I am planning to get a zune and was wondering if my mp3 songs i have on my computer now will work on this player or do I have to buy new ones from the zune download site?
Zune may or may not play what you have. They state what types of files it can play. That is really a non issue. Everyone ought to have the file converter by PowerAmp. It allows to to professionally rip CDs and convert audio files from one format to another. I would only get a Zune if it was a super great buy. It sounds like your library is small which is a plus for the Zune. The Zune software sucks the big one! It is mind boggling that they could make such terrible software when there are so many products to copy from. If all your tunes can fit on the Zune many of the huge problems with the software will not effect you. Such as, you can specify what you want to be synced to the Zune. The software ignored the list and puts on what it 'wanted' to put on. Most software allows you to specify what to import from your computer and the network. Zune imports everything it can find on your computer and on your network and you can't stop it. If you are unlucky that there are lots of tunes on your network the Zune software chokes itsself to death! The library gets too big for the Zune software to do anything. I thought itunes was slow! Zune software can be insainly slow. It took a half hour for the software to find the Zune that was plugged into my computer the first time. There is something wrong with the update finder. It fires everytime you load it. It takes a 100 times longer than any other software to do its checks. The Zune software is in a leage by its self as being the king of annoying software. The actual Zune is OK. I got my 30 G for $89 delivered. I would not pay much more than that. The only thing they do well is stop 3rd party sofware from accessing the Zune. If they did not do such a great job there, it would be a good buy because you could just use a paid for media manager to get around the weaknesses. Beware! You are getting locked into a nasty system! I am certain (with out trying) the tunes you buy will never get off your Zune. They will be throw away. I just had an after thought... Only buy tunes through a third party. Save the tune externally to the Zune. The software will find it. By keeping the tunes externally you may be able to use them after your Zune dies.
thanks for the info I have about 700 plus mp3 songs on various external drives that i would like to put some on a mp3 player if the zune is not going to work I will try another type of player like a sansa thanks again By the way the Zune was about 135.00 bucks
Zunes play mp3s. 700 is a tiny library that will not fill a single layer DVD or most flash mp3 players. Still, it is a huge investment if you bought them for $1 a piece. Most of the problems I have will not relate to you. You will have a problem if the MP3s are DRMed. If they were ripped by a third party ripper you are OK. Never use Zune to rip because it will probably put DRMs on your ripped music. Media Player does. I recomend the ripper put out by PowerAmp. It is not for free and you have to pay for licenses each year but it is top grade. It uses several top of the line services which you lease. I don't mind spending $25 a year for such a fine tool. I buy old used CDs and records for my music. They are cheaper, the quality is much better and no DRMs then leagle downloaded music. I rip using the Lame encoder which is the only MP3 encoder still being improved. They can do that because they have money. You have to lease the encoder. It is currently the best MP3 encoder. I use the VBR extream mode to encode my ripped music. VBR is the most advanced encoding. The most commonmy used mode is constant bit rate. It is the most primitive an used by itunes, etc. You do not set a bit rate with VBR you set a quality level. The extream setting is designed to only cut out information that you can't hear. Even though some claim they can. They are sometimes referred to as Analog Junkies. They are fixated on not losing music information that is beyond human hearing. I know one, he claimes he can hear the difference between a record and a CD. CDs are not good enough for him. The claim is ludacras! Humans can not hear the difference between the mp3 320 or an extream VBR and the CD/vinyl source. However the VBR files are usually much smaller usually averaging 190-220 BR.
so in othe words any cd that i ripped will not work on a zune. If that is the case what do you recomend beside a ipod
oops let me clarify all my mp3 songs are straight mp3 i do not see any coding as was mentioned all converted using acoustica wave to mp3 convertor but fom what i was eading else where zune is not a wise investment is this right
