Cheers for the update, that whole importing thing should shut a lot of us up ;).  I still can't seem to find any info regarding whether it works with WMP or not? Does WMP recognise the device or is it a case of having to use the Zune software?

The only reason I ask is kind of an extension to the import question - if Zune Marketplace is unavailable in Europe until launch - which I imagine will be the case due to draconian licensing restrictions - then running the Zune software would be kind of a waste of time, especially if it won't let you register a non-US address at start-up?

It would be a shame if it doesn't, WMP sucked for so very very long! Then 9 and 10 came along and I loved the thing, even ditched WinAmp.  11 was a bit ropey until I took the plunge and installed RC1 but I'd really like it if the Zune works on WMP.

[/Ramble]

Question: How do you restore the pre-loaded content?  I went from BestBuy to Work, where it sync'd and charged.  Then I went from Work to Home, where it killed all the pre-loaded content.  I'd now like it back.

Question: How can I play music directly from the device via the software?  If I bring music from home I don't want to have to copy it off the Zune to my computer.

Question: When/Will there be the ability to use the Zune as an external drive, a la iPod and all the other MP3 devices?

Thanks a Million!

When will we get an update to improve the stability (constant crashing, install errors, etc.)?

Why won't all the music in my library (including ripped CD's) stream to my 360, only the music I've downloaded from Zune?  

How many Zunes can I sync using my Zune Pass? If I have more than 1 or 2 Zunes syncing to my Zune Pass, do I have to make subsequent Zunes guests? Why does the Zune software tell me that I need more sync rights if I have a Zune Pass and synced songs to 2 Zunes?

And some other info:

Media Center latest update (they gave me this from the Zune support line):

<a href="http://tinyurl.com/7880q">http://tinyurl.com/7880q</a>

Installing Zune on non-English windows:

Your account needs to be on the groups "Users" and "Interactive". If you can't find them create these groups and add your account on them.

Find more on these on Zune-Online.com

Sportsunit, you're kidding right?  About the xbox360 stream stuff?  Man people are going to be pissed if that's the case.

Forgot one... I lost all of my preloaded content so I sent it from my wife's Zune to mine.  The songs do show up in the Zune software's inbox, but when I try to download them, it says songs not found in the marketplace or my library... Huh?  Isn't that the point of the inbox?  Is this a glitch or are all those preloaded songs really not in the marketplace?

This might be slightly unreleated but here's an interesting article comparing the zune and iPod audio quality using frequency analysis.  Pretty objective and technical.

<a href="http://microsoftisawesome.blogspot.com/2006/11/zune-is-in-tune-frequency-response.html">http://microsoftisawesome.blogspot.com/2006/11/zune-is-in-tune-frequency-response.html</a>

Media Center latest update (they gave me this from the Zune support line):

http://tinyurl.com/7880q

Sorry for the double,err...triple post.  But, hitting the center button while watching a video brings up the gray overlay.  But, hitting the center button again, does not make the overlay dissappear.  Is that a glitch, or is supposed to be like that?  If you just wait a few seconds, it dissapepars though...weird.

me again... is there a way to delete songs directly on the player?  Is there a way to save and delete playlists directly on the player?  Is there a way to play songs that are on the player through the Zune software while your player is docked?

Matt:

Q: Will the Zune work with WMP (any version)?

A: No.  The good is that the Zune software is very much like WMP11 so you'll probably like it if you like WMP11.  The bad is that you're still out of luck being in Europe.

why can't we install zune marketplace?

i got error at 95% on copying some file.

spent 4 hrs on it, every possible ways.

someone is getting fired!!!!! bad QA.

I still dont really understand, u say vista 64-bit support in jan! does that mean xp 64-bit support as well, do i really have to wait that long for it. I might as well buy ipod as much as i dont want to, i really wanted to use it too, for this long vaction i was going on. But yeah, vista 64 = xp 64 or can i expect the xp version to be out sooner, please give me good news. thanks for the vista update.

Hey. So, rumors are flying about zune 1.5's flying before christmas. Dear God, are we early adopters going to get owned apple stlye?

Please say your going to focus on firmware for at least a few months.

Alex

Question: What were you people thinking?

This thing should have been held back. It's so lame. Ipod Killer? More like dividen eater. My dividens. Oh well, hopefully, Halo3, Vista and Longhorn will make up for this disaster. Can you spell Dell DJ

Here's a question - how do I remove those preinstalled files from my Zune? I have a big music library that will barely fit, and I want to kill those built-in videos and songs.

You mentioned Zune and Media Center.  Does that mean we can play downloaded music from Zune MarketPlace in the Media Center's 6' interface?  If so, I like it!

Is there an add-on for Windows Mobile so I can playback Zune DRM content?

