This is not to be a gripe post about XBOX Music but to rather list the serious issues it has both with and without Windows Phone 8. Perhaps we can get someone at Microsoft to notice and get this fixed. In my experience, here are the problems I've encountered:
Syncing To Windows Phone - A lot has been said about syncing. Most of us were focused on the "Modern" Windows Phone App and how it would simply transfer music and not sync it. We also tried Windows Media Player which did a good job except it would not sync XBOX Music Pass songs. The Desktop Windows Phone app does a better job but it is still quirky. We need something built into XBOX Music itself for music syncing.
Album Art - When I use the desktop app to sync music, album art is hit and miss, and more miss. The artist picture is in the background but over 60% of my album art is missing. I believe all music I've downloaded from XBOX Music pass have had no problems with Album Art.
Sluggish Performance - When I switch between songs by swiping over the album art, it will pause while moving and then settle down and play the song after 2-5 seconds. Also, when I go to play all my music or a playlist, there is a good pause before music starts at at least 10-20 seconds before the song info appears.
Streaming Playlists - I was a long time Spotify user and I decided to embrace XBOX Music and give it a chance (especially since I had to buy seperate XBOX Music passes between my wife's and my phone.) I loved having my streaming playlists available between PC's and devices (when I was on Android). I'd love to see the same thing with XBOX Music and it acts like I can do it. However, if I create a playlist either from my PC, Surface or XBOX, it never appears on either device. Just the one it was created on. This needs to be fixed because streaming is ideal for XBOX and low storage devices like the Surface.
XBOX Music Cloud - Wow! This is a mess! What is all of this info? I see playlists with various amounts of music in them, some maxed out at 1,000 with saying no more can be added, a mess of playlists and autoplaylists. Right now, with the exception of the XBOX, I have this turned off. Mainly because I can't sync streaming lists and all of this data is messy and all over the map. Is there a way I can get into this "cloud" an clean this up and start fresh? I'd like to see them perhaps get this setup like Spotify and Google Music. Would be a good combo. Most of all, I want streaming playlists to sync between ALL my devices.
Music Management On The Windows Phone - I'd like to see the ability to make playlists from albums and not just single songs (one song at a time)...and deleting music is also just one song at a tile, though you can check off what you wanted deleted and then delete them all. Both of these functions could be easier. Would also like to be able to check multiple playlists and then play them. The XBOX Music app on the PC or Surface will do so and that is nice.
Zune Like Experience - I would like to see them return to the Zune Like Experience when you listen to a song. RIght now, it is a static picture of album art (when it apepars) and a single background picture of the artist. Would be nice to see the big letters sliding across the screen with info and time left and changing background. This isn't a problem as it is a request.
Misc. - I am a long time Zune user and since my wife had to get her own XBOX Music Pass for her phone, that still allows me to use my Zune and ZunePass music, so I don't see it going away. It has 64GB and transferring one playlist to my Lumua 920 brought it down to 5.8 gigs left. So I imagine I'll use the ZuneHD for long trips or long periods of music. I am still on unlimited data on my phone so if I need to stream or even download an album on the fly with my XBOX Music pass, I can. Mostly, I'll be in wi-fi. Kind of excited about the JBL Power Up for the Lumua 920. A
So, I wanted to start a master thread to let people report the problems with the Music experience and perhaps see if Microsoft can fix these issues. I am standing behind the new ecosystem and this is where I see the most work needs to be done. As it stands, music is half-baked.
Syncing To Windows Phone - A lot has been said about syncing. Most of us were focused on the "Modern" Windows Phone App and how it would simply transfer music and not sync it. We also tried Windows Media Player which did a good job except it would not sync XBOX Music Pass songs. The Desktop Windows Phone app does a better job but it is still quirky. We need something built into XBOX Music itself for music syncing.
Album Art - When I use the desktop app to sync music, album art is hit and miss, and more miss. The artist picture is in the background but over 60% of my album art is missing. I believe all music I've downloaded from XBOX Music pass have had no problems with Album Art.
Sluggish Performance - When I switch between songs by swiping over the album art, it will pause while moving and then settle down and play the song after 2-5 seconds. Also, when I go to play all my music or a playlist, there is a good pause before music starts at at least 10-20 seconds before the song info appears.
Streaming Playlists - I was a long time Spotify user and I decided to embrace XBOX Music and give it a chance (especially since I had to buy seperate XBOX Music passes between my wife's and my phone.) I loved having my streaming playlists available between PC's and devices (when I was on Android). I'd love to see the same thing with XBOX Music and it acts like I can do it. However, if I create a playlist either from my PC, Surface or XBOX, it never appears on either device. Just the one it was created on. This needs to be fixed because streaming is ideal for XBOX and low storage devices like the Surface.
XBOX Music Cloud - Wow! This is a mess! What is all of this info? I see playlists with various amounts of music in them, some maxed out at 1,000 with saying no more can be added, a mess of playlists and autoplaylists. Right now, with the exception of the XBOX, I have this turned off. Mainly because I can't sync streaming lists and all of this data is messy and all over the map. Is there a way I can get into this "cloud" an clean this up and start fresh? I'd like to see them perhaps get this setup like Spotify and Google Music. Would be a good combo. Most of all, I want streaming playlists to sync between ALL my devices.
Music Management On The Windows Phone - I'd like to see the ability to make playlists from albums and not just single songs (one song at a time)...and deleting music is also just one song at a tile, though you can check off what you wanted deleted and then delete them all. Both of these functions could be easier. Would also like to be able to check multiple playlists and then play them. The XBOX Music app on the PC or Surface will do so and that is nice.
Zune Like Experience - I would like to see them return to the Zune Like Experience when you listen to a song. RIght now, it is a static picture of album art (when it apepars) and a single background picture of the artist. Would be nice to see the big letters sliding across the screen with info and time left and changing background. This isn't a problem as it is a request.
Misc. - I am a long time Zune user and since my wife had to get her own XBOX Music Pass for her phone, that still allows me to use my Zune and ZunePass music, so I don't see it going away. It has 64GB and transferring one playlist to my Lumua 920 brought it down to 5.8 gigs left. So I imagine I'll use the ZuneHD for long trips or long periods of music. I am still on unlimited data on my phone so if I need to stream or even download an album on the fly with my XBOX Music pass, I can. Mostly, I'll be in wi-fi. Kind of excited about the JBL Power Up for the Lumua 920. A
So, I wanted to start a master thread to let people report the problems with the Music experience and perhaps see if Microsoft can fix these issues. I am standing behind the new ecosystem and this is where I see the most work needs to be done. As it stands, music is half-baked.
Bring back the Zune-like music management.
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