Develop Bugs

[Q] Zune - The unsung hero of Windows Phone?

I bought an HTC HD7 on launch. I also owned an HTC Desire (unlocked and unbranded which I've now given to Mum).
O2 has a 14 day return period. Anyway I decided I really like the Phone. Many people bang on about what Windows Phone doesn't yet have, instead of what it does. I could mention sublime push email, Office, Xbox Live, beautiful apps, very smooth, fast and accurate scrolling, tapping and pinch to zoom, tellme, the best osk ever on a mobile etc.
But for me as a big music fan who always watches video on my device the killer feature is Zune. The Zune sub is £8/month but you get access to millions of DRM's songs and 10 MPs to download or stream. The Zune software on the Phone is awesome and better than the iPod player on the iPhone is which was the gold standard.
But for me the stand out is the Zune PC software. It is so fast, beautiful and works really well. As a Jukebox it blows iTunes (the weak link for PC + iPhone customers) out of the water. I love the Zune client. Things like out of the box wireless sync of your media is science fiction to our Android and iPhone friends.
Suggestions for Microsoft:
1. Please support the avi container.
2. Please support the divx/xvid codec.
3. Please allow the saving of MP3s directly from IE.
4. Please add a podcast section to the Zune platform in the UK like the US.
5. Please expand the film collection and add a zunepass subscription option for films for say £10/month.
Even without certain functions that will arrive in 2011, Windows Phone is enough to make me forget the touchscreen fiasco that was Windows Mobile 6.x.

100% agree. I have a Zune HD and love the overall Zune style and interface + the Zune Pass is an awesome deal that makes you discover new music.
Still have to wait here in the states for Sprint and the HTC 7 Pro...

The zune HD interface is actually nicer. Now that you have access to zune proper, if you need a seperate media player you should totes get one.

IM0001 said:
100% agree. I have a Zune HD and love the overall Zune style and interface + the Zune Pass is an awesome deal that makes you discover new music.
Still have to wait here in the states for Sprint and the HTC 7 Pro...
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That is what I am waiting for, I am not leaving Sprint to go to ATT.

I have to agree.
- Push email is absolutely fantastic,
- Internet Explorer and Pinch to Zoom really good
- Zune is a very nice experience, even if sometimes confusing (it synchronizes my new mp3s but not always delete the ones I deleted from the root folder).
I also agree that avi container as well as support for the divx/xvid codec notably must be implemented by MS.

I agree with this Zune is so awesome. Back when I had a phone and an iPod I always wanted a Zune but it was too much of a hassle to import (bare in mind I was about 16 back then).
The interface is Amazing, coming from android, I just love the heavily graphical UI with the Artist's picture in the background. I know that Android's music player was piss poor (Sense did improve on it) but Zune makes it look like nothing. Zune pass is great (albeit similar to Spotify just cheaper, I like the fact that you "download" though) and the software itself is awesome.
I don't really use podcasts, nor do I care about avi movies (I've synced over an AVI movie through Zune, zune just converts them, this doesn't bother me) although I will offer 2 of my own suggestions:
1. We need background listening support, this is more centric to the OS rather than Zune itself but what I mean is that apps like Last.FM need to be able to "catch" what we're listening to and then scrobble them
2. Zune PC Software is the best media player I've ever used but like above, no scrobbling, please enable plugin support =]

You can activate the Podcast section of the marketplace with a registry hack. Works perfectly:
http://www.techau.tv/blog/how-to-re-enable-zune-feature-in-australia/

brummiesteven said:
1. We need background listening support, this is more centric to the OS rather than Zune itself but what I mean is that apps like Last.FM need to be able to "catch" what we're listening to and then scrobble them
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By the way, did somebody in Europe find the Last.fm App.
In France, strangely, it's apparently not available on the market?! Weird.

It's a great meadia player for Windows, but seriously, don't buy DRMed music....

tomhierl said:
It's a great meadia player for Windows, but seriously, don't buy DRMed music....
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I agree. Zune paid downloads are MP3s with no watermarks. Unlike iTunes AAC with watermarks (and your iTunes account email address).
It is the subscription downloads which are DRM'd with Windows Media. The point is that you get 10 MP3 downloads which have no DRM a month and the unlimited subscription downloads are a bonus.
Its like having the biggest jukebox in your pocket on top of 10 MP3 tracks.

tomhierl said:
...seriously, don't buy DRMed music....
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+1. I don't buy.
Seriously, I didn't imagine that DRM still existed... Really?
If you want to compete with something free, don't make it more complicated than the free thing.

