Is it possible yet to synchronise music to an iPhone running iOS 5/6?

Question

Is it possible yet to synchronise music to an iPhone running iOS 5/6?

I tried it in the Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) live environment, but I didn't have any luck with Banshee or Rhythmbox.

Is there some way to do it?

Answer 1

Currently there is no linux software (or library) that can successfully read, write and update an iOS device's music library running iOS 5 or higher. All applications (that I know of), are dependent on libgpod for this functionality and libgpod has not worked properly with the current versions of iOS for some years now, ever since the database version (DBVersion) of the iTunes library within the device hit version 5.

Your best bet right now is iTunes via wine.

Answer 2

You can try Ubuntu One Music streaming. I'm shifted to subj after almost year not very fruitfull experience with ITunes(vm)/Banshee/Rhytmbox and honestly can say that's a real improvement in my ubuntu/iphone using.

P.S. I'm also dind't have any luck in syncing IOS6 with any player (Ubuntu 12.10).

Answer 3

Getting the iOS (iPhone/iPad) music player to sync with Ubuntu/Linux based players such as Rhythmbox or Banshee can be a game of cat and mouse as someone else put it. Often there will just not be any way to do it, or only a way that requires level-5 Linux and/or iOS skills. Even if someone manages after many hours of forensic investigation to get it to work, just wait for the next iOS update from Apple changing stuff around or introducing a new “security feature” and – swooooosh - down the hose go all those hours of IT sleuthing.

Instead of indulging Apple in this game one may choose to engage in a little lateral thinking. By-passing/eliminating Apple prop software by replacing the built-in music player with a third-party app is an easy and sustainable way. A rudimentary example would be installing Oplayer on one’s iDevice and using its HTTP-based file import feature over wifi to get the files from Ubuntu’s music folder. This is not an automatic sync and requires manual work each time one wants to transfer files. It also does not afford us many of the advanced features of, say, an iTunes platform. But at least it works right away and you can have some albums from Ubuntu on your iPhone in minutes. Still, it leaves much to be desired. The dissatisfied user may therefore look for ways to expand on the basic solution and try, say, Dropbox for an automatic sync. Or consider setting up a Samba server on Ubuntu and use the built-in Samba functionality of Oplayer to sync up. Oplayer supports pretty much any and all audio and video formats so unlike with Apple prop software, no need for converting stuff either.

http://www.pocketmeta.com/review-oplayer-best-video-music-media-player-ios-2380/

Alternatively, one may look into several other iOS apps to achieve a different work-around (e.g. look at FileExplorer Free or MewSeek). The one thing to avoid is to try to tackle the problem head-on!

Answer 4

There are plenty of iPod managers out there on the Software center, just type iPod in the search bar. These are compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod classic. They will happily synchronize your music and do way more for you. I reccomend gtkpod, but you can choose whichever you like.