Biggest Problem With Windows Phone & Windows 8/RT - Xbox Music & Video

[missionsparta]

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong area, but I had a hard time deciding were it belonged.

What drew many of us to Windows Phone was the OS and ZUNE. Zune got a bad wrap mainly from people that never tried it and just don't want anything other than Apple.

Zune in itself did a great job of organizing my music library and video library. There was a glitch here or there but nothing I couldn't fix. Music was generally organized correctly, I had smart playlist, great UI, etc. Videos were organize into movies, TV, and personal. My movies went to movies, TV shows were broken down into their shows, then into their season, and then ordered by episode. It was great, Only knock was the inability to add cover art.

We scrapped that for this new entertainment fiasco. To major problems jump at you from the beginning. We had Zune which required one app/program to do everything; Watch, Listen, edit/organize, and sync. We were given this mess that gave us three different apps to be only able to do half of that. Xbox Music is so worried about selling you music and selling you a streaming service that barely worked on it's ability to handle your own library. It's awful. Then we get the video that app that is even worse in that aspect. Every video gets crammed into personal and is one giant Hodge podge of videos you shot personally, your previously owned TV shows, and your previously owned Movies. Then it gives you no ability to delete videos that were free samples to make the matter worse (pilot shows are generally free to try... try about 20 free ones and there is no ay to permanently delete them... making everything even a bigger mess). Now if you want to sync anything you have to open one of two apps (the desktop or the metro version). Ugh.

Zune was such a delight fro, the media aspect. Now what has become of it is just a giant mess. To many apps to perform what one app should be able to. Need to forget about the streaming crap and focus more on our own libraries. Ten years ago I would never have believed that iTunes would be better than Microsoft media handling. Even scarier is this has happened with iTunes even having to get better.... they just stayed idol and allowed Microsoft to kill itself.

The keep "restarting" this Xbox Music/Video thing over and over and it just gets worse and loses more functionality. I said before they need to fire who ever is in charge of this mess, and it needs it now more than ever. Who ever is heading these things keeps taking taking two steps forward and sixteen backwards. This person needs to realize:

A) Music, Video, Syncing needs to be ONE ENITY....ONE APP...ONE PROGRAM
B) Enough of ten million updates "tweaking" your streaming service... worry about your apps (should be app) as a player and organizer not a service.
C) Step making each update take away more and more features.

Sorry for the rant, but a TON of people I know, after phone usage, have their phone mainly as a media player/organizer and I have watched a company take the greatest product available for this, and slow kill and destroy it on their own -- and it is flat out frustrating to think someone is getting paid a boat load of money to do this,

 

[ven07]

In the last week there have been at least 5+ posts like yours
If this trend keeps up Satya will just close down the tent and we won't have anything to complain about :grin:

And he would do it too.. The man is about business and if it isn't turning up a profit he will cut it..

 

[missionsparta]

In the last week there have been at least 5+ posts like yours
If this trend keeps up Satya will just close down the tent and we won't have anything to complain about :grin:

And he would do it too.. The man is about business and if it isn't turning up a profit he will cut it..

That's fine. It would be wrong to tell them the service/product/app is fine how it is just to save it. If he closes it all down and there is no real ability to use and organize your media on Windows Phone, you might as well drop Windows Phone all together , because that is to big of a portion of mobile devices to just say "ahhh... We can do with out". Doing that may be a "business decision", but its a cowards way out and a bull**** way of handling your mess up.

 

[Bobvfr]

I don't get it at all, I spent some time this weekend figuring out Xbox music, I thinks it's superb, all my local music and all my newer downloads easily accessible across multiple devices (See the caveat below about local music on the Xbox One). I haven't seen any of the issues that others complain about.

My only issues would be the Xbox One not handling local music without going to the cloud (Although I can "Push" local music from any other device to the Xbox One), the Xbox music pass not having a family option like Office 365 and Gold and why isn't there a standalone Xbox MP3 player so I can ditch my Sony one.

I admit I am not into video's and don't think I have any but if video's are handled as well as music then I personally wont have anything to worry about.

I also admit it pays to do a bit of thinking about to get it right, but I do think a lot of people don't like it because it's different to what they are used to, just like 8/8.1.


Bob

 

[missionsparta]

I don't get it at all, I spent some time this weekend figuring out Xbox music, I thinks it's superb, all my local music and all my newer downloads easily accessible across multiple devices (See the caveat below about local music on the Xbox One). I haven't seen any of the issues that others complain about.

