Hi all,
So, I used to have the Zune Pass $150/yr for unlimited downloads and 10 song credits a month.
I dropped this in favor of the $99 XBOX Music plan for a few reasons:
A) Windows Phone 8 uses Xbox Music, not Zune and its credits.
B) XBOX Music is current software, Zune is legacy software
C) XBOX Music PC software cannot cash the Zune song credits, and I do have Windows 8 + XBOX music
D) I was starting to top out on my Zune Pass credit "must buys"... Meaning I was starting to buy obscure trance with my credits, I was actively having to seek stuff out to buy because I already bought everything I wanted. Thus I felt I was essentially spending the $50 in credit in stuff I didn't need, which had to be done as the credits expire each month.
E) Often was able to find the same album cheaper elsewhere, or sometimes even when bought outright, than the equivalent of using the credits. If albums were more than 10 songs, it exacerbated the issue.
I started using XBOX Music and pretty much decided that it is not too great in its current form. It has the ability to be great but there are a huge amount of problems:
A) Utter failure at media management and sorting. Zune did it right, XBOX Music does not (in fact it barely does much of anything). It is often difficult to find the albums I want to listen to. No sync abilities. No transcode abilities. Basically, none of the tools you need to manage a media library. It clearly focuses on streaming in the spotlight and everything else is an afterthought.
B) Odd bugs such as duplicate song listings especially if the album is found in the "cloud." don't know the technical reason behind why it is happening but it shouldn't.
C) It looks ugly and boring compared to Zune. I know this may be preference, but I opened Zune and saw splashes of color, beautiful visualizations, and all my album art. I open XBOX Music and see drab gray (opposite of WP8 style cues), ugly visualization (album art + triangles, how exciting!). How did Microsoft go from the most stylish media player to the least stylish, that simultaneously fails to match the colorful cues of its hardware?
D) No way to sync to Zune hardware, SD card, Windows Phone, or any hardware for that matter that I can see. Would it REALLY be that hard to port over their Zune sync code, even if it remains hidden until a Zune is connected? As it stands, I have to use two media management programs. Let's not forget also WP7 devices with Zune-hardware interfaces by Nokia are still being released, even if they are the minority - should people have to use two totally different programs if their household has both a WP7 and WP8 phone like mine? If someone bought a Nokia 900 three months ago, do you really want them using Zune software instead of XBOX Music for the next 1.5years? That is assuming sometime in the future XBOX Music syncs to WP8...
E) The marketplace layout is confusing, unintuitive, and fails to highlight promotions. Take a look at Amazon MP3 and you'll see a great way to promote what is on sale, deals, etc. XBOX Music does not concern itself with this, only the streaming subscription service.
F) There is still no family pass. I should be able to connect say 5 devices to XBOX Music for $99/yr over 2 accounts by default, then add an addt'l 2device/1account for $10/yr or something. As it stands, $200/yr for a family of two or $400/yr for a family of four is highway robbery. The header of this bullet point is also the grade I would assign XBOX Music thus far compared to other modern media programs.
G) Microsoft has not released a standalone media player for XBOX Music. Let's say you to want to listen to your playlists at the gym. You probably don't want to be running around with your expensive new Lumia 920 in your pocket. What are your options then? iPod? Has MS really given up this subset of the market entirely, and if so isn't it possible that subset will never even bother trying XBOX Music as they have no way to listen to it? To be a comprehensive success, XBOX Music must address the standalone market even if it is a small chunk of it. And if they don't, add yet another piece of needed media mgmt. software, iTunes.
The summary?
IF YOU DO ANYTHING EXCEPT STREAM YOUR MUSIC TO ONLY 1 PERSON IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD *YOU WILL NOT LIKE XBOX MUSIC*. If you want to play a media library you have, there are not enough options to find the music you want. And, even if you only stream your music, it still disappoints as your spouse and/or children can't use your pass, not even for a small additional fee. Finally, if you want to sync/transcode to a media player, SD card, or even a windows phone (how novel) you plain CAN'T.
XBOX Music has a lot of potential in concept, and currently it is failing to meet even a quarter of that potential with all of its failures. It feels like an alpha product, not a finished product. It fails primarily on the software front, but also has some gaps on the hardware front. I am very seriously considering cancelling the music pass entirely for the first time in a while if there are no massive changes made.
BOTTOM LINE: FEATURE POOR, VALUE DEFICIENT, XBOX MUSIC IS A NON-STARTER IN ITS CURRENT INCEPTION. NO VISION, NO STYLE, NO HEART!
