TuneRanger

5 comments

1. 

   Simone Lange on December 27, 2009 at 9:40 am

   Most homes nowadays have more than one computer. Many of us have one at the office, a laptop for on the go plus a desktop at the house. We undoubtedly have music and all of them. Sometimes the same songs but most of the times we have songs that are on one computer but not the other. Maybe you purchased music for your Mac at home and you would love to put it on your work computer which happens to be a PC. To make it work on cross platforms in the past I have burned the songs on a CD then pulled it into iTunes. Videos have had issues trying to do that. To get them all to match would take lots of time and crossed eyes to verify all of the info. When I saw Tune Ranger I was intrigued when I saw cross platform sync, I have 3 Macs and 2 PCs all of them with different songs and videos.

   So here’s what you will need to make this work on your Mac & PC:
   
   Mac: OS X (10.4 or newer); PowerPC G4 or Intel Core Duo Processor or better, 256MB RAM, about 15MB disk space, Apple iTunes already installed – iTunes 8 compatible.

   PC: Windows XP or Vista, Pentium 4-class processor or better, 15MB disk space, Apple iTunes already installed – iTunes 8 compatible.

   Quick over view of the main working screen in Tune Ranger:
   
   The left side of the main window is your local iTunes library; the right side is your remote library which could be another computer or your iPod.
   
   On the right side your “Remote or iPod selector” lets you choose between all accessible remote Tune Ranger servers and locally connected iPods.
   
   Library of playlist is on both left and right sides they represent the libraries of each respectively.
   
   “Progress Indicator” which is on the left side of the screen shows the progress of a sync session. You can also get more details from clicking on the “Log Display Toggle” button.
   
   “Start now” button which looks like two arrows circling each other is how you start a sync session or cancel one during synchronization.

   Here’s what Tune Ranger can do for you; sync, copy or merge your music, video and playlists across a network. So don’t worry your Mac & PC will be singing the same songs shortly. The great news is that you can install the program on up to 4 computers.

   There are six sync types:

   Sync iTunes and Remote – this one remembers the last sync session and makes any changes to keep both sides equal. It detects when a file has been deleted or modified on either side.

   Merge iTunes and Remote – it compares both sides based on the Sync Option settings. It will add or update files on either side as required to make both sides identical. Nothing is ever deleted.

   Copy from iTunes to Remote – this method compares files on the Remote to those on your local iTunes then it copies new or updated files to the Remote only. No files are deleted. If a file exists on both sides but the newer version is on the Remote Ranger will alert you.

   Copy from Remote to iTunes – same as above just in reverse order.

   Make iTunes equal to Remote – this forces the local iTunes to equal the Remote. It copies new or updated files from the Remote to iTunes and deletes files on iTunes if needed. No files are deleted on the Remote.

   Make Remote equal to iTunes – same as above but in the opposite directions. This is very similar to iTunes one and only sync method.

   They are many different ways to filter your files so you can move what’s different. Also instead of deleting a file you can just have it moved to a different folder so it’s not cluttering up your iTunes folder anymore. This is handled under the “Conflicts” pop out menu and you give the folder a name so you can locate it later.

   I didn’t realize how many duplicates I had of certain songs I was able to delete those and freed up more space to add something new. We’ve all had files that didn’t load completely, Ranger gets rid of those and finds those stray files that are wondering around lost and lets you figure out what you want to do with them.

   Before you install the program temporarily turn off your firewall protections. You will need to install the program on at least two computers for it to begin syncing. Remember you can load this program on up to 4 computers to sync iTunes. Tune Ranger must be installed on all computers that you want to sync. I suggest you start with two computers first then add more as you get more familiar with the program.

   Once you launch Tune Ranger it should automatically also launch iTunes. Ranger will automatically search for other copies of Tune Ranger over your local network. It might be slow according to the type of network you have. When trying to find your computer look for what you named it ex; John Smith’s computer. You can also type in an IP address directly in the “Connect to Remote” box when syncing remotely. Then sync away.

   You can also sync your iPod with your iTunes, try to use an iPod that was previously married and synced with iTunes in the past. Make sure to set your iPod to “manually manage music and videos” and that “Enable disk use” is ON. A note to remember the size of your iPod will also decide if you can fit your entire library on it. If you have a large sized iPod then check to make sure that you are not trying to sync a playlist on iTunes if you are having issues loading your library to your iPod.

