Zune to iPod cable and pinouts
Written by Kostas Tzounopoulos   
Friday, 02 March 2007
The guys at Zuney.net forum have done a good jod on trying to find the pin schematic of the Zune connector. This can be used for unofficial accessories and DIY solutions. But they have set a more advanced goal: Zune to iPod cable. This could allow Zune to connect to iPod accessories and vice-versa!...

The Zune pinouts found so far are:

Pin 01 - USB 5VDC(+) (common with Pins 2,3)
Pin 02 - 5VDC(+) (common with pins 1,3)
Pin 03 - 5VDC(+) (common with pins 1,2)
Pin 04 - Unknown (used on travel remote) 1.75 VDC (+)
Pin 05 - Unknown (used on travel remote) 1.75 VDC (+)
Pin 06 -
Pin 07 -
Pin 08 -
Pin 09 - Video (+)
Pin 10 -
Pin 11 -
Pin 12 -
Pin 13 - Audio L (+) (also audio on travel remote)
Pin 14 - Audio R (+) (Also audio on travel remote)
Pin 15 -
Pin 16 -
Pin 17 - Unknown (used on travel remote) these are likely our trigger
Pin 18 - Unknown (used on travel remote) these are likely our trigger
Pin 19 - Ground (common with Pins 22,23,24,and shield)
Pin 20 - USB Data (-)
Pin 21 - USB Data (+)
Pin 22 - USB Ground (common with Pins 19,23,24,and shield)
Pin 23 - Ground (common with Pins 22,19,24,and shield)
Pin 24 - Ground (common with Pins 22,23,19,and shield)

Trigger: Used when an accessory gets connected to inform Zune.

Here are some info on how Zune can activate audio. This is taken from the Zune's audio chipset  Wolfram WM8978 manual.

Page 73:

Wolfram WM8978

 

pages 85-87:
Wolfram WM8978
Wolfram WM8978
Wolfram WM8978
Wolfram 8978

So the thread stops somewhere there looking for the "trigger" to enable the audio out from Zune. But Rob (admin of Zuney.net) goes one step further:

[...] I have also found the command protocols that the remotes on iPod devices use such as play, skip track etc. If would be very hard work but this could potentially be converted so that the iPod accessory sends out the signal to play or w/e then it is converted into the Zune string for that command.

I don't know how to go about this at present but yeah just another idea for the pot.

I'm sure lots of people are interested in learning Zune's pinouts. If these guys come up witha Zune-to-iPod cable, it would be perfect. A chip may have to be used for fully converting the signals but the audio/video analog signals have to be the same for both Zune and iPod. Same accessories for both Zune and iPod? Anyone interested? 

Zune to iPod cable

Read the forum thread about pinouts.
Join the Zune-to-iPod cable project. (Only for registered members)

Related articles:
Zune Chipset details 
Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 March 2007 )