So, I used to have the Zune Pass $150/yr for unlimited downloads and 10 song credits a month.
I dropped this in favor of the $99 XBOX Music plan for a few reasons:
A) Windows Phone 8 uses Xbox Music, not Zune and its credits.
B) XBOX Music is current software, Zune is legacy software
C) XBOX Music PC software cannot cash the Zune song credits, and I do have Windows 8 + XBOX music
D) I was starting to top out on my Zune Pass credit "must buys"... Meaning I was starting to buy obscure trance with my credits, I was actively having to seek stuff out to buy because I already bought everything I wanted. Thus I felt I was essentially spending the $50 in credit in stuff I didn't need, which had to be done as the credits expire each month.
E) Often was able to find the same album cheaper elsewhere, or sometimes even when bought outright, than the equivalent of using the credits. If albums were more than 10 songs, it exacerbated the issue.
I started using XBOX Music and pretty much decided that it is not too great in its current form. It has the ability to be great but there are a huge amount of problems:
A) Utter failure at media management and sorting. Zune did it right, XBOX Music does not (in fact it barely does much of anything). It is often difficult to find the albums I want to listen to. No sync abilities. No transcode abilities. Basically, none of the tools you need to manage a media library. It clearly focuses on streaming in the spotlight and everything else is an afterthought.
B) Odd bugs such as duplicate song listings especially if the album is found in the "cloud." don't know the technical reason behind why it is happening but it shouldn't.
C) It looks ugly and boring compared to Zune. I know this may be preference, but I opened Zune and saw splashes of color, beautiful visualizations, and all my album art. I open XBOX Music and see drab gray (opposite of WP8 style cues), ugly visualization (album art + triangles, how exciting!). How did Microsoft go from the most stylish media player to the least stylish, that simultaneously fails to match the colorful cues of its hardware?
D) No way to sync to Zune hardware, SD card, Windows Phone, or any hardware for that matter that I can see. Would it REALLY be that hard to port over their Zune sync code, even if it remains hidden until a Zune is connected? As it stands, I have to use two media management programs. Let's not forget also WP7 devices with Zune-hardware interfaces by Nokia are still being released, even if they are the minority - should people have to use two totally different programs if their household has both a WP7 and WP8 phone like mine? If someone bought a Nokia 900 three months ago, do you really want them using Zune software instead of XBOX Music for the next 1.5years? That is assuming sometime in the future XBOX Music syncs to WP8...
E) The marketplace layout is confusing, unintuitive, and fails to highlight promotions. Take a look at Amazon MP3 and you'll see a great way to promote what is on sale, deals, etc. XBOX Music does not concern itself with this, only the streaming subscription service.
F) There is still no family pass. I should be able to connect say 5 devices to XBOX Music for $99/yr over 2 accounts by default, then add an addt'l 2device/1account for $10/yr or something. As it stands, $200/yr for a family of two or $400/yr for a family of four is highway robbery. The header of this bullet point is also the grade I would assign XBOX Music thus far compared to other modern media programs.
G) Microsoft has not released a standalone media player for XBOX Music. Let's say you to want to listen to your playlists at the gym. You probably don't want to be running around with your expensive new Lumia 920 in your pocket. What are your options then? iPod? Has MS really given up this subset of the market entirely, and if so isn't it possible that subset will never even bother trying XBOX Music as they have no way to listen to it? To be a comprehensive success, XBOX Music must address the standalone market even if it is a small chunk of it. And if they don't, add yet another piece of needed media mgmt. software, iTunes.
The summary?
IF YOU DO ANYTHING EXCEPT STREAM YOUR MUSIC TO ONLY 1 PERSON IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD *YOU WILL NOT LIKE XBOX MUSIC*. If you want to play a media library you have, there are not enough options to find the music you want. And, even if you only stream your music, it still disappoints as your spouse and/or children can't use your pass, not even for a small additional fee. Finally, if you want to sync/transcode to a media player, SD card, or even a windows phone (how novel) you plain CAN'T.
XBOX Music has a lot of potential in concept, and currently it is failing to meet even a quarter of that potential with all of its failures. It feels like an alpha product, not a finished product. It fails primarily on the software front, but also has some gaps on the hardware front. I am very seriously considering cancelling the music pass entirely for the first time in a while if there are no massive changes made.
BOTTOM LINE: FEATURE POOR, VALUE DEFICIENT, XBOX MUSIC IS A NON-STARTER IN ITS CURRENT INCEPTION. NO VISION, NO STYLE, NO HEART!
Last edited:
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