Windows 8 Bible

Copying Music to Portable Devices

A portable device is an MP3 player or similar device that lets you take your music with you. To put songs (or other media) on your portable device, you sync songs from Media Player’s library to the device. You can put any songs you wish onto your player. The only limit is the storage capacity of the device.

Windows Media Player works with many MP3 players. However, it does not work with the Apple iPhone, iPod, or iPad (you use iTunes to sync to those). Nor does it work with some older devices.

Tip

See “Converting file types” later in this chapter for tips on using iTunes files with Windows Media Player.

If you don’t already have a portable device but are thinking of getting one, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-media-player and click the Find Devices That Are Compatible link (below the “Top Solutions” heading on the web page). There you can see the full range of devices that work with Media Player.

Different devices work a little differently. So if you already have a device, the first step is to learn the basics of using it and connecting it to your computer. That information you can get only from the instructions that came with the device. Despite the differences among devices, we can tell you generally how synchronization works with Media Player.

The first step is to open Windows Media Player and click the Sync tab. Then connect your device to the computer and turn it on. If a dialog box opens asking you ...