Need help?
I saw Cesar was answering questions over on his blog. Since he's just one guy, I thought I'd help him out by asking if you guys need any help. What issues are you seeing? I'll do my best to answer.
posted by billwitt at 9:41 PM
I saw Cesar was answering questions over on his blog. Since he's just one guy, I thought I'd help him out by asking if you guys need any help. What issues are you seeing? I'll do my best to answer.
posted by billwitt at 9:41 PM
55 Comments:
Bill,
Is there any hope of Zune supporting the DRM from MS-based MTV-born URGE music store? If not, does the company have a reason for not supporting its own DRM with these other services?
-giovanni
TheAgencyBlog.com
Will there be any updates to the Zune software, or will there be a complete, newer, smaller, faster software for those who doesn't have good computers? Cause the Zune Software is really taking up my RAM... It's also on the slow side, imo.
Will there an update to improve the stability of the software?
Posted this on Cesar's site. I'm actually pretty worried about this.
"My Zune seems to be coming apart at the seam. Is that normal after a couple of days, mostly in its case, never taken outside, only taken off of the shelf to do syncing type stuff? I noticed this morning that the bottom right corner seemed to have the slightest of space where I didn't think it did before. Just now when pushing the back button I felt the whole case clicking."
Giovanni - The current plan is to have a managed store through the Zune Marketplace. this enables us to add features like Send that we couldn't with other services.
lpxxfaintxx - Yes, there is a plan for updating the software. I can't speak to your specific hardware, but I run it on a 1.2Ghz Vaio and I don't see any significant slowdowns.
sportsunit - What issues are you seeing? We do have updates planned on a regular schedule, but if you are having a specific crash, you should call PSS (number is in the box) ASAP. The guy who runs PSS is great and his team is very sharp. they can probably help.
Zunatic - That should not happen. It is covered under warranty and we'd be happy to fix it. For what it is worth, I've never seen that happen before.
Since this is your thing, when are the individual accessories going to be released? I've tried desperately to get a car charger to no avail. CC, Best Buy, Target, Walmart...you name it. Heck, best buy didn't even have zunes on display. I'm about to go out of state and wanted to grab one up before I left.
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*sigh* Yeah thanks Bill =) Certainly makes me wonder how I get the one Zune that won't stay glued (or however it's closed up) It's not so much that MS won't take care of me, it's the trouble of dealing with getting taken care of. Like my 360 3 lighting after 10 hours and having to mail it to MS after finally tracking one down.
Sports, I've seen the car charger at Circuit City and GameStop/EB. Both of those stores had most of the official accessories. On launch day I had to ask the Best Buy guy to get me a Zune from the back since they had *no* display.
So that last one got me thinking... I have a car charger, I think for the PSP or DS, the part that plugs in has a receptacle for a USB plug and then the wire plugs into that and into the device. Could I safely use this with my Zune's USB cable?
I love the Zune. I've had it for 16 hours now and I really have enjoyed it... inspite of the problems I have encountered.
The two problems are not big for most, but for me they are. The first is the fact that I cannot run Zune software under Vista. I moved over to Vista at the beginning of the year and have all but 1 machine left on Vista. While I am running the release candidates, I still was stunned to find that I have to find an XP based system to run the software. Not good form. I realize that Vista is not fully, publicly available, but given that a lot of enthusiasts run Vista (even beta), I am surprised. I really hope there is an update by the end of November to address it.
Second issue is also with the software. Because I only have one xp device (its the media center), I built up a pc at the office just so I could load the zune software. The problem is that I don't always have time at night to load stuff on my zune, so I would like the ability to do it while I am at work. The software won't allow that. The zune is locked to one machine and must be a guest elsewhere. (I lost all of the pre-loaded content tonight because of this issue). I am a very mobile person - I carry a laptop everywhere and use the desktop at home just for centralizing media. (I'm really up a creek because my laptop is running vista too...). So I have to make one PC the master and its the only place I can sync Zune MarketPlace. Although I can add stuff to the Zune as a guest, it would be really nice to take advantage of the sync features.
Oh, and one more thing... remember I said I installed the zune software on my media pc at home... Well, its a media center pc, on which I have every cd I own (a lot), lots of video and lots of pictures. Imagine my surprise that (after it erased my pre-installed zune content) the zune software started syncing ALL 50 gigs of content onto the Zune... Before it starts syncing initially, the software should at least ask the user about what directories to sync...
Again, I know I'm not the typical user, but... And I know this is only the first iteration. Believe me, I am the biggest proponent of the Zune. I understand its potential - Steve Jobs has a real challenger on his hands! I only want to help make this a better experience for all.
Greg
VistaMaster at Live.com
London calling!
As someone who is just about to import two Zunes into the UK (yes, I can well understand why MSFT wasn't keen on selling Zunes outside the U.S. at present), I do have a few concerns:
1) No bookmarks for audio files. Like many people I listen to audiobooks on my players and find bookmarks invaluable.
2) No lossless.
3) Compilation albums are not catered for. I do find this rather dotty given that Windows Media Player handles these so well.
4) No sleep timer or wake up feature.
On the plus side and having never actually seen a Zune, I think the player and its interface are utterly gorgeous. I know I'm not the market you're probably aiming at (Jag-owning lawyer living in Hampstead), but I've always hated the look of my iPods. To me, at any rate, they look like a cross between a toy and a kitchen appliance. The Zune (especially the brown version) on the other hand looks like something a sophisticated grown-up buys along with Coach briefcases, Cuban cigars and Zegna suits.
When will the Zune support Japanese and Korean Text like the ipod?
I have 200 songs on my zune that looks like [][][][][][][][]
Also, how can I edit a song's info once it's on the zune? The software won't let me.
is there an easier way to add files to the library in marketplace besides the 'add folder' option. because often i just want to add like 15 files and but then marketplace searches my entire library of like 10000 files which kindof takes a while. also whenever marketplace re-searches my system for media, it puts in all the files that i previously removed from my library.
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Zunatic - re the car charger, it depends. There is a resistor in the charger that is probably necessary. Also, it needs to be putting out 1.5 Amps
Greg - I think we've said that we will support Vista. that support is likely to come sooner tather than later.
Fenhalls - I'm forwarding your suggestions to the dev team.
CanadianCofee - We'll support double byte characters with the Asia launch of the product.
You can edit the data in the Zune software and re-synch, but you can't do it on the device.
Jake Bryant - You can drag and drop the files into the client. Should be easier t