Hope for XBOX Music: A Personal Response from Marc Whitten

[Ben Lehtovaara]

In a recent email exchange with Steve Ballmer regarding the horrid state of Windows retailing I had some success having my comments forwarded on to Tami Reller for consideration. Feeling brave I followed up with some of the frustrating issues with XBOX Music. It appears they were forwarded on as I got a personal response from a Marc Whitten. It was an interesting candid omission that MS is working hard to move faster and that they acknowledge XBOX Music is pretty bad right now. Most interesting is that he seems to suggest an update is imminent. Perhaps we won't have to wait for Blue to get all this stuff fixed. I've transcribed my email and his response below to give a little hope to the community.

From Me to Steve Ballmer following up on my observations about windows retailing:

My pleasure Mr. Ballmer. I appreciate your willingness to take note of my observations. I hope I?m not overstepping here but I would appreciate it if I could add some observations on the state of Xbox Music.
Xbox Music is in a terrible state and needs an update as soon as possible. Key issues are:

- Syncing between Windows 7/8 and Windows Phone is just terrible. The metro UI app doesn?t ?sync? at all, just copies files over.

- Subsequent cloud syncing through Xbox Music Pass only works from W8 -> WP8 and not the other way

- Numerous DRM issues

- Disappearing artwork

- User interface is light years behind old Zune App. Ex. Can?t jump alphabetically to an album, have to scroll through entire collection (on Windows 8).

Here are a couple master lists the community has been making with these issues. I sincerely hope you can help get these noticed. Microsoft needs to move faster with updates to core apps. Released in October (Mail/Music/Video) and no fixes in March is too long.

Master List Of Issues With XBox Music On WP8 - Microsoft Community

XBOX Music Problems - When Will They Be Fixed? - Microsoft Community

Sincerely

Ben Lehtovaara

Personal Response from Marc Whitten:

Hi Ben ?

You are right ? it has been too long since launch without us updating the Xbox Music service issues. The team is hard at work and you will see a new update very soon that addresses a number of the issues below and on the lists you referenced. We are also working hard to go faster in improving in the future.

Thank you so much for your passion and your candid feedback here. We are going to work very very hard to make Xbox Music an experience that you will love.

Thanks,
Marc Whitten

 

[HeyCori]

It's great to hear Microsoft respond. I've already contacted them via Twitter and Microsoft Answers but never got a response. Microsoft has stated that they will update core apps prior to Blue. Hopefully that includes Xbox Music.

 

[Solidstate89]

If they would just release a desktop client for Xbox Music I'd love to use it. As it stands, even when I'm using Windows 8 on my desktop I still find myself using the Zune client whenever I want to play music. Using the Xbox Music Metro app is just frustrating beyond belief. It's incredibly slow as well despite the hardware it's running on. Just not optimal all around.

 

[pavvento]

In a recent email exchange with Steve Ballmer regarding the horrid state of Windows retailing I had some success having my comments forwarded on to Tami Reller for consideration. Feeling brave I followed up with some of the frustrating issues with XBOX Music. It appears they were forwarded on as I got a personal response from a Marc Whitten. It was an interesting candid omission that MS is working hard to move faster and that they acknowledge XBOX Music is pretty bad right now. Most interesting is that he seems to suggest an update is imminent. Perhaps we won't have to wait for Blue to get all this stuff fixed. I've transcribed my email and his response below to give a little hope to the community.

From Me to Steve Ballmer following up on my observations about windows retailing:

My pleasure Mr. Ballmer. I appreciate your willingness to take note of my observations. I hope I’m not overstepping here but I would appreciate it if I could add some observations on the state of Xbox Music.
Xbox Music is in a terrible state and needs an update as soon as possible. Key issues are:

- Syncing between Windows 7/8 and Windows Phone is just terrible. The metro UI app doesn’t ”sync” at all, just copies files over.

- Subsequent cloud syncing through Xbox Music Pass only works from W8 -> WP8 and not the other way

- Numerous DRM issues

- Disappearing artwork

- User interface is light years behind old Zune App. Ex. Can’t jump alphabetically to an album, have to scroll through entire collection (on Windows 8).

Here are a couple master lists the community has been making with these issues. I sincerely hope you can help get these noticed. Microsoft needs to move faster with updates to core apps. Released in October (Mail/Music/Video) and no fixes in March is too long.

Master List Of Issues With XBox Music On WP8 - Microsoft Community

XBOX Music Problems - When Will They Be Fixed? - Microsoft Community

Sincerely

Ben Lehtovaara

Personal Response from Marc Whitten:

Hi Ben –

You are right – it has been too long since launch without us updating the Xbox Music service issues. The team is hard at work and you will see a new update very soon that addresses a number of the issues below and on the lists you referenced. We are also working hard to go faster in improving in the future.

Thank you so much for your passion and your candid feedback here. We are going to work very very hard to make Xbox Music an experience that you will love.

Thanks,
Marc Whitten

Does the item I bolded also mean with Xbox? I felt like an idiot 'showing off' features of WP8 and I saved a Smart DJ playlist to my phone and fired up my Xbox to show how everything is in sync and nothing showed up. Additionally, Playlists I create on the Xbox show up on my phone but with zero songs!

 

[wpn00b]

I just want Zune to work with WP8. if they can duplicate it's functionality with WP7. then I'll be happy. This is hopeful at least... Check my signature, Vote on that please. I'm not sure how often they look at it, but it's grown quite a bit in the past few weeks. Maybe it means nothing at all.

Thanks for reaching out to them and trying to get something done. I really liked your direct approach and the very hopeful response.

 

[Simon Gregory]

When it comes, the wait had better be worth it, otherwise I fear a large backlash on this issue. My worry is that its very difficult to polish a t##d - it's better for all concerned to flush those things away...

 

[busngabb]

Were playlists on the list you sent over? Creating playlists on the phone is a must and its current implementation is horrendous.

 

[Simon Gregory]

I wish WPC weren't so quiet on this issue. This piece of news should make the front page really. Makes me wonder if they've had to sign an NDA on the update or something, and so are deliberately keeping out of it.

 

[fardream]

My patience is running out... But since I despise the design of iPhone 5, they still get some time before an all new iPhone comes out