Mysterious photo posts - revealed!!
I love the conspiracy theories...but the last couple of posts were just me playing with a new phone (Dash), configuring mms on cingular with it, then getting blogger's newish moblog service running. Pretty painful process, but the results are cool.
On another topic entirely, I'd like to say thanks again to everyone who provided info and feedback on skipping experiences. The tone of the messages has been great and they've all gone to the test team. They are investigating, and for now all I can say is hang in there. We really appreciate your having bought the device and recognize the value of you early adopters...
24 Comments:
Bloggers, commenters, and forum posters seem to like to jump all over Zune whenever any room for improvement is found and reported. Like the recent "58%" blog that we posted at Zunerama.
But I've noticed that the most frenzied comments are from people who've never owned a Zune and who probably never will. Zune owners seem mostly unfazed by it... because by and large they're having a great experience with their Zunes.
Count me in the latter category. Keep it up, Microsoft. We believe in Zune and love what the player does, out of the box.
- Harvey
i'll agree with zunerama that the most ardent naysayers of the zune seem to be those who neither own a zune nor want to do so. of course, that doesn't mean there aren't those of us who love our zune who still want things like greater wi-fi usability and (for god's sake!) more codec support, especially divx and xvid.
but i have the same latter gripe with xbox 360, and that situation is even worse being that ms is billing the console as a viable media center extender. that situation is simply ridiculous.
yay zune. make it better.
i agree with zunerama as well. and besides, this type of thing is pretty much guaranteed for early adopters of any product.
good to know we're appreciated though.
Zune is a decent entry into the consumer space and I enjoy the limited experience it provides. I say limited because although it does music I know it can & I want it do much more than it does. The thing that is of greater concern for me more than anythng is the uncertainity in where Microsoft is taking their entertainment platforms. Will they drop Media Center in favor of a XBox centric solution? You've got Movie downloads in XBox MarketPlace but the same service is not available in Media Center or Zune. You've got Music downloads in Zune but the same service is not available in Media Center. There are no alternative low cost media extenders to XBox360. Not to mention, no where in the Microsoft MarketPlace are ebooks, audiobooks or other types of content available. Sure there are alternatives to MarketPlace but I like and want the unified experience it "could" offer through the entire ecosystem. Its not there today and Microsoft has not given any indication that is where we are headed. Just visit XBox and Zune sites and you see no links to each other...you do see a link in Media Center to XBox. But the point is if their is a relationship between all of these then its not obvious to the average consumer. If I were product manager the first thing I would do is redesign the websites for all three. I would have diagrams and videos in how all of these could be networked/linked together. It would be part instructional and part educating the average consumer on its potential. Because has it hands in so many technologies and offer such robustness they need to go the extra mile in educating. As it is today, there are so many open questions that they tend to cause me not to use the technology fully or at all.
i feel the same way as the fourth commenter. the instructions on the xbox site for sharing media to the xbox 360 instructs you to download and use the zune software, although you can do exactly the same things with wmp11. this suggests that there is a push to bring the zune and xbox together from inside ms. but there doesn't appear to be any unified, coherent strategy that would show consumers the benefits of using these products together. make it easy for me. give the zune higher video resolution so it gives me a decent picture when i get it to my tv, even if it takes up a lot of room. i can always delete the file later. at least give me the option. right now the picture is so terrible i can't imagine anyone actually wanting to use the a/v cables you guys sell for the zune. give me greater codec support. give me the ability to take my zune to my friend's house and hook it up to his xbox and watch videos in some sort of decent quality. eventually, give me the option to stream media via mine or someone else's wireless network. i love the idea of taking my zune to my brother's house and just streaming video and music to his xbox wirelessly as he, like me, uses his xbox 360 as an mce. if you gave us that capability i think you would see a lot more people eager to jump on the zune, xbox, vista, and larger ms bandwagon.
The trail of breadcrumbs continues. Anyone who has been skilled in the art of the illusion knows that one must follow all hints with the denial that they are hints at all. This convinces the weary to give up and look someplace else. Check and Mate!
Believe me, I'm trying to hang in there. Unfortunately, one of the worst things to happen to your music listening experience is continuous skipping...
SportsUnit and I have the same complaint.
Contrary to what Zunerama says the experience with my Zune has been anything but smooth. THE SKIPPING ISSUE NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED. I appreciate all the comments about we're working on it. But for God's sake it's not that hard to duplicate. Step 1) Buy a Zune Step 2) Download a couple of Gigs of Zune Pass music Step 3) Listen to several songs in a row...Voila skipping. Do a search of "Zune skipping" on Google and you'll pretty quickly figure out that the problem is with Marketplace and not the Zune.
Yes I'm an early adopter to Zune but a late adopter to players because I've waited to purchase a high end player other than IPOD. MS you had your best shot to impress me...and you didn't. I'm tired of hearing what did you expect from a G1 player. THAT DOESN'T CUT IT!
David, how much lead time will we get when firmware updates are announced? week? 24 hours? none?
Mine is still skipping but I have figured out some, less than ideal, workarounds until it's fixed.
This is probably old news to everyone by now, but just in case: Most people find that the unit doesn't skip if you change the backlight settings to 'Always On'. Granted this only gives you about 2-3 hours of battery time. At work, I listen to it while it's plugged into a USB port. In the car I use the car charger.
The only time I listen 'unplugged' is at the gym and that's only for an hour so I don't have battery issues.
