Develop Bugs

Should We Install The Zune Software Now?

Im already sold on Windows Phone 7 ill be getting one as soon as verizon launches a htc phone with a big screen and keyboard, but i was wondering if i go to download the zune software now will this be the same software compatible with the phones? and is there anything we can do now with our phones or mp3 collection with the software now in preparation? like add album artwork or anything with the zune software? im trying to get use to the software before the phones launch

deadwrong03 said:
Im already sold on Windows Phone 7 ill be getting one as soon as verizon launches a htc phone with a big screen and keyboard, but i was wondering if i go to download the zune software now will this be the same software compatible with the phones? and is there anything we can do now with our phones or mp3 collection with the software now in preparation? like add album artwork or anything with the zune software? im trying to get use to the software before the phones launch
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the current downloadable vers of zune does not support wp7 however zune client will inform you of the new update with wp7 included.. with that said i would go ahead and install it to add all your music, videos and pics it is truly the best music, video client i have ever seen light years ahead of that lame itunes and it does not recopy your music and use up all of your hd space recopying all your music.

Yes, you should definitely install it. It's awesome software with or without Windows Phone.

paperclips said:
Yes, you should definitely install it. It's awesome software with or without Windows Phone.
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Agree with you. It can be a replacement of windows media player. of course, I am using it now, even though i did not own zune device. great performance, quick start up than windows media player, nicer, more functionalities and one most important function which is you can set and add your own media folder to the Zune player.
Scenario: if you placed all your music in the desk top "music folder", you can add this directory into zune and zune will recognise them and add them into your music playlist without create a new database like itunes did.
Give it a try...I'm sure you will like it...

i just downloaded it and its asking for a account in order to play specific content what kind of account do i need to make?
edit: does it matter if i use a aol or hotmail/msn account to register with zune

deadwrong03 said:
i just downloaded it and its asking for a account in order to play specific content what kind of account do i need to make?
edit: does it matter if i use a aol or hotmail/msn account to register with zune
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I didn't experienced this scenario before. however, i think it is doesn't matter you use which account, but it's more convenient if you use hotmail....because both are Microsoft products and there should be a mutual link between them and easy for you to remember the password when you use microsoft's products.

just to update u guys i downloaded it and its AMAZING never had a zune before but this interface is amazing and you can burn cds with this as well i will be using this over windows media player from now on havent tried burning a cd yet.
for those with a zune player are u able to get album art like u can on the desktop version? i wonder if we will be able to get album art with the wp7 version

deadwrong03 said:
just to update u guys i downloaded it and its AMAZING never had a zune before but this interface is amazing and you can burn cds with this as well i will be using this over windows media player from now on havent tried burning a cd yet.
for those with a zune player are u able to get album art like u can on the desktop version? i wonder if we will be able to get album art with the wp7 version
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haha,yea,this player is awesome....love it right?
wow,if WP7 can grab album art like what the desktop version did, it would be perfect...

sylau90 said:
haha,yea,this player is awesome....love it right?
wow,if WP7 can grab album art like what the desktop version did, it would be perfect...
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LOVE IT i've been playing music all day and night lol never did that with windows media player i even played it and fell asleep

I enjoy using the Smart DJ feature in Zune. It is similar to Pandora in some ways. Really looking forward to WP7 I just hope the battery life can handle my music playing.

deadwrong03 said:
LOVE IT i've been playing music all day and night lol never did that with windows media player i even played it and fell asleep
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I was a zuner since 2007 I am happy to say =)
it definitely is 10x better than apple itunes and anything else around at the moment.

sylau90 said:
haha,yea,this player is awesome....love it right?
wow,if WP7 can grab album art like what the desktop version did, it would be perfect...
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WP7 vers of zune will also grab album art and display the artist in the background just like the desktop vers..

rruffman said:
WP7 vers of zune will also grab album art and display the artist in the background just like the desktop vers..
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Wow, really? thats cool...thanks for your information...It would be nice,when using 3G or Wifi to grab album art...without access to PC.

