Two Zunes on One Account?

[Buzz]

Husband just bought me a Zune HD 64 as an upgrade to my Zune 120. I still love my 120, but the battery life suffers when skiing, and I worry about the eventual failure of the hard drive. The 64 will be a better choice for skiing and motorcycling. The 120 is great for being able to carry a LOT of music. (Not that the 64 is a slouch..) I will have to trim my synced collection a bit to make the 64 my primary Zune. My worry is that if I have to "forget" my 120, then resync it as a guest, I won't be able to put my Zune marketplace purchases on it. I do not have a Zune pass...only songs I have purchased by buying Zune points. Any thoughts? Are my Zune marketplace purchases somehow recognized by the Zune software and restricted to only one player at a time?

[CrowdAds]

[jkj1962]

According to this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928217

"DRM-protected content that is purchased from the Zune Marketplace is allocated five computer licenses per subscriber,.."

BUT...

"The MP3 format does not include DRM and does not include these restrictions."

So you should be safe with 2 devices + 1 PC on DRM-protected content, leaving 2 free licenses, but MP3's are open. Admittedly, I'm not sure what "DRM-protected content" they're referring to, maybe videos and music in WMA format.

Hope this is helpful.

[Buzz]

That's what I get from it, now too. I am pretty sure all I bought is in Mp3 format, so I should be good to go.

Song ratings are another question. I'd like to keep them the same on the account for the new player, but just trim down my "likes" a bit. Is it possible to duplicate my ratings into a new device? Are the ratings on songs global? Will I have to sign in separately for each device?

[steinburger1109]

If you actually genuinely bought them, they are DRM free. If it's part of Zune Pass (is that even still around, I don't know...) then it will have DRM. But you don't have a Zune Pass so you don't have to worry about it.

Your ratings are part of the song file, like the title tag or artist tag. Because of this, it will show up as a like whether it's on your HD or your 120.

[Buzz]

Hmm. It's starting to sound like I might need to keep separate copies of the Zune software, and perhaps even of the songs in order to use ratings for sync criteria. I was under the impression that ratings (heart/broken heart/blank) were not specifically part of the song file, though.