Again, this is NOT a longterm solution. But maybe helpful info while we try to patiently wait.
Jeff
I don't see how anybody who uses Zune Marketplace can be having a great Zune experience. I'm having an OK experience, punctuated by frustration and annoyance once per song, as each and every song skips for the first ten seconds.
How is there not a bigger outcry? I don't see any indication that MS considers this a serious problem, otherwise there would have been a fix or an explanation a month ago. As it is, it it made to seem like a fringe issue, which blows my mind.
Is downloading from the Zune Marketplace not a common user scenario? Do most listeners just ignore the skipping? To me, it's like a continual reminder every 3-4 minutes that the player is defective.
Can you tell I'm frustrated? :) Not cool, MS.
See the issue with MS is that they have labeled this a "minor inconvenience" or better yet "we're working on it". MICROSOFT for the upteenth time...Listen carefully...Do I have your attention?...THIS IS AN ISSUE!!!! Your about 2 weeks away from me never buying another Microsoft product. And as I posted on Zunerama 1) I've exchanged my Zune twice and still problems. 2) I've downloaded and reloaded Marketplace 4 times. 3) I've talked to support 7 times. 4) I've deleted my whole library 3 times. 5) I've rebuilt a new library twice. 6) I've purchased 1 car charger and an FM transmitter (monster) because the Zune combo was junk and had to return it. I needed a car charger because MS solution is to leave the backlight on. By the way when my non-replaceable battery dies from over-charging who do I need to talk to so I can get a new battery.
So again I've got 2 weeks left on my BestBuy receipt and if there is not a long term fix by then... IPOD here I come. I know threats like that do little to motivate a major corporation to act in way that would garner customer loyalty but it makes this customer feel a little better about spending $250 (less additional expenses; Pass subscription, carrying case, charger and FM transmitter etc...)
of his HARD EARNED MONEY on a glorified record player.
In answer to one question above; IF we had a firmware coming up we would likely not preannounce; I'd be able to talk about it the day it released.
David, is Zune Marketing planning to advertise during the SuperBowl? Rumor has it that Apple might announce something new during their spot. I'm sure their will be several spots for Vista but I don't want you getting blindsided.
Engadget reports that major record labels are pondering DRM-free downloads. Curious if that should happen what you think it would mean for iTunes and Zune. Also, is Zune Marketplace able to deliver unprotected content if an artist wanted that?
There is a nice even & balanced report on Gizmodo which gives Zune some creds..which is suprising since I tend to think they are biased. In any case, they still recommend current generation iPod over Zune but just by a hair.
I hate to say this, but I delt with the skipping as long as I could and waited untill 1 day before I had to return the Zune. Now I will say I absolutly love my new Creative Zen player, I havent heard a song skip in weeks, it's like listening to music the way it was meant to be heard. Sorry Zune, maybe next time!
David, you guys are probably watching this pending courtcase between Apple & Norway. Apple probably will pull out of that market depending on how other european countries respond. But if more follow suit..well, that could be a game changer. My question to you, if you absolutely had to go back to making Zune a PlayForSure compliant store and device..technically could you?
The flip answer is yes, it's technically possible because it's just software. The less flip answer is that while you could, you'd want to open up very carefully so as not to screw up the user experience or impede your ability to innovate.
fwiw, I think other developments will make this point moot (he said mysteriously). Have you been reading about the open mp3 discussions?
David Caulton just said "up very carefully so as not to screw up the user experience"...And what about my user experience? SKIPPING
Wait I want another review of the IPHONE from ZUNE guy.
Tired of hearing from me yet? Probably not as tired as I am from hearing skipping or charging my battery? If you would like to respond you can email me at ZUNESUCKS@yahoo.com (you didn't think I would have a hotmail account did you?). Yes it's a real email account.
Correction my email is ZUNESUCKS2007@yahoo.com
When I signed up it was going to be ZUNESUCKS but someone beat me to it.
I was an early adopter and counted the days until i got my Zune. I even took off work to be at Target when they opened the doors Nov 14th. I also SOLD my Ipod Video to buy this. But alas, I was soo very disappointed by the lack of features,accessories,support, and most of all I was never able to find the Premium headphones or dock locally, and I live in NJ. Lets not forget the skipping! I finally sold my Zune for a big loss the other day on Ebay and am now looking for another Ipod to replace it. Im Very sad i had to do this but enough is enough. Ive been a long time MS supporter and Ive been really let down this time.
-Chris in NJ
Well as for me Zune has been a VERY GOOD experience. No skipping or any other sort of problem. Also I see the usual guys complaining all the time. Very few new guys are complaining. I am sure Zune must have some problem and hopefully it will be fixed, but for me it has brought about a music revolution.
Rohit...Appreciate your comments however I will bet that you don't use Zune Pass or most of your music library was already built prior to you purchasing your Zune.
I have no issues with the UI of the Zune. It beats the IPOD hands down IMO. Zune Marketplace is also excellent. However my problem is with the skipping. It makes me hestitant to recommend it to anyone. Now I suppose you could assume that it's a limited problem or a fluke however I have exchanged my original ZUNE 2 times and both of the new ZUNES have the same problems.
AGAIN I'm a big MS fan and an even bigger APPLE hater but the lack of response from the ZUNE team is dissapointing to say the least. And the outright denial that there is even an issue is maddening as hell.
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