Can music from Zune go on an iPod touch?

[LisaR]

Really debating about what laptop to get my DD. We are close to buying a Mac Pro which comes with a free itouch. She has a Zune with 2,000 songs on it. Some of those songs are ripped from CD's so I think those will transfer to the itouch just fine. What about the music she bought from the Zune Store? Will she lose all of those songs?

This isn't the only factor but it is one of the things we are thinking about.

 

[jlmarr]

If your audio files are in mp3 format instead of the Microsoft-proprietary wma format they should be transferable just fine. Here's a page that lists the compatible formats...

http://ipod.about.com/od/fileformatguide/a/file_formats.htm

 

[LisaR]

If your audio files are in mp3 format instead of the Microsoft-proprietary wma format they should be transferable just fine. Here's a page that lists the compatible formats...

http://ipod.about.com/od/fileformatguide/a/file_formats.htm

Thanks! Unfortunately, it looks like everything is wma, even the CD's that she burned.

 

[bicker]

CDs can be ripped to MP3. That's actually how you used to move unrestricted downloads from the Zune Marketplace to other devices: They download as unrestricted WMAs, then burn them to CD, then rip the CD. (Now, of course, most of the unrestricted tracks Zune Marketplace offers are MP3s already.)

The key -- and this applies in either direction, iPod to Zune or Zune to iPod -- the key is whether or not the track is tied to your subscription or not. I don't know how iTunes works it, but with Zune, you get 10 tracks per month that are not tied to your subscription, essentially unrestricted. Plus, of course, any tracks you pay for separately are not tied to your subscription. The other tracks you download off the service (my wife is at about 13,000 tracks now) are tied to the subscription, and so must be played on the subscribed device.

 

[jlmarr]

This Apple reference - http://www.apple.com/iphone/how-to/index.html#help.song-video-or-other-items-wont-play - says ...

Using iTunes for Windows, you can convert nonprotected WMA files to AAC or MP3 format. This can be useful if you have a library of music encoded in WMA format.

The question is how many of your WMA files are protected vs unprotected. I'd guess the ones you ripped from CD are unprotected.