Ogner said:
I agree. Zune paid downloads are MP3s with no watermarks. Unlike iTunes AAC with watermarks (and your iTunes account email address).
It is the subscription downloads which are DRM'd with Windows Media. The point is that you get 10 MP3 downloads which have no DRM a month and the unlimited subscription downloads are a bonus.
Its like having the biggest jukebox in your pocket on top of 10 MP3 tracks.
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So the 10 files you can keep are DRM free? That's nice.

Dazzla said:
You can activate the Podcast section of the marketplace with a registry hack. Works perfectly:
Excellent tip. Now have podcasts in England. Thanks.
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Of course. After the MSN Music and playsforsure fiasco Microsoft realise that if someone buys music to keep forver they want it in high quality 256kbps or 320kbps MP3s. That way they can continue to listen to them for years to come on any device.
Don't forget that Microsoft have many experiences of failure in the consumer world. But they keep coming back until they get it right.
That is why Eric Schmidt said that Microsoft/Bing were their only serious competition. Not Apple, Yahoo!, Facebook.

arturobandini said:
+1. I don't buy.
Seriously, I didn't imagine that DRM still existed... Really?
If you want to compete with something free, don't make it more complicated than the free thing.
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It's only DRM'd if you download music using Zune Pass.
I assume the DRM is because if you stop paying the Zune Pass fee, you lose your downloaded music (which TBF is understandable, they can't give you unlimited downloads for only £7.99 a month).
Also, I downloaded Last.fm as soon as I got the device, in the UK here.

tomhierl said:
So the 10 files you can keep are DRM free? That's nice.
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That's only in America, doesn't seem to apply in the UK. You don't get to keep any music once you stop paying the Zune Pass fee.

Yeah im happy with the interface, only problem is Zune refuses to install on any of my x64 operating systems. This means im forced to run it on my EEEPC, which with such low horsepower, is a very very poor experience.

Avis are good for working with uncompressed pre-production video, but its a legacy format outside of that.
Divx/xvid, yea. Zune works in tandem with WMP on Windows.
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Anyone having trouble installing Zune on a WinVP PC? I try to install the software but get an error message saying it won't install to C because access is denied. However, I re-downloaded the software and now it won't iniate the install. It unzips like it is going to install and then nothing happens.
EDIT- Figured it out. Simply created a "Zune" folder in programs of "C" and the software installed. Apparently the install process can't creat the Zune folder on C itself.

Digital Copies

So, when i go to download my digital copy, i get a choice between iTunes format and windows mediaplayer format. While the iTunes format will work with all sorts of devices (iPods, iPhones, etc.) the windows media format explicitly states it will not work with Zune or Zune devices. wtf...? I was excited to see Inception on my Focus and now I have to go back to my tilt2 and use its media player if i want to watch it on a cellular device?! Does anyone know if there's a way to import either the WMP format or the iTunes format to Zune, so i can actually use my WP7 device for this???

Pretty sure wp7 can play mp4 files, which iirc is a quicktime container (correct me if I'm wrong).
Also WP7 isn't a zunehd. It has zunehd functionality but capabilities are necesarily the same. Should have just gone and downloaded some files and checked before u got it, imo.
Inception isnt that good, anyways
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Sounds like something Warner Bros should address and add WP7 compatibility. Dont see it happening though.

efjay said:
Sounds like something Warner Bros should address and add WP7 compatibility. Dont see it happening though.
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According to WmPoweruser today's article
WP7 doesn't see MP4.

I'm pretty sure Zune can transcode them to you phone since it's one of the Codecs the software actually adds to Windows systems that dont' have it (i.e. Windows XP).
The Zune Desktop Software natively supports MP4 files, so there's no reason not to believe it cannot transcode them for your WP7 or ZuneHD device.

