Can anyone answer a couple of questions about music syncing?

[geoken]

I'm completely baffled as to how music syncing will work with WP8.

- I know I can no longer use Zone to sync music, but ifi install the companion app will it sync my Zune playlists or does it only support iTunes?

-If I can't use Zune, can I use the Xbox music app to sync playlists containing my local Media (which includes songs not available in the marketplace). Does said syncing require me to upload music to the cloud (like Google music)?

- if I was in a region with no podcast support am I no longer able to use the default apps to get podcasts (by manually entering their URL like you can in Zune)

 

[Brian Child]

Look at this thread it seems to have the most information on this issue
Is there a better way to sync my music to WP8 - Microsoft Community

 

[vedichymn]

I'm completely baffled as to how music syncing will work with WP8.

- I know I can no longer use Zone to sync music, but ifi install the companion app will it sync my Zune playlists or does it only support iTunes?

-If I can't use Zune, can I use the Xbox music app to sync playlists containing my local Media (which includes songs not available in the marketplace). Does said syncing require me to upload music to the cloud (like Google music)?

- if I was in a region with no podcast support am I no longer able to use the default apps to get podcasts (by manually entering their URL like you can in Zune)

1. I haven't been able to get playlists to sync with anything other than iTunes, although it sounds like it's possible.
2. Some sort of cloud based "matching" or upload setup may come later, but doesn't currently exist for Xoox Music.
3. I think you would need to use a 3rd party app or desktop sync to get there.

And just to clarify, with WP8 there's not really any true "sync" anymore, it's just copying files to the phone. Playcounts, ratings, and in some cases album art and other metadata don't actually seem to sync up between the phone/pc.