OP I was thinking the same thing, and I did install Zune.
My thoughts;
It looks cool, the interface is 'fresh' and makes iTunes look dated.
But the biggest problem is that I can't seem to managed the actual files and can't 'show in explorer'. That's a real problem for me as I let itunes organise my music so my file structure is a nightmare to actually edit files outside of using itunes to browse. (any tips)
I also find it quite slow, (1.3ghz 2g RAM), which was disappointing. If I had a better PC it might be better.
I think I may stick to iTunes, its not a big deal to sync as a phone is only going to hold ~10g anyway.

sylau90 said:
Wow, really? thats cool...thanks for your information...It would be nice,when using 3G or Wifi to grab album art...without access to PC.
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I don't think it will do that (unless you buy something from the Marketplace or use a Zune Pass). But it definitely does pull down all sorts of info like artist bios and other artwork/pictures. It might rely on being properly categorized/labeled first when it's been synced in which the Zune software will take care of for the most part. Also, when you plug your phone into any power, it can hop on your WiFi connection automatically and sync wirelessly.

sylau90 said:
Wow, really? thats cool...thanks for your information...It would be nice,when using 3G or Wifi to grab album art...without access to PC.
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I think you mis understood me it will dl it from the web not your desktop (the zune on you phone that is) using what ever internet connection you are using on you phone at the time.

RustyGrom said:
I don't think it will do that (unless you buy something from the Marketplace or use a Zune Pass). But it definitely does pull down all sorts of info like artist bios and other artwork/pictures. It might rely on being properly categorized/labeled first when it's been synced in which the Zune software will take care of for the most part. Also, when you plug your phone into any power, it can hop on your WiFi connection automatically and sync wirelessly.
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as long as the song have the correct title, album and artist it will get the album art. no zune pass needed. it works just like the desktop vers.

shouldnt there be a zune upgrade sometime this week or on monday since the official launch of windows phone 7 will be takin place monday?

deadwrong03 said:
shouldnt there be a zune upgrade sometime this week or on monday since the official launch of windows phone 7 will be takin place monday?
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Seems like a reasonable assumption, but since there won't actually be any phones available until the end of the month we might have to wait for the new ZUNE software until then.

The HTC HD7 makes a fine Zune

Got the Zune software installed and my music transferred to my HD7 and am pleased the sound quality with my Shure SE530s is quite good. For lack of common smartphone features, it doesn't lack as a Zune music player. The UI is snappier and swifter than the dedicated Zunes, too.
EDIT- A feature that I encountered by accident is the volume button bringing up the mini-player controls in any screen. Very convenient when needing to tap pause or skip.

Cool my girl just got an HD7 and when she's trying to put all her music it keeps saying not enough memory....its only 4gigs of music did you have any problems putting music on your phone.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

air23cpt said:
Cool my girl just got an HD7 and when she's trying to put all her music it keeps saying not enough memory....its only 4gigs of music did you have any problems putting music on your phone.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
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Nah, not on this device. But I have had that issue with dedicated Zune players in the past. I usually solved it by erasing the whole player and then it would show properly. Don't know what I would do on this fancy phone if that happened with it. Don't want to erase the data or other smartphone related stuff.

air23cpt said:
Cool my girl just got an HD7 and when she's trying to put all her music it keeps saying not enough memory....its only 4gigs of music did you have any problems putting music on your phone.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
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you shouldn't have a prob you should be able to see how much mem you have when its plugged in, plus the hd7 has upgradable micro SD canrlt wait till Xmas

It does make for a great ZUNE PLAYER. One of the reasons why I got couldn't wait for the WP7 Phones. I am also glad the GLOBAL market gets to experience this officially. It it so much better than the ITUNEs and IPOD. Graphically it is top notch.
I signed up for the year for $149.99 which gives me two free months which in essence pays for itself with the 10 songs per month.
I also found out about the volume rocker activating the player. Very nice feature.
The sound quality out of my earphones is much louder than my EVO which is a great thing and very clear. I have several sets of earphones and they all sound great. I hated that my EVO was not very loud even with the DSP manager compared to my IPHONE or IPOD TOUCH( Ebay time ).
Have you guys tried out Shazam for WP7? It's so much better than for IPHONE and ANDROID. Nice Zune link at the bottom.
So far the APPS that I use most blows away the ANDROID or the IPHONE versions. Usually its not as good initially than the IPHONE. Two exceptions - Twitter and Facebook. They could use some tweaks
Can't wait for the Dell Venue Pro!

