Zune Pass + 10 credits

[cummy_bears]

I've been a Zune/WP7 user since around 2008/2009 and I've had the Zune pass + 10 song credits since then. I grandfathered it in and have loved having the ability to keep 10 songs that are DRM free each month. This isn't meant to lament the passing of Zune it the poor user experience from Xbox music on Windows 8 and on my 1520. I want some advice on whether I should drop my subscription and subscribe to something else.

I would prefer to stay in the Microsoft ecosystem, but Xbox music's attempt to make us use their content and synching had really cut down on my user experience. To the point that I prefer to sit at my desk and listen to music on the Zune program rather than taking my phone with me and listening to music from it. The convoluted synching of content that I own and was not purchased from Microsoft has become ridiculous and the Cloud matching time consuming (with duplicates). I found a way to synch playlists from the Xbox music app (right swipe>share>"phone name") but only the songs are out on the phone, the playlist ordering itself is not on the phone. I enjoy having content downloadable off the cloud, but need that content to include my music - Music that isn't available on Marketplace. I even tried puttin music on my OneDrive, but I can't save it to my phone.

I'm sad to drop my subscription, but I think that's what it has come to. I can't get over how poor the user experience has become when compared to my Zune and WP7 days. I understand the bimonthly updates, but thus far I have seen any improvement at all. Anyone have any suggestions, whether it be things that work for you or other subscription music services?

 

[cummy_bears]

The straw that broke the camel's back was the UserVoice that had 16000 votes (more than WP users, jk) was denied with little or no explanation.

 

[Indistinguishable]

I don't really have a suggestion for you. As someone who prefers to listen to music in the car more than anywhere else, with my Nokia Lumia Icon being my primary driver, I'm going to stick with the truest Microsoft program. I don't like streaming options. They drain more battery and consume more data.

I primarily came here to say that I'm jealous of your grandfathered Zune pass with the +10 credits. I used to have it as well, but I dropped it one year in college because money was tight. I did not expect them to kill the plan. If I knew they were going to, I would have held onto it for dear life and skipped a couple meals a month. I'd LOVE to have that option back.

Don't do anything you're going to regret. Xbox music is in development and it's improving. Don't do something you'll regret in the future.

 

[cummy_bears]

@Indistinguishable
Yeah, I want to make sure I don't regret letting it go.
On your icon, you said you don't stream music so are you just synching through Windows Phone App? How do you make playlists (if you make them)? Is the mostly your own content or is it subscription based? Thanks in advance

 

[Indistinguishable]

@Indistinguishable
Yeah, I want to make sure I don't regret letting it go.
On your icon, you said you don't stream music so are you just synching through Windows Phone App? How do you make playlists (if you make them)? Is the mostly your own content or is it subscription based? Thanks in advance

I generally sync through the WP app for my subscription music, an I'll just move my personally owned music over by dragging folders. It's pretty easy to do. I'm not much of a playlist guy, I prefer to play through albums in their entirety. Most of my music is subscription based, but there are some albums that I own that I have on there as well.

There's really not too much need for moving music I own onto my phone because most everything can be found in DRM form through the subscription.

 

[dlalonde]

Well, it's sad to say but, right now, I'm pretty much in the same camp as you but for different reasons (as I've never had a Zune or a WP7).

But I've have an iOS/iTunes machine, an Android machine and my wife currently has a Blackberry tablet. Right now, because they are working on it, the Xbox Music experience is THE worst. It's absurdly bad.

The Microsoft ecosystem is one that I love and I've never looked back after coming to Windows Phone. But Music is the center of my life. It is therefore a major part of my phone usage. iOS had the best experience, everything just worked and my ID3 tags were strictly respected. My Android had trouble with special characters (such as ? ? and such) and no gapless playback but it was alright. The Blackberry is comparable to Android in that respect. But Xbox Music? It's ludicrously bad. And we're not talking about topping on a cake like gapless playback. We're talking BASIC stuff like listing artists properly, reading ID3 tags properly, updating the database when a tag is changed, showing album sleeves and so on. This is all basic stuff. And they're not able to offer those.

I'm waiting for the last release of Xbox Music, when Microsoft considers it done, before deciding what I will do. Given I'm a great despiser of Google, my next phone might be an iPhone simply because it works. I would miss Windows Phone of course. But, as an end user, we already have to let go of some things to use a Windows Phone like having to cope with apps being released on iOS/Android in majority and having to rely on eternal betas (ahem Instagram), no updates (ahem Vine) or 3rd party apps (MetroTube, myTube) for example, that if they start cutting back on basic functionnalities that other platforms offer while at the same time removing things that only them offered (People Hub and multiple network sharing) then I don't see the point of struggling with it.

Again, I've been loving WP8 since I got it and tried to get people to get on board. But Microsoft is heading in a way that I'm not sure I was

 

[Indistinguishable]

Well, it's sad to say but, right now, I'm pretty much in the same camp as you but for different reasons (as I've never had a Zune or a WP7).

Sounds like you're actually in an entirely different camp. OP's not talking about dropping Windows Phone. He's talking about switching music services. And there are MANY options. Xbox Music, Pandora, Nokia MixRadio, MUSIC+, All Music Unlimited, Spotify, Digibeats, Etc...

 

[dlalonde]

Sounds like you're actually in an entirely different camp. OP's not talking about dropping Windows Phone. He's talking about switching music services. And there are MANY options. Xbox Music, Pandora, Nokia MixRadio, MUSIC+, All Music Unlimited, Spotify, Digibeats, Etc...

You're right. I'm a little off topic actually because I'm talking about the entire app and not just the subscription. My bad.

 

[cummy_bears]

No you're gripes are legit @dlalonde. I wish you could have seen the seemless integration of synching subscription and owned music that Zune/wp7 had to offer. Including ID3 tags - don't have a complete ID3 tag of a song or album, go to Zune, right click the album and click "Find Album Info" and you could add meta data quickly. It had wireless synch, not a cloud based synch that only allows you to synch subscription sings, but a true wireless synch (this was in 2008!). You could rate music and then organize based of the rating. It was superior to iOS/iTunes which I knew through 3Gs and now know through iPad.
@Indistiguishable wad right though, I am looking for what other experiences people have with other subscription services on their WP8.1 and how they compare to Zune pass. Thanks for the responses!

 

[cummy_bears]

Also Zune/WP7 would synch music from your phone to your comp. Say you're out and about and you download a new album from your subscription. Next time you synch your computer is updated with those contents.

 

[Indistinguishable]

Agreed. Zune was OP.

You may want to check out Rubino's review of OneMusic if most of your music is non-subscription. OneMusic for Windows Phone 8.1 is now available | Windows Phone Central