Zune Music Player on WP7

[Shobiz]

Microsoft needs to update the music player on WP7 devices to be identical to Zune HD.

I been with Zune from the beginning. I own the original Zune30 with Zune software being a skinned copy of Windows Media Player, a Zune80, and currently use a ZuneHD64.

Now, after 4 months, I added music to my HTC Arrive. Hats off to Microsoft for putting 85% of the Zune player in the phones software. They did a good job, but in comparing the 2, Zune HD still has it beat. Its only minor things that are missing from the phone, but if I had a Titan or Focus S, I would love for them to add the following features to the phone:

1. Zune Screen Saver (If the album is linked, the screen savers shows the background pictures of the artist, song title. They all scroll. Just like the desktop and Xbox360)

2. Tiny Thumbnail pictures of the Album covers under the artist name and genres. (When you search artist or genres, you can see how many albums you have under the name or genres. On the phone it just shows the artist name)

3. When changing songs, the background picture of the artist needs to change as well. (The first thing I notice)

4. Add album grid. (Its on the Zune players, even the 30/80)

 

[cedarlog]

would love to see those features added to windows phone
maybe try to suggest these features at Feature Suggestions for Windows Phone
i'll vote for it

 

[Shobiz]

Thanks. After going to that site, many people are saying the same thing.

 

[freestaterocker]

They do have the Zune screensaver on the lock screen but you have to enable it. Settings>Lock + Wallpaper enable the "Show artist when playing music" toggle.

 

[Shobiz]

Its not the same. Play songs through the desktop software. When it goes to screen saver, watch what it does. Zune HD has this. I would rather they go back to the Zune30/80 Album Art screen for WP7 lock screen.

 

[Mike-Mike]

Its not the same. Play songs through the desktop software. When it goes to screen saver, watch what it does. Zune HD has this. I would rather they go back to the Zune30/80 Album Art screen for WP7 lock screen.

i have the HTC Arrive and the Zune 80, but I never had a Zune HD....


so you are saying on the Zune HD it does the displays like it does on Zune on the desktop pc? because that would be awesome

 

[woodbane]

Pretty sure it's a battery saving measure.

 

[martin_strahilovski]

Thanks. After going to that site, many people are saying the same thing.

Now, you can vote from your phone!

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/30f4a6af-d742-452d-9f90-aeed254f3d42

 

[Judge_Daniel]

I'd be fine if it did the different pictures while on Airplane Mode. There are too many people complaining about short battery life to be adding on gpu-intense features like these.

 

[freestaterocker]

I'd be fine if it did the different pictures while on Airplane Mode. There are too many people complaining about short battery life to be adding on gpu-intense features like these.

Yup.

 

[red grenadine]

Have the optionality for it.

Everyone saying they should do this and that to protect us from our own stupidity is missing the point. If we wanted Apple's locked-down, father-knows-best approach, we'd buy a damn iPhone. And don't bother trying to tell me this is a path on the way to the clusterF that is Android. I'm pretty sure the Zune HD had a battery with a finite amount of battery life as well. We should have the optionality for this and the Zune player in WP7 should be on par with my 3 year old Zune HD for goodness sake

 

[red grenadine]

OP - you are also missing gapless playback. Something I've hated about the WP7 Zune player for what is now over a year. The Zune HD provides gapless playback, so do iPods and the iPhone.

Why WP7 does not provide the same level of functionality as the Zune HD just bewilders me at times

 

[freestaterocker]

OP - you are also missing gapless playback. Something I've hated about the WP7 Zune player for what is now over a year. The Zune HD provides gapless playback, so do iPods and the iPhone.

Why WP7 does not provide the same level of functionality as the Zune HD just bewilders me at times

HELLS YES. Gapless would be so nice for my extensive collection of live albums. However, the 1st Gen iPhone, which my wife owns, also lacks this feature.

 

[freestaterocker]

Have the optionality for it.

Everyone saying they should do this and that to protect us from our own stupidity is missing the point. If we wanted Apple's locked-down, father-knows-best approach, we'd buy a damn iPhone. And don't bother trying to tell me this is a path on the way to the clusterF that is Android. I'm pretty sure the Zune HD had a battery with a finite amount of battery life as well. We should have the optionality for this and the Zune player in WP7 should be on par with my 3 year old Zune HD for goodness sake

The Zune didn't have a 4G radio sucking down the juice... But the option to enable that functionality would be nice.

 

[Judge_Daniel]

Have the optionality for it.

Everyone saying they should do this and that to protect us from our own stupidity is missing the point. If we wanted Apple's locked-down, father-knows-best approach, we'd buy a damn iPhone. And don't bother trying to tell me this is a path on the way to the clusterF that is Android. I'm pretty sure the Zune HD had a battery with a finite amount of battery life as well. We should have the optionality for this and the Zune player in WP7 should be on par with my 3 year old Zune HD for goodness sake

To say that the Zune player on WP isn't on par with the Zune HD is a matter of opinion. To me, it is efficient, integrated, and light on the battery. Zune HDs and WPs are two different devices. Zune HDs were meant to be a media device, and they do that really well. Windows Phones are phones that play media. As long as data connections are draining the batteries of Windows Phones, we will have different priorities.

That being said, options are hardly ever a bad thing. Like I said before, if our phones gave us the option to have shuffled backgrounds while airplane mode was on (or while plugged in/docked), I'd be all for it. But for now, I think Microsoft is doing the smart thing by taking care of all of the essentials before introducing a lot of options.

 

[N8ter]

HELLS YES. Gapless would be so nice for my extensive collection of live albums. However, the 1st Gen iPhone, which my wife owns, also lacks this feature.

A first gen iPhone from 2007 is beyond obsolete. Personally I don't care about Gapless Playback, but I do care about the Sound Quality in the current devices (inferior to Galaxy S I and iPod Touch/iPhone) as well as the lack of a decent equalizer built into Zune. My HD7 became useless for music playback when HTC pulled the Sound Enhancer app.

 

[jfa1]

Its not the same. Play songs through the desktop software. When it goes to screen saver, watch what it does. Zune HD has this. I would rather they go back to the Zune30/80 Album Art screen for WP7 lock screen.

get the free MS suggestion app and make the suggestion where it just may do some good!

 

[Shobiz]

I suggested all of this. But after a month of thinking about it. The damn Tiles flip all day long! Everything I mention including gap-less playback can be added with no sweat on the GPU and CPU.

 

[eagle628]

To say that the Zune player on WP isn't on par with the Zune HD is a matter of opinion. To me, it is efficient, integrated, and light on the battery. Zune HDs and WPs are two different devices. Zune HDs were meant to be a media device, and they do that really well. Windows Phones are phones that play media. As long as data connections are draining the batteries of Windows Phones, we will have different priorities.

True, but when Microsoft discontinued the Zune HDs, they said that Windows Phone was now their hardware offering for music players, and since the Zune functionality on Windows Phone is inferior to that on the Zune players, they're forcing customers into a worse experience.

 

[Major]

Gapless and equalization please.