mrmomoman said:
It does make for a great ZUNE PLAYER. One of the reasons why I got couldn't wait for the WP7 Phones. I am also glad the GLOBAL market gets to experience this officially. It it so much better than the ITUNEs and IPOD. Graphically it is top notch.
I signed up for the year for $149.99 which gives me two free months which in essence pays for itself with the 10 songs per month.
I also found out about the volume rocker activating the player. Very nice feature.
The sound quality out of my earphones is much louder than my EVO which is a great thing and very clear. I have several sets of earphones and they all sound great. I hated that my EVO was not very loud even with the DSP manager compared to my IPHONE or IPOD TOUCH( Ebay time ).
Have you guys tried out Shazam for WP7? It's so much better than for IPHONE and ANDROID. Nice Zune link at the bottom.
So far the APPS that I use most blows away the ANDROID or the IPHONE versions. Usually its not as good initially than the IPHONE. Two exceptions - Twitter and Facebook. They could use some tweaks
Can't wait for the Dell Venue Pro!
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I have the exact same sentiment. Though this Facebook app is way better than the WinMo 6.5 version, it isn't quite to the convenience of the Android version.

MartyLK said:
I have the exact same sentiment. Though this Facebook app is way better than the WinMo 6.5 version, it isn't quite to the convenience of the Android version.
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You would think as integrated as they are with Facebook that we should have the premium version of them all. I am sure the next update will do this. Definately needs push notification as integrated as it is with WP7. They need to also provide better notifications alerts. I give Android that prop. The persistent state of notifications until you clear them or read the email or message is nice. I know the numbered visual cue in the tile is nice but you have to look at them to know that they have them. That is why they remain the theme color so you can see them better
Maybe if I put them up top I might see them better haha

Not if you need GAPLESS PLAYBACK it doesn't.
Seriously, it's like 2005 all over again.
I've got 200 or so live/concert/dj mix albums that I now can't listen to. A massive balls up by MS, and something that Apple got spot on with iPod/iPhone.

DaveyBoy72 said:
Not if you need GAPLESS PLAYBACK it doesn't.
Seriously, it's like 2005 all over again.
I've got 200 or so live/concert/dj mix albums that I now can't listen to. A massive balls up by MS, and something that Apple got spot on with iPod/iPhone.
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Then go pay more with a amazon/itunes so we can stop dealimg with ur qq.
Feel free to take the phone back too.
You obviously have never had a dubscription music service in 2005, to make such a baseless comparison.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

DaveyBoy72 said:
Not if you need GAPLESS PLAYBACK it doesn't.
Seriously, it's like 2005 all over again.
I've got 200 or so live/concert/dj mix albums that I now can't listen to. A massive balls up by MS, and something that Apple got spot on with iPod/iPhone.
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I really have never understood the compulsion for gapless playback. But maybe it's a hip-hop, rap or heavy metal thing, I don't know. My music of choice is Jazz, Meditation & Healing, New Age, piano, classic rock and alternative (Coldplay type). None of these genres are what could be considered frantic type music that requires a non-stop playback. These are more inline with relaxing moods than frantic. And because of this I see no problem with the lack of gapless in WP7/Zune.

MartyLK said:
For lack of common smartphone features, it doesn't lack as a Zune music player.
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oh, please do name some of these common smartphone features it lacks. multitasking and copy & paste? lol

MartyLK said:
I really have never understood the compulsion for gapless playback. But maybe it's a hip-hop, rap or heavy metal thing, I don't know. My music of choice is Jazz, Meditation & Healing, New Age, piano, classic rock and alternative (Coldplay type). None of these genres are what could be considered frantic type music that requires a non-stop playback. These are more inline with relaxing moods than frantic. And because of this I see no problem with the lack of gapless in WP7/Zune.
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I listen to to all genres you listed: hip-hop, rock, jazz, lounge, eletronic, etc. If you're listening to jazz you most undoubtedly have one or a few live jazz albums which NEED gapless playback. This is pretty disturbing actually.

