Synchronizing content to devices

If you want to take your music or other digital media with you, you can easily synchronize items in your library to your portable device. You can use the Sync feature in Windows Media Player to synchronize files in categories and playlists in your library to your portable device, Portable Media Center, or storage card.

To enable synchronization between the Player and your device, a special relationship must be established between the Player and the device. This relationship is called a partnership. When you establish a partnership, you can specify that synchronization of the content you select will occur automatically every time you connect the device to your computer. Or you can specify that you will synchronize content manually after you select it.

You can change the synchronization settings for a partnership at any time.

This section covers:

• The synchronization partnership
• Information that is exchanged or stored during synchronization
• Prioritizing content for automatic synchronization
• Synchronizing media items to your device
• Additional options that affect synchronization
• Formatting devices
• Installing device drivers

Note

• The Sync feature is only available when you connect a device that supports Microsoft Multimedia Transport Protocol (MTP), or a mass storage class device, to your computer. In addition, the connected device's storage capacity must be at least 32 megabytes (MB) to support synchronization. To find portable devices that are compatible with the Player, see the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics

• Using the Player