Ok,

I have to admit I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to MP3's, Ipods etc. so this question may not make sense. If so just tell me so and ill try and reword.

Ok, I am looking at buying an Ipod Video 30GB (not that it makes any difference). Now my understanding of how they work is that if I wish to import my CD's / songs to my Ipod I download to my computer using Itunes, which in turn synchronizes with my Ipod once plugged into my computer and hence imports the songs to my Ipod for listening. Is this correct?

If so, I have a further question. Recently I lent a friend of mine all of my CD's so she could import them to her Zen MP3 player. From my understand she downloads my CD's to her computer using Windows Media Player, which then synchronizes with her Zen MP3 player.

My question is, that since all my songs are already downloaded to her computer in Media Player format, will it simply be a matter of me plugging in my Ipod and synchronizing with media player, or will it not be compatible given one is Microsoft and one is Apple?

Will I have to re-download all my CD's again into Itunes? Or is there a way for me to convert the Media Player files currently on her PC into Itunes (which I would install as she obviously does not currently need) and then synchronize with my Ipod?

Sorry if my question is long winded and makes no sense but I tried my best given my lack of knowledge on the subject!

Thanks!

Can anyone help?
Or am I making no sense? I dare say the latter.

Bump!
Sorry but thought id try again! :)

It all depends on whether WMP created the songs in .wma format or .mp3 format. If .wma, then iTunes will not be able to natively play the files so it will convert them all to AAC files (.M4A file extension). You can tell iTunes to convert them to .MP3 files if you'd prefer, that way you can play them on other players instead of just the iPod (and create MP3 discs for your car, etc). The MP3 format is pretty universal. This conversion process will make a copy of every song, so you'll still have the original.
One caveat - converting a compressed format to another compressed format (ie. Wma to mp3 or wma to acc) will degrade the sound. You can try it, and if the sound is acceptable to you, then proceed. If not, then you'll need to rip all the songs from CD into MP3 or AAC format. iTunes can do this. Just be sure to tell iTunes which format you want it to create, and the level of quality you want. Hard drives are cheap, so I suggest MP3 format at 192k(high quality), even though it will take up a little more disk space.
The higher the quality, the larger the MP3 file.