Is there anyway to put an iPod on zune?

Answer 1

What do you mean, put an iPod on Zune? An iPod is a physical hardware device and a Zune is a physical hardware device. Zune is also conveniently the name of Microsoft's software that is supposed to operate like iTunes.

Apple develops and distributes iTunes for free and it sells iPods, which require iTunes to synchronize files between the computer and the device.

iTunes: Software application that is a media manager. It can organize and display or play music, videos, iPod application, Artwork, and PDF documents. It is capable of making audio playlists, enabling online purchases for content, and burning audio CD's. iTunes is not compatible with a Zune, for purposes of making them communicate and synchronize.

iPod: A physical device that is capable of playing video, audio, games, Surfing the internet, and even downloading files when in range of active WiFi connections. An iPod requires iTunes to move media files to it. Synchronization is very simple when using iTunes. There are applications on the market that are 'not' from Apple, Inc., which will communicate with an iPod, but these are merely for the purpose of taking files from the iPod and archiving them to your computer.

Microsoft created Zune as a direct competitor to Apple's iPod and iTunes. Like all things brilliant that Microsoft has done, it made both products have the same name so that when the name 'Zune' is used, it is not clear if Zune means software or hardware.

Zune: A software application that was designed to be a multimedia manager, similar to iTunes. It has the ability to play the same audio types (except for apple lossless, which is proprietary to iTunes), display images, and show video. There are home folders that are monitored for updates, which are by default the 'music, picture, and video folders.' You may also add additional custom folders to monitor via 'settings.' When the program starts, it scans the folder and displays a list of all available files in that folder, which are displayed in the Zune program. It is not compatible with an iPod for the purposes of synchronization.

Zune: A hardware device that is similar to an iPod. It was designed to be a market competitor to Apple's iPod. It also has the same playback features of the iPod and it requires the Zune software to synchronize with it.

Having explained that, it should be clear that these are competing products from two large computer companies: Apple and Microsoft. The only way that you can get an iPod onto a Zune or a Zune onto an iPod is to physically place one on top of the other.

To synchronize the content between the two devices will likely require a computer that is running inside of a Windows environment. This will give the user the ability to use both Zune and iTunes software.

What must be done is to first know which program you want to have the files. If you want the data from an iPod to be moved onto a Zune, then you need to know where iTunes saves its media files. If you want the data from a Zune to be placed onto the iPod, then you need to know where Zune saves its media files.

To move data from Zune to iTunes requires a user to either add individual "files" or "folders" to the library. This can be achieved by using the 'File' menu inside of iTunes. Select "Add file to library" if a user wanted to add a single file or select "Add folder to library" if a user wanted to add an entire folder of music to the iTunes library. Navigate to the folder that contains all of the saved music for the Zune software and then click either "open" or "OK" (depending on if a user was adding a file or entire folder). iTunes should now start processing the files and adding them to the iTunes library. After this has completed, it will be possible to connect an iPod and have the iTunes application synchronize with the iPod to place the digital content onto that device.

To move data from iTunes to Zune also requires a user to use the Zune software and gain access to the 'settings' which should be located in the upper right-hand corner of the software. The user would then need to configure the "monitored folders," which should be the first set of customizable options that are displayed. The user would need to click on the button for each appropriate section (video, audio, pictures), and then manually navigate to where the files are saved by iTunes. This is a little more difficult since iTunes saves everything in the iTunes Media folder. Previous installations that have been perpetually updated rather than having a brand new installation will say, "iTunes Music" rather than "iTunes Media." Video may be in the "movies" folder that is found inside of the "iTunes Media" folder and audio files will be in multiple folders. If Zune software has the ability to monitor additional folders inside of a main folder, then you simply need to tell the Zune program to add the "iTunes Media" folder to it's monitored list. If this doesn't work for a Zune user, then he or she may elect to manaully copy all audio files to the 'Music' folder contained under the 'Documents' folder. In Windows XP, this was called My Documents and it contained the following sub folders: "My Music, My Pictures, & My Videos." In Windows Vista, the folders became shorter and were known as "Documents, Music, Pictures, & Videos." A user that is having trouble getting Zune to recognize the "iTunes Media" folder would need to manually copy .PDF files to the "Pictures" folder, audio files to the "Music" folder, and video files to the "Video" folder. Zune should monitor these folders by default and then there should not be any issue with having Zune recognize the newly added content. At this point, a restart of Zune may be required to have the Zune read all of the files within each folder, especiall if many files were transferred. A user would then need to connect the Zune hardware to the Zune software and synchronize. All digital content that was compatible (audio, video, images) should synchronize the the hardware device.