N8ter said:
I'm pretty sure Zune can transcode them to you phone since it's one of the Codecs the software actually adds to Windows systems that dont' have it (i.e. Windows XP).
The Zune Desktop Software natively supports MP4 files, so there's no reason not to believe it cannot transcode them for your WP7 or ZuneHD device.
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Ah yes. So when you throw like 3 movies to your device you wait like 4 hours for "transcoding".
Because of the "Zune concept".

Yeah, it'd be pretty nifty if it could play every format, but I got used to handbraking files for my Tilt2 anyway, just because they saved a ton of space, and, in my opinion, looked better when they were properly encoded for the screen size they were gonna be played on. So, yeah, the system had already broken me into not expecting magic from a cell phone. Ohwellz.
Like most gripes about 7, this one is likely rooted into Microsoft complying with an IP owner's crazy demands just so they can offer content at all. That's the price we pay.

doministry said:
Ah yes. So when you throw like 3 movies to your device you wait like 4 hours for "transcoding".
Because of the "Zune concept".
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Which movie did you transcode that took 4 hours?

Do you like the Zune Desktop Client?

I've been using the Zune desktop client since 1.0 and I love it. Fresh UI and experience. But I wonder how you, the xda community, feel about Zune?

I just started using it in preparation for getting my WP7 phone and so far I like it, but it has a lot of "missing features" that I'm looking for in a media player/manager. I was using Media Player before Zune, and most of the options available in MP are not in Zune, such as ripped file names.

I have been useing Zune since I got a Zune HD last year and I must say its the king bar iTunes remit on the iPod touch it beats iTunes in every department. It make organizing media so easy and stylish

Zune software is great! 2 things i don't like are:
1. The Album Art is not hard written onto the mp3 file, and imho it should
2. Unable to install apps on the WP7 phone if you got the app from the phone marketplace and not the desktop marketplace. They should change that.

Probably the best iTunes alternative out there, but I don't like that WP7 is locked to using only Zune. Besides that, the software is excellent and just looks amazing.

It would be more awesome if Microsoft would also add the option of syncing Office docs and PDFs with your phone via Zune.
I know cloud storage is awesome and all but the damn ATT caps make me cry. 200MB for $15.... u gotta be fcuking kidding me

krjcook said:
I've been using the Zune desktop client since 1.0 and I love it. Fresh UI and experience. But I wonder how you, the xda community, feel about Zune?
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I've always liked the looks and how it works, but I hated being able to use only one file type. I had two Zunes at the time...now have an 8GB flash and my HD7...and because of capacity limits, I would use a lower quality or smaller file-size format for my flash Zune and a higher quality format for my 80GB Zune. Only problem, the desktop software will only allow one format at a time...unless you go through the trouble of changing filenames and tag data. iTunes allows an unlimited number of formats...compatible, I mean.

i like it theres a couple things here and there im still trying to figure out like how do you burn songs thats you currently have playing in a now playing list

slighmd said:
Zune software is great! 2 things i don't like are:
1. The Album Art is not hard written onto the mp3 file, and imho it should
2. Unable to install apps on the WP7 phone if you got the app from the phone marketplace and not the desktop marketplace. They should change that.
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Zune can hardwire an image onto the mp3s. All you have to do is go into "collections" right click on your album "change art".
It will link new art into every single file. At least that's what happened with one of my albums.

Been using it ever since I got my Zune HD as well and it's pretty much all I know.
Windows media player is kinda blah but sometimes you have to go back to it to convert files and such. Flac and lossless tend to not show up on Zune as well even though I can see the file and play it on media player.
Other than that, busting open the zune desktop client on my 42" tv when my friends are around is always fun.

Great
Runs much faster than iTunes on my pcs. More intuitive ui for me (I know this VERY subjective). Zune pass is an incredible deal - especially with the 10 permanent downloads.

Change of Heart
I absolutely hated it! I got my nephew an Iphone a while back so I had been using Itunes. Itunes had to be the worst media software I have ever used. That was until last week when I got my Focus. When I loaded my music into Zune, all I got back was a steamin pile of crap. Being a huge rap fan, my collection consists of a bunch of freestyles and mixtapes. Zune had no clue. Media Player on the other hand keep everything in order. After working on retagging and editing for the past wek, I've learned to like it. Started Itunes yesterday for my nephew, Oh god Itunes is awful.

