Zune, better but still...

Yesterday I updated my Zune to the latest software and firmware, Version 3.0. While the PC part of the software did not change too much, it still slow, consuming a lot of resources, being the last thing you want to have to handling your music collection, with a very simplistic way to categorize your music taste (good or bad, come on, give me back the 5 stars system), the mp3 player part of it has changed up to the point that I believe that there is not any other mp3 player capable of compete against the Zune.

This new version has put in full us the WiFi capability of this device allowing people to check the online store and purchase songs on it. But this is not all, now you can tag songs while you are listening the radio and buy them later on, when you connect your Zune to your PC. I tested this feature Yesterday and I love it.

They added a few more options like Games, a more sophisticated social, etc, which do not mean to much for me but I'm sure that teenagers will love it.

Yes, Zune is in my opinion the mp3 player that gives you more for your money. You won't find any mp3 where you can buy songs right from the FM radio embedded in the player, that option along separates this player from the rest.

Now the only thing that we really need is Microsoft to go back to the PC part of it and redo that part form 0 because what we have is not good at all.

Win a Zune

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Nothing is wrong guys, it's just me "Copying and Pasting" this email from Msn team. I though that probably some of you would like to win a Zune even after all I said about it a few days ago.

Zune, I have to say this

I love my Zune but I hate so much the Zune software in my computer that I'm not using my mp3 player as often as I should. I use to criticize iTune software for heavy and resource sucker but Zune Software is today the champion of all the champions. On top of that, it's a software that was from the beginning - I'm talking about the second version of it which replaced the one based in WMP. The most popular options such like Smart List were removed from it. Now they put it back but again... It's buggy! Come on! Does the Zune team  have a group of MVP helping them to tune their program? I really do not understand.

And I really get frustrated when I see a good product being treated with such lack of... lack of... lack of... brain.

iTune uses a lot of resources but it works, every single time it works. I do have there songs removed and added from my iPod without any apparently reason and I do not get duplicated play list every time I sync. I have more than 20 play lists in my Zune when I'm supposed to have only 5! The play list creation screen sucks... I had to get help in a forum to find how I can select two categories in one play list - The whole Ctrl+Mouse Click Idea was just fantastic... they just forgot to mention about it on that screen in somewhere.

And my main problem with all this is this question:

Why consumers have to work as beta testers of a product that should just be doing what it's supposed to do out of the box? And don't come to me saying that it does it because it plays music because the music does not get into the player because Mandrake the Magician puts it in there.

I have gave Microsoft Zune team a lot of time... but things are not getting anywhere better... it's all the same old s.... (you know).

Well... Now that I said it here, in public, I feel a lot better.

Zune for just $89.99

If you still looking for the perfect Christmas gift here is your chance to get something good and for an unbelievable low price. Buy.com is offering the Zune for $99.99 dollars, but if you get the Google Check-out set in your account you will receive an instantly $10 off from your first buy! Yes, I know that it's a refurbished Zune but I do not have any problem on that. In fact, to me a refurbished device is just a device twice inspected by QC.

Zune Love it, Hate it... comparison

A day or two ago I wrote at least two times about how disappointed I was with this latest Zune Software release. And probably many of you thought that I'm one of those crazy iPop fans going around singing 1234. But I'm far from that. do you think that Microsoft would give a MVP Award to a "Apple" guy?  

There are things that "I love" in the new software but there are other things that "I hate". But more important than what I love or what I hate is the repercussion that those points have in the way I use my Zune. And this last thought makes me go back to the new song rating system implemented: I love it/I hate it. It's like the old Roman rating  system of Thumb Up and Thumb Down. We live in a different society where we are used to have a lot of middle options.  If we would go back to the gladiators time I'm sure we would not be happy with that rating system of "Kill Him" or "Let Him Live", we would ask for other options like... "Throw him to the Lions!"  Hum... Lets come back to our Zunes... I love the 5 stars rating system. I had two groups of songs organized by their ratings in two smart lists - another missing feature - the 5 stars and the 3 to 5 stars. And I use to select which group depending on my mud or depending on how much time I had to listen music. And I have a lot of music un-rated. That does not mean that I do not love that music, it's just part of albums or I have it for somebody else that has a little different musical taste than me - like my daughter. I need at least 3 rating levels to properly manage my music. And I need of course smart lists. But anyway... I thought that I probably was too picky with all this so I prepared a table with all the goods things I found in the Zune V2 and all those things I did not like it. And I shared my table with another Zune Fan, Adam from zune.adamentity.com and here is what came out:

The above table is another example of how it's almost impossible for us two live with a two rating system. We do have a Love it column and a Hate it column but we still had to assign a rating to how important are these points to us.

You may ask, why you gave WiFi Sync a 3. Well, the Zune is sold with a sync/charger cable so the majority of us have to sync when we are charging the battery. That makes the wireless sync to lose part of the importance. The other thing that we found that it does not work if you are not broadcasting your Network ID, Zune does not find the Wireless network and you can't synchronize. For security reasons many people do not broadcast that ID.

Summarizing, the end score was  34 points against 43. In another words, we have more reasons to "Hate" - Using Microsoft's own rating - the new Zune Software release than to "Love it".

