Portable Players and Devices

RealPlayer can transfer media files to a variety of portable music players and storage devices.

Before you can use a portable player with your RealPlayer, be sure to install it properly. Click here to learn how to install your device.

Formats and Transferring

You can transfer files from your computer to your portable device in a mix of file types (includingMP3MPEG Layer 3 Audio. A popular open-standard compression and file format for digital audio.,AACAdvanced Audio Coding MPEG Layer 4 Audio: The newest generation of open-standard audio compression and successor to the 10-yr old MP3 standard. It is the core of a series of different file-types such as 3GPP and MPEG-4 and provides higher quality sound as well as multi-channel (surround sound) support. RealNetworks, amongst others, used this standard for developing their latest generation high-quality audio options.,WMAWindows Media audio file: Microsoft Windows proprietary audio format., and RealAudioDigital audio format designed to be played by RealPlayer. Saved as RealAudio files (.ra, .rm), secure RealAudio files (.rms), secured RealJukebox files (.rmx), unsecured RealJukebox files (.rmj), or Streaming Media Metafiles (.ssm).) and of differing qualities (96 Kbps, 196 Kbps, etc.). RealPlayer will automatically try to convert incompatible files into a format that your portable device can use. Select file conversion preferences with the Configure Device or Change Options commands, depending on the device installed. (See Common Tasks below.)

Attention: Clips that do not have localRefers to computer resources (such as drives or files) that are part of a computer, or available on a local area network (LAN). media files available (such as links to streaming media) cannot be transferred to a portable player.

Common Tasks

Because each portable device has a different storage capacity and set of features, RealPlayer uses a custom display (called a plug-in) for many devices to display the appropriate features for each specific device.

To add a new plug-in

1. Open Burn/Transfer.
2. In the sidebar Tasks area, clickAdd a New Device... and follow the instructions provided.

Once you have installed the necessary plug-in, attach the portable device to your computer:

1. Start RealPlayer.
2. Open Burn/Transfer.
3. Select the matching device from the Current Burner/Device drop-down list.
4. Begin transferring files.

Some of the more common tasks are listed in the sidebar. The device that is currently installed and selected determines which tasks are available. Some of these tasks are:

Task		Instructions
Add Selected to Device		Adds the selected clips to the transfer queue of the current portable device. See Adding Clips to a Device for details.
Configure Device...		Opens the "Configure" dialog for the selected device. See Configure Your Portable Device for details.
Synchronize Device		Compares the media files listed in My Library and on the portable device. If a file or playlist is determined to be different from the file or playlist being synchronized, the file on the device will be replaced with the file listed in My Library. See Synchronize Devices for details.
Eject Device		Shuts down all transactions with a portable device so you can safely disconnect it from your computer. After ejecting a device, RealPlayer returns to the Burn/Transfer Home page. Note: After a device has been ejected, it must be disconnected and then reconnected to your computer before it will be recognized by RealPlayer.
Change Options		Opens the "Options" dialog for the selected device. See Change Device Options for details.
Start Transfer		Starts transferring copies of the selected media files to your portable device. If files need to be converted, temporary files of the required format and bitrate are created and transferred to the device. The original files remain unchanged.

Device Status

Information about the media files and the file space available in a selected portable device appears in the lower left corner (for synchronizing devices) or the lower right (for non synchronizing devices) of the Burn/Transfer page.

The currently selected device and function determines the type of information displayed. Some of the possible types of information include:

Status		Description
Clips		Number of clips already on the portable device.
Selected		Total size of all the files selected in the transfer list.
Total to Transfer		Size of files in transfer list that are not yet transferred to the portable device.
Space Available		Amount of file space remaining on the portable device.