MS not listening to Xbox music users

[deezus]

I have detested the music app experience on WP and Windows 8 for the last two years. If I had known that the Zune would be replaced by this garbage app I would never have upgraded and purchased, 2 surfaces, 5 phones and 2 tablets. This is and continues to be my only gripe with WP and W8. Its the most frustrating experience I have ever had with any product, ever. You had an excellent piece of software called Zune, you replace it with a featureless frustrating music experience that has no features of your previous music experience and is basic to say the least, and then never add any features to it except voice control? MS, you look very out of touch with the mobile space and that's why no one wants your products except stupid consumers like me, who are heavily invested and not heard by you. I have has lots of patience with this so let me give you some history.
I bought a Zune HD from best buy took it home and started using it, I didn't know I would be falling in love with music again, that's what Zune software did for me.....I started downloading music, using the heart to mark music I liked and later buy, in fact I bought more music with Zune then I ever did by purchasing cds. I would sit for hours and hit the related tab over and over, finding songs and albums I never heard and old favorites. Starting the desktop client up I was always greeted with new music I might like as well as old favorites BASED ON MY LISTENING HABITS. I could sync all music up by connecting my device and I could buy MULTIPLE TRACKS AT ONCE LIKE WHOLE PLAYLISTS. I loved how I could SORT MUSIC BY WHAT I OWNED VERSUS WHAT I SUBSCRIBED TO THEREBY LETTING ME KEEP TRACK OF PURCHASES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS AS WELL AS USING THE HEART TO MARK FAVORITE TRACKS. The point is I had finally found the perfect digital music service that fit my needs perfectly, I could download and stream and BUY TRACKS at my convenience. The only thing really missing was cloud storage of my own personal collection, again, the only thing missing because Zune software was PERFECT(MEANING WHY BREAK SOMETHING THAT WAS FIXED?)
So, along comes W8, offering a touch windows interface with a music app that was so called a rebranded Zune app... well its no where near Zune, not ******* even!!!
I'm trying to understand here, you had perfect piece of software, you replace it with something inferior comparatively speaking and now its been two years and the app was crap before but now its getting even worse? Oh but Cortana support is there **** that, ok, ill play, Cortana sort music by Xbox music pass songs, Cortana purchase my playlist 80s music, Cortana please mark afternoon delight as a favorite, Cortana what kind of music do I like? Cortana answer, heres a webpage for you.
I realize I'm just one guy out here who has thousands of dollars of your products and software so I don't matter but there is a solution, how about calling me up? This way we could sit down, and compare Zune side by side with XBM and I could show you the flaws with this current app. You have my phone number as I am Microsoft everything, I'm an actual user of your products and I feel like I'm not getting heard and that is the most frustrating part of this, I would be more understanding if I voiced my opinion and you told me to pound sand but to voice these complaints and wait for over two years and to have the music app they way it is tells me you guys either don't care about your customers, don't use your own software(Zune or Xbox music) or are just totally disconnected from the mobile space....I'm hoping things change but if they don't this will be my last year with your phone, of which I own 4 and have 3 others that are broken in a drawer. I'm sure this post wont be given a second thought but I feel better. Now if I can just forget about how fantastic Zune software was....

http://youtu.be/ob7M_PbcJAk

 

[Jas00555]

They've promised bi-weekly updates to Xbox music (one of the most aggressive update cycles I've ever seen from them), so I'm not sure why you don't think they're listening. I never owned a Zune, but from what I understand, there were tons of DRM issues and you can't just copy/paste the word Xbox instead of Zune. They had to start from scratch with that.

 

[deezus]

Listen, I'm sorry you never used Zune because if you had you would understand. While I appreciate your input, they have had over two years to fix this, no, its more than just a DRM issue its an out of touch issue or a not caring. Another thing MS is a SOFTWARE COMPANY THAT CANT EVEN BUILD A PROPER MUSIC APP? THATS EMBARRASSING.

 

[iSeeiSheep]

MS is working on improving the experience and the EXTREMELY aggressive release cycle is a FIRM indicator their listening to the customer base.

 

[deezus]

No, they have been promising this for over 2 years. They don't listen, look at the proposed fixes/enhancements, no mention of any useful features. It's really simple, take every feature of Zune, ad it to XBM and hit enter.

 

[loofmodnar]

No, they have been promising this for over 2 years. They don't listen, look at the proposed fixes/enhancements, no mention of any useful features. It's really simple, take every feature of Zune, ad it to XBM and hit enter.

