The more RIM focuses on devices for consumers, the more they try to make their devices media based. The one thing they have seemed to have left out is making the device media friendly. The most simple way I have found to add my music and pictures to my BlackBerry is to use the Mass Storage Mode provided by the phone. This makes your computer view your BlackBerry as an external drive. Either plugging the BlackBerry into the computer, or removing the MicroSD card from the phone and using a card reader of sorts to add media to the device are the easiest ways. To continue reading, hit the link.

What RIM offers is BlackBerry Media Sync. This is to help you sync your BlackBerry with iTunes or Windows Media Player. The interface and setup for Media Sync is very simple. If you need to download Media Sync, you can find it here. Once you install Media Sync, the first time you run the program a setup page will popup. Here you can select how much free space you want to keep on your device, and what you want your default library to pull music from to be (iTunes or Windows Media Player). Once you are done setting up the program to your liking, click finish. You will have to create playlists on iTunes or Windows Media Player in order to sync your media over. So, while you can sync with your usual library, it has to be in the form of a playlist. I see this as a minor drawback, but a drawback nonetheless. I have never actually tried this and don’t really care to try considering I have 40-50GB of music. I don’t want to pick through and check/uncheck the songs that I want or don’t want on my phone, and I don’t want to have to create playlists just to sync the music I want.

Using the MicroSD card as an external drive usually makes my life a little simpler. The only down side to this is that a MicroSD card reader will cost you some money. Normally, when you purchase a new media card, the card reader designed for that card comes with the media card. The card reader I use will set you back roughly $16. This card reader is meant to be read through the computer’s USB drive rather than a card slot, meaning it will work with any computer which is very convenient. When you insert the card reader into the computer a window will pop up, click on Open Folder to View Files. Then select the folder you want to put all of your media in, and copy and paste all of the media you want onto your device. If you can use a flash drive, you can use this tactic. One thing that might make this a little bit easier is if you put the MicroSD card you want to use in the BlackBerry before you try to put media on it, the BlackBerry will semi-format the card. It won’t erase all of the data off of the card, but it will apply its own folder directory on the card. This will just simplify the arrangement of your media.

Even though I usually plug my card reader into my computer, I still plug my BlackBerry into my computer to do some things. If I forget my card reader (which I rarely ever do), I always have a spare microUSB cable with me. This is only a little more involved than using the card reader. If you have an older model BlackBerry, this will more than likely be easier for you. Many of the older style BlackBerry’s had the MicroSD card slot underneath the battery, which means you have to reboot your device if you want to take the media card out. This is actually the correct way to remove your media card. Simply jerking out the media card is just like pulling a flash drive out of your computer without ejecting it first. It can corrupt the files on the card, which is never good. The likeliness of actually messing up the files on the card is slim to none, so luckily RIM decided to move the slot from underneath the battery.

To transfer media to your phone by plugging it up, you will first need to enable Mass Storage Mode. Go to Options, scroll down and select Memory. Make sure Media Card Support is “On”, and make sure Mass Storage Mode is set to “On”. Also, make sure Auto-Enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected is set to either “Prompt” or “On”.  Once all of the settings are correct, press the back key and select “Save”. If you have a password set on your BlackBerry, when you plug it into your computer it will prompt you to enter the password. If no password is set and you selected “Prompt”, a popup with show asking you if you want to enable Mass Storage Mode, select “Yes”.  Now plug in the BlackBerry and follow the previous instructions for using a card reader. After Mass Storage Mode is enabled, the BlackBerry, when plugged in, will act as a MicroSD card reader.

Once you’re done pasting the media on the card on onto the phone, you’re finished. The music and pictures that you put on in can be found in your Media folder on your BlackBerry. Simply find the song you want to play and click on it. If you put other files on your media card and cannot find them, they can be viewed in the Files application, or go to your Media folder, press the menu key, and select “Explore”. This will bring up a file explorer and you can see any type of file that is saved on the media card.

I hope this helps. If you have any more questions about how to add media to your BlackBerry, send me an email at taylor[at]bberrydog[dot]com.