Microsoft KB Archive/928244

= How to manage your Zune collection =

Article ID: 928244

Article Last Modified on 11/14/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Zune software

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SUMMARY
This article describes how to use the Zune software to organize your music, videos, and pictures so that you can find and use them easily.



Add items to the collection
When you start the Zune software for the first time, the software automatically searches the computer for music, videos, and pictures that you can add to your collection. The Zune software monitors the computer regularly for any new music, videos, or pictures that you save. The Zune software can also add any new music or videos that you play on the computer.

Select the folders that you want the Zune software to monitor for new music, videos, and pictures
Folders can include playlists, music, videos, and pictures from another player collection. If you add or remove files from these folders, the Zune software automatically updates the collection accordingly.

To configure the folders that you want the Zune software to monitor, follow these steps:  Start the Zune software. Click Options, and then click Add Folder to Collection. A list of folders appears that the Zune software currently monitors for new media files. To modify the list of monitored folders, use the following guidelines:  To add a new folder to the list, click Add Folder, and then select the folder that you want to add.

Note If you add a folder that is located on a removable drive and the drive is no longer available, the Zune software automatically removes the content in that folder from your collection.

 To remove a folder from the list, select the folder, and then click Remove Folder. To stop the Zune software from monitoring a folder that was automatically added, select the folder from the list, and then click Ignore. </li> Click Advanced Options, and then select from the following options:  Add files previously deleted from collection

Select this option if you want to add files that were previously deleted from the collection.</li> Add files, playlists, and ratings from another media player to the collection

Select this option if you want to add existing files, playlists, and ratings from another media player on the computer to your Zune collection.

Note The Zune software automatically performs this activity when you install the software. If you select this option again, the software will examine the computer again, and import any other files, playlists, and ratings into the Zune collection.

</li> Don't add duplicate songs from another media player to collection

Select this option if you want to remove any duplicate songs from another media player that appear in your Zune collection.</li> Skip audio files smaller than and Skip video files smaller than

Select this option, and then enter a file size to prevent files that are smaller than a certain size from being added to the collection.</li></ul> </li></ol>

Add music and videos that you play on the computer
By default, when you play music or videos on the computer or on the Internet, the Zune software automatically adds the files to your collection if the files are not already in your collection.

To prevent the Zune software from automatically adding these files to your collection, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start the Zune software.
 * 2) Click Options, point to Collection, and then click More Options.
 * 3) Click the Zune Software tab.
 * 4) Clear the Add media files to collection when played check box.
 * 5) Click OK.

Other methods that you can use to add music to your collection

 * Rip songs from a music CD to the computer.

When you use the Zune software to rip songs from your music CDs, the tracks are created as files on the computer and are automatically added to your collection.
 * Download music from the Zune Marketplace.

You can sign up with the Zune Marketplace, and then download songs. The Zune software adds songs that you download from the Zune Marketplace to your collection automatically.

Remove items from your collection
You can remove music, videos, pictures, and Zune devices from your collection. The Zune software can also find and remove duplicate songs for you automatically.

Remove music, videos, or pictures
<ol> Start the Zune software.</li> In the left pane, click the View Music icon, the View Video icon, or the View Pictures icon, and then click Collection.</li> In the Details pane, right-click the item that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

To select multiple items, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> To delete multiple items that appear in sequence, click the first item in the sequence, press and hold the SHIFT key, and then click the last item in the sequence.

To select multiple items that do not appear in sequence, press and hold the CTRL key as you select each item that you want to delete.</li> Right-click the selected items, and then click Delete.</li></ol> </li> Select one of the following options:  Delete from collection only

If you select this option, the Zune software deletes the item from your collection only. The item remains on the computer.</li> Delete from collection and my computer

If you select this option, the Zune software deletes the item from your collection and from the computer.

If you want to configure how the Zune software deletes files, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> Click Options, point to Collection, and then click More Options.</li> <li>On the Collection tab, select or clear the Delete files from computer when deleted from collection check box.</li></ol> </li></ul> </li></ol>

Remove duplicate songs automatically
Duplicate songs may appear because the Zune software imports music from other player libraries on the computer into your Zune collection. To avoid duplicate entries, the software can remove duplicates files automatically. To configure this option, follow these steps: <ol> <li>Start the Zune software.</li> <li>Click Options, and then click Add Folder to Collection.</li> <li>Click Advanced Options.</li> <li>Select or clear the Don't add duplicate songs from another media player to collection check box.

Note The Zune software automatically performs this activity when you install the software. If you select this option again, the software will prevent duplicate files from being added to your Zune collection in the future. However, this activity will not remove duplicate files that may already exist in the collection. Duplicate files include any songs that have the same title, album, artist, track number, duration, and release year.

If you want to keep duplicate songs, clear the Don't add duplicate songs from another media player to collection check box. You can also drag-and-drop files onto the Zune software window. This action prevents duplicate songs from being removed.

</li></ol>

Change the appearance of the collection
You can arrange music, videos, and pictures in the Zune collection so that the files are easy for you to find. You can select between several different display views and columns in the collection.

Change how your music, videos, and pictures appear in the collection
Click the arrow next to the Change Layout icon, and then select from the following display options:
 * Icon
 * Tile
 * Details

The Zune software organizes the music, video, and picture files in your collection automatically based on the media information that is available for the files. To make sure that your collection is well organized, try to maintain complete and accurate media information for the files.

Change columns that appear in the collection
<ol> <li>Click the arrow next to the Change Layout icon, and then select Choose Columns.</li> <li>Select or clear the check boxes for the columns that you want to appear.</li> <li>To change the order in which the columns appear, select a column name, and then click Move Up or click Move Down.</li> <li>To resize a column, select the column from the list, and then type the size that you want for the column in the Width of selected column (in pixels) field.

Note To resize the columns from the main window of the Zune software, move the mouse pointer over the column divider so that the pointer appears as a double arrow. Then, click the mouse and drag the divider to the right or to the left.

</li> <li>If you want all the columns to remain visible when you resize the Zune software window, clear the Hide columns automatically check box.

Note By default, some columns are hidden when you resize the Zune software window. This leaves room for the most important columns to remain visible.

</li> <li>Click OK.</li></ol>

Note If you want to restore the columns to the default view, right-click any column header in the collection, and then click Restore Columns.

Keywords: kbzunesoftware kbexpertisebeginner kbpubtypekc kbzuneamericasportal kbhowto KB928244

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