My only issues would be the Xbox One not handling local music without going to the cloud (Although I can "Push" local music from any other device to the Xbox One), the Xbox music pass not having a family option like Office 365 and Gold and why isn't there a standalone Xbox MP3 player so I can ditch my Sony one.

I admit I am not into video's and don't think I have any but if video's are handled as well as music then I personally wont have anything to worry about.

I also admit it pays to do a bit of thinking about to get it right, but I do think a lot of people don't like it because it's different to what they are used to, just like 8/8.1.


Bob

When I use Xbox Music with my local library, it cant see the album art, matching music constantly grabs the wrong song and links them, and when it does work, all to often it takes the easy way out and just looks for a greatest album. And how do we still have no smart playlists? Awful. We are all waiting for the Xbox Music Live tile to return. They keep saying "coming" why the hell are we waiting for something to come that we already had? The person heading these projects has NO IDEA what he is doing and has zero leadership skills, or this wouldn't be happening. How he allows his team to constantly take steps backwards and then try to sugar coat them is completely mind boggling. If he wants to speak the truth just say, "I am in over my head, not sure what I am doing, and I resign". Then we have the video app. Ugh.

An example of two steps forward and three back is the latest update foe Xbox Video on Windows 8. They bragged that they updated the video player. Great. But you took out the fast forward, rewind, and skip buttons. And since you never have gotten around to giving us scrubbing, all maneuvering now is done by blindly dragged the time line and dropping it. I'll scream if we get one more update that removes features.

 

[missionsparta]

When I use Xbox Music with my local library, it cant see the album art, matching music constantly grabs the wrong song and links them, and when it does work, all to often it takes the easy way out and just looks for a greatest album. And how do we still have no smart playlists? Awful. We are all waiting for the Xbox Music Live tile to return. They keep saying "coming" why the hell are we waiting for something to come that we already had? The person heading these projects has NO IDEA what he is doing and has zero leadership skills, or this wouldn't be happening. How he allows his team to constantly take steps backwards and then try to sugar coat them is completely mind boggling. If he wants to speak the truth just say, "I am in over my head, not sure what I am doing, and I resign". Then we have the video app. Ugh.

An example of two steps forward and three back is the latest update foe Xbox Video on Windows 8. They bragged that they updated the video player. Great. But you took out the fast forward, rewind, and skip buttons. And since you never have gotten around to giving us scrubbing, all maneuvering now is done by blindly dragged the time line and dropping it. I'll scream if we get one more update that removes features.

 

[negative1ne]

And this is one of the reasons why i will not update to windows 8 phone.

i use music player every time i get in my car.

i got a windows phone to replace a broken zune HD.

on windows 7.5/7.8 the music works almost exactly like it did on my zune,
and the zune software of course works very well.

knowing that is broken, and non-working for a lot of people
in windows 8 is definitely an issue.

yes, music on a phone is not essential, but for people like me,
its important.

i don't use or watch videos, so that part is not that much of an issue,
but if there's a problem with that. i can understand also.

later
-1

 

[missionsparta]

And this is one of the reasons why i will not update to windows 8 phone.

i use music player every time i get in my car.

i got a windows phone to replace a broken zune HD.

on windows 7.5/7.8 the music works almost exactly like it did on my zune,
and the zune software of course works very well.

knowing that is broken, and non-working for a lot of people
in windows 8 is definitely an issue.

yes, music on a phone is not essential, but for people like me,
its important.

i don't use or watch videos, so that part is not that much of an issue,
but if there's a problem with that. i can understand also.

later
-1

agree with everything you said, but unfortunately not only does this problem exist in Windows Phone but also Windows 8/RT. Just took a great system, design, and implementation and flat out destroyed it.

 

[JamesPTao]

And this is one of the reasons why i will not update to windows 8 phone.

i use music player every time i get in my car.

i got a windows phone to replace a broken zune HD.

on windows 7.5/7.8 the music works almost exactly like it did on my zune,
and the zune software of course works very well.

knowing that is broken, and non-working for a lot of people
in windows 8 is definitely an issue.

yes, music on a phone is not essential, but for people like me,
its important.

i don't use or watch videos, so that part is not that much of an issue,
but if there's a problem with that. i can understand also.

later
-1

Microsoft phone user voice is now reviewing a thread titled something like. Bring back Zune or make add features and functionality of it in Xbox music. There are many Zune and Xbox music threads and we get to vote on the ones we want. They do look at these and vote counts to prioritize their focus for these apps so vote away!