1. I've still got my iPhone 3G S, but fancied a change and was hoping the HD7 was going to be the replacement.
2. The phone will be going back. Not something I want to do, but until a few things* are ironed out, it's the sensible option. (* See my HD7 'review').
3. No idea what Dubscription is/was. iTunes only went gapless in 2006, hence my '2005' comment. My comparison is between WP7 Zune and iTunes. Also, not sure where you're coming from with the Amazon/iTunes thing. I never buy music online, so the point is moot.
4. Concerts, classical (which I admittedly don't listen to), Pink Floyd, continuous mixes, albums like 'Love' by The Beatles and Soulwax by 2manyDJs. There are a lot of gapless albums out there. It's not just a particular genre. Check out the 'Chilled' series my Ministry of Sound or The K&D sessions for something gapless and more downtempo.

air23cpt said:
Cool my girl just got an HD7 and when she's trying to put all her music it keeps saying not enough memory....its only 4gigs of music did you have any problems putting music on your phone.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
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Have you looked in the settings on Zune? There's an option to reserve a percentage of the phone space. That restricts Zune's ability to fill your device up in case it means you don't have any space left to install applications, receive data etc.

After suggestions about different encoders and ID3 tags, I've carried out some different file tests, to see if it made a difference. These are the formats I tried, all ripped from an original CD (DJ mix gapless):
Ripped using iTunes - M4A (AAC), MP3 with ID3 tags changed to v1.0, MP3 with ID3 tags changed to v2.4.
Ripped using Max - MP3, M4A.
I also tried some downloaded music that I've no idea what encoder was used.
After trying the 5 different file types and the other music, there is no gapless playback whatsoever.
It seems the Zune component on WP7 just doesn't support it. Whether an update will include gapless, I've no idea, but here's hoping.

DaveyBoy72 said:
After suggestions about different encoders and ID3 tags, I've carried out some different file tests, to see if it made a difference. These are the formats I tried, all ripped from an original CD (DJ mix gapless):
Ripped using iTunes - M4A (AAC), MP3 with ID3 tags changed to v1.0, MP3 with ID3 tags changed to v2.4.
Ripped using Max - MP3, M4A.
I also tried some downloaded music that I've no idea what encoder was used.
After trying the 5 different file types and the other music, there is no gapless playback whatsoever.
It seems the Zune component on WP7 just doesn't support it. Whether an update will include gapless, I've no idea, but here's hoping.
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Are you using DRM music? Gapless is broken with DRM for Zune HD and I assume WP7 as well...for non DRM gapless works perfect on my zune HD(don't have a WP7 yet)...I'm sure it's just a matter of time to get that fixed if it's not working on wp7...
I can't see how anyone could compare the zune experience to the ios music experience...apple has not done anything with their media playback since the iphone was released...the zune is a far better media player

Yeah, I read about the Zune HD/DRM thing. All of my music is DRM-free and I don't have any paid downloads. Also, the music I tried tonight was taken straight from a CD.
I think Apple got more right to start with, so they've not had to update the iPod component in iOS. Gapless (obviously), auto-levelling (Sound Check) and search are all present on iOS, but lacking on WP7 so far. The UI is very nice though and it flows along well. Sound quality on my HD7 is a definite step up from my iPhone too. This is using the same Denon earbuds of course.
As a complete Zune virgin, how often are the updates?

gaps are annoying to me on live albums, but not show stoppers, hopefully they fix it.
normally I'm on shuffle all though, so it is a low priority issue for me

Gen 1 Zune feedback on updates
DaveyBoy72 said:
Yeah, I read about the Zune HD/DRM thing. All of my music is DRM-free and I don't have any paid downloads. Also, the music I tried tonight was taken straight from a CD.
I think Apple got more right to start with, so they've not had to update the iPod component in iOS. Gapless (obviously), auto-levelling (Sound Check) and search are all present on iOS, but lacking on WP7 so far. The UI is very nice though and it flows along well. Sound quality on my HD7 is a definite step up from my iPhone too. This is using the same Denon earbuds of course.
As a complete Zune virgin, how often are the updates?
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I have had a Generation 1 Zune since they came out and updates come out just about as often as the Zune Windows desktop software- which is maybe once or twice a year. I've been very happy about updates for the Zune, but I imagine WP7 phone updates may be tied to the carrier (AT&T, T-Mo) and not the Zune desktop software itself.

spideyngo said:
I have had a Generation 1 Zune since they came out and updates come out just about as often as the Zune Windows desktop software- which is maybe once or twice a year. I've been very happy about updates for the Zune, but I imagine WP7 phone updates may be tied to the carrier (AT&T, T-Mo) and not the Zune desktop software itself.
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I know it is an old thread, but MS stated it wants to do away from the carriers holding up the software updates, you shall see when the first batch of updates hits the platform.

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.

