Hi friends! I have exciting news today – BlackBerry® Media Sync for PC will now be included in BlackBerry® Desktop Software v6.0 (make sure to check out Andrey’s BlackBerry Desktop Software v6.0 post). This integration provides a consistent and unified experience between BlackBerry Media Sync and all the other great BlackBerry Desktop Software functionality. BlackBerry Desktop Software is now more lightweight, but packs a bigger punch!

Those of you familiar with BlackBerry Media Sync know that you can benefit from syncing your iTunes® or Windows® Media Player music stored on your computer with your BlackBerry® smartphone. On top of the new music sync options in BlackBerry Desktop Software v6.0, users can also sync by selecting individual artists or genres in addition to playlists. There are a bunch of great new options for syncing different types of media. Let’s check them out!

Wi-Fi® music sync – anytime access to your entire desktop music library

This option is available on BlackBerry smartphones running the new BlackBerry® 6, and it’s totally cool. Have you ever sat in an airport lounge and wondered “now why didn’t I sync that song? I’ve got to remember to do this the next time I’m in front of my computer”…But the next time you are in front of your computer, you forget to do this again. If this has happened to you, you’ll appreciate the addition of Wi-Fi® music sync.

With Wi-Fi music sync, you get anytime access to your entire desktop music library even when offline (no Internet connection required). Not only can you view what music is on your BlackBerry smartphone, but you can now also see all your music not yet synced to your device that’s available on your computer (“Home Music”)! This means that you can select items for sync as well as create and edit playlists that will sync back with your computer next time you connect. Simply add music to the “Wi-Fi Music Sync” queue, and items in the queue will automatically get downloaded to your BlackBerry smartphone on the next Home Wi-Fi (or USB) connection to Media Sync.

I’ve been really having fun with this feature. For example, while sitting on the train last week, I decided to create a party playlist. I added a mix of music – some from my device as well as some from my home computer. The minute I got back home and walked through the door within my home Wi-Fi connection, my Party Mix automatically synced from my computer to my BlackBerry smartphone. I promptly hit play and enjoyed my new mix.

How is this possible? It’s simple – periodically, the metadata (album name, artist name & genre info) for your entire Home music library gets synced with the BlackBerry smartphone. These songs and playlists from your computer are then integrated in the Music application on your device. The songs not present on your BlackBerry smartphone can easily be identified as they appear dimmed (or ghosted) compared to the rest of your music. Within the Music application on your smartphone, your Wi-Fi Music Sync list displays the status of your songs and playlists, such as pending or downloaded, as well as the status of your connection with the BlackBerry Desktop Software.

It is easy to enable the Wi-Fi music sync feature. Simply click on Wi-Fi music sync from the Tools menu or Enable Wi-Fi music sync from Device Options -> Media. It is important to note though that this feature works only on the same Wi-Fi network as your computer running BlackBerry Desktop Software.

2-Way Video Sync

Similar to the addition of 2-way photo sync with the previous release, you can now sync your videos back and forth between your computer and your BlackBerry smartphone. Here’s how it works:

• Computer to BlackBerry smartphone – Transfer videos saved on your computer to your BlackBerry smartphone. Videos are optimized for playback on your device, allowing for storage of more videos on your BlackBerry smartphone without sacrificing quality and better viewing experience based on screen and file size.
• BlackBerry smartphone to computer – Transfer videos taken with and saved on your BlackBerry smartphone to your computer. This is a great way to back up your device videos for safe keeping and/or editing.

Users can also continue to enjoy 2-Way Photos Sync. Here’s how that works:

• Computer to BlackBerry smartphone – You can transfer photo albums that you have edited, organized, and saved on your computer to your BlackBerry smartphone. You can store a lot of pictures on your BlackBerry smartphone, as Smart Memory Management is designed to optimize your photos by reducing them to up to ~2% of the original size.
• BlackBerry smartphone to computer – Import photos taken with and saved onto your BlackBerry smartphone to your computer. This is also a great way to backup your photos for safekeeping or editing with your favorite photo management software.

I still love this feature, as I take a lot of photos with my BlackBerry smartphone and it’s great to know that I can sync these back with my computer quickly and easily. I also love taking photos that I have edited on my computer and syncing them to my BlackBerry smartphone to use as my device wallpaper.

BlackBerry Desktop Software v6.0 is available starting today, so existing BlackBerry Desktop Software users should start auto-update notifications later today. The rest of you can visit www.blackberry.com/desktopsoftware. Don’t forget to also check out www.blackberry.com/mediasync as well for specific BlackBerry Media Sync information.

Have any questions about BlackBerry Media Sync functionality? Please let us know by posting a comment.

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Our team has been working hard to enhance the overall multimedia experience in BlackBerry® 6, and we’ve packed a lot of changes into the upcoming release. I’m very excited to be able to provide some more details about this aspect of BlackBerry 6 today.

In pulling together this update, the multimedia team focused on delivering an intuitive multimedia experience right out of the box – so whether you are a power user or new to mobile multimedia on BlackBerry smartphones, you can easily find and use the enhanced multimedia features.

There’s too much to talk about in just one post, so with that in mind, I picked some of my favorite new BlackBerry 6 multimedia features. Look for the Inside BlackBerry team to dive deeper into some of these features in future blog posts.

Music Album Art and Discovery

The minute you’ve loaded your music library to your BlackBerry smartphone via BlackBerry Media Sync, you’ll notice that we’ve added album art virtually everywhere for instant and easy recognition of your favorite albums. You will be able to navigate your music by using the interactive carousel to swipe through the album art. You will also quickly find other selections from the same album/artist by selecting the album or artist name for the song currently playing!