Alex Wilhelm:

Where did you hear these 1.5 rumors?  Are they just some guy that has a friend that thinks he saw on digg that there may be a 1.5 or something?  Not that I'm doubting it, I'd just like to read from a real source than "some dude".

jay:

I don't remember anyone saying the Zune would be an iPod killer.  In fact Microsoft has openly stated, many times, that they know they won't even come close to knocking the iPod from it's perch.  Oddly enough the only people calling it an iPod killer are the ones that are trying to say something negative about it.

Shawn: Thanks for the response.  That's insane!  Returning to a world where MS products don't talk to other MS products eh?  How very retro! lol

Cesar you got to give me some good news here guy, my resolve is weakening! OK so the Zune software is quite happy being a stand alone player right?

"When Windows Vista is publicly available this January, it will work with Zune."

Windows Vista will be publicly available this month. Enterprises have employees that have computers which they use at home.

Shawn: Actually, the media is saying Zune could be an iPod-killer, which it will not be. The only reason why anyone is talking about the Zune at all is because it is being repackaged and sold by Microsoft who has had a historical competitive relationship with Apple and the media is playing on the old story that Microsoft will sink Apple's popularity.

Can you download movies to the ZUNE?

Jason: Vista has been released to manufacturers not general public as you suggest.  In addition, most Enterprises that I know of would frown upon their employees installing unauthorized software.

Alex Wilhelm:  If I were a betting man, I would guess that 1.5 you might be referring too is not an update to the Zune device but Zune Software (Vista Support).

http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2006/11/play_with_zune_1.html

Claude:  At the moment the Zune device is limited to unprotected video content.  With the shared XBox/Zune Microsoft Points system and the announced Nov.22 XBox Marketplace video download service I believe it will be a natural extension of Zune.  Remains to be seen what happens to other download providers like CinemaNow, MoveLink, etc.

Again, I repeat if you guys can get the video/music syncing thing right....this thing can explode like myspace/youtube. Make sure you perfect that aspect and you'll be in for a surprise. Oh and we expect, smaller, cheaper versions to be in the piiepeline right, fo that others can also share in the experience?

My PC has MCE 2004, and zune software will not install. I've even tried running KB90025 and it says that I need MCE 2005. Whats the deal?

still dont really understand, u say vista 64-bit support in jan! does that mean xp 64-bit support as well, do i really have to wait that long for it. I might as well buy ipod as much as i dont want to, i really wanted to use it too, for this long vaction i was going on. But yeah, vista 64 = xp 64 or can i expect the xp version to be out sooner, please give me good news. thanks for the vista update.

Hey Casear maybe you can answer this for me... Sry  about the spelling... in a small rush.. On my black Zune ( Which I love by the way), the little black ring around the port going from the Zune to the PC... that Ring is loose... as in its not popping out but its not like glued on and I can jiggle it up and down a bit. I returned the first Zune and recieved a second... same story with that one after gently plugging it in to be charged... Should I be worrried about this little faceplate coming off?

tyler - no XP 64 bit support (sorry man).

nymbis, I'm not sure about that one, you might want to call support.

Super easy feature request. Can we have the Zune display the current time on it please?

does zune wrap non-DRM'ed songs in DRM or not? you said here it did, then you said it didnt, but every review and story i'm reading says it does. as a musician i would hate to not be able to share my music with friends.

Will the MS team that builds PhotoStory, release a profile that targets the Zune display.  It makes a great player of PhotoStory videos.

btw what are the specs for a video profile for the Zune?

This is probably the most frustrated I've ever been about the whole zune platform.  Yes, I run a zune blog and yes I like the little player that could.  However, obviously, Cesar cannot do the job by himself.  While he's out presumably looking for answers, we're still in the dark on a lot of things.  We still have buggy software, etc.  We're all talking but I'm not sure anyone is listening.  At least I don't feel like anyone is listening.  You would think that this is the most critical time.  We just bought the player and initially we're going to have a lot of questions, but thee's apparently no way to get them answered.  Zune tech support knows about as much as I do.  Trust me, I've called.  And, if I'm frustrated and Im actually one of the hardcore guys, I can only imagine what the casual consumer who went against the grain and bought a zune is going through.  Well, I know what they're thinking: "should've bought an ipod."  Well, I want subscription music so I'm stuck...and I just need a little help, an update, something to stop this software from behaving like it was programmed over the weekend in somebody's garage.

Sports Unit- I've asked someone from the Zune team to jump in to these forums to answer some of these questions. Good idea.

jiminy, it doesn't wrap files up in DRM. Nope. The Zune to zune sharing limitation is at the device level, and yes it applies to all songs you send (no pictures). However, a song never gets wrapped in DRM.

