4 tips for your Zune audio book downloads

by Davion W

Where can one get Zune audio book downloads? This is a good question which many Zune users are asking from the frequent searches for terms like “audio books for Zune”. This form of media is still relatively new in fact but more are turning to it instead of reading the physical books. If you are on the bandwagon, then here are 4 tips and tricks that will help you with your audio book downloads for Zune.

Avoid interruptions during Zune audio book downloads. Whether you are downloading from the Zune Marketplace or from another website, one must carefully watch the download time and continuity. Avoid making bandwidth or Internet connection-hungry activities on your computer while downloading an audio book.

The worst thing to happen is to suffer a break in the downloading sequence and lose a few chapters in the process. This can be a major disappointment. Try to let your Zune software run on its own without trying to do a few things simultaneously so that it can download the full content of the audio book you want.

One more tip to learn here is this. You can actually burn and rip iTunes audio books that you own and play them on your Zune player. However, the challenge here is that iTunes’ audio books are DRM protected. But there is a neat trick to bypass this. First, burn the iTunes audio book onto a CD and encode it in WMA format. After that, rip the audio CD into your PC library. Next, upload it only your Zune software. Then you are free to play it on your Zune player.

Just a piece of advice though, be careful not to distribute or post the ripped media on the Internet. Converting iTunes audio books to Zune audio book downloads must be kept for personal use only.

What if you cannot find the topic you are interested in on the web? You can always do a search in the public libraries. Ask them for copies of their books on CDs or purchase it from them. After that, rip them off and save the audio content on your Zune.

Online auctions like eBay are great places to find audio books also. If paying $30 to $40 for an audio book is too expensive for you, you can go to eBay and buy your Zune audio book downloads for less than $7. Whether it is a romance novel or science-fiction book, you can find a wide selection of audio books on eBay.

From the above methods, you will realize that you do not need to be rich in order to enjoy the audio books. All you need are these practical and useful tips and tricks to get your Zune audio book downloads.

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Escape iTunes With the TuneClone Audio Converter

“You are considering buying a Microsoft Zune as you broke your iPod or had your iPod stolen. And you bought a lot of songs from iTunes store because you had money left on your iTunes gift card. You still want to enjoy those purchased songs on your Zune MP3 player. Or you own an iPod while your boyfriend/girlfriend has a Zune. And you hope to share the library of M4P music songs purchased from iTunes store under your account with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Here comes the headache! The M4P music you bought from iTunes is DRM-laden! You cannot transfer the iTunes M4P music to the Zune software, not to mention playing the iTunes M4P music on your Zune player.”

So, you want to migrate from the iPod to the Zune but the main reason you haven’t made that jump is because you have your iTunes library. I’m sure that’s a very common reason for not coming over to the Zune world. (Ok, maybe not, but I’ll maintain my delusion.) This is a serious issue though and if you do want to change platforms, then your only options are mostly time consuming and wasteful.

TuneClone Audio Converter has come to the rescue! You can use this to move your library of M4P DRM protected music to the MP3 format that you can use on any player out there worth its salt. This is a useful tool for anyone looking to break their relationship with the iPod. This software does cost $34.95 to register but that price does give you what appears to be a full feature application. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file’s metadata. DigitalMediaOnline has a nice little tutorial that shows how it works.

Source from David Tucker in http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/90178/escape-itunes-with-the-tuneclone-audio-converter.html

Nokia and Microsoft working to bring Zune marketplace to Nokia handsets?

Source from: http://techzter.com/2008/08/05/nokia-and-microsoft-working-to-bring-zune-marketplace-to-nokia-handsets/

If the majority of new products and services from wireless carriers and handset manufacturers recently seems to be an answer to something from Apple, it’s probably because it is. Sure, Apple’s iPhone, iPhone 3G, iTunes integration, and AppStore may not be directly responsible for all of the wireless industry’s current advancements, but Cupertino’s entry in to the mobile space certainly sparked a new appreciation among manufacturers and service providers for sleek and integrated user interfaces that deliver a user experience to be desired.