 

[JamesPTao]

Hell at this point I would be happy if they would just update Zune desktop app to sync with WP Xbox music and add ability to rate songs on the phone!

 

[missionsparta]

Hell at this point I would be happy if they would just update Zune desktop app to sync with WP Xbox music and add ability to rate songs on the phone!

I'd be in seventh heaven....that would solve the problem with Xbox Video also.

 

[docfreed]

Don't hold your breath - MS is clueless as to why people buy smartphones. Couple that with their inability to move any faster than a snail means that by the time they get a feature to meet a perceived market need, that market opportunity has evaporated! I call it the "Blackberry Syndrome".

I'd be in seventh heaven....that would solve the problem with Xbox Video also.

 

[missionsparta]

Don't hold your breath - MS is clueless as to why people buy smartphones. Couple that with their inability to move any faster than a snail means that by the time they get a feature to meet a perceived market need, that market opportunity has evaporated! I call it the "Blackberry Syndrome".

That is why some.people really need to be fired. I'd tell the Xbox Music and Video heads that they have one month to get it damn close to the functionality of Zune or they are out. They have accomplished next to nothing in the years, in my opinion.

 

[JamesPTao]

That is why some.people really need to be fired. I'd tell the Xbox Music and Video heads that they have one month to get it damn close to the functionality of Zune or they are out. They have accomplished next to nothing in the years, in my opinion.

I think the fact that they have opened up some threads pertaining to Zune for review shows they are starting to come around. Especially since they denied one months ago that had more votes then any I've seen. It may tale a while, but I could see them hiring back some of the employees that made Zune what it was.

 

[missionsparta]

For christ sake... we all spelled it out for them.... keep the exact same Zune design and just slap Xbox on its title and logo. It wasn't that confusing, instead they tore it to shreds.

In the esteemed words of Jim Brown in Any Given Sunday: "Your dumb enough, you made this **** simple enough. Real f***ing simple."

 

[negative1ne]

whats really sad, that as a developer and programmer.

if we knew what protocols to use when syncing with windows 8 phone,
there might even be a way to patch or retrofit zune software to work with it.

there is probably some encryption and other stuff, going on besides the handshaking
with the hardware.

i don't know.

there might be other technical reasons, why zune couldn't work with the current
windows 8 phone. but if they spent this much time and money working on new
applications, they sure could have spent that much time fixing the older software
by now to work with it.

i think the real reasons, are more political than technical.

one department (the new) xbox music and video team, probably didn't want
to have to work with the old team, and maybe they let the old team go also.

maybe there was enough documentation (i doubt that).

there could have been a lot of reasons, but mostly speculation on my part.

still, it's a very sad story.

later
-1

 

[negative1ne]

agree with everything you said, but unfortunately not only does this problem exist in Windows Phone but also Windows 8/RT. Just took a great system, design, and implementation and flat out destroyed it.

yes, that is a problem.

however, i am using windows 8, 8.1 on my surface pro.

and the zune client works fine on it.

of course that doesn't help people with a windows 8 phone.

but you can at least manage, and listen to your collection through it,
which might be a better experience than windows 8 music. (which i have never used).

later
-1

 

[JamesPTao]

whats really sad, that as a developer and programmer.

if we knew what protocols to use when syncing with windows 8 phone,
there might even be a way to patch or retrofit zune software to work with it.

there is probably some encryption and other stuff, going on besides the handshaking
with the hardware.

i don't know.

there might be other technical reasons, why zune couldn't work with the current
windows 8 phone. but if they spent this much time and money working on new
applications, they sure could have spent that much time fixing the older software
by now to work with it.

i think the real reasons, are more political than technical.

one department (the new) xbox music and video team, probably didn't want
to have to work with the old team, and maybe they let the old team go also.

maybe there was enough documentation (i doubt that).

there could have been a lot of reasons, but mostly speculation on my part.

still, it's a very sad story.

later
-1

One of the main developers for Zune is working for a different company developing their music software.

 

[missionsparta]

One of the main developers for Zune is working for a different company developing their music software.

Software for what? Windows Phone? Hopefully.

 

[JamesPTao]

Software for what? Windows Phone? Hopefully.

No software for a high end music player. Can't remember which one was talking with a developer friend of mine.