Thanks!

cesar

The Zune does work on a Mac running XP via Boot Camp.  But I've had issues with the blue screen of death since installing the Zune on the Windows side. Also, I've had problems with some of the songs downloaded from the Market Place skipping on the Zune.  They don't skip when I play them in the Zune Software.

Hello, Whenever I try to use the marketplace on zune software I can't look up any tracks. Weather I click on a link to an artist or search for a song manual I always see a notice next to the artist name on the page that says, "(tracks not available)" and there are no tracks on the page. I see his for every artist, album, and song I try to access.

Syncing. It's confusing and I don't get it. After I move my music from my PC to my Zune can I safely delete the files from my PC? I am afraid that if I delete them that the next time I sync they will get zapped from the device.

ALL tracks shared through the WiFi connection WILL be deleted after three days or three plays, leaving just the tags.

DRM is not added to the tracks, BUT the Zune (the actual player) limits all WiFi transferred tracks. You can not copy tracks from the player back to your computer (which is standard on many players, at least with the legit software).

The reason is very very simple. There is no way to tell the difference between free, creative commons music and music ripped from a copyrighted CD. Without the Zune restriction anyone could transfer copyrighted music by WiFi and keep it illegally. Microsoft is not to blame here, its the people that claim to have massive music collections, but have only bought a fraction of them. Those people have forced such restrictions. Microsoft had no choice here, they could not release a music player that could create a WiFi pirating sensation.

Cesars description is 100% correct, just thought this issue needed to be clarified a little further. It will be interesting to see how WiFi matures on the Zune and other players.

Hope everyone is having fun with their Zunes... When is it coming out in the UK?... Just kidding Cesar :P

Is there any way I can set it up so that I can opt not to add certain songs to the Zune, while keeping them in my library?

I must admit that I haven't yet bought a Zune, but was just checking out the software too see how well it worked.  I'm planning to move to Macs, and for me, the deciding factor on purchasing a Zune is whether or not there will be a version of the Zune software written for the Mac.  Any word?

Bought Zune yesterday from Best Buy.  Tried to install the software on my computer (HP Media Center, Windows XP with SP2, Pentium D)with a message of I either need Service Pack 2 or update with the roll ups.  I updated the roll ups, and still I can't install the software.  I ran Norton and found no nothing.  What the deal here?  I spent 6 hours on my PC trying to install the software.

I have the same issue as the above. I run Windows MCE 2004, and have no way of upgrading to 2005. HP tech support claims that they no longer offer the upgrade. Microsoft tells me I have to buy the retail version of MCE 2005!!! I've been waiting forever for this thing only to find that I've been shunned. Is it really possible that Apple iTunes would run on an updated windows OS, but not the zune marketplace? I hate the fact that my wife (an avid ipod user) is just waiting to tell me "I told you so". There has to be some solution. I refuse to believe that any $500 XP machine can run this software, but my $2,000 "media" pc can't. PLEASE tell me there is some solution..

When you said "The Zune software will automatically import your unprotected .aac, mp3, and wma files, and will do auto-transcoding."

What does that sentence mean exactly? Will my mp3s  be transcoded into wma? What is auto-transcoding? I know it is probably a stupid question but i just need to cover all the basics before i can make the purchase.

I have a really big collection of my personal sets and i dont want all of them to be turned into wma.

Alright so I bought my Zune. Love it. Although I'm wondering, why is it that when syncing the device it has to "convert" .WMV files to work? I thought that .WMV was standard and wouldn't have to convert to work on the device. Also it should be easier to get to "now playing". Sometimes I'll start looking at photos while playing music and it's hard to get back to the current song playing. Finally, please include a time/date that appears at the top or something. Thanks, great product, already got 5 of my friends to buy one!

OK, am I the only one that thinks it's very weird that with the Zune being all about "The Social" that there is no forum over on zune.net?  In fact, I could swear that zune.net used to have a "Community" heading where it would fit perfectly.  A blog's comments are probably the worst way to have a two-way dialog.

Seriously, these days there are a dozen great forum packages for PHP, .NET, Ruby, ASP and everything in-between.

Give us a forum so we don't have to blast your comments section!  I'm not trying to take anything away from the indie Zune sites and their forums but there are so many forums out there that I'd like to have "the one" where I know our concerns are at leat monitored if not answered.

I also listed a few annoyances and some bugs I've had with the Zune software on my blog, http://a-simian-mind.blogspot.com.  I'd submit them as bug reports but I'm not quite sure where to send things like that.