WP and Zune

I'm curious what the general consensus seems to be on WP7 users being forced to use the Zune software (as opposed to whatever they currently use on their computer, such as itunes). Do you think this creates an obstacle that may prevent some potential WP users from buying a WP7 device?
Zune software, for me, has been pretty buggy, sluggish, and problematic. The microsoft zune website only installs the 32 bit version - there's no option for the 64 bit version. I'm not sure if that's the reason for the app running so lamely on my computer and sucking up 20% of my i5 cpu.
Also, using the Zune software requires you not only to reorganize your music library, but to re-rate everything differently due to it having a completely different and limited 'ratings' system.
If Microsoft is interested in making things easy to use, adapting to their software should be as easy as possible. Zune is too big a change from the big music players currently being used by almost everyone.

Zune has been the best transition I've made in a long time. Windows media player is buggy and kinda does what it want, iOS is ram-hungry and too... Apple... i don't know how else to put it. Zune as a whole has been a clean transition and the first music player that almost seems like it knows me.

The transition hasn't been hard for me neither. But my music library is only around 7 gigs big.
My problems with the zune software are the following:
- Autoplaylists not as robust as in itunes. Cannot organize to your liking (only by some of their options).
- Autoplaylists refresh visually (they flicker every 5-6 seconds) and if you scroll down too far in a playlist, items appear as "not found" until the playlist refreshes itself and finds the files. This may sound confusing, but I'm basically saying this: Autoplaylists are very buggy.
-Uncustomizable UI (big fonts, lots of unused space, tons of marketplace links hogging up space).
-App takes up around 170mb, compared to 80mb for itunes. It also hogs your cpu (my i5 is at 15-20%, no matter what 'display' setting I have enabled)
-Cannot sync with anything but a zune or WP. Now that zune is discontinued, this software is officially only good for windows phones.
-Cannot tweak playback volume of individual songs, like you can in itunes.
-Cannot set start/end points, like you can in itunes.
-Cannot edit MANY id3 tag fields, such as comments.
-UI is sluggish compared to the basic text-based itunes UI.
-No global hotkeys - aside from next, previous, and play/pause, there are no shortcuts you can hit when the app is not in focus (such as change media player volume, fastforward, etc).
-When minimized, app toolbar flickers between song name, artist, and album. This is distracting. It should simply display the song title in the toolbar, and thats it. No blinking please.
-No minimize to notification area feature.
-Scrolling up and down too fast or too far is slow and stuttery. I've tried this on different computers that are more powerful and this is just how it is.
-The rating system.
-Disliked songs shouldn't play in a mix unless you manually click them (similarly to unchecked songs in itunes).
-Liked and 'unrated' songs are considered the two positive ratings, while dislike is the negative rating. this is weird but fine. However, if you sort songs by 'rating', it sorts Liked->Disliked->Unrated. What sense does this make?
-The 'check for updates' button doesnt work. Sends me an error. I've reinstalled the app twice now.
-Cannot show date of song, date added, etc columns in ANY of the apps views, other than the 'songs' view. Really irritating. You cant change the order of columns in anything other than 'song' view as well.
This probably isn't the place for this, but thought I'd flesh out why Zune isn't ready to be a proprietary app for a leading smartphone. Zune fans may put up with this, the same way itunes fans put up with itunes on Windows. But the masses won't.
Itunes works great on macs. Zune should work great on Windows. Instead, it feels like I'm using a flash app on a website.

i was using zune before i bought my phone, enough said

I don't even need half of the things op has men..tioned
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And I don't need any cable sync.. I am happy with cloud. Period.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106841
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I am using this ****ty app so can't really post long but I will try to answer some of your questions...
I am guessing you are not a Zune pass user... Cosif u use zunepass you will never feel the need to edit id3 tags.
And the concept behind loving or disliking a track is to make ur personalized picks more accurate... The more tracks u like, more accurate picks section become...
UI is visually based and not font based... Gone is ur need to edit fonts... UI is designed so that u browse collection by album ar
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I never said I'm against the rating system. I'm saying its got only 3 levels whereas a normal rating system has 6 (the 5-star rating system).
Also, I edit IDv3 tags for songs I already have because the Zune software is only able to sort auto playlists by idv3 tag data.
This will be the case for other people who are importing their entire library from itunes/winamp/whatever to Zune.
That is the whole purpose of the topic. People moving OVER to zune.
Also, the pass is not an option for everyone depending on where you live. Again, this is not itunse - Zune has no right demanding proprietary status imo. It's not up to the task, especially for users outside of the US

