Okay, need a straight answer on XBOX Music problems....

[snowmutt]

Okay gang, ya'll know me. I am a happy WP user, prefer MS services despite any silly disadvantages other people whine about, and while I am overall open minded about change, I am fan of MS quality. I am still rocking WP7, on my wifes hand-me-down HTC Titan 2 after my Samsung Focus S commited suicide on my plant's pavement.

Problem is, this thing has nailed my last nerve. It lags, doesn't load up web sites well, has stopped posting alarms from my calandar, radomly stops while playing music and podcasts, and recently it has started giving me a fault every time I try to look up directions on Bing maps.

Done. Boys and ladies, I am just done.

Here is the point: The only thing keeping me from making the leap to WP8 device is the horror stories of XBOX Music. I love the Zune service, happily pay for it every month. I want to continue to enjoy it. I am up between a Nokia 900 or a Nokia 820 (AT&T branded), and the Zune VS. XBOX Live debate is it. I want the upgrades if I am getting a different device anyways, but not at the expense of the synching mess that comes with XBOX Live.

So..... WP8 users: Give it to me straight. How do you like XBOX Music, is it really as bad as advertised, what are the main problems, and are there any advantages?Or, truthfully, is the problems overblown? I accept it is not as nice as Zune. Just want to know how bad it is as it's own service.

I am listening, and willing to be swayed. Thank-you for your support. You are all on my Christmas Card list already. :excited:

 

[Laura Knotek]

Moved to Xbox Music forum.

 

[icstars989]

Well for me, it leaves a lot to be desired. The biggest problem I have with it is it often refuses to play songs. I'll listen to an album and when its done, it won't play anything period. I have to back out of the app, play something in Spotify- pause that-then go back in and play another song or album. The metadata is often incorrect and overwrites what's previously there, causing me to have 1 album split into 2 with one of them just having a song or two on it. The windows app is pretty much garbage in my opinion, its much easier to just drag and drop.

All in all its not a deal breaker for me but it certainly feels like an alpha release at times.

 

[Keith Wallace]

It depends on how you use your music. Myself, I work solely from a local library. I ignore Xbox Music on my desktop 100% of the time. On my phone, it has a Zune-like interface (the PMP, not the desktop software), and I have 0 problems with using it. I just switched from the Zune desktop software to MusicBee (has MUCH better tagging), and I use that for music on my PC. I don't honestly understand the complaints about the Windows Phone interaction, as I have had no problems using it on my 920.

 

[gapost]

I'm very happy with xbox music on WP8. I have a monthly subscription and lots of music on my W8 computer. So, it syncs many of my songs automatically to my phone and that works good. I mostly stream them to listen to music. I don't really do playlists, but with the latest update and upcoming updates to Win8, that problem is improved. If I need music on my phone, I use the WP software on my computer to copy it there and that works fine. I also download some albums from xbox music just to have them if I'm not connected to a network (which I almost always am). So to summarize, I used Zune and it was better, but Xbox now is very acceptable, at least for me.

 

[snowmutt]

Mostly, I will not stream music. I will download to my phone and just play what is stored. I stream a lot of ESPN Radio, and Tune In radio stations, so I save my data for that. So, I am assuming the download isn't a horrible experience?

 

[Keith Wallace]

I assume you mean the syncing? You can do it one of two ways:

1. There is Windows Phone software for the task. I have Windows 8, and it's a Metro app, not 100% what it is on other operating systems, but I expect that it is functionally similar. In the application, there is a plus sign, you lick it, choose "add music," and select the folders/files that you wish to include. It's not the prettiest software to use, but it is functionally sound.

2. Your PC will read a Windows Phone 8 device like an external drive. You can then go into My Computer, select the device, then drag-and-drop (or copy-and-paste) the music into the Music folder that is already within the device's directory.

It's a really effortless and painless process, nothing to worry about.