Waited for this for months.  I find it to be one of the worst products Microsoft ever released.  This includes ME.  Software to run the device is poor.  It is like Windows Media Player Lite. Sync options give you all or nothing.  $20 software on the net does a better job.  By the way there is no way to access the device without the stupid front end software.  The device does not work WMP ver 11.  If I did not know any better I would think the idea was to shun other Microsoft products.  I have tried 15 different music players.  This is the worst.  FYI I do not even own a MAC and have been a MS Solution Provider for over 15 years.  MS should be embarrassed.  Do not buy this product until they fix it.

you msft guys missed the boat completely on wi-fi, here is why

http://www.tunjiafonja.com/tunjis_weblog/2006/11/zune_is_lame.html

Dont know about you guys, but it worked perfectly for me. By the way we all are early adopter and we r meant to suffer. Why do you think there is only one 30GB model right now. Exactly for this reason. They will work out all the problem and in about a month or two every thig will be set.

I wanted to share some comments/concerns/questions.  But first off, Kudos!  Its a sweet little device.  My coworker and I went and bought 2 on launch day, black and brown.  I have to say, I don't think all of the retail partners are doing a great job, but I will talk about that when I have time for a full review...

I do love it, people think its cool, a bit thick, but looks amazing.  

Here are the comments/questions/concerns

The Zune desktop software 'freezes up' now and then.  The UI will stop but songs playing/downloading/synching continues.  It mostly happens in the marketplace, this happens on 3 computers and 2 different zunes connected to these computers.  

I find the "Zune Pass" to be a second class citizen when it comes to obtaining music.  

It appears you cannot "Zune to Zune" music that was bought in this way.  

It seems that SOME albums you can buy but not download.  

It seems some albums you can download some tracks, but not all.  What gives?  Are you guys really saying if I have a Zune pass I may need to pop out 79 points for a song or two on a CD here or there?  I understand some musicians/labels won't allow the "Zune Pass" but to do it on a song level?

You can't burn CDs you download with Zune pass?  While I understand that, how much are 'burn rights' 79 points a song?  Or cheaper?  It just seems more and more that Zune pass is a red headed step child in the service, where as I think it COULD be the killer app.

My only UI complaint thusfar...when you're horizontal watching a video, if you hit back, the screen is verticle, making you flip it, select a new video, flip back.  It should be smarter, or use tech like the new digital cameras, to auto rotate the screen depending on position.  

And of course I want to have a bunch of other nifty Wifi features, but, I did buy the Zune knowing that it was a platform for development.  I got one on potential, that and the fact that MP3 playing is essentially homogenous.  It is as good or as bad of an MP3 player as any that I've owned, so really who cares?  Its about 'what cool things can do it' and this thing can do (one day) a lot...

Yay! we might get gap less playback!!!

Should have been there in the first place, but whatever...

question 1: why does the last file you transfer become the picture for every single mp3 file (transfering mp3 audio book files)?

question 2: where can i get api for the zune, i thought maybe the WMDM Service Provider for Zune Devices dll would at least let me talk to it via the WMDM sdk but it doesnt see it. are there plans for a sdk released for teh zune player?

I bought a Zune yesterday and in my stupid confusion about the whole automatic syncing of ALL my music (which, I must say I didn't like very much -- I wanted to choose exactly what I wanted on Zune, but oh well), I tried to erase those files that I didn't want and ended up deleting all the music off my Zune including the preloaded songs.  Is there anyway to get those back or are they gone forever?  Thanks in advance!

P.S. Nice job on the site.  It's highly informative.

My apologies for asking a repeat question.  I appreciate the response to our questions, though.

I just wanted to know if I could get my hands on some marketing items, because I wanted to post them around ASU.  Thanks.

My girlfriend's XP SP2 laptop cannot purchase songs. Every time I try to buy or download something, I get sent to the support page instead. Found this in the event log:

The description for Event ID ( 14344 ) in Source ( ZuneNetworkSvc ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: 0xc00d2728.

Some answers to some questions that have been asked, but not answered yet.

Sportsunit: I'll see if I can answer all your questions :-) Pressing the center button when you have the video details up is something we're considering. There was a specific reason why we didn't enable this (music does not behave this way). There is no way currently to delete tracks on the device. You can add songs to a Quick List on the player, but you cannot create brand new custom playlists on the player. We don't support streaming of content from the device while it's connected to the Zune software. We wanted to make sync and quick and as stable as possible, but it's something we'd consider for the future if we could guarantee the sync experience is solid. Finally, I'm not sure why all your content is not streaming to your Xbox 360. If it can be played within the Zune software, it should be streamable to your Xbox 360. If you could provide a bit more detail via the support channels, that would be helpful and will get back to the product team if it's something we can isolate.

JC: The device natively plays back MP3, WMA, and AAC. If you have content in this format, we will not convert them to another format before importing into your library (unlike a certain other player with WMAs...) What we do allow you to set is an option to convert files to a lower bitrate when you sync them to your device. Some people like the option to encode at very high bitrates for archival purposes, but then use a more easily transferred version for their device. There are settings in the software you can tweak to control this (including letting the software automatically pick the best way to bring stuff over). Bottom line is that we are not going to destroy or move existing files when the library is built. The Zune software can be downloaded for free from Zune.net if you wanted to do a test first with your current library.