Organize Your Photos

With BlackBerry 6, we will also provide multiple dynamic ways to view and organize your photos, so thousands of photos can be organized intuitively. For example, photos will be able to be grouped by event or by date. You will be able to view the full picture or a slide show of pictures with transitions. BlackBerry smartphones with touch support are designed to easily zoom in on an area of interest with the “Pinch to Zoom” feature. BlackBerry 6 will also allow you to select groups of pictures to share, copy, paste or delete.

Streaming, Sharing and Searching for Videos

Searching through videos on your BlackBerry smartphone has been made easier in BlackBerry 6 with the new thumbnail view. There will also be more ways to view videos in BlackBerry 6. You will be able to opt to play video in various sizes (Original, Fit to Screen, Full Screen), plus instantly share your videos with the world using the new integrated YouTube® video uploader. Or perhaps you want to watch some online videos – no problem! The new universal search feature in BlackBerry 6 has been designed to enable you to search Internet video sites such as YouTube, and to enjoy higher quality YouTube videos when using Wi-Fi.

New Camera Controls and Supported Scene Modes

With BlackBerry 6, we focused on perfecting the point and shoot experience. Users can capture photos quicker and better than ever before with a variety of new features in BlackBerry 6. New onscreen controls means there is no need to hunt through menus for your favorite options. You will be able to access and review camera pictures, set popular options and pick from a variety of scene modes, all directly from the camera screen. You will also be able to capture video using the video camera application on the device.

New Podcasts App!

With the BlackBerry podcasts service, users will be able to experience the convenience of searching, subscribing and playing entertaining audio and video podcasts directly from their BlackBerry smartphone. This service will be preloaded with BlackBerry 6 in North America and is completely mobile (so no PC required) – and all of the content is available for free! Stay tuned to Inside BlackBerry for an upcoming post on the BlackBerry podcasts app.

Finding New Multimedia Content and Apps

If you have not yet loaded any multimedia content onto your BlackBerry smartphone or are looking for something new, no problem. Select “Explore Music Apps”, “Explore Video Apps” or “Explore Picture Apps” from the main menu screen within the media player, and you will be provided with a direct link to quickly discover popular media apps from each of those categories from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront (app availability dependent upon your region and carrier). This is one of many ways to start enjoying media right out of the box.

BlackBerry Desktop Software and Media Sync

On top of continued support of iTunes & Windows Media® Player music sync and 2-way photo sync, BlackBerry 6 has been designed to enable you to sync videos to and from your BlackBerry smartphone (BlackBerry to PC, or PC to BlackBerry). Plus there are now greater music sync options: in addition to playlists, users will have more flexibility and will also be able to sync by individual artists or genres. Stay tuned to a future post on Inside BlackBerry about BlackBerry Desktop Software with Media Sync.

I’m very excited about the new multimedia experience that will be offered in BlackBerry 6! Post a comment and let us know of the multimedia features that you use today, or those that you’re most looking forward to in BlackBerry 6.

Over the last few months our team has been working feverishly on adding photo sync functionality to BlackBerry® Media Sync.  With the release of BlackBerry Media Sync v3.0 at 12pm EST today, not only can you easily sync your music playlists, but you can now easily get photos to and from your BlackBerry® smartphone. Click the link below to learn more about BlackBerry Media Sync v3.0.

You can still sync your iTunes® & Windows Media® Player music library in BlackBerry Media Sync v3.0.  I have a huge digital collection of music and use BlackBerry Media Sync to sync them seamlessly to my smartphone.  I use my BlackBerry smartphone as my primary portable music device because it’s always with me and it’s easy to enjoy my playlists during downtime.

What’s new: Photo Sync

We’ve changed the layout of BlackBerry Media Sync from the previous version. There are now tabs for accessing Music and Photo functionality. There is a preview pane that allows for viewing the contents of a playlist, as well as the pictures to be synced.

Although music sync is available for both PC & Mac computers, photo sync is currently only available for the PC.

BlackBerry Smartphone to PC Import

I like having a collection of all my pictures stored on my home PC. The BlackBerry smartphone to PC Import functionality allows me to copy all the photos I’ve taken with my BlackBerry smartphone to my PC. Every time I connect via USB, BlackBerry Media Sync lets me know if there are new pictures to import so that I always keep my collection up to date. It’s a nice way to backup my device pictures and a handy option for those who like to carry out photo editing on their PC.

This is my favorite feature in BlackBerry Media Sync! It allows me to sync my photo collection from my PC to my BlackBerry smartphone. Most of us have been in a situation where we are giving an account of a recent trip or some huge milestone like our baby’s first steps… but have to end it with the line ‘You should see the pictures that I have at home.’

I recently visited the African Lion Safari in Southwestern Ontario (I love animals). In my humble opinion, this place is a hidden gem and a must visit if you’re in the area. While there, I was merely feet away from lions, cheetahs and a rhino and I got some really excellent close-up pics on my digital camera. With BlackBerry Media Sync, I was able to put my entire photo collection on my BlackBerry smartphone.

The best part about this feature is that picture file sizes are compressed so that they can be viewed optimally on the BlackBerry smartphone. Some pictures are reduced to about 2% of their original size! I have an 8GB card; with this optimization feature I can store a huge amount of pictures. The compression feature is the default option. However if you prefer to have the raw images transferred, you can always change the setting in the Options menu.

Now that I have some of my favorite edited snapshots on my smartphone – I use these to frequently update and personalize my BlackBerry smartphone background screen.

Post a comment below and let us know how you’re using the new photo sync functionality – or if you are just discovering the music functionality for the first time. To download BlackBerry Media Sync v3.0, go to: http://blackberry.com/mediasync

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