Apple products are great; people really like them or Apple would not be so rich – that much is self evident. Since iOS devices became fully untethered from iTunes and can operate independently of desktop computers if you wish them to, you may need to manage your audiovisual files on a device to save space, which usually means back to iTunes.
But what if you just plain don’t like iTunes as a phone A/V manager and want a little more freedom and access over your files? If that’s true and you are Windows user, then you will be pleased to hear about a Windows option, a tool called WinX MediaTrans from Digiarty Software, Inc.
This is a sponsored article and was made possible by Digiarty Software. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author, who maintains editorial independence, even when a post is sponsored.
Please note: the only functional difference between the giveaway version and full purchase version is that while the software activated by the giveaway license works exactly the same as the full purchased version, the giveaway does not support free upgrade to future versions.
Getting Started
Installing is easy and routine. Double click the icon and it begins.
A little way into the process, if you don’t have the .Net 4.5 framework installed, then the software will automatically download and install that for you.
Once you have installed the software and run it, the system will check for the presence of iTunes. If it is not already installed, you will be prompted to do so, and it even gives the browser link for you to do so.
Why is this necessary? We strongly suspect it’s a way to bypass the phone’s security for file transfer without jailbreaking. One way is to call iTunes libraries to authorise the transaction, but that’s pure speculation on our part. Either way it doesn’t run iTunes when MediaTrans does its thing, so we don’t really mind either way.
Once you have the software running, you can attach your iPhone or iPad to the computer via USB. You may get this prompt:
If so, you must do as it says, change the setting of the clickbox in preferences.
Once that’s done, you’re good to go. Run the software, and you’ll be presented with the dashboard. From here you can do all the basic file management tasks you require with your iPhone or iPad using the self-evident menu buttons.
As you can see from the dashboard, as well as video, photos and music, you can also transfer eBooks between iPhone and iPad and desktop, and convert ePub to PDF, TXT and HTML. You can also transfer, add and delete ringtones and voice memos, and other iOS audio like iTunesU broadcasts and podcasts. In addition, although it’s not immediately obvious from the dashboard, along with transferring iPhone ringtones, you can actually create ringtones by trimming waveforms and auto-convert most music files to the AAC or MP3 format that is accepted by Apple.
Before doing any file transfers make sure the path in settings is set to where you want any transfers to and from the iPhone or iPad to go.
iOS to Desktop
The biggest boon in having a file transfer program for your iPhone or iPad is that iTunes backups aren’t “by the file” – they are incremental, stored as blocks on your computer’s drive by iTunes and designed to restore an entire machine state.
Can you open up backups and pluck a single file out? No, you can only really back up and restore that backup, like so:
File transfer programs for iOS have been around for a while, but they tend to be somewhat basic affairs. MediaTrans is a little more sophisticated than just flat file transfer.
It allows you to send a photo or movie from your phone to your computer for further treatment and editing and vice versa – it’s a two way street. Editing videos on the phone itself is possible but wildly unsatisfactory and imprecise, so it’s much better to send them directly to a computer where you can load them into proper editing software.
Also, with software like MediaTrans, backups can be precise; you can back up all or just some of your files on the phone and then delete them from the phone, saving space and allowing you instant access to them on your desktop machine. The same is true of music. You can not only organise your tunes but your playlists, too, which is actually quite an annoying process using iTunes.
With the MediaTrans USB iPhone driver you can also use your iPhone or iPad as a stealth USB stick. Install the driver on your PC, and the phone will show up as a drive.
Desktop to iOS
The power of having a file transfer program separate from iTunes becomes apparent when you want to insert movies into your iPhone or iPad rather than extract them. The only real problem with iOS movies is they have to be in a small range of file formats compatible with iOS devices. So what if you want to transfer a film to your device and it’s an AVI or an MKV?
Normally you would have to convert the movie with some other piece of software and then import it into iTunes which could take forever. With WinX MediaTrans the conversion happens automatically so the file is stored on the target device in a compatible format, saving you time and effort.
Conclusion
Although paid software, the price of WinX MediaTrans is not prohibitive, being $29.95 for a single year on a single computer and $39.95 for a lifetime license for 2 computers (even less with the offer below). It is also cross-platform offering Windows and OSX clients.
Obviously, if the main reason you are looking for a backup tool for your iOS devices is because your iPhone won’t sync to iTunes, then perhaps making sure your iOS and iTunes are both updated fully might be a good first step. But if you want fast, flexible iOS transfers of individual files plus the ability to convert files on the fly for use offline on an iOS device, then MediaTrans is a great extra string to your bow.
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