Xbox Music AND Music+Videos getting even WORSE?!?!

[Reeves]

So, Zune on WP7 was my primary reason for jumping over from Android, and I loved it. Loved the live tile with the last played artist, the aesthetics, the ease of use.....

Of course, the WP8 version is just a distant shadow of Zune. But I made my peace with it a while ago, and accepted it. Now, more and more albums from the store appear on my Lumia 920 with no artwork whatsoever. The search functionality is becoming less and less useful ( I repeatedly tried searching for "The Lego movie" so my kids could hear their favorite songs from it. Nada on Xbox Music or Music and Videos. FINALLY, I had to search for the song "Everything is Awesome" which I had to scroll down a list to even find. Of the top 10 results in the list, only two have artwork associated with them!).

It's not my particular handset because I just got an insurance replacement and the same problem exists with both music apps on the new one too. It existed before the Lumia Black update, and it exists now as well. The new Dada Life album that is featured on the front page of the store? No artwork. Several other albums I searched for? Grey squares.

I still want to believe in Windows Phone, but stuff like this is why I steer my wife and family away from this platform. I recommended an Android phone for her first real smartphone and I recommended iPhones for my parents and my brother for the same. I already do "tech support" for their PC issues. I don't want to have to do it for a phone as well. Honestly, I'm starting to look elsewhere too. :-(

 

[Jas00555]

I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but I can't recreate it on my 920 or 1520. I searched for "the Lego movie" in the store, swiped to the music section and the album was the 2nd option with the artist name as "various artists" (which makes perfect sense). There were also individual tracks from the movie in the search list.

 

[MilkyTee]

I don't have the Xbox Music APP, but the built in hub works perfectly for me. Artwork loads instantly, as does Bio, etc. The same can be said for the Xbox Video app, albeit there's a millisecond delay upon start up before titles load correctly.

I don't know what to tell you man and I'm not going to insult your intelligence by asking if it's you connection, but I can't replicate the problem here.

 

[MilkyTee]

I searched for "the Lego movie" in the store, swiped to the music section and the album was the 2nd option with the artist name as "various artists" (which makes perfect sense)

Just did exactly this, can confirm this was the result.

Edit: Hmmm, no artwork though, which is strange... I assume because they haven't updated the store yet? I mean, it would be a very new title. Everything else below is laoding just fine.

 

[Mike Paez]

Just did exactly this, can confirm this was the result.

Edit: Hmmm, no artwork though, which is strange... I assume because they haven't updated the store yet? I mean, it would be a very new title. Everything else below is laoding just fine.

I too tested this out on my Lumia 1520 and got the exact same results as MilkyTee. Ill try on my wifes 920 tonight and let you know how it goes.

 

[unnatixlr8]

I know album arts have their own values but i focus on the music.. Just enjoy the song man.
Or install an app which puts album arts on music.. I forgot the name but their is one in the store

 

[Blkacesvf41]

I know album arts have their own values but i focus on the music.. Just enjoy the song man.
Or install an app which puts album arts on music.. I forgot the name but their is one in the store

It's called MAPtool.

 

[JaiMento]

Just did exactly this, can confirm this was the result.

Edit: Hmmm, no artwork though, which is strange... I assume because they haven't updated the store yet? I mean, it would be a very new title. Everything else below is laoding just fine.

Same here. Found "The Lego Movie" soundtrack easily.

As for album artwork, I've found that a lot of albums aren't showing album art in the Store, but when you download the album, the album artwork displays fine.

Edit: Just tested the album art thing and it does appear to not work all the time.

 

[Jaskys]

It can't be any worse

 

[Piratelooksat40]

I agree. Zune is still so much better than anything with Xbox music. Now, Beats is advertising basically what the Zune service was 5 years ago. It is obvious to me, Microsoft is not looking to compete in this space. They are just looking for a checkbox item. One really good music app and service available on the WP platform and it will flourish!

 

[Marty Larsson]

Its a complete waste of money and i wouldn't recommend it to anyone because its just an awful experience like said above, ****ty dated artwork, search is just bunch of random crap! A lot songs blocked because of the region etc, i cant even listen to a BBC dj compilation album Annie Mac who's based in the UK sux pretty bad! Awful service even if,it was free still would be a battle to like it!

 

[Reeves]

All,

I can definitely see The Lego Movie album now. It took awhile to replicate.

I'm still missing a lot of artwork. I open the Music store. Touch the "New Releases" green button. The top 5 albums have no art. "Love Death Immortality""Between The Bars (EP)", "Acoustic at the Ryman (Live)""Days & Nights" and "Sunshine & Whiskey"

ALL BLANK. Then, the artwork for Fanfarlo appears and the NEXT five are blank. Then, the artwork for "Little Mix - Salute", and the NEXT five are all blank. It was like this before Lumia Black. It's like this now. Tried resetting. Same thing.

That's from the "Music + Video" app. It's atrocious.

 

[genuine555]

Never once did I use Xbox...not music and not games ,...

Only use the built-in musichub since I can easily make playlists from the pc.
TTpod I use also but doesn't support playlists...

Radiomix is useless here in Belgium.

Waiting for it to get better...and I'm still waiting...about 2y now...

 

[RuleOfSines]

Until I saw this thread I didn't even realize there was a seprate Xbox Music app. I'm not sure I'm seeing the reason for it, does it actually offer anything Music + Videos doesn't?

 

[MilkyTee]

Until I saw this thread I didn't even realize there was a seprate Xbox Music app. I'm not sure I'm seeing the reason for it, does it actually offer anything Music + Videos doesn't?

Fastracked updates that can go through the store.

Built in apps have to be updated through firmware which could have to go through carriers , slowing them down.

 

[BadIntentVG]

I think the search is broken in the standalone Xbox Music app. I've had the same problem searching for the song "A Place Called Soul" by DJ Tomcraft. Even though it is in my collection and in the Xbox Music store, it simply won't show up when I search in the standalone app. I can only find it when searching in Music+Videos. Also the standalone app is really laggy. Opening playlists pinned to the start screen takes forever. There is an extra delay when doing pretty much anything. However, the interface is a lot better than the old app and you can finally edit playlists on your phone and they sync properly to your computer automatically. Playlist syncing with songs not available on Xbox Music was a nightmare previously. Now as long as the same file is on both devices, it will sync. I don't want to say it is getting worse, overall it just balances out to being about the same. Microsoft is pretty good at running in place.

 

[Blkacesvf41]

I think the search is broken in the standalone Xbox Music app. I've had the same problem searching for the song "A Place Called Soul" by DJ Tomcraft. Even though it is in my collection and in the Xbox Music store, it simply won't show up when I search in the standalone app. I can only find it when searching in Music+Videos. Also the standalone app is really laggy. Opening playlists pinned to the start screen takes forever. There is an extra delay when doing pretty much anything. However, the interface is a lot better than the old app and you can finally edit playlists on your phone and they sync properly to your computer automatically. Playlist syncing with songs not available on Xbox Music was a nightmare previously. Now as long as the same file is on both devices, it will sync. I don't want to say it is getting worse, overall it just balances out to being about the same. Microsoft is pretty good at running in place.

My understanding is that standalone Xbox music app is not a finished version but a beta and that's why has so many issues.

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