Ryan: About the WMV transcoding, we transcode video to a WMV bitrate that is suitable for playing back on the device. We convert all video using a profile that strikes a balance between quality, file size, and CPU usage. I don't have the specifics about what this profile is, but once the software has done this, the Zune device optimized video is cached so you don't have to do it again in the future.

Shawn (et al): Thanks for recording the bugs and glitches you've found. People from the team look at the sites closely, even though we may not be vocal. Keep the feedback coming.

Scott Johnson: Sorry you feel disappointed by the ecosystem, but let me clarify some of your comments. You can choose what you want to sync on the device. Going through the initial setup allows you to choose between Music, Pictures, and Videos. We decided to attempt to sync all music by default because most folks we talked to had libraries that could easily fit on the player. You can always choose which folders to sync through the library options if you don't want to sync everything. If you want to save $20, you can download the Zune Software for free and give it whirl. It does co-exist with WMP 11. I'm curious to know what specific features you'd like to see with the Zune software as it seems like you've had a great deal of experience with many other devices and their respective sync software.

Manu: You had some commments about Zune Pass and the Marketplace. Basically, the Zune Pass allows you to download and sync most of the Marketplace content available. You're right in observing that some tracks and albums cannot be download as part of the Zune Pass. That is a limitation of the rights we've obtained from the content providers. We're hoping to make 100% of the content availble via Zune Pass, but right now, there is a small portion of content that can only be purchased using points. Speaking of purchases, when you buy a song, you get to burn it to a CD as well as sync to a device. It never expires, like a subscription track does. The thinking is that you can use a combination of the Zune Pass and purchase systems to sample content, then buy it if you really like it and want to hold onto it forever. Again, burn rights are included when you buy content from the Marketplace (vs Download using a Zune Pass).

Ranger_000: The Zune Press Site is here - http://www.zune.net/en-US/press. Hopefully that gets you the images and information you need.

Whew! Hopefully that gives Cesar a much needed respite.

YoYo!  A new target!  You poor hapless fool! muahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Errr, OK  that's out of my system now :p.  The Zune software - I can't install right now as I am on Vista and am paranoid about installing non-Vista specific software.  I tried to put some VPN stuff on for work last night and it kaputted in quite spectacular fashion!

Anyway, the Zune software.  I've been told that the device doesn't work with WMP 11?  That being the case, how many features of WMP does Zune have?  I mean what i lvoed about 9&10 in particular was the ease with which you can buld playlists and the way WMP auto-rates everything for you while giving the option of rating it yourself.  There are lots of other features I like too so would be good to see those features in the Zune software if you've made it so that Microsoft Zune doesn't play nice with the other microsoft kids.

234234

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions here.  I have my Zune syncing properly now though I'm still learning the ins and outs.  Somehow it always asks me to connect as guest whenever I plug it in to the first PC I setup on or my laptop.  That's weird.

Other thing is an observation and suggestion... I was disappointed to plug my Zune into my 360 and *not* unlock Gamer Pictures!  I really think you all should add a small assortment of Gamer Pictures for folks with Zunes.  A few of the options could be the Zune logo with colored backgrounds and glow outlines to match the doubleshot color.  So brown with a green border fading inward like a glow and the Zune logo in the middle.  I think it'd be a fun way to identify other Zune users!

Now this is pretty funny. I am sure we have all heard about how Zune is considered offensive lang in Hebrew or something. Well I wanted to change my xbox gamertag motto to Got my Zune! but I can't b/c I get back a message that says :Please enter an appropriate motto.

I find this pretty funny. So much for trying to help promote the zune myself.

what is the best way to convert videos to .wmv? a microsoft solution? and my biggest quesion? WILL THERE BE SUPPORT FOR AUDIBLE>COM AUDIO BOOKS? c'mon guys, you gotta get this going.. my garmin gps unit plays there files, you guys have got to this going!!!!

Is there any chance, ever, of Zune working with the thousands of tracks I have downloaded (as in paid per track) from Napster.  I'm not at all happy about the idea of losing all the music I have bought over the last few years to use Zune.

This is the only reason I will not get one at present.

Hello,

I have a quick question. I have noticed that all my MP3s which are higher than 195 bits requires conversion when I sync it to the device. Does that mean that the Zune device supports only up to 195 bits?

Thanks,

Rohit

One quick question?  Is the inbox/search functionality still being hammered out.  The songs that are flagged and in your inbox have to be searched in order to be downloaded.  The problem is, the search result is usually that the song can't' be found in the marketplace or my library.  Just for fun, I flagged some mary j blige songs IN THE ZUNE MARKETPLACE and then, I tried to search for them in the inbox and got no results.  Now, that's just weird.  I flagged songs from the marketplace and the software can't even find these in the marketplace...weird.  Is this a known bug?  Now, I'm not trying to ridicule, I'm just pointing out bugs that if fixed will make the experience much better.  

