CNET Editors' review
DoubleTwist is at its core a free music jukebox that offers content syncing to a variety of portable devices, including the BlackBerry, the PSP, and the iPod, as well as pretty much anything that can mount in Universal Mass Storage mode. One of the main draws of the program is that it can take your iTunes library and sync it to a variety of non-iPod players, an important feature for anyone who has ditched the ubiquitous device in favor of a music phone or other MP3 player.
In addition to acting as a music management app compatible with a variety of devices, the jukebox offers built-in support for Amazon MP3 Store purchases, which is in line with the company's goal to offer consumers choice when it comes to digital music management. Plus, the service includes a podcast aggregator for easily finding and subscribing to a variety of popular spoken-word content. More recently, DoubleTwist added an Android Market, which lets you browse apps and then use a bar code scanner to download them via your phone's camera. All of these features work incredibly well, though our praise for performance ends there.
We connected a variety of devices to DoubleTwist with varying results. It recognized our Sony Walkman effortlessly, though the time it took to sync just 150MB of content was excessive during testing. The program would not recognize our Motorola Droid as anything more than a generic USB device, and as such, we were unable to sync any media to the phone. Our other gripe has to do with music importing: the software imported multiple duplicates of nearly every song in our library, despite the fact they currently only live in one folder. This isn't a deal-breaker, but it does make the jukebox look unnecessarily cluttered.
DoubleTwist also incorporates automatic video transcoding for a lot of the supported devices, which is the feature that initially drew us to the software. However, the functionality is not without its pitfalls, such as the fact that the video transcoding--done during the syncing process--takes forever. Conversion speed was roughly two times the normal speed, so a 90-minute movie took 50 minutes or so to encode and transfer. Still, considering DoubleTwist offers this feature for free and integrates it so simply, we're willing to forgive the sluggishness.
Gripes aside, DoubleTwist delivers as advertised, and it certainly will be a useful solution for a lot of people. It offers a seamless connection with iTunes and lets users easily transfer that content to non-iPod devices. It also successfully converts video to a variety of formats suitable for whatever device is connected, and the process is invisible to the user, which makes it extremely straightforward--a lovely thing, considering the pain that is digital video formatting. Plus, the app includes integrated buttons for automatically publishing photos and videos to Flickr and YouTube.
DoubleTwist isn't without some flaws, but it gets the job done and it does it for free, so it's definitely worth checking out.
Publisher's Description
From doubleTwist:
doubleTwist is a universal media player that helps you enjoy your music, videos and podcasts on your Android, WebOS, and other mobile devices. doubleTwist automatically recognizes your device and will perform any necessary video conversions to the native formats supported by your device. If you have an Android phone, download the companion doubleTwist Android app from the Android Market for the best experience.
What's new in this version: Wireless Sync support for Android users that have the premium doubleTwist AirSync app.
More Popular Media Players downloads
- Media Player Classic
24,699 downloads
- Windows Media Player
24,474 downloads
- Total Video Player
9,564 downloads
- Apple QuickTime
8,529 downloads
- Windows Media Player (Windows XP)
8,338 downloads
-
All versions:
2.9 starsout of 34 votes
-
Current version:
2.4 starsout of 5 votes
-
My rating:
Write review
Results 1-5 of 5
-
"Tried but failed."
Version: DoubleTwist 3.1.4.11347
Pros
Seemed marvelous to be able to sync all my iTune music library on DoubleTwist. Too good to be true!
Cons
Very disappointed: did not work. I could sync my music from iTune to DoubleTwist (from my portable PC, not from my iMac though). But I could not download any of it to my Samsung Galaxy SGH-T589R.
Summary
Might have to uninstall DoubleTwist if I can't find a way to make it work on my Android phone.
-
"Private files become public"
Version: DoubleTwist 3.1.4.11347
Pros
Download of application is clean and fast.
Cons
Application automatically uploaded my private pictures in my computer before uploading songs. I do not want my images given away!
I did not have an option to tell what I wanted up in the digital cloud.Summary
Uploading options are very limited for free version. I was upset not only because DoubleTwist said it would take 51 days to upload (i get 60mb speed internet) but it only wanted to sync all my playlists or none. Because I did not want to wait for them all to upload and only wanted 2-3 playlists from my itunes.
-
"Worked easily and quickly"
Version: DoubleTwist 3.1.4.11347
Pros
Worked without any problems and was easy to use.
Cons
It costs money after 5 days of trial use.
Summary
If you need this it is a good deal.
-
"Creepy, but works."
Version: DoubleTwist 3.1.4.11347
Pros
AirSync for Android.
Cons
Destabilized my system. Now iTunes doesn't work at all. Cannot get rid of the registry keys for an adware program they say is not adware called 'OpenCandy'. Also they loaded another add-on for ASPCA. Not sure who's conscience they're trying to assuage,their own, or the duped user.
Summary
While i did get AirSync to work with my Android phone, the general creepiness of the things they add to your system leave a bad taste. Not to mention they advise in their FAQ there's no way, and indeed no reason to get rid of the adware that's "not adware" from your registry. Disturbing.
-
"At least I Get A Good Podcatcher Out Of It"
Version: DoubleTwist 3.1.4.11347
Pros
At least I (Potentially) get a good podcatcher to put the podcasts I truly want on my phone out of it BUT.....
Cons
If any of the video podcasts aren't in the 3GP format (Virtually ALL of 'em including the ones I produce aren't, though I'll change the latter :) ), those of us with older smartphones are stuck having to transcode the video first (True MX Video Player For Android can play them natively BUT that one has codec packs which simply take up EVEN MORE **PRECIOUS** space on the phone)
And Jasmine's review just made my decision as to which program will handle the transcoding part simple - Transcode the video with any one of the dozens of programs out there into the 3GP format & then use Windows Explorer to copy the video onto the SD card of the phoneSummary
There's potential to be a great podcatcher but beyond that, it needs improvement
Results 1-5 of 5
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
See more CNET content tagged:
Previous Versions:
