Micosoft needs to unlock all Zune players?

[cowboy6201]

I think it's just a matter of time Zune is going away completely, and I think Microsoft should unlock all the players so we can add music to them after they do away with the Zune software.
I still have my Zune HD 64GB player and still use it and love it.
How do we let Microsoft know we want these Zune players unlocked so we can use it with the media player and add purchased tracks or ripped cd's onto it?:unhappysweat:View attachment 45055View attachment 45056

 

[Zeroplanetz]

I think it's just a matter of time Zune is going away completely, and I think Microsoft should unlock all the players so we can add music to them after they do away with the Zune software.
I still have my Zune HD 64GB player and still use it and love it.
How do we let Microsoft know we want these Zune players unlocked so we can use it with the media player and add purchased tracks or ripped cd's onto it?:unhappysweat:View attachment 45055View attachment 45056

I think there's a site were you can vote or petition for such things. Or even here set up forum post with votes. Then when it gets so high send in a link to Microsoft of it explaining? I dunno but I dread the day my Zune is gone forever

 

[cowboy6201]

I think there's a site were you can vote or petition for such things. Or even here set up forum post with votes. Then when it gets so high send in a link to Microsoft of it explaining? I dunno but I dread the day my Zune is gone forever

Lets get a poll going and see how well it does.

 

[RTGent]

What is it you fear is going away? I can already "add purchased tracks or ripped cd's onto it". I have a Zune player that is not in my plan, and all it has on it is purchased tracks and ripped cd's.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

What is it you fear is going away? I can already "add purchased tracks or ripped cd's onto it". I have a Zune player that is not in my plan, and all it has on it is purchased tracks and ripped cd's.

The problem is that the only way to get media onto Zune devices is by using the Zune software. What the OP is requesting is that the Zune be "opened" to allow access using a more standard protocol. If Microsoft removes support for Zune devices in the Windows Phone desktop software, us Zune users are toast.

 

[RTGent]

Ok, this might be way off the mark, but: Isn't the worst case that Microsoft would stop supporting the software, including all account-related functionality, but that the Zune program, and specifically the music-management/device-recognition functions would remain, given that they are written in the code of a program that resides on my computers. Microsoft has mostly stopped supporting Office 2007, but I still expect to be able to run Word, Excel, Access, etc. even beyond the 2017 drop-dead support cycle end-date, even if without security and other updates. (I also still have a copy of a 1997 version of Lotus Organizer, which came packaged on a CD with a still-owned-still-works, though long-abandoned Avigo (?!!!?) organizer, running on my 2013 Win 7 super-upgraded desktop.) (BTW, I still keep ZuneSetupPkg in my Download folder).

Signed, the Optimist.

 

[cowboy6201]

Ok, this might be way off the mark, but: Isn't the worst case that Microsoft would stop supporting the software, including all account-related functionality, but that the Zune program, and specifically the music-management/device-recognition functions would remain, given that they are written in the code of a program that resides on my computers. Microsoft has mostly stopped supporting Office 2007, but I still expect to be able to run Word, Excel, Access, etc. even beyond the 2017 drop-dead support cycle end-date, even if without security and other updates. (I also still have a copy of a 1997 version of Lotus Organizer, which came packaged on a CD with a still-owned-still-works, though long-abandoned Avigo (?!!!?) organizer, running on my 2013 Win 7 super-upgraded desktop.) (BTW, I still keep ZuneSetupPkg in my Download folder).


Signed, the Optimist.

I still keep a copy of the software on my external drive.
I have a whole bunch of the gadgets for vista and win 7 on my external drive for anybody that would like them.
I saved a gadget every time I downloaded it instead of hitting run I would click save and threw them up on my wd live duo drive.
I wish 8 would allow me to run them but the new desktop does not support them.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Ok, this might be way off the mark, but: Isn't the worst case that Microsoft would stop supporting the software, including all account-related functionality, but that the Zune program, and specifically the music-management/device-recognition functions would remain, given that they are written in the code of a program that resides on my computers. Microsoft has mostly stopped supporting Office 2007, but I still expect to be able to run Word, Excel, Access, etc. even beyond the 2017 drop-dead support cycle end-date, even if without security and other updates. (I also still have a copy of a 1997 version of Lotus Organizer, which came packaged on a CD with a still-owned-still-works, though long-abandoned Avigo (?!!!?) organizer, running on my 2013 Win 7 super-upgraded desktop.) (BTW, I still keep ZuneSetupPkg in my Download folder).

Signed, the Optimist.

The worst case is that a Windows update (security update?) causes an incompatibility with one of the libraries used by the Zune software. That would render the software dead. And with that being the only way to move media to the device, that device would be rendered essentially useless.

There is a greater likelihood of that happening with the Zune software since Microsoft developed it and most likely used private APIs that no other application uses. Microsoft isn't actively supporting the Zune devices or the software. They're in the "well it still works, we won't do anything to deliberately break it, but if it accidentally breaks, oh well, too bad, so sad for you."

Speaking of older software, I have a ton of old "Microsoft Home" CDROM titles (back in the 90's when Edutainment was all the craze). They'll work on 32-bit Windows 7, not on any 64-bit OS, so I've had to resort to a virtual machine of 32bit XP to run them.

 

[AndyD33]

Don't forget that the Zune software is still used for WP7/7.5 devices. So it won't be going away for a while.

 

[eddieDOTexe]

I doubt they'll ever unlock it and I doubt you'll see them removing the download link for Zune any time soon. This is one package you're talking about. Hosted on a server which also hosts a whole bunch of other software as well. Worst case scenario you'll have someone upload it on a torrent site or something. In terms up software update support, yes, Microsoft will stop updating their software. But functionality? I don't see that happening.

The worst they've done is remove the video purchase functionality and app download functionality from the software. But this is mainly due to low traffic from the Zune desktop client and change in their DRM for video purchases. The music marketplace still gets traffic from Zune Pass users and for the most part has DRM that is managed from the OS rather than the marketplace itself so that's still available.
Offline functionality should be fine. Its the services that will slowly fade away.