With the Windows Phone 7 came the Zune software to our PC’s. With this software (sometimes called the iTunes of Windows Phone) you could move music, photos and movies to your phone. Automatically the stuff on your phone was synced to your PC.
With Windows Phone 8 we leave Zune and are getting a Windows Phone app. This app can be installed from the Microsoft Windows 8 store. If you are using Windows 8, you can install it right now. But it will be useful until you have a Windows Phone 8. Perhaps even Windows Phone 7.8 is sufficient, but that is a assumption?
The app only shows this without a Windows Phone 8.
When connecting your Windows Phone 8 first the driver will be installed of course. Mine is phone is called “MarcelMeijer”.
Different from Windows Phone 7.5 there is a neat looing icon of your phone.
After connecting the Windows Phone app will start, the start screen (like before) will show up and then you get this screen shot.
Here you can set the name of the phone and put stuff on the device, like you did with the Zune software. Of course putting the pictures, music and movies on your Skydrive or in the Cloud would be better 
Also a ‘backup’ of your pictures on the device will be made to your PC. I also connected my Windows Phone 8 to my Surface and it works like a charm on it too.
Zune is dead, long live the Windows Phone app.