Can anyone give insight on the power of Zune..?

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I've really wanted to start tapping into the possibilities of the Zune software and cloud capabilities of it with WP7. Whenever I've had to use Zune on my laptop, it was always pretty buggy and slow and was turned off by it. I always see people and reviews mentioning Zune as one of the highlights of WP7, but I don't get it.

What are some of the ways people here use Zune with their WP7 because I feel like I haven't tapped into my phone's "potential" yet? Is it like Google Music?

 

[TheWeeBear]

Zune is like having any music CD you want available anytime. With a Zune pass you can have access to millions of albums and tracks on your PC, WP7 and XBox console.

You can either stream them, or download them for playing anytime.

I absolutely love Zune. Basically it's like Spotify but because it's available on 3 devices for me makes it even more value for money to me personally.

You can of course use it with your own music and use the PC software to sync to your WP7

Beats the pants off iTunes for ease of use and speed at syncing with your phone.

That's a brief description of Zune.

You don't have to use a Zune Pass subscription, but if you are seriously into music you will love it.

Zune Passes can often be found on ebay now and again for 1 or 3 months subscriptions at great prices.

You get a 14 day trial by the way to give it a whirl and see what you think of it jrdatrackstar.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Zune is like having any music CD you want available anytime . With a Zune pass you can have access to millions of albums and tracks on your PC, WP7 and XBox console.

You can either stream them, or download them for playing anytime.

I absolutely love Zune. Basically it's like Spotify but because it's available on 3 devices for me makes it even more value for money to me personally.

You can of course use it with your own music and use the PC software to sync to your WP7

Beats the pants off iTunes for ease of use and speed at syncing with your phone.

That's a brief description of Zune.

You don't have to use a Zune Pass subscription, but if you are seriously into music you will love it.

Zune Passes can often be found on ebay now and again for 1 or 3 months.

You get a 14 day trial by the way to give it a whirl and see what you think of it.

well...I don't ever buy albums but shhhh =-D

So it's only powerful for Zune Pass? Is there anyway I can like upload my albums to a cloud that Zune will allow me to stream from my phone? I don't have any other devices other than my Zune and my WP7, but I don't really listen to music that much anymore or get albums because I never have time to find ones I like (or I just get on YouTube a lot or use streaming radio apps).

 

[TheWeeBear]

Well you can upload music to SkyDrive and stream them, but at the moment it's very basic, one file at a time via the Office Hub and it will stream that way by using Internet Explorer.

There is a SkyDrive music player app but all that does at the moment is download the mp3's then plays them.

I'm sure through time the SkyDrive user experience will improve, but at the moment for anything other than photos and documents it's a bit poo. (IMO)

A big pain is that you currently have to drag and drop files to SkyDrive one at a time, it won't allow you drag folders.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

ah....bummer...

I also think it kind of stinks that you can't download movies or tv shows through the phone like you can with iTunes on the iPhone....that you always have to have a PC with you...

still love my Windows Phone (while trying to pretend like I've never heard of a little update called MANGO because I wish Sprint would just release it already lol)

 

[TheWeeBear]

Mango ? I've heard of that somewhere before, someone else mentioned it too, hmmmmm, must look into it jrdatrackster.

 

[Apoc]

Mango ? I've heard of that somewhere before, someone else mentioned it too, hmmmmm, must look into it jrdatrackster.

Yes it's a really tasty fruit, great mango strawberry smoothie too! Is there any other type of Mango?

 

[foosball]

Yeah that raises an interesting question why Zune doesn't have the scope of media content like Movies that iTunes does. That being said streaming is clearly the future and I hate paying ala carte instead of carte blanche.

 

[velvetelvis]

the problem with streaming being the future is the carriers. if youre not on wifi you probably have a limited data plan and streaming sucks on a limited data plan.

i dont understand everything going to the cloud when every carrier is offering only a limited data plan. granted, wifi is becoming more readily available, but not if youre in a car. or on the subway, etc... blech... ok, done with my mini rant.

on the plus side, mango are a delicious fruit. pluots are better.

 

[willied]

I've really wanted to start tapping into the possibilities of the Zune software and cloud capabilities of it with WP7. Whenever I've had to use Zune on my laptop, it was always pretty buggy and slow and was turned off by it. I always see people and reviews mentioning Zune as one of the highlights of WP7, but I don't get it.

What are some of the ways people here use Zune with their WP7 because I feel like I haven't tapped into my phone's "potential" yet? Is it like Google Music?

What are the specs of your laptop?

Zune is a great program, not only for the Zune Pass (which I don't use, because I don't need it), but it is less restrictive than iTunes. For instance, if you want to get someone else's Zune or WP7 phone and sync all the music to your computer you can. Whereas iTunes won't let you. Just little things like that and the UI are what make it better.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

What are the specs of your laptop?

Zune is a great program, not only for the Zune Pass (which I don't use, because I don't need it), but it is less restrictive than iTunes. For instance, if you want to get someone else's Zune or WP7 phone and sync all the music to your computer you can. Whereas iTunes won't let you. Just little things like that and the UI are what make it better.

My laptop is an Acer (running out of space) with 3GB of RAM (I believe) and around 120GB HDD. I agree the UI is better, and I really haven't used it lately so this is going off my past experience with an older laptop and sometimes it seemed laggy on my newer laptop to the point that I would prevent it from starting on boot (which I believe one of the highlights of the updated Zune is faster start time or something).