I saw the article on here today that said the most recent update fixes the issue of having incorrect/nonexistent album art in Xbox Music, and I was really excited. This has been my main issue with Xbox Music on Windows Phone 8.1. I installed the update and opened it to see... that nothing changed. Restarted the phone. And still nothing. I am very, very unhappy with my experience and so I am going to make a nice list here of everything I can't stand about Xbox music on Windows Phone 8.1. I , of course am not alone, but I do believe I have some unique issues that I hadn't seen mentioned before, but are big deals to me, and I'd like to bring them to light. Here goes:
One final thought: As far as the performance and incomplete/non-functioning feature issues go... Is this the result of a platform that can't handle a quality music player? Is WinPRT ill-equipped to handle an app like Xbox Music. I'm no developer, but I feel like my thinking is rational.
Please, let me know your thoughts on my issues. If you have any fixes or workarounds for any of my issues, please do share. Any improvement in usage would be welcomed.
- The app still shows black screens quite often. And yes, even after today's update.
- It is still slow.
- 90% of my album art is incorrect or nonexistent. On EVERY SINGLE OTHER DEVICE, it is fine. I have spent countless hours adding album art over the years, and I am raging on the inside to realize that these efforts are totally in vain when attempting to use the most modern music-playing device in my house (Lumia Icon).
- The swipe gesture to change the song is amazingly awful. Why is it up and down as opposed to side to side. I just don't get it. Seriously, if someone knows why this change was made, please tell me. I use a WP7 device in my car as an MP3 device. The side-to-side swipe is so convenient while driving. Oh, and it actually makes sense. Also, the WP 8.1 swiping animation lags.
- If the metadata I like to use for songs/artists is not what Xbox music likes, it will simply not display that song/artist. EXAMPLE: Daughtry. I have him listed as "Chris Daughtry" in Windows Media Player and EVERY SINGLE OTHER DEVICE that I own, but when syncing with my Lumia Icon, it appears where I want it, but then disappears when I attempt to open the artist or play the song. Incredible. Unacceptable. I paid for this music and I can't even play it.
- I like to put a single artist on and listen to them on shuffle. I am really into Paramore right now. So I just click the play button to the left of Paramore and hit shuffle (If shuffle mode isn't already on). The song "crushcrushcrush" is the second song in that shuffle 90% of the time. Literally. I just did a quick test. 9/10 times, the second song is THE EXACT SAME SONG. Like, hello? I clicked shuffle for a reason.
- What the hell is up with the jarringly loud split second of the previous song when going to the next one?
- Sometimes after being paused for a time and returning from another task, the song just doesn't play. I have to go to a different song, and then return. Unacceptable.
- The volume rocker doesn't work during playback sometimes. It will spaz out between the next highest level and the next lowest level when my finger is clearly on the up portion of the rocker. (I understand this could be a hardware issue, but it curiously only happens during Xbox Music playback)
- The volume will display a decreasing or increasing value, but will not audibly change (This only happened twice, but it is quite annoying)
- The background images take forever to load and do not cache
- There is no Live Tile
- When shuffling, I can see the next song listed below the current one. (Minor design issue, I know, but I HATE seeing the next song when I shuffle. Especially if its the second song in my Paramore mix, and its "crushcrushcrush" (See #6)
- That damned "can't play this file on your phone" message. After listening to a playlist or an artist for a long period of time, and then switching to a particular song by going through the menus to find it, this issue is still prevalent.
One final thought: As far as the performance and incomplete/non-functioning feature issues go... Is this the result of a platform that can't handle a quality music player? Is WinPRT ill-equipped to handle an app like Xbox Music. I'm no developer, but I feel like my thinking is rational.
Please, let me know your thoughts on my issues. If you have any fixes or workarounds for any of my issues, please do share. Any improvement in usage would be welcomed.