Transferring Personal Music to Ionic

[ErickFitbit]

Update 10/6/17 -- Thanks for sharing your experiences with attempting to transfer your playlists onto Ionic. After reading through the discussions in this thread, I noticed some users where successful and others not so much.

Users are running into various blockers that are preventing a successful transfer. I've compiled the complications into the following categories:

• Stuck on "Looking for Ionic" message on Fitbit connect even though Ionic/Fitbit App/Computer on same Network) 

Cannot connect unless a force manual IP address for Ionic is done(entering IP address manually)

• Frozen at "Determining Transfer Time" (check out @xTommyG's workaround here)
• Stuck on "Transfer in progress" (try restarting your Ionic and then reestablish Wi-Fi connection on Ionic)
• Ionic won't connect to Wi-Fi (see Why won't my Fitbit watch connect to Wi-Fi? for tips)

I've created a guide to help anyone that's having issues with this. So, without further ado, let's start transferring some music!  

Requirements

• Windows 10 (PC) or Mac computer 
• Wi-Fi capable computer: Must be able to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi (direct ethernet connections will not work)
• Must connect to a 2.4GHz frequency network (5 GHz frequency is not supported)
• Fitbit Connect Software (Win10/Mac) must be installed
• Ionic battery life must be above 40% to transfer music (Keeping Ionic charging during this process is recommended)
• Create at least 1 playlist of songs or podcasts in iTunes or Windows Media Player to download to your watch. You can also create playlists in the Fitbit Music app using the drag-and-drop feature to add individual tracks. 
• To download music files, they must fall under one of the following audio file types: 
  • Windows 10
    • MP3 files
    • MP4 files with AAC audio
    • WMA files
  • Mac
    • MP3 files
    • AIFF
    • MP4 files with AAC audio

• If you use iTunes, make sure you approve the app to share playlists with your watch: Open iTunes on your computer > Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Share iTunes Library XML with other applications > OK.

 

• For best results, perform this process as close to your router as possible to reduce any interference 

Transfer Music Checklist

1. Restart computer
2. Make sure your computer is connected to a strong Wi-Fi network (note: personal or work network that requires a password to connect is recommended - 2.4 GHz) 
3. Restart phone
4. Restart Ionic
5. In the Fitbit app go to Account/Media/Manage Wi-fi Networks and remove all saved networks
6. Connect back to your Wi-Fi network 
7. Plug-in your watch to charge
8. On your Ionic, tap Music app and then Transfer Music: 
9. Ionic will show this screen when connection is established: 
10. Open Fitbit Connect and click on Manage My Music 
11. When prompted, follow the on-screen instructions on your Mac/PC to choose the playlists you want to download to your watch. After you choose a playlist, the download starts automatically. Download/transfer times vary based on how large your playlist is (was able to download 1 hours worth of music in about 6-8 minutes).

Note: For faster download times, you might want to avoid large playlists. The more songs you transfer under one playlist the longer download times you will experience. Should you run into an issue please let us know where in the process you get stuck.

Thanks everyone for your continued insight and feedback in this thread. I hope all of you Ionic users get transferred, drop your phones on your dressers and start working out to the music you most enjoy, phone free!

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Update 9/28/17 -- The latest version of Fitbit Connect for Mac is now live! The update can now be found on the setup page. Please update if you haven't already so you can start transferring your favorite tunes to your Ionic!

• Download Fitbit Connect for Mac: www.fitbit.com/setup

• Download Fitbit Connect for PC: http://cache.fitbit.com/FitbitConnect/FitbitConnect-v2.0.2.6954-2017-09-28.exe 

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Everyone -- To transfer music with Fitbit Connect, please click the applicable link below to download and install the Fitbit Connect software:

• Download Fitbit Connect for Mac: www.fitbit.com/setup

• Download Fitbit Connect for PC: http://cache.fitbit.com/FitbitConnect/FitbitConnect-v2.0.2.6954-2017-09-28.exe

With the Music app on Fitbit Ionic, you can store and play several hours worth of your favorite songs and podcasts right on your wrist. After you download playlists to your watch, connect Bluetooth headphones or another audio device to listen to your tracks.

You need a Windows 10 PC or a Mac connected to Wi-Fi to download music and podcasts to your watch. Keep in mind you can only transfer files that you own or don’t require a license. 

If you live in the United States, you can also use the Pandora app to download stations to your watch. 

For full instructions, I recommend checking out "How do I listen to music and podcasts on my Fitbit watch?"

[SunsetRunner]

I really don't understand how we can download watch faces and apps through our phone app, but music somehow is too advanced to sync the same way!? Ok. 

[seemebreakthis]

Thanks to your advice I never even bothered downloading the Win10 of the Fitbit app.  Used Fitbit Connect for desktop Windows and now my music is being transferred, apparently without any problem.

[lagcisco]

Very disappointed with the music transfer functionality on MacOSX, it's slow, unintutive and buggy. Absolute executional failure, ugh, I really don't want an iWatch because of the crappy battery life but I'm considering returning this with just less than 6 hours of ownership.

[Osmar]

Hi @SunsetRunner!

Until now, I didn't kill anyone.

But your script didn't work for me.

At first, I must say how irritating the process of creating a playlist is. It is terribly annoying.

But suppose I would have the guts and the patience to create hundreds of playlists.

Fitbit still misses me.

For example, the "fitbit connect app" randomly loses the playlists I create. so, when I add one, it says the other was "not found in this computer".

So it adds some songs, but delete another songs. I AM USING ONLY ONE COMPUTER.

So, fitbit adds some songs and delete others, randomly.

I am for about 20 days trying to get this thing to work.

[seemebreakthis]

I noticed even though you have created a playlist, the PHYSICAL file path and file name of each song within the playlist must be English characters only.  Otherwise Fitbit connect says 'file not found'.

