HowTo: Unlock Your Zune for Use With Other Media Managers

The release candidate of zAlternator is here thanks to PityOnU, w00t! zAlternator is a program that allows the Zune to be detected and synced with programs other than the Zune Software (I'll call it the Zune Marketplace). It is fully tested and proven to allow the Zune to be picked up and synced with the Zune program (duh), Windows Media Player 11, Winamp, and MediaMonkey. I haven't tested the iTunes side of the program, but hopefully it should work. Not that I care, anyway. I am not responsible if anything wrong happens. There is a support thread over at Zune Boards (Registration Required) here. This tutorial has been created for people who want to drop the Zune Marketplace completely (you can still use podcasts if you want) and use any other program. This is also written from the point of view of a WMP11 user.

1. Read this tutorial all the way through. You are responsible for any mistakes.


2. Download the zAlternator program here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/22lqxx (Hosted by DarkZune). Then install it.


3. Plug in your Zune and start up the Zune Marketplace.


4. Set the settings to not automatically sync any media.


5. Select some sort of media file that requires conversion and set it to sync with the Zune.


6. While converting open the Task Manager and end the” Zune.exe” process. (Usually the one taking up the most RAM)

   Note: The Zune device should still be displaying the “Synchronizing” screen. If not un-plug and try steps 3-5 again

7. With the Zune Marketplace shut off, run the zAlternator and set the Zune device to “Generic WDP”.


8. Start up your favorite media manager software and sync away!

   Note: In my experience WMP11 didn't recognize the music being synced was already on the device and continued to syncing copies of the media. This is why I said it was recommended to format the drive and start from scratch abandoning the Zune Marketplace program completely.

9. When finished syncing, close your media manager and run the zAlternator again. Set it back to “Zune (Default)” (Important!). You can now unplug the Zune.

   IMPORTANT! - You will have to do the same process again every time you want to sync the Zune. Except you can skip steps 1 through 4 and in place simply plug in the Zune and start the Marketplace then continue on with the rest of the steps.