Browse albums by their art covers...
You can arrange songs/albums/artists alphabetical or by date added added... There com the date you were asking for... I don't know if it shows exact date or not.. But if you select arrange by date added.. Than your most recently downloaded album is on top...
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To you above 4 replies, about the 'sorting'.
This is basic sorting that has been around for forever. Sorting by date in album view is not new, nor not at all what I was talking about. Perhaps reread the post so you're more informed with what I was saying. That would be a good way to go about responding to a topic
Does anyone with some experience with other music management apps have anything to say?

I personally find it brilliant, looks really cool as well with a nice easy UI e.g. big chunky text and its really smooth.
I like the way on the now playing screen you have a giant wallpaper of your albums etc.
Half of those things in that big list someone mentioned sound utterly pointless to me, I mean no global hot keys? Who really needs that. I thought thats what a mouse is for.

I also use itunes on my pc as I have an iPad but I hate the interface
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I once had over 70g of nicely organized music UNTIL I got a 20g Zune mp3 player and was forced to use the Zune software...now I've got 120g of mixed up crap.
Zune's a piece of junk, I prefer to use MediaMonkey.

Why you need the 70g of music stored on your PC when you have it all nicely organized on zunepass cloud system for you and you can get it anytime you want and delete it back again...
I don't think Zune desktop is a music collectors device... Its an application to play music, not store and organize your music collection..
I threw away my 60GB of old tiesto collection once I found zunepass... It already has a better better music collection than why I had collected from torrents...
Subscribe to zunepass... And you will see that you are spending more time in listening to music than organizing and collecting it.
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???
Not sure I don't mind zune but my issue is not being able to sync with Outlook. I hate the cloud and would perfer to keep my contacts and calender info on my computer not out in the air for any hacker to find on microsoft. I use it because I wanted to upgrade to WP7. If there was a way to sync with Outlook(not Outlook Connector) I would.

Purple11 said:
Why you need the 70g of music stored on your PC when you have it all nicely organized on zunepass cloud system for you and you can get it anytime you want and delete it back again...
I don't think Zune desktop is a music collectors device... Its an application to play music, not store and organize your music collection..
I threw away my 60GB of old tiesto collection once I found zunepass... It already has a better better music collection than why I had collected from torrents...
Subscribe to zunepass... And you will see that you are spending more time in listening to music than organizing and collecting it.
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
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1. zunepass isnt worldwide.
2. if it is proprietary, then it MUST be up to the task of managing your music library, since it will be replacing itunes, wmp, winamp, and so forth.
3. Cloud requires constant data connection. Again, you're missing the point and living in a bubble.
This proprietary software doesn't have any business being proprietary. It's a great piece of software but it is not up to the task of being run worldwide on people's computers with full support and features.

guyver76 said:
Not sure I don't mind zune but my issue is not being able to sync with Outlook. I hate the cloud and would perfer to keep my contacts and calender info on my computer not out in the air for any hacker to find on microsoft. I use it because I wanted to upgrade to WP7. If there was a way to sync with Outlook(not Outlook Connector) I would.
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even so, email by defintion is cloud. when you email someone their contact and email info is whittled away to the cloud. The cloud is just a fancy term for how modern computers work anyways. So if you're worried about hackers on MS servers, you'd best not use the internet to communicate as any sort of data set over the internet can be intercepted.

well... you DONT have to use it.
i got a windows phone and sometimes i use it but usually i use jetaudio, the only reason for using Zune software for Windows Phone its for updating windows phone AND drag and drop music i want in my windows phone. after that i only use it because i want to.
i use it because its nice, it got a nice interface, and of course its not like you have to use everything from it, like, i use mp3tag to fix some music tag i got. but still you could find tag info from internet with Zune.
but only because you have Windows Phone, automatically you cant use some other player. its only for synching and updating not for playing music or fix tags if you don't like it.

If you want your mp3 player to be synched to your computer, with the same playlists and everything, you have to use the same program. WP doesn't allow you to sync with your winamp playlists or itunes playlists or so forth.
Yes, you could just plop files into your WP in an unorganized fashion if you like. Clearly that isn't the point of view of this thread. Come on now

Smart Playlists in Zune kind of suck compared to iTunes