Any iPod to Zune transitioners?

[ArJuN]

Back story (Skip it, it's useless):
It's almost time to go off to college, and I need to update my MP3 player. Right now I'm using a 3rd gen iPod that I won off a radio station for my car. Working out, I have a 2nd gen shuffle. The 3rd gen is going to stay in the car with my parents, I'll just put on their music. I now need an MP3 player for my casual listening. I think I'm going to take the Zune up.

The meat:
For everyone that went from Apple to MS, how did your songs transfer over? I have all my songs organized by artist then by album in explorer. I used iTunes to edit all the tags perfectly. Every thing is perfect. Except for the file names. How does whatever software you use organize music with the Zune? I'm assuming there is a software with the Zune besides WMP? Yea...it's late.

 

[Duddy]

They don't. Songs you buy off iTunes will not play on the Zune.

Other than that, just know this. You are going to miss iTunes like CRAZY!

Say goodbye to Podcast support and buying TV shows and movies.


I have been using the Zune since it came out and for the most part it's a great device. But the iPod does have it's advantages.

 

[Mo0o]

why are you going w/ zune instead of a G5 ipod? Most reviews say the ipod is superior

 

[SmoochyTX]

Zune doesn't use WMP (yeah I know). The Zune uses it's own software. If everything you have is tagged properly (and it's not DRM music from iTunes of course) there shouldn't be a problem.

Follow the directions that come with the Zune. Everything is set to synch automatically. You can add watch folders later if you don't save your music/videos in My Documents. You can also disable automatic synching after everything's installed (which I recommend) if you're frequently adding and removing material.

Of course, if your music still has DRM attached from iTunes, you'll have to take care of that before you're able to synch it up.

ETA - If you're a heavy podcast listener (like I am), I highly recommend Happy Fish as a podcatcher for your Zune. It works with any mp3 player (including an iPod). It's very customizable and very easy to use.

 

[ArJuN]

Originally posted by: Duddy
They don't. Songs you buy off iTunes will not play on the Zune.

Other than that, just know this. You are going to miss iTunes like CRAZY!

Say goodbye to Podcast support and buying TV shows and movies.


I have been using the Zune since it came out and for the most part it's a great device. But the iPod does have it's advantages.

Well I think I've only bought one or two albums off of iTunes. I can easily strip the DRM from that, so that's not a problem. I don't use the iTunes store at all, so TV shows and movies aren't an issue either. But I'll probably definitly miss iTunes. lol. Thanks for the reply man.

Originally posted by: Mo0o
why are you going w/ zune instead of a G5 ipod? Most reviews say the ipod is superior

I gave up my 30gb 5th gen to my sister. The video feature is useless becaues of the battery life. And back then I didn't have enough music to fill it up. So I'm just going to wait for the 6th/5.xth gen to come out. Hopefully it'll have some touch UI.

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Zune doesn't use WMP (yeah I know). The Zune uses it's own software. If everything you have is tagged properly (and it's not DRM music from iTunes of course) there shouldn't be a problem.

Follow the directions that come with the Zune. Everything is set to synch automatically. You can add watch folders later if you don't save your music/videos in My Documents. You can also disable automatic synching after everything's installed (which I recommend) if you're frequently adding and removing material.

Of course, if your music still has DRM attached from iTunes, you'll have to take care of that before you're able to synch it up.

ETA - If you're a heavy podcast listener (like I am), I highly recommend Happy Fish as a podcatcher for your Zune. It works with any mp3 player (including an iPod). It's very customizable and very easy to use.

Thank god it doesn't use WMP, first good news I've heard all day lol.
I've gotten into podcasts, but then stopped since resyncing was a pain in the ass for me. But I'll definitly check out that software. Thanks man!

 

[Mo0o]

If you have teh updated ipod video software you can turn down the lcd brightness which really lengthens the battery life if you ever watch video. Plus it's smaller/thinner than the zune which is nice. But it looks like you've made your choice

 

[Tipsy Turtle]

Tunebite FTW!

 

[ArJuN]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
If you have teh updated ipod video software you can turn down the lcd brightness which really lengthens the battery life if you ever watch video. Plus it's smaller/thinner than the zune which is nice. But it looks like you've made your choice

Meh, I feel like you shouldn't have to compromise brightness just to watch a movie or two. Yea the size seems to be my only conflict now. Having used the 30GB, even the 80GB iPod is huge. And the Zune is almost twice the size. We'll see how that works out.

