing here) Advanced menu you'll see an option for "Convert to MP3". Try putting the newly created MP3 file on the Palm and see how far that gets you.

Good luck!

Trev
Reply
Save
Like
I
Trev,
It worked! It took some time to realize that the files were actually transfered. In the Pocket Tunes window, the songs didn't show up. However, they were there under the SD icon.
I have another issue with the iTunes files. I purchased some music from the iTunes store. When I try to transfer these files to the Palm, I get a message that the files are protected and therefore cannot be converted to mp3's. I tried copying them but that didn't work. Then tried to find a command to 'unprotect' them but couldn't find a way to do that.
Any ideas?
Thanks for your advice.
2kewl
Reply
Save
Like
rgray
Burn the 'protected' tunes to an audio CD, then rip 'em back as .mp3's :D
Reply
Save
Like
TrevX
Yep, rgray has got it right. Songs purchased from iTunes are protected in Apple's Fairplay DRM. It will prevent you from moving it to another device such as a Palm. There are methods for breaking iTunes DRM, but its definitely not built into iTunes. Burning them to a CD and then re-ripping as MP3 is your only legitimate method to convert them to MP3.

Trev
Reply
Save
Like
1 - 7 of 7 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Canadian Mac Forums at ehMac
A forum community dedicated to Canadian Mac owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, iOS, models, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Everything Else, eh! Anything Mac All iOS - iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV &... Classifieds
Top