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?"

[GTPune]

@PeteG-1 if issue really is what we are thinking it is, I would really like meet the "Product Owner" of this app in FB. I have a great idea of re-writing the TCP/IP stack that I would like him to sponsor 🙂

@steven.pino I am holding back on the decision to return it or not until I go on my maiden run with it sometime later today. Lets see how it performs. If the music even plays which took me two days to load. And yes I did not receive any response to my mail either. Spam filters perhaps 😉

[Francy2k]

@Steve69 Awesome... Nice solution it works out. you are amazing.....

[Misterbit]

How ironic. FitBit won't come on the forum to assist their customers with music transfer and connection issues, but will promptly address a post exposing their contact info.

This means they are reading everything, but generally doing nothing about it.

I don't want to simply bash FB all the time, because the ionic is a great idea, and I love this watch, but it should consistently work in order to be a success, and it doesn't, so it's time for FB to really help their customers.

As for the Blue Tooth issues, I realize that transfers occur over wifi, but for some reason, perhaps a flaw in the app, when Bluetooth devices are on, anywhere near the ionic, the watch will not connect to wifi. It is baffling. So, knowing this fact helps even though we don't know why.

"Life is good" ⚽️

[dermbrian]

Considering that there are twenty bluetooth devices in my phone's bluetooth
list (two cars, a couple of Amazon Echos, lots of speakers and receivers
for my indoor stereo and outdoor audio system, computers, tablets....)
disabling nearby bluetooth receivers is not likely going to happen.

Fitbit.....i see you're headquarters is in San Francisco. When you get a
local customer calling on a connectivity problem you can't readily fix by
phone support you really should consider a house call or a bunch of them as
part of your approach to identify and fix these things to where they're
reliable to typical users.


Brian

[GTPune]

Updates after first run

Good things first

I had paired my Soundpeats QY7 yesterday. I powered them on today, went to music app and selected the precious single playlist that I have on my watch and clicked shuffle. Voila, music in my ears. Did not have to re-pair or manually connect the headphone. The BT connection throughout the 8 KM run was rock solid, better than what I generally experience with same headsets and my Moto G5. So no problem there. Hopefully it continues like this.

GPS fairly accurate. My neighborhood lap is about 820 to 830 meters. For 10 laps it gave the reading of 8.19 KM. Not bad.

Now not so good things..

when i first started the music and I was still on the "Now Playing" type of screen, I could use right buttons as volume controls but once I was out of the app, I could not figure out how to control the volumes. Even if you go back in the app, there is no way to get to the "Now Playing" equivalent screen. so I used the controls on my headphone. Does anyone know any trick to it?

[JALuciani50]

I actually love the watch too.  I deal with some of the smaller issues like connecting the wireless ear buds every time I want to use them but the music transfer is a nightmare and the one thing that really upsets me.  I've transferred music exactly three times and I have had this watch from early on.  It has been a horrible experience every single time and is actually getting worse.  This last time I actually quit trying with only a portion of my music making it onto the device.  I'm afraid to touch it at this point because I don't want to lose the music that is actually on there.  As much as I love the music I do have on there, sometimes I'm in the mood for something different.  Fighting this thing for 4-5 hours each time is simply not acceptable.  Especially when after all that time you still don't have the music you want on the watch.   

[PeteG-1]

---

@Misterbit wrote:
How ironic. FitBit won't come on the forum to assist their customers with music transfer and connection issues, but will promptly address a post exposing their contact info.
...
As for the Blue Tooth issues, I realize that transfers occur over wifi, but for some reason, perhaps a flaw in the app, when Bluetooth devices are on, anywhere near the ionic, the watch will not connect to wifi. It is baffling. So, knowing this fact helps even though we don't know why.

---

It's because Bluetooth uses similar frequencies, in the 2.4-2.480 range, and the Ionic uses (only) 2.4 WiFi.

All that aside, these co-exist, on pretty much EVERY phone made in the past 10 years, maybe not perfectly on all devices, but really well.

Can you imagine your phone manufacturer telling you to turn off all Bluetooth devices in your home (this is actually pretty hard to do, to really get 100% of them, and range is between 30-60'), in order to use WiFi to download some music or other data, to the phone, via WiFi?

Yeah ;-]

I think they're not doing anything about it because either the BT (and WiFi, likely integrated chipset) chipsets on the Ionic are very unreliable.  This happens, occasionally, one of the major BT chipset manufacturers will release something "less than perfect".

Often it's fixed via a firmware update (to the chipset, not necessarily the same as a firmware update to the watch itself, but the same update mechanism).  
Either this isn't there (manufacturer didn't fix it, for some reason), or the integration of the chipset fix is very hard, due to a design decision (when selecting/integrating the BT chipset).

