Zune Annoyances

dakranii

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I like the look of Zune, but I'm having trouble moving from iTunes to Zune...here's why as a specific example of a particular album:

Looking at an album by Tyler Ramsey called The Valley Wind

1 - I search for Tyler Ramsey on Zune, I see the Valley Wind...but there's two of them. One is purchasable, the other is not, and I can't find a reason why there would be two and one would not be purchasable. Why list two, first of all, when they appear to be the same, and why list an album I can't preview or purchase through Zune?

2 - I like to read reviews to see what songs others recommend or if someone says "Check out his first album before you buy this one" or something similar. Just helps me make an informed purchase or maybe discover other songs. But there are no reviews on Zune that I can see.

3 - To purchase from Zune I have to know how to convert dollars to Zune points. That's stupid, especially when Zune points don't correspond to dollars easily (like 100 points = $1). So I want to buy the album, which costs $9.99, but I have no Zune points, so I have to spend $14.99 to get enough Zune points to buy it. On iTunes, I spent $9.99, and that's it. No points, no conversions, no buying extra for no reason. But if I purchased it on my WP7, it's the dollar amount, no Zune points...where's the consistency?

4 - And finally, price and songs. This album I want on Zune is $9.99 for 9 songs that are $0.99 each...which individually means the album SHOULD cost $8.91. So I'm paying $1.08 to be able to click "Buy the Album" instead of buying each song individually. And to compound the annoyance, the album on iTunes costs $8.99 and includes an extra song! That extra song on iTunes says nothing about being exclusive or a bonus. Why does Zune not have that song?

And this isn't just for this album. I've noticed it since I've been using Zune with my WP7 that I got in May. But today's search just annoyed me enough to write this. So why would I purchase from Zune? I realize it's probably a personal preference, but Zune isn't helping me pick them over iTunes.

As an aside, the album is $6.99 on Amazon, so I might even just pick it up there.

I don't mean to complain about Zune, I'm perfectly willing to take it up as my main song purchasing program. I hold no love for iTunes. And I recognize the value of the Zune Pass, but I don't listen to enough music to justify it.

So I'm curioius, what makes Zune special for you?
 

psychotron

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1 - I search for Tyler Ramsey on Zune, I see the Valley Wind...but there's two of them. One is purchasable, the other is not, and I can't find a reason why there would be two and one would not be purchasable. Why list two, first of all, when they appear to be the same, and why list an album I can't preview or purchase through Zune?

I honestly think it is just for the sake of being complete with the artist info. It has always appeared to me that they like to try and list the artist's entire catalog, both available and unavailable.

2 - I like to read reviews to see what songs others recommend or if someone says "Check out his first album before you buy this one" or something similar. Just helps me make an informed purchase or maybe discover other songs. But there are no reviews on Zune that I can see.

If you click the link below the album that says "More at zune.net" it will take you to the album page where there are listener reviews. Not as integrated as iTunes, but it's still accessible.

3 - To purchase from Zune I have to know how to convert dollars to Zune points. That's stupid, especially when Zune points don't correspond to dollars easily (like 100 points = $1). So I want to buy the album, which costs $9.99, but I have no Zune points, so I have to spend $14.99 to get enough Zune points to buy it. On iTunes, I spent $9.99, and that's it. No points, no conversions, no buying extra for no reason. But if I purchased it on my WP7, it's the dollar amount, no Zune points...where's the consistency?

Have to agree. I don't know why they adapted this ecosystem from XBox as it makes no sense to me either, and believe me, you are not the first or last person to complain about it. I've seen MS give explanations from time to time about why this is a "better" system but they all seemed pretty weak to me.

4 - And finally, price and songs. This album I want on Zune is $9.99 for 9 songs that are $0.99 each...which individually means the album SHOULD cost $8.91. So I'm paying $1.08 to be able to click "Buy the Album" instead of buying each song individually. And to compound the annoyance, the album on iTunes costs $8.99 and includes an extra song! That extra song on iTunes says nothing about being exclusive or a bonus. Why does Zune not have that song?

Apple and MS make their own separate deals with the labels, and the labels set the prices for both the albums and individual songs. As you can imagine, Apple gets preference being the market leader. And to be fair, I have seen some albums on Zune that were actually cheaper than their iTunes counterparts as well as vice versa.

As an aside, the album is $6.99 on Amazon, so I might even just pick it up there.

I personally purchase more music from Amazon than anywhere else myself as they usually tend to be cheaper. I pretty much use Zune just for music management and updates.
 

dakranii

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Thanks for the fair reply. :)

Yeah, I think have seen some albums cheaper on Zune.

I purchased on Amazon, it downloaded to my iTunes folder, which my Zune accesses, so I got the album for $6.99, downloaded the extra song from iTunes for $.99 and can access it from Zune. :) All's right in the world.
 

Rodolfo#WP

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As an aside, or BTW, I have thousands of songs downloaded and purchase very little besides the ten "free" ones I get each month. And on one or more of 4 devices, I take all of it around the globe. I doubt that if the Zune Pass was just another way of buying music that I would have moved to a Zune HD, subscribed to Zune Pass, or finally gotten a WP7 phone, mostly because of its Zune HD look and feel, and the multi-platform synergy which I expect to grow with Win 8.

This link explains points -the second sentence may be enough to grasp their logic. Microsoft Points - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kids without credit cards get used to points real fast. Consider that X-Box was the first pillar for Zune services, and that market is especially youthful, large, and international.
 

psychotron

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But see, that still doesn't make sense to me. Other retailers like Sony force you to purchase a fixed monetary value worth of credit online ($5, $10, $15, etc) when you want to add funds to your wallet. It's the same thing as purchasing a fixed amount of "points" through Xbox or Zune, and isn't based on a made up system. Same thing with the cards you buy in stores for retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, iTunes, etc. which have a fixed monetary value that you use for digital credit online. I just don't understand why every other retailer can do this but MS still insists on using their confusing point scheme.
 

Rodolfo#WP

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Great night of baseball...

Well, I mostly wanted to respond to the OP's "what makes Zune special for you" questiion, and then just provided the explicit logic for what was considered a "stupid" system, and its explanations "weak".

I'm not arguing for points superiority or even my preference for them. But, I'm sure they "insist" on it for the two reasons in that sentence. Again, just the "why", like my "why" for the Zune Pass. I've gotten used to points, although I picked up a 1000 points months ago and still have >700. It's different and I suppose I like that -just like with my WP7 phone, and my Zune HD, and my Zune Pass. ;)
 

joemd60

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I have a Zune annoyance, I wanted to change my Zune ID and when it does it tells me I have to purchase points. I did but it did not change my Zune ID.
Does anyone know why it keeps bringing me to the purchase Microsoft points page, when I try to change my Zune ID? Thanks
 
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