I know i keep posting on this, but seriously! no 64 bit support. Why, who made that horrible dicession. You go to windows website it tells you a ton of reasons why to upgrade, but they dont tell u they dont support their own software. Please... please... please... im willing to wait, add the 64 bit support. I mean how hard can it be, do i really have to buy a whole new windows os to use a windows mp3 player. Makes absolutly no sense to me. I just really need to know why. I know i keep buging you ceaser, im sorry. But WHY? it upsets me daily, lol.

I've been having some issues with the Zune software. I can't seem to get the Album art from my ripped .mp3 albums to show up on the Zune after syncing. I've also been unable to login to the marketplace to use my 14 day pass trial. I get an error saying that it cannot connect to the marketplace. (Error Code: 10065) I called tech support but the poor guy didn't have the slightest clue how to search through his troubleshooting database and was very little help.

I've been getting Error Code: 10065 as well. Several people over at Zunescene seem to be getting the same error and the tech support answer is to wait 24 hours, but if you call back in 24 hours the answer is to wait another 24 hours lol. Maybe they should just say to try again in a few weeks. I'd like to get the software to work before I actually buy a player.. If I had bought one I would be so ticked.  

The Interface is Slow... slow... slow...

I want to remove the pre-installed videos

5 minutes later having clicked on Zune -> Movies -> All Video it now shows the vids but can I delete them? Nope - instead it's syncing so I'm hoping I can delete them after the sync - burt the sync looks like it will take another 5 minutes.

OK, now it's synced. And it asks if I want to delete that stuff off the Zune. So I say yes - and it's gone but wait a minute... even though it was synced up to the PC, it's gone - so the pre-loaded stuff now appears to be lost. What if I wanted to put it back later?

Now - how to find the pre-installed music. When I connected the Zune it synced all my music down onto the player. I now have 10,000 tunes and can't find an easy way to see what is and isn't mine!

I haven't even started on playing with the Marketplace store yet - and I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm sorry MS - I have been one of your staunchest supporters for the Zune, the player is good but the software is just rubbish - do you really think it in *any* way compares with iTunes?

Sorry, going to have to write all this up at the site...

- Robin : http://zunearmy.com

Dear oh dear,

So, I decided to clear all the audio files off the Zune to start again. I highlighted all files, right clicked and selected delete. Over 30 minutes later I still have an hour glass cursor.

So, I guess it's time to force exit and start again and unplug the Zune because the right-hand side of the software says "Your Zune is ready to be disconnected".

I unplug it and then the software says "Are you sure you want to delete these 7,245 songs from your Zune?" - Well, duh? But, I just disconnected it now and anyway, that's only 3/4 of the songs it synced onto it - so obviuously something *was* happening and if I had waited about another 15-20 minutes maybe I could have deleted all tracks.

So. Now I have to start again, fully aware that it will take 50-60 minutes just to wait for the "do you want to delete these files?" prompt.

It's simply not good enough - it's some of the buggiest software I have come across - was it even ever in a public beta test? Os is *this* the beta test?

- Robin : http://zunearmy.com

I won't post the rest here (there is a LOT more) but I have a question. Would the Zune team like all us who are reviewers or early adopters to provide a list of the bugs we encounter? (I have about 16 so far and counting). Perhaps you'd like to provide an email address or something and we won't have to post the reports in a public blog. Hopefully it'd would help you sort out a few of your current issues quicker...

Just a thought...

whats this about the no firmware update till the late SPRING??

sean - we're not actually talking specific timing about the firmware update.

EXCELLENT review of the Zune. im off to get one tomorrow :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buKaqRG2SFA

In all the mad rush of questions / answers , I missed out posting about our launch party in Miami. Our

YOYO, thanks for the response, its great to know people on the Team check out this site.  I understand the limitions of rights from the content providers about distribution, I just feel almost that Zune pass severely hindered by it, almost to the point of after the trial making me not want to get one.  The concept behind it is GREAT.  I love it.  But if I hit 'download' on an album and later find I only got 10 of 12 tracks...that is annoying.  

I would honestly prefer that unless it is a full CD it isn't offered or at least the ability to say 'don't show incomplete CDs' or something in a filter.

The biggest complaint though are the little lockups in the UI of the player...

This is just one minor beef I have with the software.  I'd like you to mention this to the software guys so they can clear this up.  All the importing went well, but there was one big exception.  Whenever I had a multi-disc set purchased from eMusic (originally released on multiple discs), the Zune software would put all the "track 1" entries, "track 2s," etc.  right next to each other.  So it will do disc one- track one, then disc two-track one, then do the same thing for everything on the album.  Somehow, iTunes manages to avoid this.  So if you could pass this on, I'd appreciate it.