Of course, that does not mean that Adam and me are going to sell our Zunes. We still see a lot of potential in these devices and we are sure that Zune Team is going to stand up from this fall.  Just give them a little time. We are not going to abandon the boat now that Microsoft did let us without a new firmware update in our old Zunes.

Zune v2, my second impressions...

Yesterday I wrote about my first impressions after few minutes of using Zune v2 in my UMPC. Today I was thinking about to write a little bit about why I wrote that when I found this thread at Zune.net forum:

Today is a total slap in the face of loyal Zune supporters. Being in the tech and application industry myself I can easily say I feel like this software is beta at best. I feel like we are all beta testers for a bad experiment by the Zune Team. I have been the Zune's most loyal supporter for a year and what have you given us? The removal of many key features that made this product great:

- metadata editing capabilities beyond simple artist and album info (was present in the previous software version)
- batch metadata editing
- auto-playlists
- 5-star rating
- old organization of videos
- easy album art via drag and drop and auto search ability

You missed the boat on some things like:
- Detailed metadata for videos
- Video Playlists
- etc.

Like I said Yesterday, the not inclusion of Auto-Playlist and removing the 5-Star Rating System are just beyond my comprehension and trying to find an answer on that same forum I found this other thread created by one of the Zune Developer Team Members:

TELL US HOW YOU USE AUTO/SMART PLAYLISTS...so we do it the way you want in upcoming releases!

After reading that, I could only think that the user in my previous quote was absolutely right when he said that this Zune software release was a total slap in the face of loyal Zune supporters. And he's also right when he said that, we are being used as beta testers in this bad experiment that is this release. I personally would have preferred to wait a month or two for a really ready to use program than having now a piece of useless program managing my Zune.

There was an user replying to the question of how to make the Auto/Smart List that wrote, just make them like iTune! And that reminds me the other day when I was asking OEMs to do not reinvent the wheel. There are things that are in use and that are proven to work that do not need to be changed unless you are adding something really good to improve them. But come on, to change from a 5 stars rating to a just a Love it or not Love it rating is... and excuse me Microsoft Team but if do not say it I'll explode... the most stupid idea that I have seen in the last 5 years.

Well, thanks God that I still have my old 20 GB "full" iPod. At least there I still have my many smart-lists and my 5 stars rating system. And I only hope that Zune Beta 2 will be released soon so I can start listening to the rest of the music that I have loaded in my 30 GB Zune that I do not have in my old iPod. 

For the end I have a few questions to all Microsoft teams, are not taking in consideration what users want from you in your software? Have you had forgotten that you are programing for us consumers and not for yourself?  Why are you not listening to what we consumers want to see? When you all at Microsoft will stop to use us as cheap beta testers? Are you forgetting that we are paying for these devices and that we are expecting to get something that at least works? Who is the responsible of releasing a software that includes less features than the previous version? Who is the responsible of releasing a software where the features that we loved most have been removed?  When we are going to see all this mess fixed? Next Year?

Zune V2, my first impressions

The The heart/broken-heart is the most useless idea that has came out from  Microsoft in a long time.  I can't believe that Zune team did not receive this kind of  comments before from beta testers and MVPs.  This rating, the exclusion of Auto/Smart Lists and  the impossibility of browsing by Genre makes this software  version completely useless and a step backward  instead of a step forward.

Zune at 79 dollars on Woot

Just a short note to let you know guys that woot.com is selling today the Brown Zune for just 79 dollars. It's a refurbished unit but come on for that price you wont get anything better in the market.

Zune, WiFi, a wining combination

I was reading Google News Today when I found this article in PCWorld and after reading it  I was glad that I canceled my PCWorld subscription years ago.  

Microsoft Corp. will take another crack at blending social networking with digital music next month with the release of new Zune music players and a renewed campaign to promote song sharing.

The move, analysts agreed, is smart. But the chance it can help Microsoft make headway against Apple Inc.'s iPod players and iTunes music store is slim.

I understand that the Social Campaign is something important because it's a concept never seen before in any other MP3 player and in any other company. But if you ask me what is the most important point in this new Zune version and software release, I would say that the most important point is that Microsoft has fully put to work the WiFi in Zunes. Yes, before the WiFi was used to share files between Zunes, an Ad-hoc kind of connection. Now Zune owners are going to be able to connect the Zune to their home WiFi network and synchronize the device via WiFi. This alone is something never seen before and that in my opinion makes the Zune a lot better device than the iPod Classic and all the other players I have seen (Chris, what do you think? do you have anyone in your collection that does that?).

I know, now you are going to ask me why I canceled my PCWorld subscription. So I'm going to answer the question before you ask it. Because I can't understand how a technical magazine can publish an article about a device and miss the real important points that make this device better. It's not the social what is important, what is important is that WiFi card in the Zune that is going to be used for real for the first time. And that's not all. If the Zune is connected to your home network for the first time and your home network is connected to Internet what stops MS from integrating a browser in the Zune?

Connecting the Zune to a network is just the first step. Keep going Microsoft! Keep going! You just has opened the box, just keep pulling good stuff from that box.

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