Zune offers than iTunes in the way of features but iTunes is infinitely better organized and intuitive. Edit: iTunes for OS X. iTunes for PC is utter garbage.

VonCrisp said:
Zune can hardwire an image onto the mp3s. All you have to do is go into "collections" right click on your album "change art".
It will link new art into every single file. At least that's what happened with one of my albums.
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Click to collapse
this does link the art and its great but its true the info is stored on a database and not the mp3 as they remain untouched, I love that they don't mess with the actual file but as I also use other mediums to play music it does annoy me i have to sedit tags twice

CreepinJesus said:
I just started using it in preparation for getting my WP7 phone and so far I like it, but it has a lot of "missing features" that I'm looking for in a media player/manager. I was using Media Player before Zune, and most of the options available in MP are not in Zune, such as ripped file names.
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Zune is to Windows Media Player what iTunes is to QuickTime.
That's not the point of Zune.
The point of it is to manage the phone, play the media on the phone/your libraries, and access content on the market place (media, apps, etc.).
It's not designed to be a dedicated media player that replaces Windows Media Player in Windows.
Maybe in Windows 8 they will go that route, but I heavily doubt they will.

markgamber said:
Zune offers than iTunes in the way of features but iTunes is infinitely better organized and intuitive. Edit: iTunes for OS X. iTunes for PC is utter garbage.
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Since PCs have 90%+ marketshare, I think it's fair to say iTunes is utter garbage. QuickTime/iTunes is like malware on a Windows PC.

I've had three zunes in my time.
First was a white 30gb. Loved it, stolen from work sadly.
Second was a brown Zune 30 with the 60gb hdd mod. Loved it as well. But my nephew found it and a cup of coke...
Third I had was a Zune 80. Probably my favorite that I've had. Got my Instinct, so I didn't need my Zune anymore. So I sold it.
I loved the Zune software though. Best I've used.

Same as above, have had 2 Zune 80's, now a Zune 120 (I have a long commute, have them hardwired into my M3's Alpine) so I'm quite used to it. Hate iTunes that I have to have on the PC for the Wife's ipod and ipad. I have thousands of concerts that I add custom art to (and add id3 tags with another tool), no issues. Reliable and fast too. I do look forward to the day MS add's Office/Outlook integration.

N8ter said:
Since PCs have 90%+ marketshare, I think it's fair to say iTunes is utter garbage. QuickTime/iTunes is like malware on a Windows PC.
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So goes your opinion. In my house PCs comprise 50%, Macs the other 50% and iTunes on a Mac is much better than Zune on a PC in many ways.

markgamber said:
So goes your opinion. In my house PCs comprise 50%, Macs the other 50% and iTunes on a Mac is much better than Zune on a PC in many ways.
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Most people don't care about hour house. They care about the market as a whole.
Some people probably have a house full of Taiwanese Android Tablets with Resistive Touchscreens and Tablets but that doesn't make them better than a Galaxy Tab.
I never said iTunes wasn't good on Mac, and it certainly isn't as intuitive as Zune although that IS opinion.
The fact that QuickTime/iTunes is terrible on Windows is just that. It's pushed primarily by iOS products which make a Windows version compulsory due to Windows dominance, but that's about it.
QuickTime (later iTunes) have had the same issues on Windows forever, some being:
1. Hijacking File Associations and Browser Mime types (Easier to Remedy in Vista/7, but in Win3.1-XP this was a big problem that required a non-trivial level of computer knowledge, back then, to remedy).
2. Completely disregards Windows User Interface Guidelines (Apple would not allow such an Application in their MacOS store, yet they feel the need to push their terrible user interface on Windows Users - terrible because it looks utterly foreign).
3. Performance is terrible (but people with high end systems may not feel that, hardware can solve lots of problems).
4. Installing crapware on people's computers: Crappy Printer Sharing App, Apple Updater that is worse than Adobe or HP's, not to mention it takes up as much space as Microsoft Office.
Now... iTunes is better on Macs for the same reason Windows Media Player/Media Center is better on Windows than many competing products. It's developed by the OS vendor, has great OS-level integration, matches the look and feel. Everything just fits nicely.
But iTunes is not that great. It's umbiquitous (for reasons stated above), but not great.
iTunes probably would be about 40% less bad if it wasn't so dependent on QuickTime.
90% of the people who run iTunes on Windows do it because they have an iTouch, iPod, or iPhone. Apple was really good about how they handled that. You need iTunes for pretty much everything on those devices. You hardly hear them even bring up their crappy QuickTime player (at least on Windows Machines... it's practically a system component on Macs along with iTunes).

