3. To Sync or Not to Sync, That Is the Question
Okay, you've just purchased a new Zune device and you
obviously want to get some content on there, and fast. The question is,
how are you going to make that happen? The Zune PC software offers two
basic options for synchronizing your media library with your Zune
device. That is, you can automatically sync all content or you can
manually sync only certain content.
3.1. Choosing a Sync Strategy
We want to be very clear about this choice: if you
can do it—that is, if the capacity of your device is large enough to
handle the size of your media library—the Smart Sync option is much
simpler to use and manage than Manual Sync. That said, you may not want
all of certain content types to sync with your device. For example,
while a Zune 4 or Zune 8 is perfect for enjoying music and podcasts, its
tiny screen makes it more difficult to enjoy pictures. And as for
videos, forget about it.
Here are some basic rules for choosing how to sync:
If the device has enough storage, use Smart Sync:
If you can get every last song, picture, video, and podcast from your
media library onto the device, do so. A Zune 120 should be enough
storage for all but the most demanding users. Smart Sync is easier.
Unless you have specific needs, choose music first:
Choose music at the expense of other nonaudio content. Put simply,
today's Zune is optimized for audio. In this case, you might choose All
Music under Smart Sync and then [Content] I choose for the other content types.
Understand what you're getting into with Manual Sync:
The Zune's manual sync functionality is a bit harder to manage. There
is a single place in the Zune UI to see what you're syncing to a
particular device, but it's not clear.
3.2. Manual Sync
Suppose, for whatever reason, you've decided (or been
forced) to manually sync content from your Zune media library to your
device.
Here's how it works, using music as an example. As
you navigate around your music library in the Zune PC software, you'll
notice that you can manually sync artists, albums, and even individual
songs with your device. To manually sync an artist, album, or individual
song (or songs) you need to right-click one or more of those items and
choose Sync with device name (where device name is the name of your Zune device) from the pop-up menu that appears (see Figure 9).
When you choose this kind of synchronization,
whatever content you've selected is copied to the device immediately,
and the Zune creates something called a Sync Group,
which is a collection of items that are synced together as a whole to a
device. In the Songs column, you'll see a tiny On Device icon (in the
shape of a Zune device) appear next to each song that is synced with the
device.
NOTE
When you right-click individual songs in the
Songs column, you'll see an additional option that's not available when
you click artists or albums: never Sync with device.
This provides you with some fine-tuning, so even if you choose to
automatically sync everything by a particular artist, for example, you
can manually exclude certain songs.
The problem with manual sync, of course, is that it's
obvious where you go to see and manage what you're syncing. As you
navigate around your music collection, tagging individual artists,
albums, and songs for sync, the list of synced items is growing ever
larger. You'll see those little On Device icons sprouting up here and
there. How do you manage this mess?
As it turns out, this information is managed from
within the Device section of the Zune PC software. This makes sense when
you think about it, because it's certainly possible to own two or more
Zune devices and configure sync differently for each. Therefore, to see
which songs you're syncing, navigate to Device => Status. Then click the View Sync Groups button. You'll see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 10.
To stop syncing particular artists, albums, or songs,
just right-click as appropriate. What you will see varies according to
which items you've chosen to sync, and then which items you're choosing
here in the UI. For example, say you've chosen to sync all music from
the band Collective Soul. The way you did that was to right-click
Collective Soul in the Artist list in Collection => Music and choose Sync to device. Okay, so now you navigate to Device => Music and you want to remove some items. Here are the options:
Right-click on the artist's name:
If you right-click on the artist's name in the leftmost column, called
Sync Groups, you see an option titled Remove group. If you select this,
Zune will stop syncing music from this artist and will immediately
remove all of the music that was previously synced to the device.
(Obviously, the music will remain on your PC and in your Zune media
library.)
Right-click on an individual album within a sync group:
You can delete individual albums from the device by choosing Remove
group. When you do this, the album is deleted from the device only. More
important, it is removed from the Sync Group as well (in this case, all
music by Collective Soul), so when you sync the device in the future,
music from that album will no longer be synced.
Right-click on an individual song within a sync group:
You can also delete individual songs from the device by choosing Remove
group. As with albums, the song is deleted from the device and removed
from the Sync Group.
If you navigate back to Collection =>
Music, you'll see that songs you have removed from Sync Groups have a
small "Excluded" icon next to them instead of an On Device icon.
It's also worth pointing out that Sync Groups aren't
always as clear-cut as an individual group. As you sync more and more
content to your devices, a number of Sync Groups will appear, some of
which are more arbitrary collections of music. And, of course, you'll
have Sync Groups that comprise other content types such as podcasts,
pictures, and video.
In any case, as you can see, manual sync is a lot of
work. It's not so bad if you want to sync only a couple of items of a
particular content type, but it can quickly get out of hand if you start
adding more and more items. Smart Sync is the way to go if possible.