Originally posted by: Tipsy Turtle
Tunebite FTW!

Pah, you have to pay. lol. I think I'm just going to burn my tracks and re-rip them properly.

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: ArJuN

Originally posted by: Mo0o
If you have teh updated ipod video software you can turn down the lcd brightness which really lengthens the battery life if you ever watch video. Plus it's smaller/thinner than the zune which is nice. But it looks like you've made your choice

Meh, I feel like you shouldn't have to compromise brightness just to watch a movie or two. Yea the size seems to be my only conflict now. Having used the 30GB, even the 80GB iPod is huge. And the Zune is almost twice the size. We'll see how that works out.

Originally posted by: Tipsy Turtle
Tunebite FTW!

Pah, you have to pay. lol. I think I'm just going to burn my tracks and re-rip them properly.

Does the zune offer much better video battery life while keeping teh same brightness?

 

[ArJuN]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: ArJuN

Originally posted by: Mo0o
If you have teh updated ipod video software you can turn down the lcd brightness which really lengthens the battery life if you ever watch video. Plus it's smaller/thinner than the zune which is nice. But it looks like you've made your choice

Meh, I feel like you shouldn't have to compromise brightness just to watch a movie or two. Yea the size seems to be my only conflict now. Having used the 30GB, even the 80GB iPod is huge. And the Zune is almost twice the size. We'll see how that works out.

Originally posted by: Tipsy Turtle
Tunebite FTW!

Pah, you have to pay. lol. I think I'm just going to burn my tracks and re-rip them properly.

Does the zune offer much better video battery life while keeping teh same brightness?

Good call...honestly, I don't give a crap about video lol. The t61 will take care of that 😉.

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: ArJuN

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: ArJuN

Originally posted by: Mo0o
If you have teh updated ipod video software you can turn down the lcd brightness which really lengthens the battery life if you ever watch video. Plus it's smaller/thinner than the zune which is nice. But it looks like you've made your choice

Meh, I feel like you shouldn't have to compromise brightness just to watch a movie or two. Yea the size seems to be my only conflict now. Having used the 30GB, even the 80GB iPod is huge. And the Zune is almost twice the size. We'll see how that works out.

Originally posted by: Tipsy Turtle
Tunebite FTW!

Pah, you have to pay. lol. I think I'm just going to burn my tracks and re-rip them properly.

Does the zune offer much better video battery life while keeping teh same brightness?

Good call...honestly, I don't give a crap about video lol. The t61 will take care of that 😉.

hmm. well if you dont care about video, i woiuld go w/ the ipod because of the form factor and the fact that theres a much larger selection of cases and accessories to choose from. Although im not sure if the zune has better sound quality.

 

[ArJuN]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: ArJuN

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: ArJuN

Originally posted by: Mo0o
If you have teh updated ipod video software you can turn down the lcd brightness which really lengthens the battery life if you ever watch video. Plus it's smaller/thinner than the zune which is nice. But it looks like you've made your choice

Meh, I feel like you shouldn't have to compromise brightness just to watch a movie or two. Yea the size seems to be my only conflict now. Having used the 30GB, even the 80GB iPod is huge. And the Zune is almost twice the size. We'll see how that works out.

Originally posted by: Tipsy Turtle
Tunebite FTW!

Pah, you have to pay. lol. I think I'm just going to burn my tracks and re-rip them properly.

Does the zune offer much better video battery life while keeping teh same brightness?

Good call...honestly, I don't give a crap about video lol. The t61 will take care of that 😉.

hmm. well if you dont care about video, i woiuld go w/ the ipod because of the form factor and the fact that theres a much larger selection of cases and accessories to choose from. Although im not sure if the zune has better sound quality.

True. I've got chargers up the wazoo and the Bose Sounddock and all this other crap. (There are 11 ipods in this house.) But the Zune has the nice big screen! I don't know. I just don't want to get an iPod now, I want to went for the new shiny awesome one.

 

[arod]

Originally posted by: Duddy
They don't. Songs you buy off iTunes will not play on the Zune.

Other than that, just know this. You are going to miss iTunes like CRAZY!

Say goodbye to Podcast support and buying TV shows and movies.


I have been using the Zune since it came out and for the most part it's a great device. But the iPod does have it's advantages.

Oh god no.... wmp/zune is way way better than itunes in terms of browsing music. the only issue wmp/zune have is the podcast support as you mentioned and there are ways to get around that for now till they add support officially.

but there is no way i would ever install that pos itunes on my computers again.