We are very happy to announce that today we released a new update for Cheetah Sync, version 1.5.0!

Why is this exciting? Mainly because in prior versions of Cheetah Sync, the "Sync Deletes" option was unavailable for two-way syncs; so anytime you deleted a file from either your computer or Android under a two-way sync directory, the "missing" file was automatically re-copied back. In order to delete a file on both your Android and computer, you had to delete it on both the computer and the Android, which was quite inconvenient.

No longer. With Cheetah Sync 1.5.0, the app "remembers" the files that you synced during your last two-way sync, and knows if you've added files or deleted them, so if you turn on Sync Deletes for your two-way sync jobs, when you delete files on your Android, they will be automatically deleted on your computer (or vice versa).

This new version of Cheetah Sync also manages file and folder renames with ease. Just rename a file or folder on your computer, and your next sync will automatically rename the file for you on your Android (or vice versa).

Because of the large amount of development required to add Two-Way Sync Deletes, you must have purchased the Premium upgrade via an in-app purchase in order to turn on Sync Deletes for two-way syncs. We believe that true two-way syncing is well worth the investment for our customers that require this advanced feature. The premium upgrade also allows the creation of unlimited sync jobs and disables in-app advertisements.

We hope everyone enjoys this great new feature!

This is now possible with Google Music Manager. Here's a tutorial on how to use Google Music Manager. For more information on Justin's findings please continue reading.

Today November, 17, 2011, I spent some time trying to figure out how to sync music back to iTunes that you "pin" to your phone in the new Google Music app. I have nothing against cloud streaming services, but iTunes has tons of options that I'd like to keep using. As such, I want to get the music I purchased out of Google Music and into iTunes. I doubt I'll be the only person looking to do so.

After some research, here is what I found.


The files from Google Music are stored with a ".nomedia" file.  This file tells the Android OS, "No other music player would be interested in this".  It was this way through the beta, but I'm very surprised that Google is dead set on keeping music you purchased locked into their music app.  They know it is far from the best ones available and I thought the motto went something like "Don't be Evil".  Weren't they in a tussle with Facebook because you could get your info out of it easily?

Moving on from the ".nomedia" file.  We can also see the files are named "1201.mp3".  I thought, OK, they are just making sure if you have two songs with the same name, they won't have any conflicts, right?  Maybe.  However, try to read the ID3 tag off of one of these files.  Turns out they've stripped them of all information.  Google Music has stored all of this info in a private database inside the app.  That sucks.

So, yes.  You can use iSyncr to sync these mp3 files into iTunes, but it wouldn't be terribly useful.  You would have to manually add all of the song information after listening to it.  Hopefully Google opens up the Music API, or at least doesn't take steps to make sure you have to use their player to play pinned files.  A moderately decent intern could reverse these changes to the music app in a day.

-Justin

We are happy to announce a new update for iSyncr WiFi! Here are some of the changes we've made in this revision:

Mac Illegal Characters Bugfix

It's unfortunate that we didn't find out about this issue and fix it sooner. Basically, there are several filename characters which are valid on Mac OS X, but are not valid on the Android filesystem. Namely, the following characters: "/\*?<>|

For this reason, we added some code to remove / replace these characters when syncing tracks to your Android device.

Android 1.6 Crash Fixed

Some users running Android 1.6 were experiencing crashes due to a bug in our notification service code. This has been fixed =)

Major UI Overhaul

We spent a significant amount of time and effort in this release trying to improve the overall look and feel of the UI, as demonstrated by some of the following screenshots:

We hope that our users will find this new UI fresh and appealing =)

Introduction

Far and away the largest number of support emails we receive for Cheetah Sync have to do with connection issues. Our users will download and install the Cheetah Sync Server on their computer, then open up their Cheetah Sync app on their Android device and hit the Sync Jobs button, and... their computer cannot be found.

We wrote the server and app code specifically to try and make it easy and painless for the Android app to auto-discover the host, and most of the time it works. However, for users for whom it doesn't work right away, almost always it's a firewall issue, either on their wireless router or their computer. This guide is intended to show our users the optimal firewall configuration so that their Android device can easily talk to their PC.

Home Networks vs. Public Networks

It's worth mentioning that corporate, university, or public WiFi hotspots often have a built-in firewall in the wireless router which automatically prevents any kind of network traffic between connected devices. Unfortunately, Cheetah Sync cannot circumvent this kind of network restriction; for this reason we generally recommend our users to use a home wireless network if at all possible.

Windows 7 Firewall

Follow these steps to configure your Windows Firewall in Windows 7:

1. Open up the Control Panel.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Click on "System and Security".
   
   
   
   
3. Click on "Allow a program through Windows Firewall".
   
   
   
   
4. Click on "Change settings".
   
   
   
   
5. Find "Cheetah Sync" in the list and check both "Home/Work (Private)" and "Public".
   
   
   
   
   
6. Click OK. Click on "Windows Firewall".
   
   
   
   
7. Click on "Advanced settings".
   
   
   
   
8. Click on "Inbound Rules". Click on "New Rule..."
   
   
   
   
9. Click on "Port". Click Next.
   
   
   
   
10. Click on TCP. Type "35000" into the "Specific local ports" text field, unless you're using an alternate port number in your server settings. If so, enter that port number. Click Next.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Click on "Allow the connection". Click Next.
    
    
    
    
12. Ensure that "Domain", "Private", and "Public" are all checked. Click Next.
    
    
    
    
13. Type "Port 35000" into the "Name" text field. Click Finish. You're done!
    
    
    
    
    

Wireless Router Configuration

In some cases, you might need to tweak your wireless router settings in order for Cheetah Sync to connect. This is because some wireless routers might have a built-in firewall preventing traffic, or it might be preventing multicast packets. Steps for configuring your wireless router:

1. Access your wireless router's settings.
   
2. Enable multicast packets. This eHow guide should give you a good idea of how to do this.
   
3. Configure the firewall. Routers vary greatly from model to model, but there may be an option to allow traffic to the Cheetah Sync port (35000 by default).
   

Other Connection Tips

• Make sure you're close enough to your wireless router to have a strong WiFi signal.
  
• Rebooting the router, phone, and/or computer sometimes helps.
  
• Turning Bluetooth off sometimes improves WiFi connectivity.
  
• Changing the router's wireless security type sometimes helps.
  
• Changing the router's wireless speed sometimes helps.
  
• Changing the router's wireless channel sometimes helps.
  

Problems? Questions?

If you need help using Cheetah Sync, or if you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected] for support.