Sync your Zune using MediaMonkey and zAlternator

[Lands]

Hi all

Does anyone know if this process works with the OLD version of the Zune software? I haven't updated yet because of all the bad press it's gotten.

When I kill the Zune.exe process my Zune stops saying "syncing". I've tried it a bunch of times. Anyone got it to work?

I noticed that the screenshots are from the new software.

Thanks for the info. Man would it be great to use MediaMonkey with my Zune.

Lands

[sowhatu]

i gotta reply again, works like a charm i am a happy camper!

[Dizzy]

Originally Posted by Lands

Does anyone know if this process works with the OLD version of the Zune software? I haven't updated yet because of all the bad press it's gotten.

It looks like it would, but I haven't heard any success stories.
I think it's safe to update now. We've got most of the bugs worked out here: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/gen...re-issues.html

i gotta reply again, works like a charm i am a happy camper

Great! Thanks for letting me know

[MyDingo21]

Good workaround but i think Zune still seems to sync the data faster to the device than any other program out there. it took me about 2 hours to sync 13.6 gb's of music onto Zune using windows media player while only 45 minutes using Zune program lol but this is still amazing hack cuz this hacking takes skill and patience.


-MyDingo21

[nohitter151]

Hi Dizzy, this is the same nohitter151 from the Mediamonkey forums. I wanted to thank you again for making this guide available, and I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" some of it for the guide I've posted over there.

One thing that seemed to be missing from your guide was stating that the "Zune as an external hard drive" hack had to be enabled. (I couldn't get my Zune to sync without it.) Other than that, great guide. I'm not sure what the future holds for zAlternator, but I hope improvements continue to be made! This is the best thing for the Zune since the 2.0 software was released. Thanks!

[Dizzy]

Oh no, in fact, I'm quite happy you are spreading the Zune love. Thanks for giving me a shout out

The External HDD hack is a good call. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it was needed or if it came bundled with zAlt since I already had it installed.

I'll update the first post.
And I'll link to you skin too!

[nohitter151]

Originally Posted by Dizzy

Oh no, in fact, I'm quite happy you are spreading the Zune love. Thanks for giving me a shout out

The External HDD hack is a good call. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it was needed or if it came bundled with zAlt since I already had it installed.

I'll update the first post.
And I'll link to you skin too!

Thanks for pointing to my skin!

[duodreamer]

Hi guys, I am certainly glad someone has put the effort into making the Zune work with MediaMonkey, great program.

I installed the HDD hack and followed the instructions, killing the Zune.exe during a sync, and my 30GB Zune says "Syncing..." and shows up in windows explorer as a browsable storage device (without a drive letter). Neither WMP11 nor MM3 will see the device at all. I am running Vista x64. I haven't tried running this with my 80GB Zune yet. Has anyone got this setup working on Vista64?

[Gregory]

Did you run zAlternator?

[duodreamer]

Yes, I ran the zAlternator, as described in the instructions.

[Dizzy]

zAlternator is currently not compatible with x64 systems. My sincerest apologies. Perhaps it's something Pity can fix with future releases.

[ChurchedAtheist]

Diz, I love you



I may try this.

[Dizzy]

Thanks Dark

If you run into any problems or are successful, be sure to let me know!

[duodreamer]

Originally Posted by Dizzy

zAlternator is currently not compatible with x64 systems. My sincerest apologies. Perhaps it's something Pity can fix with future releases.

Oh, its just an x64 issue. Okay. Well, that bites

[nohitter151]

Someone on the Mediamonkey boards wrote a little .exe to terminate the Zune process without using the taskbar, I just wanted to make it available here as well. Here is the link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/87535402/KillZune.exe.html

[Dizzy]

Thanks nohitter! If you don't mind, I'm going to upload it to the zB ftp server. Just so I get this right, all you've got to do is run this during a sync, right?

[krayziex47]

hey dizzy when i try to do this i get up to the point where you sync everything from mm but my zune just randomly shuts down. now my zune software has the sync error also im really lost what to do or what happened?

[nohitter151]

Originally Posted by Dizzy

Thanks nohitter! If you don't mind, I'm going to upload it to the zB ftp server. Just so I get this right, all you've got to do is run this during a sync, right?

Thats right, run the exe while a video is syncing - it just avoids using the task manager.

JoeyJoJo, the author, said "I will play around with trying to automate the whole process at some point," so I'll keep you guys updated if anything else develops. He also said to feel free to cross post here, so thanks for hosting it.

[Dizzy]

Lol. Thanks for serving as the intermediary between zB and MediaMonkey.
Did you tell anyone about ZuneCentive yet

Sounds like a plan. It's located at http://zuneboards.com/staff/Diz/zAlt/KillZune.exe

krayziex47, try reseting your zune by pressing the back and up buttons for 5 seconds

[WizardEyes]

FANTASTIC thankyou! the standard zune player lacks id3 editing tools and this is much better awesome