So what I did for my songs that involves non english characters (e.g. Ed Sheeran's "Perfect", which in iTunes is stored in a directory containing the "÷" character which is the name of the album), I had to copy that .m4a music file into a directly containing only plain English characters, add that file back to my itunes music list, create a playlist containing that copy, then it will successfully transfer to my Ionic.

Yes it is very tedious, and I hope Fitbit will do something about it.

[WinthropDC]

I had to rename MO and XYLO to remove the Ø characters, and also change ‘ to ' in songs. Anything above ASCII code 127 fails.

[Osmar]

This is really an issue.

But even if I change the names of the files, there are some MP3 files that the "fitbit connect" does not recognize.

It says "unsupported file type", but it is an MP3 file.

It is problem after problem after problem.

[Brad_Lenkins]

You can try MusConv tool.It helps to transfer all your playlists to any of your music service . You can even import music from spotify to google music / csv / apple music / etc or vice versa.

[Brad_Lenkins]

You can try MusConv.com tool.It helps to transfer all your playlists to any of your music service . You can even import music from spotify to google music / csv / apple music / etc or vice versa.

[fitjulia]

Restarting of all my devices and networks is not a real solution to FitBit software problems. I am extremely annoyed by the FitBit connect performance. It should't take more than 15 min to set up and transfer a few songs.... So sad

[hate_windows]

OMG.  This is such BS.  I want a refund.

[Ecgirl07]

This was an utter faff! What is wrong with drag and drop  albums through a wired connection that would take 2 minutes. Or being able to do it via phone app instead of messing around with playlists and media player and wifi connections. About as annoying to see price drop in the UK by £60 on Christmas Day 😉

Hopefully once this is sorted the Ionic is worth the investment and upgrade from Charge HR/ which has worked faithfully for 2.5 years....

Fitbit, this is utterly utterly stupid technology a 1 hour transfer time that drag and drop would do in seconds...... haud the bus 3 hour transfer time to move 5 albums...... im speachless.

Edit: at least 1 hour in and I have transferred 1 song. have cut playlists down to 10 songs, thought I had an album over but no.... this is really really bad, absolutely no point in paying £300 for this, i could just keep using gps tracking on the app for my run and bought a £60 alta for swimming. 

Edit2: 2 hours of faffing I have the sum total of zero songs transferred, had playlists of 10 song crash at 8 songs, genuinely if i had a means to return this I would, but it was a present. At present not fit for purpose and would put people off buying one. 

Edit3: family all gone and WiFi sapping devices gone. Sat for an hour and got half the memory filled with albums. Success but still an utter faff! Even got cheap  Bluetooth earphones to pair!

[WinthropDC]

Success. It does work.

I see lots of people complaining, so i will explain how to make it work... Patience.

Using Windows 10 app. Make sure Ionic and PC connected to same Wireless LAN.

Go into music section and when asked to connect Ionic, select Transfer Music.

Now wait for music library to be read and playlist images to be populated and any playlists already loaded to be selected. Just leave the app open and do something else.

Once images read, and playlists selected, click to add new playlists.

Wait until the app complains it lost the connection to the Ionic, then select transfer music again.

Now, it should transfer songs at a reasonable speed, still slow but it was successful and matched the time estimated.

The trick seems to be let the app finish reading the music library before trying to transfer anything.

worked for me... Transferred 7 playlists with 297 songs. Memory full now.

PS: I would definitely prefer a quick drag and drop solution with the Ionic showing up as a drive. Or something that works from both phone and PC.

[Kyakbikerdude]

After last firmware update my fitbit said no music selected after pairing bluetooth headphones, when I open the fitbit app on PC and click on Personal Music it tells me to set it up as if it has never been done before yet I do not have the Transfer Music option available on the watch. Solution?

[pointy101]

Always used fit bits and got an ionic for Xmas ,as well as fitness tracking main reason was NFC payment and onboard music,one my bank is not supported TSB(UK)

2 I have thousands of songs from.my old CD collection Al mp3s ,I want to be able to drag and drop selected songs to ionic ,not have to create playlist ,nothing transfering over .Feel like I have been duped with these so called great features that are not so great 

[bmwz3_diane]

Make sure you download FITBIT CONNECT, not the Fitbit.com. I could not figure out why I was having so much trouble downloading music until I realized there are different download versions. If you have an old Fitbit App on your computer, be sure to delete it and add the new FitbitConnect. The Media App will then show up along with the other apps on your Ionic and the download is very simple after that.

[wsbodkin]

@Beamish; I have Windows 7 and downloaded the windows app anyway, just to see.  The app seems to work and I am in the process of transferring songs to my Ionic now.  The songs appear to be showing up on my Ionic, but since i don't have Bluetooth headphones yet, i'm not 100% sure.  Once i have some I'll update this post.  Hope this helps.

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@Beamish wrote:

I don't have Windows 10 -- what are my options? (Besides sending it back?)

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[Greekginger]

I can't believe this is acceptable to this community. This is my first time using fitbit and my wife purchased the ionic for me. The ridiculous method they are asking you to use just to transfer music is insulting. This is not consumer ready product. I work the IT field and if I recommended this product to anyone I would never harlve their trust again.

Taking my ionic back to Kohls today and complaining.  I really this community will stand up and force them to do better in the future.

[Osmar]

I still think it is absurd!

I never used playlists to listen to my music. It is ridiculous to be obligated to create a playlist to send mp3 music to the ionic.

Even when i create playlists, some songs do not sync.

It is the biggest mess I have ever seen a tech corporation do.

I can't recommend this product to anyone and I can't return the product, since I live in Brazil.

[Claire0805]

Did anyone find a workaround yet that avoids win10 and mac?