Case in point, Apple’s integration of the iPhone with one of (if not the most) the most prolific and widely known music and software stores (iTunes and AppStore) has sparked a response from big-hitters Microsoft and Nokia.

Microsoft has vested interest in seeing their Zune Marketplace maintain a competitive edge in a crowded market. And Nokia could be just the handset mega-manufacturer to give Redmond the market-leverage to bring the Zune Marketplace to millions upon millions of users.

Microsoft is reportedly working closely with Nokia to integrate the Zune Marketplace in to Nokia’s dizzying lineup of mobile phones. This isn’t a Zune Phone, as has been rumored to be in the works, but a new service that’ll be featured on some of Nokia’s 430+ million handsets sold every year. What’s interesting is that Microsoft will have to develop a Zune Marketplace platform that is compatible with the Symbian software architecture used by Nokia. If true, Microsoft would be working to battle the iPhone and it’s iTunes integration on both the Windows Mobile and Symbian fronts.

Having missed their latest projections for Windows Mobile sales, Microsoft can use all the help they have the ability to get.

Related article:

How to transfer iTunes M4P music playlist to Zune WMA MP3

How to transfer iTunes M4P music playlist to Zune WMA MP3

You are considering buying a Zune as you broke your iPod or had your iPod stolen. And you bought a lot of songs from iTunes store because you had money left on your iTunes gift card. You still want to enjoy those purchased songs on your Zune music player. Or you own an iPod while your boyfriend/girlfriend has a Zune. And you hope to share the library of M4P (protected AAC) music purchased from iTunes store under your account with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Here comes the headache! The M4P music you bought from iTunes is DRM laden! You cannot transfer the protected iTunes music to the Zune software, not to mention playing the it on your Zune player. 

Yet, there seems to be a solution. You can burn the DRM-locked iTunes music playlist to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make an audio CD and then use some CD ripper software to convert the audio CD track back to Zune accepted MP3 or WMA format. And iTunes allows you to burn the protected iTunes music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make a standard audio CD.

Sounds a good idea! But it would be a time consuming process if you have a library of iTunes music ready to be converted to MP3 or WMA files for playback on Zune. Moreover, the information about the M4P music files like title, artist and album will be lost after they are burnt and ripped back to MP3 or unprotected WMA format. So this method is not recommended if you have a big collection of iTunes DRMed music to be transferred to your Zune.

I’ve made a Google search for programs that can convert iTunes music to Zune WMA MP3, and TuneClone Audio Converter attracted my attention. The edge of TuneClone Audio Converter over other similar programs lies in that it applys the virtual CD burning technology to simulates the burning and ripping process. You just need to burn the iTunes playlist to TuneClone virtual CD burner. Then TuneClone will directly convert the iTunes music list to WMA or MP3 for your Zune. It is very fast and the information about each music song will be preserved perfectly. Below are several key steps to convert iTunes M4P music playlist to Zune MP3 or WMA using TuneClone Audio Converter.

1. Make settings at TuneClone

Click the “Setting” button at TuneClone. In the pop-up window, you can specify the “output folder”, “output filenames”, “output format”, etc. for the output files.
Tip: You can get the converted music folder by clicking the “Folder” button after the whole process.

2. Make settings at iTunes

Click “Edit -> Preferences… -> Advanced -> Burning”. Select TuneClone’s virtual CD-RW drive as CD burner. In the “Disc Format” option, tick “Audio CD”.
Tip 1: In order to keep the information about the music, the “Include CD Text” option should be checked.
Tip 2: The most important step is to choose the cd burner. Then the software can convert the music files automatically.

3. Create a playlist

Create a playlist, and then add the iTunes M4P music files you want to convert to Zune WMA or MP3 into the playlist. After the conversion, the WMA or MP3 music folder should be located under the folder you specified at first. The name of the music folder should be the same as that of the iTunes playlist you created.
Tip: It is exceedingly easy and fast when you want to batch convert lots of files.

After you get the output folder, now you can transfer it to your Zune software so as to enjoy the iTunes music on your Zune music player.

So, has your headache been removed now?