Windows Phone 8 Music Apps

Ron Penton

New member
Mar 11, 2013
17
0
0
Visit site
I do not have a windows phone right now but I'm gearing up to purchase one (probably an 822). Ideally I would like my device to replace both my current cell phone and my ZuneHD 64.

Basically I want to know, how are the music playing apps on WP8? How do they compare to the Zune HD?

I use my Zune right now to listen to a lot of new music in my car, which I then rate as I hear it. So basically the features I would like are:

- The ability to one-or-two-touch rate a song (either Zune-style heart/no heart, or 1-5 stars would be better imo)
- The ability to easily remove songs from the device after a day of rating music (no heart or 1-2 stars)
- The ability to save a song relatively quickly to a playlist (Zune doesn't currently have, but I would love it if I could do this)
- Ability to load up to 64gb of music from an SD card

I don't really know anyone with a WP8 so I can't really see how they work. I'm also not able to find any real in-depth reviews or walkthroughs of the music apps, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

Felbrigge Psalter

New member
Apr 2, 2013
8
0
0
Visit site
I too love Zune (still use my HD32) and since Microsoft stopped supporting it I have been searching for something similar. I've tried iTunes, Rhapsody, Pandora, Amazon Cloud, Google Music...nothing comes close to Zune. Last time I checked HD 64 Zunes were selling on eBay for twice their original retail price, so there definitely is an underserved market here.

I just got an 822 and hoped that XBox music would replicate the Zune experience but no dice. I feel like if MS spent two weeks on this they could tie together all the loose ends and make a great product, but for some reason a music player is not as important as Facebook or Instagram. Maybe people in Seattle just don't listen to music that much? ;)

You can use your Zune pass to listen to music streaming in WP8, but good luck trying to migrate DRM songs from your current collection to your phone as easily as you could with you Zune device. I feel like MS made this difficult on purpose perhaps to cut down on the royalties for allowing DRM songs on a device. If you are like me you have a ton of DRM songs you have downloaded over the years on your Zune pass, not to mention the play lists. I spend a lot of time commuting underground so not having my collection on the phone is a real drawback.

I think there is a way to "match" DRM songs on your desktop and have them download wirelessly to your device, but it is still cumbersome. This article has a lot of important info on using XBox music with WP8, which MS just seems to have buried.
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-phone-8/windows-phone-8-tip-xbox-cloud-collection-144703
 

gtp20

New member
Oct 30, 2012
5
0
0
Visit site
The stock music app (Xbox Music) is absolutely horrible. I have tried every app in the store and haven't found a single one that was even worth using. I'm not sure why they include headphones with WP8, the music experience on them is awful.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
322,911
Messages
2,242,885
Members
428,005
Latest member
COME ON WIN ANDROID (ADI)