3.3. Wireless Sync
The type of synchronization we've been discussing
thus far is very similar to the way that you would sync iPods, iPhones,
and other portable digital media devices, but the Zune offers a fairly
unique feature, called wireless sync, that enables you to synchronize content over your wireless home network.
Wireless sync works with all Zune models, including
the older Zune 30, and requires an 802.11b/g Wi-Fi wireless network.
(The PC can be connected via wired Ethernet.) Obviously, this kind of
sync is slower than a USB tether, especially if you're stuck using the
older, slower, and generally less desirable 802.11b variant. It's not
particularly battery-friendly either. For this reason, Zune devices will
not automatically sync wirelessly with your PC-based Zune library
unless the device is powered somehow (either by a dock or a USB sync
cable that's plugged into electric power with an optional Zune power
adapter).
You can, however, trigger a manual wireless sync via
the device. To do so, however, you must first configure the device for
wireless sync using the Zune PC software. After ensuring that the device
is connected to the PC via USB—you can't configure this feature
otherwise—navigate to Settings => Device and then choose Wireless from the list of options. You'll see a screen like that shown in Figure 11. Click Set Up Wireless Sync to continue.
At this point, the Zune software will search for
available wireless networks. If you're connected to a wireless network
already, Zune will ask if you'd like to use that network for wireless
sync. If not, you can choose the appropriate wireless network from a
list. Click Finish and Zune will connect to the wireless network and
configure the device accordingly.
NOTE
Can't connect? Zune has certain requirements for
wireless networks, including compatibility with a limited range of
wireless security technologies. These include open networks with no
encryption (which, obviously, you would never do), WEP (64-bit or
128-bit key), WPA-PSK (TKIP), WPA-PSK (AES), WPA2-PSK (AES, not
supported on Zune 30), and WPA2-PSK (TKIP, not supported on Zune 30).
For more information and wireless sync troubleshooting tips, please
visit the Microsoft Web site: go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=103432.
Once that's completed, perform a normal, wired sync
with the device. Then unplug it from the PC to test wireless sync. On
the device, navigate to Settings => Wireless =>
Sync and then select Sync with PC. The device will connect to your
wireless network, connect to your PC, and perform a sync, albeit a bit
slowly.
Aside from rampant abuse of battery power, why might
you find wireless sync desirable? First, many people are now in the
habit of charging their digital devices in a central location, perhaps
using one of those charging stations you may have seen. This way, when
they head off to work in the morning, everything is charged, ready, and
accessible. By enabling wireless sync, you can charge your Zune along
with your smart phone and other devices, and not worry about carting it
over to the PC every few days to sync manually.
Second, and an arguably more interesting use for this
technology, is home entertainment. Many people keep a digital media
device dock next to their home theater so they can use this device with
the best stereo in the house. (Note that because the flash-based Zunes
don't support video out, this scenario would only include audio content
such as music and podcasts with these particular devices.) If you keep
your Zune by the home theater with an AV dock, you can ensure that it's
always up-to-date, as it will be silently syncing back to the PC in the
other room while it's docked.
Finally, many users simply forget to sync. Enabling
wireless sync means that all you have to do is charge the device within
range of your wireless network (typically almost anywhere in your home)
and it will sync automatically.
4. Updating Zune
As with any electronic device, make sure your Zune is
always up-to-date. That's because Microsoft often ships updates, both
for the Zune's PC-based software and for the firmware that runs on the
device itself. (For whatever its worth, Microsoft also updates Zune
Marketplace and Zune Social regularly, but because those updates occur
in the cloud, you don't have to do any work to stay up-to-date.)
The Zune PC software should alert you periodically
when new updates are available. However, you can manually check for
software updates by navigating to Settings => Software => General. Then click the Check for Updates button in the Software Updates section.
Likewise, the Zune PC software should periodically
alert you when updates are made available for whatever Zune device(s)
you own. To manually check for a firmware update, plug in the device and
then navigate to Settings => Device => Device Update in the Zune PC software.
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The Zune 8/16, Zune 30, and Zune 120 all use slightly
different versions of the Zune firmware, so Microsoft makes different
updates available for each of these devices.
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NOTE
One feature that's not obvious is that
you can restore your Zune device in various ways. If you just want to
erase the content on the device and start over, you can do so from
within the Zune PC software, but if you want to literally restore the
Zune to factory condition—that is, with the firmware version that
originally came on the device—you need to do that directly from the Zune
itself. The process is somewhat complicated, but is described in
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 927001 (support.microsoft.com/kb/927001).
Note that restoring your Zune in this fashion will not restore the
music, photo, and video content that originally came on the device, so
be sure to back that up before restoring the device. You can back up
Zune-based content—that is, copy it back to the PC—by navigating to
Device => Music (or Device => Videos or Device => Pictures) in the Zune PC software, right-clicking the content, and choosing Copy to Collection.