I doubt we'll ever know really, at least near-term (life of the device). 

I have tried to figure out which chipset(s) it's using for both, and haven't had much luck.  There is a dis-assembly pictorial out there, that's pretty good, but the chipset ID is partially obscured, I forget by what, possibly a sticker or similar.  I did some more searches, and came up empty-handed (on ID'ing it).

Mine worked okay, with a Broadcomm based dongle, but failed, mostly, with my built-in Qualcomm one.

Most of my other devices have Qualcomm-based BT chipsets (phone, tablet, etc), and were also mostly a failure.

I'm happy to have returned mine.

I'm also glad, for those that have reached some sort of "balance" that works for them, both for syncing music and fitness data, from their Ionics.  

I feel bad for those that don't, who have simply thrown up their hands, spent hours/days trying to sync, are afraid to add new tracks, etc.

[PeteG-1]

---

@GTPune wrote:

@PeteG-1 if issue really is what we are thinking it is, I would really like meet the "Product Owner" of this app in FB. I have a great idea of re-writing the TCP/IP stack that I would like him to sponsor 🙂

---

@GTPune

Yeah, nice analogy.

I actually used to debug network stack issues occasionally.  The period between monolithic drivers and driver-based-protocols (as part of the network stack) was "rough", in PC-land.  Most WiFi came after this had already been stabilized.

Sad that it's on a 2017-2018 flagship device, and that the PM was okay with the music sync functionality, as-shipped.

I don't doubt they're working on a better solution, probably "known library based", for future device music management.  Maybe it'll work it's way "back" into the Ionic, depending, on a whole host of factors.

It doesn't exactly inspire confidence, moving forward though.

I REALLY like the auto-start features of the FB devices, it's second-to-none in that regard, IMHO.

I wonder what I'm going to be looking at, when my old Charge2 dies, for whatever reason.  Right now, I have no idea what my replacement would be (and I do keep an eye on "wearable news", somewhat).

[PeteG-1]

---

@dermbrian wrote:
Considering that there are twenty bluetooth devices in my phone's bluetooth
list (two cars, a couple of Amazon Echos, lots of speakers and receivers
for my indoor stereo and outdoor audio system, computers, tablets....)
disabling nearby bluetooth receivers is not likely going to happen.

Fitbit.....i see you're headquarters is in San Francisco. When you get a
local customer calling on a connectivity problem you can't readily fix by
phone support you really should consider a house call or a bunch of them as
part of your approach to identify and fix these things to where they're
reliable to typical users.


Brian

---

Yep, exactly.  

Build yourself a "basic little faraday cage" for doing sync's at home, and put yourself and a single sync source in there with you, yeah...

The only faraday test cages I've ever worked with were huge, and crazy-expensive, and commercial, and basically this is what support is "attempting to produce", in a limited sense, IMO.

We shouldn't need an "isolated environment" for this, not in 2018, and really not since the mid-2000s, I had music players that would sync, flawlessly and fast, way back...

[Misterbit]

Thank your for the very thoughtful post, especially after you retuned your watch.

Some of the people in this forum actually have identified and know how to fix this transfer problem. The fact that FB probably isn't listening implies they are running out of money. Programmers cost a lot, and it's hard to get a line of credit when your stock is tanking.
Nevertheless their idea is more useful for me than the Apple Watch. I just wish they could get it together.
C'mon FB!

"Life is good" ⚽️

[QuintNYC]

I have had to figure many work arounds I have many playlists in iTunes it can't load them in the transfer music mode so I have started naming my playlists I want to transfer 1 so it is the first one to load, ridiculous NEVER had this problem even with my 64 mb rio from 2000, probably should have stuck with apple products.

[PeteG-1]

@Misterbit Sure, I figured it was good "knowledge" to add to this thread, for others who might find it (it would apply to most fitness devices in the world today, if it were a "real" issue of 2017-18).

I challenge you, transfer 4 50-minute podcasts, and add >=15 albums on the Ionic (with >= 5 songs each).

After this (assuming you're still sane ;-]), close/re-open the app, and try to add just 1 song or album.

Yes, all this is possible, if you have the time, patience, and  tech know-how.  I bet I could learn the play the basic harmonica faster than the time it takes for the two steps above though, from my last Ionic sync "experience" though. ;-]

Things could've changed though, with firmware and s/w revisions, I suppose, mine went back a couple of months ago now.

[Francy2k]

I lost my hope in transferring music. Technology is very fast and ease use now a days. I don't know why they make it such complicated product and sell it in the market by advertising nicely. Surprised to see brand like FB... which is not satisfied the basic things to take over. Hopeless product....