Thank You WP7 for introducing me to Zune.

The Zune Desktop Player is so amazing, so much better than Itunes or Winamp and the Zune Pass and MArketplace personalized picks has introduced me to so many great songs I would have never heard/discovered by myself before.. My music life has rekindled all because of Zune, Zune Pass and WP7 which led me to them.
I am starting to love Microsoft and its services now.
Great.

Always loved the **** outta Microsoft, and I agree, Zune Player is ****ing amazing.

I love the software and its UI/UX (even though it's a bit surprising at the beginning) but it's definitely too resource-hungry. It makes my netbook heat up quite a lot. Quite annoying.
I usually plug my netbook via HDMI to my giant flat screen. The full screen interface is simply breathtaking when all options are activated. SO PRETTY!

love zune so much more than itunes and wmp better interface and easier to use it is rather resource heavy but i dont care lol and the syncing is easier than other devices

I've used Zune since G1 media player complete with the Zune pass. My only complaint its how it she's not allow you to back up your apps locally for WP7. So if an app leaves thief marketplace and you get s new phone or reset your old one, its gone forever. Also only apps purchased through desktop software stnc automatically. Any apps purchased through the phone must be manually searched and downloaded from the phone if you reset or get another phone. Still it is the best media software out.
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It was the opposite for me. I bought a WP7 device because if it's integration with Zune/Zune Pass. My device may only have 8gb of memory but now I'm able to stream most music with Zune Pass service.

macjr82 said:
My only complaint its how it she's not allow you to back up your apps locally for WP7.
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The Zune software has quite a few holes in it, but that one is HUGE. It also needs better management of TV and movies (such as syncing new shows and removing watched shows). I'd also like to see integration with Windows Media Center (auto syncing shows).
I know alot of folks like the ZunePass, but MOG, Napster, and Rdio offer a much bigger catalog at better prices. Unfortunately, only Rdio supports WP7 and the app does not allow songs to be synced to the phone like their iphone and android apps.

SilverRubicon said:
I know alot of folks like the ZunePass, but MOG, Napster, and Rdio offer a much bigger catalog at better prices. Unfortunately, only Rdio supports WP7 and the app does not allow songs to be synced to the phone like their iphone and android apps.
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Well, when you consider that every month you get 10 DRM free sings (to keep even if you cancel your ZunePass), the others are not as good of a deal. Unless some of them also offer that, but that would be news to me.

naplesbill said:
Well, when you consider that every month you get 10 DRM free sings (to keep even if you cancel your ZunePass)
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Only in the US

+1 for me as well
I talked members of my family to getting a Zune before the WP7 came out and they loved it (coming from Iseries). The Zune pass is nice getting songs on fly and people just look amazed too funny, also the software is sweet, way easier the itunes. Why I say that is I was trying to sync specific songs on my girls iphone and I can't click and add to device like I can in Zune with ease. Really good MS once they start integrated their service now that antitrust is gone lookout.

Casey_boy said:
Only in the US
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Yeah, that sucks.

I use a zune pass in Belgium?
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Does your Zune pass include 10 DRM free tracks you can keep forever?
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macjr82 said:
Does your Zune pass include 10 DRM free tracks you can keep forever?
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Yes, at the end of each month I get 10 any songs I like to keep forever.. I subscribed annual.. I buy all my games, apps, music, no more any piracy.. everything legit for the best experience.. I didnt even bother to do Chevron..

Yed, mine too. And I live in Belgium.
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Purple11 said:
The Zune Desktop Player is so amazing, so much better than Itunes or Winamp and the Zune Pass and MArketplace personalized picks has introduced me to so many great songs I would have never heard/discovered by myself before.. My music life has rekindled all because of Zune, Zune Pass and WP7 which led me to them.
I am starting to love Microsoft and its services now.
Great.
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yeah zune is awesome musik player, much love

Zune has always been great. Its a shame they haven't pushed/marketed it more. People don't even know it exists. Most consumers only know of iPods & iTunes (gotta hand it to Apple's marketing team for sure).
And Zune pass is one of the best deals out there. I have much <3 for zune. I just hope they can make some more deals to get more content because the one thing iTunes has on them is more content.

