Holy crap, syncing with WP8 is a trainwreck.

[fardream]

Give them an actual chance to address the situation. People are freaking out and expecting instant solutions - this is the world of software not magic. First the root causes have to be discovered then the remedy developed, coded and tested. They'll get it but it takes some time.

No, you don't push out a product while major features are missing, you don't advertise features that you know will be missing from start, and you don't say "beta test is over" before you finish your beta test.

 

[Auric Jarrel]

They did address the situation they told us to vote if we want it to work on WP8...FAIL

Link?

 

[chaseerry]

As stated, XBOX Music is completely unfinished. MediaMonkey has saved me from going ballistic on this new WP8 - Windows 8 marriage. It has so much potential, and I believe it will only get better as long as Microsoft keeps their foot on the pedal and does not stray.

 

[Squatting Hen]

So, just to be clear....

itunes will work?

I do not have zune pass or xbox music. I do not have xbox videos. Will itunes digital copies transfer over (doubtful)? With itunes, does it only sync playlists? I actually like itunes as far as syncing music, better than Zune. I had the option to only sync checked songs and I could chose under preferences to skip a certain song while shuffling. Syncing audiobooks worked great with itunes also.

 

[Joelist]

People need to take a MAJOR chill pill here - you're starting to sound like petulant babies.

MS did not specifically code WP8 to use iTunes instead of Zune - the reason it can is that WP8 now uses and supports MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). I suspect that is also the reason it broke Zune compatibility.

What it also means is that any MTP media transfer software should work properly (for example Songbird and/or MusicBee). I tried MusicBee and it transferred things correctly.

 

[VelJharig]

Link?

Link: Error when syncing or playing video files on Windows Phone 8

They're telling their customers that purchases in Xbox Video aren't available to watch on WP8, and tell them to go vote on the WP Features suggestions site if they want that feature added to a future release. At the same time, they are explicitly stating that Xbox Video content plays on WP8 devices on their main Xbox video sites (the international ones), after having talked about it for months as a feature available with WP8 (and one that historically worked between Zune and WP7):

Example of Xbox Video on WP8 advertisement: Video - Xbox.com

 

[jaethos]

It's interesting that the only people really screwed are those that are heavily invested in the Zune ecosystem. I have been syncing almost exclusively through playlists for years and have a massive Zune pass library. Unfortunately nothing will sync pass songs via playlists. Even if I have the song on my phone already it won't show up in any playlists synced over. I literally had to spend hours to sort and redo things just to get a dozen playlists on my phone the way they should be. It's very frustrating and very disappointing.

I still don't understand why they thought starting from scratch and giving us these sub par programs was a better idea than updating and rebranding Zune. Drag and drop is there now for those who want it, but those of us who like feature rich sync clients and use their own subscription service are boned.

 

[unit_three]

People need to take a MAJOR chill pill here - you're starting to sound like petulant babies.

MS did not specifically code WP8 to use iTunes instead of Zune - the reason it can is that WP8 now uses and supports MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). I suspect that is also the reason it broke Zune compatibility.

What it also means is that any MTP media transfer software should work properly (for example Songbird and/or MusicBee). I tried MusicBee and it transferred things correctly.

I'm pretty sure they did. It says iTunes in the menu, and it even pops up iTunes when the sync needs to happen. I can post screenshots. If that's not coded specifically for iTunes than I don't know what is.


Don't get me wrong, the company I work for does software development. I personally work with Microsoft development tools all day, every day. I go to developer conferences. I buy their products because I like to support the company that allows me to make a living. But I'm not blind to their mistakes, and this one is a pretty bad mistake in my opinion.

 

[unit_three]

So, just to be clear....

itunes will work?

I do not have zune pass or xbox music. I do not have xbox videos. Will itunes digital copies transfer over (doubtful)? With itunes, does it only sync playlists? I actually like itunes as far as syncing music, better than Zune. I had the option to only sync checked songs and I could chose under preferences to skip a certain song while shuffling. Syncing audiobooks worked great with itunes also.

iTunes works... kind of. I was a simple case of moving physical songs associated to a playlist onto a phone and it failed on me twice. My fix was removing the songs that made it crash. If your case is more complicated, then maybe it works. Maybe not.

The weird thing for me was that I moved all the songs from the playlist, but not the playlist itself. It created the playlist name on the phone, but it's empty... even though it moved the songs from that playlist (if this makes sense). I guess I'm asking for too much at this point right? Haha...

 

[Joelist]

I'm pretty sure they did. It says iTunes in the menu, and it even pops up iTunes when the sync needs to happen. I can post screenshots. If that's not coded specifically for iTunes than I don't know what is.


