Is the music app really that bad?

[Joseph Young4]

I really want ot upgrade to windows phone 8.1 but I am hearing a lot of bad press about the "Xbox Music" app. I hear that the "Xbox Music + Video" app was replaces with just the "Xbox Music" app and that it is slow moving, loads slow, the audio controls suck, etc. The music app is really what keeps me on a window's phone because I love it and I don't want to upgrade to 8.1 if the music app is as terrible as the articles suggest. Is the "Xbox Music + Video" app still implemented in the phone? By that I mean, can I still use the same old music player I had on 8.0 with the 8.1 update?

 

[Kaushik Banerjee]

Check out "Music Hub Tile" for Windows Phone http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=3faa2f9e-6b8d-440a-bb60-5dd76a5baec1 yup you can

 

[ushodax]

the best thing of the "new" app (i used " " cause the app actually is an old one) is the search button <3... well, that's the only good thing about the new app xD

oh! and the buttons at the bottom of the screen, i hated them when they were up.

PS: sorry about my english

 

[anon(5445874)]

Yes and NO. The app just takes a second or two too long to load. and it takes a half a second to a second to display my list of artists. To me that's very annoying so I hate it. They are suppose to be fixing that soon.

I also really miss the history area. But other than that, it's ok.

 

[satycool]

Yes it is a step back - History is now missing, loads slow, no live tile, can't see the next track unless you press track list, unable to swipe previous or next track. W8.1 has, for me, ruined music player on W8P.

 

[byobg]

It's the most amazing interface for playing music you've ever seen, if the last interface you saw for playing music was a Sony Walkman Cassette player.

Otherwise, it's probably the best music player for Windows Phone currently available, but not as good as the best music player for literally any other smartphone.

 

[Joseph Young4]

But is the app at least slightly on par with the music app I currently have with 8.0? I just don't want to upgrade to windows 8.1 to find that the music app is so bad I'm crying that I upgraded.

 

[berty6294]

It's the most amazing interface for playing music you've ever seen, if the last interface you saw for playing music was a Sony Walkman Cassette player.

Otherwise, it's probably the best music player for Windows Phone currently available, but not as good as the best music player for literally any other smartphone.

What the hell did I just read?

 

[thekeeblerelf]

The new Xbox Music app is getting a lot of hate recently, and most of it is deserved, but it's not entirely useless. The only issue that really gets on my nerves is when you open the application by tapping on the tile, or on the song that is currently playing (by hitting a volume button), the app appears to load, but only brings up a black screen with "loading..." in the top left. This happens at least half the time.

The Xbox Music team is working on the app though, and I'm confident that they'll get it right... or at least mostly right. The current state of the Xbox Music app shouldn't sway you from installing 8.1.

 

[SnailUK]

I must be lucky, because the music hub now works perfectly for me. Works quickly, goes straight to where I want it.

Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_342 using Tapatalk

 

[SpaceyO]

At the moment, my biggest issue with the Music app for 8.1 is the fast forward and rewind implementation. Instead of smoothly accelerating as you held down one of the buttons, it's a stuttering action; skip ahead 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. Some of my tracks are album length (because of no gapless playback) and it's a little more difficult to skip to a favorite section.

Other than that, it's not too bad for me. If Music is as important to you as you say, you might not be too happy. But for ma, a casual user of music stored on my phone, it's OK, aside from a couple minor annoyances.

 

[satycool]

If you have W8 and not sure to update to 8.1 consider this before doing: Photo/Music/People/Msg's by sending/checking messages in one place - Have all been altered for the worse! Live Tiles have gone too on most media apps inc Music. Music has removed 'History', loads slow, no live tile, no heart option, can't see the next track unless you press track list, unable to swipe previous or next track. W8.1 has, for me, ruined music player on W8P. Have had two updates, but have not resolved any missing features or functions on music!

 

[Squatting Hen]

I only have about 120 songs on my phone and the app won't stay open. Worked fine on my old 920 on 8.1. New one, it crashes and closes within 3 seconds.

 

[Chris_Germany]

Its crap. Slow, always synchronization at startup

 

[TonyDedrick]

Isn't this standalone app available for 8.0?

 

[dennisfang1]

Don't upgrade. 8.1 has completely ruined the WP experience for me. The music hub although has similar functionality to the old one, performance is a lot worse. There are now significant splash screens that really ruin the experience for me. The gorgeous live titles are now gone. This is also reflected in the Xbox hub which takes an age to load and is really laggy. I can go on and on. The photo hub is gone, the music hub, gone, the people hub ruined, the messeging hub ruined. Also the signature wp aesthetics of the large titles and backgrounds are gone too, leaving the app store looking really plain and cluttered. Ps. I went back to my 800 from my 1020 and im so much happier

 

[anon(5445874)]

Isn't this standalone app available for 8.0?

Yes, I had it before upgrading to 8.1 and it's just as awful on 8.

 

[crazycanucks1977]

Don't upgrade. 8.1 has completely ruined the WP experience for me. The music hub although has similar functionality to the old one, performance is a lot worse. There are now significant splash screens that really ruin the experience for me. The gorgeous live titles are now gone. This is also reflected in the Xbox hub which takes an age to load and is really laggy. I can go on and on. The photo hub is gone, the music hub, gone, the people hub ruined, the messeging hub ruined. Also the signature wp aesthetics of the large titles and backgrounds are gone too, leaving the app store looking really plain and cluttered. Ps. I went back to my 800 from my 1020 and im so much happier

You do realize this is a dev preview and is not the final WP 8.1 right. That was your choice to download and install an OS that is not a final release. If you don't know what the dev preview entails then don't install and just wait for final release

 

[TaichiSurface]

feature wise it's much better but it's slower, still need a lot of work

 

[fardream]

I am experiencing another bug - playlists are cleared when using without internet connection. Now I am just too scared to use it