Yes, Zune does support iTunes libraries
A column by Saul Hansell on the New York Times "Bits" blog caught my eye today because it makes a completely unfounded assertion about the Zune versus the iPod.
Hansell writes, "But now many iPods are replacements by people who already have substantial music collections in iTunes. For those people, the choice is between buying an iPod that will simply work with all their music or investing the time and effort to try to convert everything into Zune's formats."
This is totally wrong. Microsoft knew it was coming from behind (way behind) and it took pains to make it as easy as possible for iTunes users to switch.
First, the Zune natively supports AAC, the default file format that's used by iTunes whenever you rip a CD. (iTunes can rip to MP3 as well, but that's not the default.) This was a big deal for a company that had steadfastly promoted Windows Media Audio for many years before it offered full-bitrate support for MP3, mainly because it didn't want to pay a royalty to the organization responsible for MPEG licensing. Here, Microsoft knew it had to support AAC and pay the royalty, or Zune would be dead on arrival.
The only problem comes when you try to play a DRM-protected song that you purchased from the iTunes Music Store--neither the Zune nor any other player (or software) can play those songs unless you strip the DRM off by burning to CD and then re-ripping. But if you're like most users, the vast majority of your library comes from CDs you've owned for years, not from the iTunes Store.
Second, when you install the Zune software, it automatically scans and adds songs from not only the My Music folder (as the Windows Media Player always did) but also the iTunes folder. I know this because I always rip my CDs in iTunes so they'll work on both my Apple devices (iPod, iPhone) and my Zune. I don't have to do anything special--I rip them in iTunes, and the Zune software discovers them the next time I start it up.
Hansell is correct when he says that existing iPod users are more likely to upgrade to a new iPod, but that's because of high customer satisfaction for the iPod and few compelling reasons (so far) to switch--not only to the Zune, but to any other MP3 player. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! I think the third generation of Zunes, used in conjunction with the Zune Pass, might offer enough compelling new features to start changing this equation. But only if Microsoft gets the word out--a good place to start would be informing journalists that yes, the Zune has always worked very well with existing iTunes libraries.
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Matt Rosoff is an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, where he covers Microsoft's consumer products and corporate news. He's written about the technology industry since 1995, and reviewed the first Rio MP3 player for CNET.com in 1998. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattrosoff. 
If it's true, I like that the Zune "supports" AAC rather than converting them to something else.
Ofcourse there are some exceptions, such as windows movie maker exporting to .wmv (comparable to macs pre-installed movie software exporting only to .mov). And also some oddities like newer MS Publisher files not being compatible with prior versions.
Lets see, I've purchased probably 300 songs in itunes. An audio CD can hold about 20 tracks. 300 / 20 = 15 CDs. I would have to burn and rip 15 CDs to get the 300 songs from itunes to zune's software. Yeah, no thanks, MSFT, I can do without.
instead of a half featured ipod money sucker.
(I don't use either, I have a much more efficient mp3 player)
Of course many of us have already known this since the beginning and simply ripping the files to another format makes them universal. So let's have a moment of silence to those nay sayers and Apple haters, and thieving attorney's.
Actually, you are the one who is wrong. The original article had it right. In order for me to switch I would need to purchase a copy of Windows. And, I am not sure I could use a large portion of my music which is stored in Apple lossless compression format without converting it.
I own a Zune 80 and all of the music that I ripped with iTunes into aac works. Everything I purchased I had to strip the DRM to make it work, but that should be viewed as an Apple problem, not as Microsoft's problem.
The Zune is an example of Microsoft's genius at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They made a music player with pretty good hardware for the price and interesting features like wifi ... then they put crappy firmware and made you use a really horrible app that didn't work to use it. If they'd left the firmware reinstallable, you'd have had Linux geeks going wild buying them just to install Rockbox. But hey, obsessive control beats actually shifting units!
That is what you meant, isn't it?
- by Rapture-CI May 15, 2009 10:00 PM PDT
- IPOD was my first MP3 player.... I went through about 3 (upgrading) and on my Xmas list to my father, i said i wanted a new MP3... he got me a Zune.... so, instead of exchanging it, i said id give it a try, and ever since, i dont know why i used IPOD.. Zune so far, is the best MP3 i have ever had. Im not going to down talk IPOD, but i will definently say ZUNE is the Better of the Two.
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