As
you’ve probably gathered, the Zune software is a key companion for your
phone. It’s a top-class media organizer and jukebox. It’s a virtual
store for music, TV shows, movies, and other digital entertainment.
With its subtle animations and album-cover collages, it’s also—let’s
just get this out there—drop-dead gorgeous.
While a complete
explanation of the Zune software is beyond the scope of this book,
let’s take a quick look around. Provided your phone is connected to
your PC, you’ll see five main areas when you open the program. To
navigate between them, use the menu at the top left.
1. Quickplay
Quickplay provides
one-click access to favorite music, videos, or podcasts in your media
collection. You’ll see items you’ve recently added or played, and
Quickplay is also the home of a feature called Smart DJ, which can whip
up custom playlists based on your favorite album, artist, or song.
Tip:
To learn more about the Zune software’s media organizing and playback abilities, visit www.zune.net and click Support > User’s Guide > Zune Software.
2. Collection
The heart of Zune,
Collection is the library of music, pictures, videos, and podcasts on
your PC (or at least the ones Zune knows about). Collection is also the
place to sync songs and other media files to your phone.
3. Marketplace
Marketplace
is Microsoft’s entertainment store, the place to get music, TV shows,
movies, podcasts, apps, games, and more. Some stuff is free. Other
items you have to buy or rent. The Zune branch of Marketplace carries
all the apps and entertainment Microsoft has to offer. You’ll also find
Marketplace on your phone, and while the Marketplace hub is more
convenient, it carries only apps, games, and music.
4. Social
A social networking service that lets you find other people with similar musical tastes.
5. Phone
The latest addition to the
Zune software, just for you and your Windows Phone. Here you can browse
all the music, videos, pictures, and podcasts on your phone; find out
how much storage space is left; and see a list of recently synched
files.