 

[mase123987]

I love having access to all the music I want. That said, Xbox Music blows huge you know what when it comes to simple things like playlists. It is one thing that I never recommend to people. MS had the jump on all the others (Apple, Google, etc.) on all you can eat music on a phone. Instead of capitalizing, they have done zero with it.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Playlists are a pain to make on the device. However, you can just get a .zpl to .wpl converter, make playlists in Zune (which is pretty easy), then convert and sync. It's not that much trouble.

 

[snowmutt]

Playlists are a pain to make on the device. However, you can just get a .zpl to .wpl converter, make playlists in Zune (which is pretty easy), then convert and sync. It's not that much trouble.

Okay... I guess I shouldn't fake what I don't know, since it is my question and all.

What do you mean a .zpl to .wpl converter? Those are files right?

 

[mase123987]

Playlists are a pain to make on the device. However, you can just get a .zpl to .wpl converter, make playlists in Zune (which is pretty easy), then convert and sync. It's not that much trouble.

Too much effort....WP8 is supposed to EASIER and FASTER right? Need a better solution...

 

[xconomicron]

I don't really feel it is a setback, but can be annoying at times with the metadata not syncing correctly and/or how the Xbox music cloud is a POS in functionality when you have a 75+ GB music collection.

A) I stopped using the WP transfer app and started pushing out music through file explorer.

2) I use mediamonkey to properly tag my music now instead of using Zune or Xbox music

C) Whatever metadata that is not properly tagged, I use MPAtool -in the wp8 marketplace. WP7 did not support native code, so MPAtool could only be used when you have root privileges....or simply an unlocked phone with a custom rom.

 

[Josh Harman]

Sorry to inform you, but playlists for your collection won't sync to your WP8.
Unless you use a x86 Windows 8 computer/tablet... and that's only in theory, my Windows 8 PC is x64 so I can't confirm that.
It's a problem that MS is "working on". I've tried for months - every way you could think of to make it work, but nothing does.
You can make playlist manually on your phone and manually through file explorer when plugged into a PC but that's about it.

 

[snowmutt]

I am actually starting to lean to just staying on WP7 until 8.1 rolls out next year in hopes all this just gets better. That was my first intinct. Guess will just see what price I can get what device in what condition. (Follow all that??) Really bums me out. WP8 is really showing improvements and the app selection and functions are really stepping up. I just use the music too much to play around with not being able to do what I want with it.

Geez, how did MS let this get past them, considering the ecosystem they are trying so hard to build? Music is a HUGE selling point. Makes no sense. I am not even that demanding....

 

[deadwrong03]

Xbox music app is terrible its laggy, won't play song at all sometimes I don't understand how the music player was perfect on wp7 and now its awful on 8

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 928 using Tapatalk

 

[Keith Wallace]

Too much effort....WP8 is supposed to EASIER and FASTER right? Need a better solution...

I think you overestimate the word "effort" here. It's literally as simple as opening an application, telling it where the files are, and it does it in seconds.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Okay... I guess I shouldn't fake what I don't know, since it is my question and all.

What do you mean a .zpl to .wpl converter? Those are files right?

If you make a playlist within the Zune software, it a .zpl file (like how some images are .jpg or .png, and how a Word document is .doc or .docx). The .zpl is the file extension used by Zune. Windows Phone does not support .zpl playlists, but rather .wpl ones. You get a converter that will copy a .zpl file into a .wpl, then it can be synced. It takes a few seconds, not too bad to deal with.

 

[snowmutt]

If you make a playlist within the Zune software, it a .zpl file (like how some images are .jpg or .png, and how a Word document is .doc or .docx). The .zpl is the file extension used by Zune. Windows Phone does not support .zpl playlists, but rather .wpl ones. You get a converter that will copy a .zpl file into a .wpl, then it can be synced. It takes a few seconds, not too bad to deal with.

THAT makes sense. I run Windows 7 on my laptop. So is a converter just a simple download? If so, what do you use?

 

[Keith Wallace]

ZplToWpl - Home

It's as simple as the dialog box shows. You choose a source and a destination (I use the same folder as the source AND destination), then tell it to work.

 

[snowmutt]

Thanks, Keith!! I am actually a little at ease.

I appreciate every response.