[GTPune]

oh boy! it tries to unsync and resync whole playlist from watch just add a single new song to the playlist! Some genius that FB has hired to code the app. The sad part, nothing seems to be wrong with the watch as such, its this app that's letting the watch down. Watch is connecting to wifi immediately and is pingable from my laptop even when it is connected to my laptop over BT also as well as my phone nearby with BT on.  The app seems to be the culprit. Come on FB, do something.

[GTPune]

After trying about 100+ times, I was able to transfer 1 more playlist to watch. Here are some of my observations:

1. If you are using iTunes or WMP to create playlists, you are better off creating a fresh playlist. If you have moved your music files after creating playlists, iTunes, WMP are smart enough to find new location of songs as long as the new location is within your top level music folder that your players are watching but when FitBit app encounters such a playlist, it takes a long long time to come out of "Looking for your watch" screen. Move all your old playlists out of your music folder and create fresh playlist to avoid this. I noticed good reduction in load time by doing this. Coincidence? I don't know.

2. Somewhere on this forum I read "its not sufficient that your watch is able to receive your wifi router signals, your router should also be able to received your watch's signal which are very weak". I do not know how true that is but I found that I was able to connect when I was sitting on certain locations in my house which are in direct line of sight with router but not so lucky at other locations. Coincidence? I don't know.

3. Once a playlist is loaded on our watch, don't even think of adding more items to it. App unsyncs and resyncs the whole list even to add one extra item (really really crazy programming). You are better off creating multiple smaller playlists. This is purely a app problem, nothing to do with watch.

4. If a song is on two playlists, it is loaded on your watch twice thus takes double memory on your watch. App is not smart enough to avoid this duplication.Again inefficient programming on App side.

5. Once transfer started, it took about 12 mins to transfer aprox 90 min worth of music (27 items).

Lastly, I tried all this while keeping BT interference to minimum. My phone's BT was off and after allowing watch to sync with laptop app over BT, I turned off BT on laptop also before starting music transfer. I will try repeating the tests with laptop BT on (when I get time) to see if anything has been changed recently in watch build to survive in BT environment.

Some other points
Watch to headphone BT connection is solid, atleast for the headphone I am using.

For my running route around my neighborhood that I thought was around 8.2 to 8.3 KM, I am getting a consistent reading of 81 to 8.2 KM. Not bad I guess. GPS connectivity is good.

Watch to phone synching has not given me any trouble yet except requiring to turn notification off and on to get them working after I connected the watch to laptop app.

2 nights ago, watch was lying on my laptop which was not shutdown and during the night it gained 13000 steps :). It also gains some steps during driving. I need to remember leaving it on more solid platform during the night.  

[Misterbit]

Thanks for the great post. I have several folders of music on my watch. If I want to add another play list or folder if there is room. Are you thinking it is best to delete all the folders from the watch and start over? I think you are also saying that if you change a song within a play list or folder, that you should not try syncing that folder again with the watch, that it is better to delete the folder on the watch and start over? What are these guys at FB thinking about!

[GTPune]

@Misterbit not sure what you mean by having "folders" on your watch. All could figure out was adding music to watch grouped by playlists.

No I didn't mean to say that clear your watch every time you want to add new songs. What I meant was that once you have a playlist on your watch, don't touch it. Don't try adding more songs to same playlist as the Win10 app will first remove all existing songs of that playlist from your watch and then reload them again including your new additions and given the flaky nature of WiFi connectivity, you can imagine the odds of success. Instead add your new music in form of a new playlist. It may not be the most convenient setup for you but alas that's the best the Win10 app offers.

[MaginB]

Hi everyone and welcome to the new users! 

First I'd like to thank to all the users that have been helping and sharing their troubleshoots, tips and tricks. Just as a reminder in case you're still experiencing trouble downloading music, you can take a look at this article if you haven't done so already. 

I'm aware that you probably already tried all the basic troubleshooting steps, however, it won't harm to take a look at all the information here about the requirements, error messages and troubleshooting steps that could help to improve your music transfer process. They could also be useful for other users checking this thread for the first time.

Thanks again for your patience, catch you later! 

[GTPune]

@MaginB can you please confirm if there is a way to added new items to a playlist that is already transferred to watch without the app first unsynching the whole playlist from the watch and then re-synching everything again.

[pleephd]

I was able to. I just added more songs to my Fitbit playlist in iTunes and then went through the transfer music steps (the playlist was already checked in the Fitbit music app). In the Fitbit music it read the playlist had more songs and it just transferred the new songs. I had to wait awhile for it to read it then the transfer was pretty quick. I just had to be patient. The first time I did this, it was taking so long to start that I thought I needed to uncheck and then recheck the playlist, but this just removed the list and then reinstalled the entire list (which takes a long time).