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?"

[InkyMyCat]

Hello does the Fitbit Connect work on Windows 7 Pro 64bit version.  I have no intention on going to Windows 10 any time soon.  Any time I run the Fitbit Connect app on Windows 7 I get:

On No we found a problem

The fitbit Service has stopped

Restart Fitbit Connect Service (Which does nothing to resolve the problem)

Reinstall Fibit Connect (Which does nothing to resolve the problem)

[AtlTvlGuy]

I use Windows 10 so unfortunately I would not be able to comment on this.

[AtlTvlGuy]

Sorry you having issues. No, you should be able to transfer your iTunes playlists (max of 300 songs total) to your Iconic. I've noticed that it's a bit temperamental.
Depending on your laptop, the playlist zips up (I believe) prior to transferring. I've seen multiple folks where the transfer has hung up and that has happened to me as well.
You can clear these. I've realized that if you delete all playlists and reload that seems to work better than just adding or trying to delete one or two.
You also need to be very patient for loading your Pandora playlists. They will eventually load.

[SunsetRunner]

@InkyMyCat - I understand your waiting to update to Windows 10. I waited quite a while myself before taking the plunge. But according to this Help page, Fitbit Connect should work with your Windows 7. I'm not sure about Pro 64 bit, but you can contact Support too be sure. 

[SunsetRunner]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:

Didn't work I hate this thing.   Do I have to have an apple phone to use the apple watch.  ?

---

You would have to ask Apple. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Shiv_Patro - 

---

@Shiv_Patro wrote:

So If I dont have MAC or Windows 10 PC the music can not be transferred to Ionic?

Strange feature!!! 

---

No so. According to this Fitbit Help page, You can also transfer music from a Windows 7 or 8 PC. 

[andrewwr]

Hope you guys are working on better music solutions. The current approach is way too hard. Need to support streaming services through native apps and ideally cloud based libraries from your main music app. Should also be able to synch songs and or playlists from pc, phone and cloud based drive. It is urgent if you look at the reviews across the web.

[SunsetRunner]

Good points, @andrewwr. But please keep in mind what would be involved with streaming services. Yes, you can access those on the Apple Watch but it comes with a hefty price.  The watch itself costs more. They have to make it compatible with cellular services. Then, you have to connect the watch to one of the cellular carriers - at a monthly cost. 

This is Fitbit's first go-round with music. With your personal music and even with Pandora, you are downloading music to the device. This works for me, at least for now. I wear my Ionic throughout the day, in and out of wifi, so streaming music over wifi would be sporadic at best. Give them time. I'm sure if enough people like the music feature and ask for streaming services, they will put that on their to-do list. In the meantime, please consider posting a very specific request to the Feature Request Board, or check here to vote for the requests others have posted. 

[theaardvark]

Honestly, really disappointed when I discovered, mostly through trial and error, how music transfer works. It's like something from the 90s.

Why can't a just drag and drop files on the watch itself? I create tailored workout mixes that are single 30 minute mp3 files. Why on earth do I have to create a playlist to put that file in? And why are you forcing me to use either iTunes (which I refuse to let near my music library) or Windows Media Player?

The guidance on the Fitbit Windows App is dire too. I don't have Windows 10 on my main PC. And it took me some significant investigation to workout that you have a Windows 7 program to use instead.

This one feature is really ruining my experience of this watch.

[Dawnw03]

Is there any way to use a tablet?  I don't have a laptop😣

[dgb2n]

Don't think so in the current setup.

Has anyone else tried to sync automatic playlists in Windows Media Player?  Playlist shows but it shows 0 songs.....

[WinthropDC]

I transferred 3 playlists I had already created with WinAmp using .m3u format. I used the Windows 10 Store App.

It took ages, but was successful except for the final song in the 3rd playlist. I must have run out of space.

My MP3 files for the songs only take up about 1300Mb on my PC. Whatever the storage on the Fitbit Ionic is, it is not efficient as it should really only be half full.

Why not just store them as the source files? with a small metadata database.

David

[trawg]

tldr: if you're using Fitbit Connect and it cannot find the Ionic while trying to sync music, try pinging your Ionic constantly before trying to sync.

Like everyone else I had a lot of problems trying to add music. It is overly complicated for 2017, and when you consider the Ionic comes with a cable to connect it to your PC via an actual wire the requirement to transfer via wifi seems crazy.

I'm running Windows 8.1 and Fitbit Connect on a 2Ghz wifi network.

I always ended up at the same point - the watch would be put into transfer mode, but the Fitbit Connect app would always be stuck on "Looking for Ionic" - the application could never find the device no matter how long I left it.

The watch would seem to "fall out" of transfer mode after a few minutes. I was suspicious - based on some other comments - that it was some weird wifi issue.

I managed to get it to connect by opening a command prompt and starting to ping the Ionic directly. Once I started getting a response from the device, I left the ping running in the background and tried the app again - thinking that this would "force" the Ionic's wifi to stay operational and maybe improving the changes.

With the ping running I started the music thing in the Fitbit Connect application and presto - worked first time. I successfully transferred some music (pretty slowly, but it worked). I'm in the process of moving some albums over now (slowly).

Steps to ping for beginners (Windows):

1) Find your Ionic's IP address. Mine was correctly displayed in the 'Advanced Settings' of the Fitbit connect app, but not sure if that was a coincidence. Otherwise you'll need to check your router to find it.

2) Open a command prompt.

3) Type: ping -t [IP address] . This will start a ping processes (constantly sending packets to your phone & waiting for a response). You should see something like:

Reply from 192.168.1.122: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.122: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.122: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=128

....

Over and over and over. If it can't connect to the device it might say "Request timed out" or "Destination Host Unreachable" - try starting the transfer mode on the Ionic (and/or make sure you have the right IP address).

[AtlTvlGuy]

I had the same issue but I rebooted the watch and then it worked. Hopefully
subsequent updates will make the process more seamless

[mattdc]

I am getting an error about DRM and the files not being able to transfer. Any idea how to fix that? Just trying to get my old Apple Watch playlist onto this ionic. Otherwise I'm gonna return it and get another AW.

[PNLDesign]

Win10 did not work for me. Mac however does work, but only for playlists created in iTunes with purchased songs/albums. No idea how to add my personal (NAS) library which contains all my digitised vinyl and ripped CD's...

[Crazy-Fritter]

I know you guys want to make the Ionic play the music it's capable of, but I would just use a nice mp3 player that was easy to use and had great sound. That's what I do now, and would do the same if I had an Ionic. 

But then I don't use notifications on watches either, I always use a Bluetooth earpiece with my phone, and my phone let's me respond to calls/texts/emails etc handsfree, so no duplicate notifications on a watch needed. I really wish they would have made a surge 2 where they corrected the weaknesses but kept the strengths.

[dgb2n]

I can’t speak for others but for me it’s all about listening to podcasts
and music while running without bringing my phone or another MP3 player.
Just the watch.

[mikefmcnally]

I can't believe fitbit would have such a mish mosh crappy music transfer system. I have to have windows PC version 10 or  Mac to transfer music? I am already connected to the ionic Via Bluetooth and WiFi. What a waste of time. 

[PNLDesign]

We all are aware. Be patient, the platform is still evolving.