How to Download Music for Zune Cheaply

Most Zune lovers understand how it feels to get a new Zune player and cannot wait to find a place to download music for Zune. And we want to have our favourite songs like Big Girls Don’t Cry by Fergie and A Bay Bay by Hurricane Chris without hurting our wallets as well. Do not worry about it because it is the purpose of this article to discuss the download process and reveal how to download music for Zune cheaply.

You perhaps already know that you can find movies, music, videos and games for your Zune player at iTunes and Microsoft’s Zune marketplace and other online music stores like Amazon, HMV and more. At Zune marketplace, you can access millions of songs. For the price conscious, the price tag of $0.99 to $2 over for a piece of song at any of these music stores can really be a turn-off. Imagine how much it would cost to acquire hundreds of songs for your music collection?

Another option which is quite popular among Zune owners are the free download services. While these are generally free and you can download music for Zune to your heart’s content, you are also exposing your PC to the adware and spyware that comes attached with the music downloads. The extent of damage to your computer may be pretty bad when you realize that your computer is slower.

Another way to download music for Zune is to go the route of CD ripping. Either you rip your own CD for songs or you can always pop by a friend’s place for a CD you like. Since the Zune player is no different from other MP3 players, you might already be familiar with how to rip music from CD to your player especially if you own one MP3 player like iPod or Zen currently.

The process starts first when you open a media player like Windows Media Player. Insert the CD and select the songs or soundtracks you wish to download. Next, click on the Rip button. You should see the song list appearing in the Windows Media Player library. Using the USB cable, connect your Zune player to your PC and your player would synchronize with the Windows Media Player library to download music for Zune.

Even if the player is not syncing well, it is fine. You can simply copy the music files manually onto your Zune and it would work just fine except for the extra step. On your windows explorer, you would always see your Zune as an additional drive. Be sure to download to it correctly.

The file format for music is crucial if you wish to successfully download music for Zune playback. The reason why we encourage users to use Windows Media Player is so that the files are compatible with your Zune since it supports them. If you are using a different media player, make sure you can save the files as one of these formats - WMA, WMV, MP3, MP4 and MOV. DivX and RealMedia are not supported.

Other than the free sites as well as music CD ripping, you do have a third option which is a favourite among current Zune owners. This alternative comes in the form of paid membership services where you can have unlimited access to download music for Zune as well as movies, videos, games and even the latest software. All these are available without any bandwidth limits at a price lesser than $49 which is something even teens can afford.

I believe that by now, you should have a good grasp of where you can download music for Zune and do so affordably in a safe and secured environment. Check out my blog dedicated to Zune music, movies and videos on which are the reliable membership sites for unlimited Zune downloads.