This website does a very good job of explaining the difference. Basically, metonymy is when a word or phrase stands in for another word or phrase, and they are connected in meaning. For instance, if you are talking about the movie industry, you could say "A new trend in Hollywood is movies about robots." it is not specifically a part of the whole, but instead is a word closely related to the one you are expressing.
Synecdoche is when a part stands in for the whole, like saying "all eyes were on him" or "wheels" for a car.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/metonymy-vs-synecdoche.html
For the record, various websites list "lend me your ears" as metonymy, but based on what I've read, I think it is synecdoche. Please put your quizzes back in the Inbox if you wrote synecdoche and I will change your grade.
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