Introduction:

So you have a bunch of Podcasts automatically being updated in iTunes or Podcasts you download from various locations and you'd like to have them automatically sync to Pocket Tunes...can you do it? Answer?? YES!!!

 Here is how.....

  What you need:

• Pocket Tunes Deluxe, Basic or Trial Version 3.1.3 or higher
• Windows XP - (hard drive must be formatted in NTFS format or Windows Media Player will not be able to automatically update your playlists when new files are added)
• Windows Media Player 10 or higher
• Latest version of iTunes on your desktop for Podcasts managed by iTunes

 ITunes setup

• Make sure the Podcasts you are downloading are in MP3 format so that Pocket Tunes can play them (most are in MP3)
• Setup location for Podcasts to be stored on your desktop. The default is usually something like c:\my documents\my music\iTunes\iTunes music\podcasts. But you can set it to whatever location you'd like. But remember wherever that is, everything in that folder and any sub-folders will be synced to your Palm, so we'd recommend the default
• Select a few Podcasts to download and have iTunes download them

 Pocket Tunes setup

• Make sure Pocket Tunes is in MTP mode. Your device must support MTP mode, see this Knowledge Base article to determine if your device supports MTP.
• Open the Pocket Tunes menu, go to 'Preferences' and choose 'Copy from PC preferences', confirm that it says MTP in the drop down menu. If it says anything else, select the drop down and change it to MTP, then close Pocket Tunes and reopen it
• You must be using a valid version of Pocket Tunes Deluxe, Basic or the Trial version of Pocket Tunes

 Windows Media Player Setup

• You must be using Windows Media Player 10 or higher
• Go to Tools, then select option
• Select the Library tab
• Click the Monitor Folders button
• Click the browse button and locate the folder that contains all your Podcasts from iTunes. The default for iTunes is to put each Podcast in its own folder so you want to choose the folder those sub-folders are contained (default location is My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts) NOTE: If you have files in any other folder, make sure you add those folders to the monitoring list as well
• Once you have chosen the folder click okay, then click okay again to exit the options menu.

Now we are going to set up the autoplaylist

For Windows Media Player 11:

For Windows Media Player 10:

1. In Windows Media Player 10, go to the Library tab
2. On the left hand side panel, locate the 'Auto Playlists'
3. RIGHT click on 'Auto Playlist' and select 'New playlist'
4. Give your Podcast a name eg. My Podcasts
5. Then click the ‘plus’ sign beneath ‘Music In My Library’
6. In the drop down, scroll to the bottom and click ‘more’
7. Scroll the list until you find ‘File Name’ and click on it
8. You will then see a funnel, followed by the word ‘Contains, then ‘click to set’, click that
9. Then enter the path to the folder where your Podcasts are kept, which is the same locations as you set during the Windows Media Player setup for monitoring the folder, My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts
10. Click Okay and you are done setting things up.
11. We recommend downloading any Podcasts not downloaded in iTunes to the My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Podcasts, that way whenever you add a Podcast, it will be auto synced to the Palm with the rest of the files.

 How do we make sure the Podcasts are automatically updated on the Palm?

1. Connect your Palm to the USB cable
2. Open Pocket Tunes
3. On the desktop, select ‘synchronize media files to this device using Windows Media Player’ or simply open Windows Media Player 
4. The first time you connect after setting up the Podcast Playlist, go to the Sync tab and click on ‘Setup sync settings’ (may also be called ‘Sync Settings’)
5. Check the box that says ‘Synchronize device automatically’
6. Then look down the list below where it says ‘Name’ and locate the Podcast playlist you created earlier, check the box beside it and then press OK
7. Windows Media Player should sync the tracks now, though you may have to exit and re-enter to start the sync.

Once you have this set up, all you need to do is go to iTunes and have it download the latest Podcasts, or save any non iTunes Podcasts in the iTunes Podcasts folder. Once that’s done, connect your Palm and launch Windows Media Player and Pocket Tunes. It is a good idea to go to the Windows Media Player Library tab since it seems to update when you do. Then go back to the Sync tab and the new Podcasts will sync over to your Palm. If the sync does not start, you can press 'Start sync' to initiate the transfer.

If you want to delete any Podcasts, simply go to the Library tab of Windows Media Player, locate the AutoPlaylist you created and click on it once, then delete any Podcasts you no longer want. Windows Media Player will then also remove them from your Palm.

That’s basically it. If you have any problems, contact support at http://www.pocket-tunes.com/scripts/support.php