Don't get me wrong, the company I work for does software development. I personally work with Microsoft development tools all day, every day. I go to developer conferences. I buy their products because I like to support the company that allows me to make a living. But I'm not blind to their mistakes, and this one is a pretty bad mistake in my opinion.

That doesn't mean they specifically coded it to work on iTunes instead of Zune. All it means is that because iTunes is popular they put a prompt in - the reason you can use iTunes is that iTunes uses MTP and now so does WP8.

 

[vedichymn]

That doesn't mean they specifically coded it to work on iTunes instead of Zune. All it means is that because iTunes is popular they put a prompt in - the reason you can use iTunes is that iTunes uses MTP and now so does WP8.

Nope, iTunes doesn't use MTP, the Windows Phone 8 desktop transfer tool hooks into iTunes, reads your library and basically just automates the job of figure out what to copy for you.

 

[badMojo69]

I have it on good authority that the Zune player is dead at Microsoft there will be no effort put into making it work with WP8.
They are working on getting the WP8 app completed, because they want an app that will work from the app store and not require the desktop to install.

I know this because I spoke to my friend who works for them and told her that I was taking my 920 back yesterday and she stopped me to today and said to hold on to it, because of the above.

 

[jaethos]

Well unless they improve it tremendously it was a stupid decision. As it is currently both the desktop app and the metro app are just slightly prettier file explorers right now. They don't aggregate artists or actually sync anything, they just transfer, and I have to dig around in my folders to find anything. I'm actually using Windows Media Player for my syncing, even if it won't transfer pass music it's still leagues better than the Windows Phone apps.

 

[WPenvy]

Quick question ya'll. I'm buying a 920 on Friday morning as soon as my local store gets stock. I'm running Windows 7.

What's my deal going to be like with syncing my music? I have absolutely NO DOWNLOADED MUSIC, only DRM-free mp3s from my own collection. How will i be syncing? I hate drag and drop in explorer because i have OCD with file organization and music tags....

 

[Gken]

Hmm, I haven't run into problems syncing my music or vidoes. But I haven't bought music on zune just do it through amazon or some other site that I get higher bitrates. Or I just rip them myself off the cds and encode them.

 

[danbbrantley]

Quick question ya'll. I'm buying a 920 on Friday morning as soon as my local store gets stock. I'm running Windows 7.

What's my deal going to be like with syncing my music? I have absolutely NO DOWNLOADED MUSIC, only DRM-free mp3s from my own collection. How will i be syncing? I hate drag and drop in explorer because i have OCD with file organization and music tags....

I'm in the same boat. I don't mind using WMP as all of my music is tagged correctly (use and love MusicBrainz Picard) and using WMP to sync will be as simple as adding my music to the library. Should I expect issues getting my local music onto the phone with tags and album art intact?
Not all of my music will be recognized by Xbox Music and I'm sure of that, but surely there's some way of getting the music on without them trying to mess with my tag info?
Running Windows 7

 

[Coolknight1968]

I use Beyond Compare. Make a folder on my PC for each of my two 8X, then fill those with what I need and then Sync the files. Much easier once it is setup. I converted all my iTunes music to MP3 a long time ago for my car Audio System.

 

[DJRedLine]

There needs to be a way to change the folder paths in the app for Win7.
At present i have all my music / pics etc in folders on my D: Drive. When i open the app it automatically finds these folders correctly and i can sync to my phone fine.

When i want to synch from phone to PC though it automatically puts files into my user profile (My documents, My Music etc) and then i have to manually move them. As this is a work laptop and connected to the domain i can't manually change the path of the My Documents directory so really need a way within the app.

EDIT: Changed the path via regedit

 

[Chromeo_El_Lobo]

I'm using a 920 with Windows 8 Pro and an Xbox Music Pass, and I deleted my entire Zune collection and re-downloaded it in W8. I have two problems and one fix - for the DRM problem, I've found that once I try to play the song on the phone once and I get the DRM error, I can play it fine after that. So, after I download a new album, I just head over to the phone and give it a run-through to make it work normally. Strange, I know, but it works in my case.

The only other thing that annoys me is that the "Cloud Collection" music doubles up with my Xbox Pass music. So, if I leave Cloud Collection turned on, I get to see everything twice, and Play All and Smart DJ will pick out both local and cloud music at random.

This is pretty much what I'm having to do now too. A Shame we have to do this complex workarounds for something that should simply "work".

 

[dainla]

I can't get any music on my phone. Have a Mac. Drag and drop doesn't work, either.