You clearly know nothing about software development. Zune was built for an entirely different architecture, they can't just copy/paste features into XBM. Yes, the XBM experience should be better and have more of the awesome features Zune had but the Zune software took YEARS to evolve into the awesome music player that was the ZuneHD. The move to WP7 meant they had rebuild it completely, then two years later do it again for WP8, then create it as a separate XBM app and make it universal.

They're clearly committed to adding user requested features with the launch of the uservoice site The current XBM is pre-release (at least until WP8.1 starts shipping) so there's some time for them to get the app into shape.

 

[deezus]

You clearly know nothing about software development. Zune was built for an entirely different architecture, they can't just copy/paste features into XBM. Yes, the XBM experience should be better and have more of the awesome features Zune had but the Zune software took YEARS to evolve into the awesome music player that was the ZuneHD. The move to WP7 meant they had rebuild it completely, then two years later do it again for WP8, then create it as a separate XBM app and make it universal.

They're clearly committed to adding user requested features with the launch of the uservoice site The current XBM is pre-release (at least until WP8.1 starts shipping) so there's some time for them to get the app into shape.

Again, it doesn't take 2 years to make a ******* usable music app, so If I know nothing about software development then MS and I have that in common. I wish people like you would stop making excuses for shoddy work.

 

[loofmodnar]

Again, it doesn't take 2 years to make a ******* usable music app, so If I know nothing about software development then MS and I have that in common. I wish people like you would stop making excuses for shoddy work.

The music hub in WP8.0 was totally usable. It's the new XBM app that's a mess. All I'm saying is we shouldn't crap all over them and say they're not listening and non-responsive until WP8.1 is officially available.

 

[garak0410]

Again, it doesn't take 2 years to make a ******* usable music app, so If I know nothing about software development then MS and I have that in common. I wish people like you would stop making excuses for shoddy work.

I agree with you here. I've been battling this since WP8 came out. I totally embraced the platform and even went with Surface right away. I am all in with the Microsoft Ecosystem but XBOX Music has taken too long to fix. I finally "put up" with the way the Hub worked, upgraded to 8.1 and was stuck with the new app, which they have STILL had plenty of time to fix, so we can't blame it on the Developers Preview at all. This is insanity...

 

[jmshub]

It's going to get better. The incessant whining does not improve the experience. Creating yet another thread discussing how bad the experience is does nothing for conversation on this board. Have you provided actual feedback to Microsoft, or have you only ranted on a Windows Phone message board? App development takes time. They can't just spew out an update just because people complain. If the app is no better in a few weeks, a month or even two, then yes, you may have some grounds on which to complain. But to rail and rail on this same subject without giving developers time to fix any of the issues is just ranting.

 

[SoloXCRacer]

It's going to get better.

Yes, we've been hearing this for about 2+ years now.

The incessant whining does not improve the experience. Creating yet another thread discussing how bad the experience is does nothing for conversation on this board. Have you provided actual feedback to Microsoft, or have you only ranted on a Windows Phone message board?

Again, feedback has been provided though official channels. Check the MS Windows Phone forums (in which the developers/team do monitor and respond to). There's threads with bugs and feature requests dating back to the very beginning of WP8. There's canned responses from the team, and yet nothing to address the issue. The XBM User Voice is a complete joke, they claim to use that to prioritize requests, but the top 5 issues have yet to be addressed. I'm not talking about the new XBM app, this is stuff dating back to the very beginning of WP8. So yes, 2 years later with nothing done, users have every right to whine and complain.

App development takes time.

Yes, I know. I do this for a living. 2 years is a long time for a basic player. 2 years is a long time to not have basic features implemented yet. 2 years is a long time to not have have bugs fixed. In any other company if you have not fixed the major flaws in 2 years, you'd be fired or replaced. Period.

They can't just spew out an update just because people complain. If the app is no better in a few weeks, a month or even two, then yes, you may have some grounds on which to complain.

But we already have grounds to complain. This crap has been going on for a long time. And now with the 8.1 version of XBM, it's 20 steps behind the previous version. What worked before is not completely broken. This POS app can't even move to the next track without that absurd and annoying crackle. Though Gapless playback is one of the top request features on User Voice, it is not even on their list of things to get done. So yes, they are not listening to their loyal users, and yes, people do have a right to whine, moan, and complain. When we been using official channels, and are completely ignored for years, we have every right to be irate. And the team responsible for this whole debacle should be scolded at, whether they like it or not.