I (we) love feedback. Positive or Negative . From insightful reviewers or iFanboys . Keep it coming.

hey if i pasted my own art in, how come i can't get it to update from the the zune database, i want the zune cover art but it has my crappy old amazon.com ones i did ages ago

I haven't had a day off in a while (including weekends), so I'm taking tomorrow off. Don't worry, I've

This is not a question, it is my feedback on the Zune. I was not sure where to post it, so I will post it here.

I am in the market for a new PMP. Most of my music library is in WMA format, so Zune looked like it could be a real contender. However, after reading up on the Zune, I simply cannot bring myself to purchase one.

Here are the things holding me back from purchasing a Zune:

1. No support for PlaysForSure. No two ways about it, this was an immensely stupid decision. The primary reason I never purchased an iPod was that I had no desire to be locked into a proprietary, single-vendor solution. You had an opportunity to break the mold here, and you passed it up. Are you insane?

2. Misc Zune player issues - no gapless playback, no built-in graphic equalizer, poorly scaled album art. These are basic features that every player should have.

3. The Microsoft Points system. I don't like the points system because it obscures the true cost of my purchases. Make points an option, rather than a requirement.

4. No video content in the Zune Marketplace. I'm sure this will change soon, though.

Other features I would like to see:

1. Podcast support

2. Audible support

3. Use the Zune device for file storage

4. Bookmarking

The 'social' features have the potential to be interesting in the future (at least from what I have read), but right now they just do not outweigh all of the other issues I listed above. And while I love the large screen, it is not reason enough to justify a purchase.

Oh, one other thing - Zune needs a removable battery. Why are so many of today's players shipping without this?! I just don't get it...

Surely there's some way to import podcasts into the Zune--even if it's a sneaky backway. It doesn't make sense to me that they just don't work with a major MP3 player.

Some more answers to the questions since last time:

Matt: I think the Zune Software takes much of what was good in WMP11 and optimizes it for the Zune ecosystem. Things like Smart Playlists, rich views of your media, and quick searching are things you'll find are on par with WMP11. There are things that are unique, like some special visualizers (make sure to install the latest version of Direct X!), AAC, H.264, and MPEG-4 support, and of course, some tight integration with the device and store. The auto-rate and playlist building features are the same in Zune software as it is with WMP11.

Zunatic: Great suggestion. I'm conveniently part of the Xbox 360 design team so I'll make sure your comments get to the right folks on the dev team :-)

Heath: Support for additional formats is something we're always looking at. The one thing we would need to add to support audiobooks (and podcasts properly) is bookmarking. Once we have that implemented it makes Zune a better platform for audiobooks. As for converting videos to WMV, it depends on where you are getting your source material from. If the Zune software can play it, it should be syncable to your device. Check out the support pages on Zune.net for the latest on supported file formats. For video, we support videos targeted for two of the most popular portable devices out there (you can figure out what I'm talking about :-p) as well as WMV.

Ali: Napster tracks are PlaysForSure compliant and hence will not play back on the Zune or Zune software. You can burn songs to CD then re-rip them using the Zune software, but I know that's not an elegant solution when you are talking about thousands of tracks. There are programs out there that allow you to skip the step of burning to a CD, which may be better for your scenario.

Rohit: That's a good question. You can set the bitrate that the player will use when you sync tracks to the device. Normally, it's set to "automatic" so the software just picks an appropriate bitrate (probably 192kbs CBR WMA).

Sportsunit: Not quite sure what you're asking here. The way flagging works is like this. If you flag something in your device, it will appear in your inbox when you sync to with Zune software. If we have this content in Marketplace, you can click on the the artist or the track and be taken to the appropriate place in marketplace to learn more about it or purchase it. The items that are flagged in your inbox have a little flag icon to the right if the item name, btw. Flagging is not tied to searching actually. If you flagged something in marketplace, it should have appeared in your inbox in the Zune software for you to follow up with later on, like a bookmark.

Tyler (and others I think): Right now, we don't support x64 flavors of Windows with the Zune software. This doesn't mean we will never support this platform, but I cannot give you any kind of timeline when this support will be there unfortunately.

Reije: Are you having problems with album art showing up on your Zune device or in the Zune software? If it's not showing up in the software, try right clicking on the album to Find Album Information. Once the album art shows up in the software, try syncing your device. Not sure about your marketplace error. Do you even see the home page? Do you have any kind of firewall software installed on your PC? That might be blocking traffic to the Marketplace.

Robin: I believe there is a playlist called "Zune Gems" on your device that you can use the identify the songs that came loaded with your device. Is that what you are looking for? Also, can you describe the machine you are using? That might help determine why you feel the UI is performing slowly. I don't know what the best forum is for tracking bugs tho. Maybe Cesar can figure that out when he gets back. Thanks for taking the time to help us improve the product.

