How to upload music to TomTom Spark 3 ?

MER_JN

I have my TomTom Sparks 3 connected to my computer (Windows 7 Enterprise) with TomTomSports installed (TomTomSportsConnectInstaller) and TomTomSports open, I don't see MySportsConnect, or a music tab or note anywhere. I checked settings, and it wasn't there either. How do I get the music uploaded to my Sparks 3?

tfarabaugh

What do you mean by TomTom Sports? Do you mean the website? You need the desktop software, which is MySports Connect, which you can download from tomtom.com/123. Once installed the MySports Connect application talks to Windows Media Player and iTunes (if they are installed) to query the playlists you have created (you cannot upload individual files; they need to be organized into playlists). These playlists are then listed when you connect your watch. To make it easier to load them, give the playlists distinctive names like "My Spark Playlist" or something similar so they are easier to find. You then use MySports Connect to copy the playlists you want to the watch. In iTunes & WMP you need to create playlists (the watch only plays playlists, not individual files as there is no folder system on the watch). Once you have the playlists created, dock the watch and hit the music note button on the Connect interface, which will take you to the Music screen where it will list all playlists on the computer. When you see the one you want to load, click on it to add it to the watch. Make sure the tracks are in the right format. If tracks are not in an acceptable format they will not play, nor will the playlists they are in.

MP3:
Sample rate: 16KHz to 48KHz
Bit rate: 8 kbps to 320 kbps
Mono/stereo channels and joint stereo.
Artist, track title and length are displayed for the following languages: English, Czech, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Finnish and Swedish. Other languages may display correctly if the only used characters available in a supported language.

AAC:
MPEG2 and MPEG4 AAC-LC and HE-AACv2 are supported.
Sample rate: up to 48KHz
Bit rate: up to 320 kbps
Mono/stereo/dual mono are supported.
Artist, track title and length for AAC is not supported.

The watch does not support files with DRM of any type. This includes offline tracks from Apple Music and Spotify. MySports Connect will not count any DRM tracks as part of a playlist, so if all the tracks in a playlist are DRM then the playlist will not be shown at all.

You can also go to the watch in a file explorer window (the watch will be mounted as a drive) and create a folder in the Music folder and move the tracks into that folder. The software will then automatically create a playlist with all the tracks in the folder named after the folder.

If you are not using Windows Media Player or iTunes then you need to create an .m3u or .m3u8 playlist file (various music programs do this) and then set the Playlist Root Folder. Press the Gear icon in MySports Connect and then scroll down to Advanced Settings and set the location here. The playlist root folder is searched (and sub-directories) for any .m3u/.m3u8 playlist files and those will be listed (along with any Windows Media Player/iTunes playlists) by MySports Connect when you connect your watch. This only needs to be done if you are not using WMP or iTunes; otherwise they search the default locations. The playlists need to be on a physical drive on your machine, it will not find cloud drives.

If using iTunes, check that iTunes is set to share libraries. You need to click the dropdown at the very top left and select Preferences. On the Advanced tab, make sure there is a check next to "Share iTunes Library XML with other applications".

I hope this helped answer your question. If so, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.

Stuart McDonald

MER_JN wrote:

I have my TomTom Sparks 3 connected to my computer (Windows 7 Enterprise) with TomTomSports installed (TomTomSportsConnectInstaller) and TomTomSports open, I don't see MySportsConnect, or a music tab or note anywhere. I checked settings, and it wasn't there either. How do I get the music uploaded to my Sparks 3?

Hi. Is Sports Connect program running? If it is you will see a watch icon in the system tray and when you connect your watch it will open a window. On that window there will be a music icon that switches to the list of playlists on your computer and on the watch (the image below doesn't have the icon, sorry).
--Stuart.

Spazz67

I can connect to TomTom Sports Connect and the Music Icon shows but is greyed out from the start. When I click it, it tells me I already disconnected my watch and to reconnect it again. I also do not get a drive letter in Windows...

I did a factory reset but the problem is still there.

What am I doing wrong?

Stuart McDonald

Hi. The music drive on the watch is exactly the same as a USB stick. A factory reset will not affect that as that is for the watch firmware. If windows isn't showing a drive letter then the drive is not being detected (so Sports Connect will assume it has been ejected).

The only things I can think of are 1) Does your computer have security not to mount USB drives? e.g. Work computers sometimes have this to stop people putting unknown programs onto their computer 2) There is a hardware problem with the watch. TBH I've never seen this, the tech for the music drive is very simple and reliable, still anything can break.

If you have access to another computer then you can check if it detects the drive (you don't need Sports Connect installed). Or it would be interesting to see if your computer detects a USB stick being connected (since if it did that would imply a watch hardware problem).

Regards,
Stuart.

Spazz67

I tried a different USB stick and the drive letter shows up just fine. I will try to connect with a different PC tonight and will post the outcome. Thanks for your reply.