But to rail and rail on this same subject without giving developers time to fix any of the issues is just ranting.

I'm sounding like a broken record here. But you get my point.

They have failed to add any of the most requested features, they failed to fix critical bugs, and they failed to listen to their user bases concerns. Enough is enough. The user experience for listening to music in Windows Phone is a complete mess which is a shame. Look at the Ratings and Reviews for the XBM app. The average rating is 1.9 stars. And read the reviews and the issues that people are having. Most of them are valid as going from 8.0 to 8.1 is 20 steps backwards.

When you upgrade from one version to the next, you expect either bug fixes, and/or new features. What you don't expect is a slower performing app. What you don't expect is the same old duplicate/triplicate songs to still be present. What you don't expect is that perfecting working features stripped out. This app is an Alpha build at best. I highly doubt it went through any formal QA or User Acceptance Tests. It's like if the developer(s) compiled their code, checked it into source control, and then released it. This is not a Beta build. A beta build goes through proper QA testing and through proper User Acceptance Testing. This is an Alpha build at best.

 

[SoloXCRacer]

Just for the record, I do agree that with the an Agile bi-weekly release cycle, things will eventually get better. But at this rate, we'll be well into 2015 before the music listening and syncing experience gets to where it was in the WP7 days. That is what frustrates me and many other users so much.

 

[missionsparta]

This guy is totally right. This isn't 6 months later...this is over two years and everyone is screaming about how horribly it ha does our personal libraries. So what does each update address? Things they want to tweak with their steaming service. Give it up already. Most of us don't give a crap about that. We are going to be going on 3 years and they have all but ignored our personal libraries both with music and video. They want to sell us music, but I'm not buying music from a service that can't handle my own library. Why? So I can use this program for the in house purchased songs and the have to fund another for songs I already owned? Even more alarming, is Zune saw all my music and handled it fine. Correct artists, titles, albums, genre, year. Xbox music takes those exact same files and makes a train wreck out of them. Fire someone's arse already and bring someone in that is actually listening and not got a hard-** about this stupid streaming service.

 

[missionsparta]

Ugh. The more I use this "new" version, the slower it becomes. This is complete garbage. We need a competent app to handle our own video and music library (Windows Phone, Windows 8, and Windows RT) and we need it yesterday!

 

[hs k]

Well, today I realized the importance of gapless playing. I was listening to Sirius and eye in the sky by The Alan Parsons project, and I heard a small delay. That is pissing me off.

 

[Simon Gregory]

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment here.

The problems all started with WP8 and the canning of Zune. MS have been told over and over what we want and what's wrong, but we are basically being ignored. It's always going to be fixed in the next update, which calms people down, but when it comes around the situation is usually worse!


The WP8.1 update is not the beginning of these complaints, it's the final straw for many. Which is why people are so frustrated. The problems are so deep rooted with this system, that I'm not sure bi-weekly updates are actually what we need here. All they are going to do is fix the minor problems like the live tile, seeking through the tracks etc. and persist with this 'streaming first' agenda. They've not said how long they will be doing the development process for, which is the key factor!

In the hope that I'm not correct, I've actually raised a uservoice suggestion on the sync experience, please support it:
http://xboxmusic.uservoice.com/foru...4685-fix-sync-experience-it-needs-an-overhaul

 

[radmanvr]

Maybe I am not using the xbox music correctly or something because I have no issues with it. I click play random and shuffle and it plays music. I skip ones I don't want to listen to at the moment. Am I missing something? Where is the unusable part.

I am running WP8.1 DP

 

[deezus]

New post I made at Xbox music.


Zuners not happy with the Xbox Music app - Microsoft Community

 

[deezus]

Maybe I am not using the xbox music correctly or something because I have no issues with it. I click play random and shuffle and it plays music. I skip ones I don't want to listen to at the moment. Am I missing something? Where is the unusable part.

I am running WP8.1 DP

Have you ever used Zune software? What other music app have you used? The Xbox music app is a player only with no compelling features. For paying customers and ex Zuners this app is garbage.

 

[flowkidd]

Microsoft just needs to fail, that's the only option for them to actually improve things and actually listen. All their products basically suck or are half assed with updates coming "in the coming weeks". I have 3 Windows Phones and I'm done giving them passes and I hope that other reading this will stop messing with them. I bet my last nickel that Rudy Huyn will make a better app and release more updates than MS. It's embarassing and since MS is not a person and doesn't have feelings they just need to fail and maybe they will wake up, but hey by that time it will be too late.