I didn't know Zune existed before I got my HD7.
Best music/video player ever, such a unique design.
I hope they expand its phone-related functionality tho, it's quite limited.

dtboos said:
(gotta hand it to Apple's marketing team for sure).
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And the development team. iTunes on Windows is frustrating, but it's more feature complete than Zune.

naplesbill said:
Well, when you consider that every month you get 10 DRM free sings (to keep even if you cancel your ZunePass), the others are not as good of a deal. Unless some of them also offer that, but that would be news to me.
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Napster includes free tracks and has a larger library than Zune. Or they did at one point, I haven't been a member since they butchered their web UI.

Still No Skydrive Official Music Support?

Theres already cloud storage for music on ios and theres google music already but theres still no official skydrive music or whatever from microsoft what gives here? are they going to do anything cloud storage related for music with wp7:

Great
You just gave me idea for a new app, thanks... I just hope I will have some free time to code it, currently I'm developing another app "use your phone as a hidden camera", to be published this weekend

deadwrong03 said:
Theres already cloud storage for music on ios and theres google music already but theres still no official skydrive music or whatever from microsoft what gives here? are they going to do anything cloud storage related for music with wp7:
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Try Anemoplayer. Its more proof of concept at this point but once the developer implements playlists and background support you'll be streaming on the go

N3croman said:
You just gave me idea for a new app, thanks... I just hope I will have some free time to code it, currently I'm developing another app "use your phone as a hidden camera", to be published this weekend
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Hey, sound like good idea to me, haha.
Should be able to shut the screen off , and still able to take the picture *sliently* haha.
Alright, back to the main point.
Skydrive allow you to have 2GB Free... would be nice to have music up there but i mean like, is it really necessary? because i never filled my 16GB with Apps and Music.

This is puzzling. Zune is by far the best streaming service of all three OSes. You can listen to anything. iOS is limited to what you have in your collection. Google Music is the stupidest thing on Earth - why would anyone want to upload their own stuff and then stream it from there? Why would anyone choose that over Zune Pass?

vangrieg said:
This is puzzling. Zune is by far the best streaming service of all three OSes. You can listen to anything. iOS is limited to what you have in your collection. Google Music is the stupidest thing on Earth - why would anyone want to upload their own stuff and then stream it from there? Why would anyone choose that over Zune Pass?
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It's free And it allows access to things that aren't on Zune

the problem is, zune isnt available worldwide.... in austria we does not have zune music. only zune video... skydrive music services would be nice ^^

PG2G said:
It's free
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But useless.
Erazor84 said:
the problem is, zune isnt available worldwide.... in austria we does not have zune music. only zune video... skydrive music services would be nice ^^
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Yeah, that's true. I'm using it here but I agree, it's not easy and most people wouldn't do it.
Still uploading your own stuff to the cloud and listening from there sounds weird to me. The value in Zune Pass isn't the fact that stuff is streamed, and that's the only thing that is similar in Google Music.

vangrieg said:
Still uploading your own stuff to the cloud and listening from there sounds weird to me. The value in Zune Pass isn't the fact that stuff is streamed, and that's the only thing that is similar in Google Music.
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I agree, Zune pass is the best of the three services. Although you have to pay for it.
On a side note, has anyone set up a Windows Home Server? I downloaded an app to connect to my server and now I can stream my personal music collection directly off of it. Zune Pass + personal collection on Home Server = endless music.

I have a Windows Home Server at home and that's where I store stuff including music. But I don't stream it from there though. The main problem with streaming is battery drain. It's much more practical to just copy music to the phone. If it had more generous storage I would have to do it just once.

lbp775 said:
I agree, Zune pass is the best of the three services. Although you have to pay for it.
On a side note, has anyone set up a Windows Home Server? I downloaded an app to connect to my server and now I can stream my personal music collection directly off of it. Zune Pass + personal collection on Home Server = endless music.
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how does home server work? Does ur computer have to always work? When you stream is the music history saved in the zune player shuffled with what's already on your memory card?
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