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You don’t necessarily have to use an iOS device to get the most out of iTunes  it’s perfectly possible to use it to the fullest with an Android device too. While iTunes lacks native support for syncing with Android, with the help of a third-party app on your PC or Mac and device that needn’t be a problem.

Of course, Android comes with its own built-in music playback and syncing service in the form of Play Music (on your phone or tablet) and Music Manager (on your Mac or PC). It’s a good system, so why would you want to use iTunes at all? Well, the main problem is that Music Manager is pretty rudimentary. It takes an all-or-nothing approach to syncing, simply scanning specified folders for new files and uploading them. A much better bet is to use an extra app for syncing your iTunes collection to your Android device and iSyncr for iTunes (£2.99 / $4.99) is easily the best. With it, you can sync over Wi-Fi or USB connection; include album art, sync ratings, play counts, last played date and more; and even sync multiple iTunes libraries. It works the other way, too if you buy music (or video) on your Android device, you can sync it back to iTunes on your computer. For obvious reasons, though, iSyncr won’t transfer any files that are protected with DRM.

There’s also a separate Lite edition of  iSyncr that is limited to syncing one playlist at a time, with an additional limit of 100 songs per playlist. Note the playlist limit applies only to syncing over Wi-Fi you can sync multiple playlists up to a maximum of 100 songs per time via USB. Let’s see how to set everything up and get syncing with iTunes on your Android device.

From the Google Play store on your device, download either iSyncr for iTunes (Trial) for free, or buy the full iSyncr for iTunes to Android app. Once it’s installed, open the app. It will offer to email you a link to download the desktop server, or you can go direct to www.jrtstudio.com.

Download the server from the website or link and install. To sync via Wi-Fi, your computer must be connected to the same network as the Android device. The app runs in the background and shouldn’t need configuring; access settings from the icon in the system tray (PC) or menu bar (Mac).

On your device, choose Sync over Wi-Fi (making sure your device’s Wi-Fi is turned on and connected). The app will detect the server on your computer and your iTunes library or libraries each one is listed as ‘[your username]’s Library on [computer name]’. Tap the library you want to sync with.

iSyncr displays iTunes playlists from your computer, including the automatically generated ones. Select the ones to sync, or choose Library to sync everything. Tap Sync Now to start. To remove files from your device, make sure the playlist is unselected and tick ‘Delete unselected from device’.

Assuming your Android device has an SD card, you can choose where to store the data: either in internal memory or on the SD card. The latter is preferable as media files quickly fill limited internal memory. On such devices you also have the option to delete playlists from either location.

There are fewer limits to syncing via USB and you have full control over what to sync. Make sure your Android device is able to connect to your PC or Mac. You need it to connect as a ‘Media device (MTP)’ rather than ‘Camera (PTP)’ there’s an option to switch modes in the notification area.

Make sure iSyncr is running on your computer you don’t need to run the device app and then plug in your device via USB. Right-click the program’s system tray icon (on a PC) or the menu bar icon (on a Mac) and you should see your device’s storage listed. Select the one you want to use.

Once iSyncr has started iTunes and scanned your library, choose what to sync: over USB, you can choose playlists, individual artists, albums and more. In Options, you can specify whether or not to sync album art, and to sync only items ticked in iTunes. Click Sync and off you go…