This is a basic “how to Rip a CD” in your Zune Library software. This will allow you to take songs from a CD you own and place the songs into your Zune library and on your Microsoft Zune player.
Total Time: 2 minute
1. Open Up your Zune Software
2. Choose OPTIONS then RIP then FORMAT (choose the format you want).
3. Choose OPTIONS then BIT RATE (choose the format you want).
4. Insert an audio CD into your computer drive
5. The Zune Software will detect the CD and display the name, artist, time and other song details. At the bottom right you will see a “Start Rip” Button.
You do not have to perform steps 2 and 3 each time. These settings will default for future Zune CD ripping. Discuss this in the forum here.
ZuneBoards is offering a hack that allows you to remove the guest sync feature off your Zune. For most Zune users this probably will not be useful. But if you are someone that swiches your Zune between computers then this hack will be beneficial for you.
The purpose of this hack is so that when you plug in your Zune to a computer (that is not your primary computer) you will not see the pop up asking you whether you would like to use your Zune as a guest on the new computer or clear the Zune’s hard drive and in a sense start fresh on the new computer. For numerous reasons this may cause issues for you. Some problems would be if you lost your old harddrive and needed to get your music back you would be unable to do that with the Guest feature and if you chose the second feature you would delete the files in the process. The hack could prove beneficial in that sense, but the chance of that happening are slim.
More information on the hack can be found here. But I would personally suggest burning a backup of your music, videos and pictures onto a CD.
Some sites have reported on interesting rumor that unfortunately has very little weight to it at all. There are reports that a possible 2nd gen Zune could be out early as August…
Now really? Microsoft still have to reach the million customers target which they set to reach by mid 07. And they are going to launch a 2nd gen only 9 months after just stepping into the market? Very very unlikely.
More plausible conclusion could be a massive firm ware update adding some much anticipated features to the Zune, instead of the just fixes to existing problems. But as with the rumor mill who knows…
 If I were to compare the iTunes Store and the Zune Marketplace right now, the clear winner would be the iTunes store. I say this simply due to content such as Movies, Tv Shows and a large library of songs. But some of that may change very soon. It is likely that some time in 2007, Microsoft will release TV shows on to the Zune Marketplace. And movies may follow. There is speculation that Microsoft will possibly release these downloads as early as February.
 TV shows on iTunes grabs alot of downloads and it is safe to say that some iPod buyers bought it simply because iTunes offers TV shows. The typical person doesnt have time to watch all their favourite TV shows, yet theyspend countless hours doing nothing on the bus, during the lunch break and many other odd times. So people would much rather connect their iPod to sync their TV shows the night before so can watch that new episode of ‘Heroes’ and dont mind paying that 2 dollars.
 Microsoft could take the same direction as Apple is doinig with iTunes right now and charge people for each download. Or they could integrate it with the new xbo 360 IPTV system so that consumers could get their shows on their Zune without paying a fixed price. It could also enable user to transfer HD movies to their Zunes, but I doubt the picture quality would be good.
 Either way Microsoft will be releasing shows on to the Zune in the near future because to be frank the success of Zune is impacted greatly by the content avaiable at the marketplace. Microsoft already has CBS, ABC, NBC and The CW aboard for Xbox 360, so it shouldnt be too much of a pain to get them on Zune. Hopefully Fox begins selling their shows, so that next year when the service is action we can be watching some ‘24′.
 A couple years ago people would have be scepticle about watching TV on a 3.5′ screen but it seems to have great success so far.
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 It’s been around on the Zune marketplace since it launch. But it does have a real advantage over iPods-iTunes connection, because it allows you to pick up music from any computer. If you are familiar with iPod+iTunes, you know that when you take it to a friends house and try to sync it, you’ll either have to delete everything on the iPod already or not sync. But if you had a Zune you could easily download the great new song your friend has, so that you can listen to it on the way home without deleting the tracks already on it.
 Sure, many other MP3 players also have it. But Zune seems to be headed for the number 2 spot and it can take a bit more of the marketshare as more features are enabled on the system. However, Microsoft has yet to fix the issue with the Zune Sharing that we mentioned earlier and websites are indicating that it was an issue regarding the flagging of the songs and they are working on it.
 According to an article at the Seattlepi, it seems that Zune does have sharing limitations. As I have stated before this is a blow to their “sharing”/”social” feature. However, Microsoft has stated earlier that ‘certain’ songs can’t be shared. However today more details were shed by both Microsoft and Universal Music Group.
 But it is not because of limitations set by their music partners. Microsoft is blaming the issue on and they deny that Universal is preventing songs by certain artists. And a Universal spokesman reports of restrictions on artists ”totally untrue.”
 However, Im not sure exactly sure why this would happen. If Microsoft wants all songs to be shared and their music partners also dont have an issue with certain artists songs being shared, then what is preventing it. It probably does not have to do with the hardware, but the software itself. I’m seriously at a loss of why these songs can’t be shared. Hope some firmware gets released to fix the issue though. Drop a comment if you have any idea what could be preventing the ’sharing’ from happening with certain songs.
 Microsoft Media Chief, Chris Stephenson was at the Midem Music Expo in Cannes and he was suggesting that Wi-Fi “filling stations” may be in the future for the Zune. The idea is generally similar to that of the iPod kiosks, but uses WiFi to connection.
  Ideally a service like this would work the same way that the DS Download stations work and may allow the 3day/3plays rule with Zune’s entire library and hopefully also allows you to download the songs via the “filling stations”. But the only disadvantage is that you probably would rather download the track on your PC than go to a certain place to download the song you were looking for.
 It really isnt something that is hard to implement with the current hardware of the Zune. Sandisk has already implemented this with Sansa Connect and their service accually allows you to download via any Wireless connection. Ir may accually be more beneficial for Microsoft to enable WiFi connections via any router than to set up station. Or atleast putting these machines in places like Starbucks, public transit system and malls.Â
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