Zune is the Microsoft designed and produced portable music and media player and a major competitor to the Apple iPod. The default Zune media format is the proprietary .WMA format designed by Microsoft; however, the player also support replay of MP3 audio files. A common task that arises for Zune users is to convert Zune files to MP3 for use on Apple and other media play-back products. The freely available iTunes and Windows Media Player applications can

Convert Zune Files to MP3 (iTunes)

Step 1– If the iTunes player is not installed on your computer, download and install. After the installation is complete, open the application by double clicking the program icon on your computer’s desktop.

Step 2 – Open the Zune application. Then, keeping the “CTRL” key pressed, single click the tracks to convert to MP3. If you are going to select the entire library, the “Shift” key may be depressed along with the down or up arrow key to select multiple songs in a faster manner.

Step 3 – Single click the selected songs in the Zune library and drag onto the iTunes program window.

Step 4 – Choose the “Edit,” “Preferences,” and “Import Settings” menu options on the iTunes file menu.
How to Convert Zune files to MP3
Step 5 – Choose the “Import Using MP3 Encoder” menu choice and click the “Ok” menu button.

Step 6 – Right click each Zune file now listed in the iTunes library and choose the “Create MP3 Version” menu option.

Step 7 – Single click and delete the original Zune files in the iTunes library if you do not desire redundant music tracks. The converted music will still be able to load and play on the Zune player that supports MP3 format.

Convert Zune Files to MP3 (Windows Media Player)

Step 1 – Connect the Zune player to your computer using the USB connection cable.

Step 2 – Press the “Windows” and “E” keys simultaneously to launch Windows Explorer.

Step 3 – Locate the Zune player that will display as another drive on your computer and double click the icon to view all files stored on the player.

Step 4 – Right click the Zune file stored in WMA format and choose the “Open With” menu option.

Step 5 – Select “Windows Media Player” from the available listing of programs.

Step 6 – Choose the “Now Playing” menu button listed at the top of the Windows Media Player screen and pick the “More Options” menu choice.

Step 7 – Select the “Rip Music” menu option and then pick the “Change” menu button to select the destination for the new MP3 file.

Step 8 – Pick the “File Name” menu option and then enter a name for the MP3 file if the application does not automatically fill the name in for you.

Step 9 – Choose the “MP3” option on the “Format” drop-down menu followed by clicking the “OK” menu button. Windows Media Player will now convert the Zune file to MP3.

Step 10 – Test the file conversion by double clicking the MP3 file in Windows Explorer which will automatically launch and play the music track on the default music player for your computer.