   A special note about Album Art: Album art is never actually added to music files and is downloaded to a separate database and only displayed when needed. So if you move the songs to another computer your Album Art will not come with it. Ranger will scan your iTunes library and copies all album cover art in the iTunes database to all matching MP3 files on disk. This will be done to the files only if the cover art is not already embedded.

   When your iPod is connected Tune Ranger, it will automatically create and save a “Sync Set” for each iPod it syncs with. By turning this to ON Ranger will execute the matching set for the connected device without having to press the “Start Sync” button. So just plug in different iPods and each one will be synced with it’s own unique settings.

   The great thing about this program is that the time it takes is all done on the computer and not by you. You can walk away at any time during the sync just check back every once in a while to see how it’s doing.

   Remember that the “Song name” and “Artist name” are hardwired and can’t be disabled, whereas the Genre, Album name, File type and track number can be disabled when you sync. So if your iPod does not have a large capacity or your other computer does not have a lot of disc space you can filter it so if a particular song can be found on three different albums it will only choose that song once and ignore the rest. There are many other ways for you to configure the different filters.

   Ranger will show you a list of files it needs to copy, modify or delete giving you a chance to make any modifications before it continues. However the program may stop more frequently asking for your input if you want the computer to do it all just turn this feature off.

   I found Tune Ranger to be a great little program with large capabilities. I am now bringing more music into my computer from store bought CD’s and the great thing is I only have to copy it once and Tune Ranger will sync it with all my other computers.

2. 

   Macs on December 27, 2009 at 11:22 am

   Bought this app with high hopes for iTunes organization but was sorely disappointed. AS some have written, the “how to” is hard to understand and whether by ignorance or program failure Ranger stole all the info for my music library. I can see the songs but iTunes no longer recognizes them. This appears to be a dangerous program with a difficult interface. Use with caution and “support,” if you can find it.
   
   Mac since ‘84, with all the Zoo

3. 

   Gert on December 27, 2009 at 1:05 pm

   Well, I got suckered in when I finally broke down and bought an iPod this year. I thought it’d be nice to have all the cover art for my music… the adverts promised to go find it for me. Yeah, right. It couldn’t even properly recognize my music!

   This software crashes and burns like few other programs, and it ripped all the pertinant infor out of my file names, so basically, I’m stuck with what they’ve done, or re-ripping hundreds of CDs to make things better.

   And now, I’ve just installed iTunes 9, and neither program will run.

   That’s what I should have done – run. Far and fast away from this program.

4. 

   R. Mccloud on December 27, 2009 at 1:59 pm

   Used to own – and use – this, but moved on and do what it does manually. Why? I replaced my iPod with an iTouch, which wasn’t compatible with Tune Ranger due to the flash memory vs the original hard drive in the unit.
   
   I just finished searching SMith Micro’s database…no clues. Can anyone tell me whether they have an iTouch or iPhone and whether this works with it?

5. 

   Brian Reid on December 27, 2009 at 4:23 pm

   I’ve been hearing about Tune Ranger for years. I finally bought a copy. It was hard to figure out whether I needed to buy one copy, or a copy for each computer. The license that comes inside the box says you can run it on up to 4 computers, but I sure didn’t find that fact anywhere in the product description.

   It works reasonably well. I found the user interface to be very very clumsy, and I still don’t quite understand the difference between its various modes of operation.

   The one part of it that is simply done wrong is the “filters”, which is the means by which you specify what files do or do not get copied. It’s always changing when you don’t want it to. I’ve just about concluded that the filters are stored pairwise — there’s probably a separate set of filter specifications for each pair of computers — but the documentation sure doesn’t say anything one way or the other.

   Right now, as I write this review, the Tune Ranger on my laptop is not able to connect to the Tune Ranger on my desktop. The other direction is fine; the desktop can see the laptop. But now I have to debug this. I’ll probably start by rebooting both computers, which is clumsy. Once again, the documentation is not helpful.

   There doesn’t seem to be any competition for Tune Ranger; it’s either this or nothing. So I live with its quirks and its terrible documentation.