Chris: Can you tell me the name of the album you hit this with? Multi-disc albums are kind of tricky to handle sometimes. In this case, I'm thinking you expect the two discs to be treated as separate albums versus all rolled together, right?

Tom: If you try pasting new art in, does it update? If not, try going into the folder where the files are stored and choose the Windows Explorer option to Show Hidden/System files. There may be some old JPGs there that you can delete. The Zune software should then go out and find the new album art for you.

Scott: Thanks for the feedback. The P4S ecosystem is different than Zune. This was deliberate, and if the P4S ecosystem works for you (and you have invested a lot of money in content from a P4S store) then Zune may not be the right answer for you at this time. From the design perspective, I can tell you that the certainty of guaranteeing a consistent experience is something that is difficult to obtain when the store and device are not know quantities. Gapless playback is something that was recently introduced to some comeptitive software. It's important for listenting to specific kinds of music, and it's something we are considering for the future. Not sure what you mean by a graphic EQ. There is a preset EQ system on the device and software. There is no *custom* EQ option at this time. Is that what you are looking for, or a spectrum analyzer? As for Album Art, we needed to strike a balance between size and quality of art. Every KB of space your art takes up means less room for songs potentially on the device. As for the PC, you can paste in album art at a much higher resolution than the device, and the UI will scale it accordingly. As for points, you don't have to use them. You can subscribe to a Zune Pass and not deal with points at all. That being said, if you're used to purchasing tracks for a dollar amount, this is something will be a bit of a learning curve.

Finally, adding a removeable battery increases the cost and size of the device. It also affects aesthetics to some degree. We may consider a removeable battery in a future hardware revision.

Same problem as Reije here...

After totally erasing the Zune and starting from scratch things speeded up quite a bit. However, after syncing the music back onto the Zune not a single piece of album artwork is showing up on the device, although over 2/3 of my albums are showing album art in the Zune software.

Is there a setting or something somewhere that governs this?

Will the Zune ever support URGE? I am completely confused as to why Zune would not support Microsoft's DRM from their partners? So I will have to dump my URGE subscription and get a Zune Marketplace sub which only has a fraction of the content? Please say it isn't so...

-giovanni

TheAgencyBlog.com

Thanks for the response to my feedback.

Regarding P4S support - you're kidding, right? P4S isn't exactly an unknown quantity - after all, P4S is purported to be an industry standard music format that enables player interoperability with a variety of stores. And let's not forget that you, Microsoft, own and control that standard.

If the Zune player supported P4S, nothing would prevent you from providing an enhanced experience for those who choose to stay within the all-Zune ecosystem.

And as I mentioned above, I do not want to be locked into a proprietary, single-vendor solution. If I was OK with that, I would have purchased an iPod years ago. If the Zune device supported P4S, I would buy one tomorrow.

Now, on to the points system. My hesitancy has nothing to do with a learning curve. Rather, my point is this - I should not have to fire up calc.exe every time I make a purchase just so I can figure out how much the video I just bought really cost. I also don't like the idea of having to purchase points in blocks. Having the option is nice, but I don't like being forced into it.

Sure, there is ZunePass, but I don't purchase enough new music each year to justify investment in a subscription service - especially since that music is only mine to use so long as I continue to pay the subscription fee.

On gapless playback... It seems a tad disingenuous to claim that it is a recently introduced feature. That feature has been in players for a long time now.

Regarding the EQ, I was under the impression that there are no selectable EQ presets (or custom EQ) on the device itself. Am I wrong about that? It sounds like I may be.

Regarding album art - the Zune player is 30GB, not 512MB. If I have to lose one song worth of capacity to get higher quality album art on the device, I hardly see that as an issue.

Finally, regarding the removable battery. I would gladly pay a little extra for a player with a removable battery, and I would be willing to accept a little more bulk as well. I suspect there are a lot of consumers who would agree with me on that.

I tried installing zune marketplace 8 times to no avail on YP pro SP2 machine I have ALL the latest updates installed STILL no go! This is not the eXPerience I was evisioning. 250.00 and I can't even use it! 3 hours! to install software???? from Microsoft on a certified XP PC! I need help this is an absolute disgrace. And to wait until the end to tell you,-- nothing. I'm tired of restarting my PC and getting the SAME results!

So can we Europeans import the Zune from the States without any negative implications?

Hello from Kitsap!

First off, I must say I'm very happy with the Zune so far.  You all have done a great job and deserve many kudos.

I've got the same question as many other people have already mentioned:  I've erased the pre-loaded content and I'd like to know if there's a way to get it back.  

Translation:  I want to see Brittany Murphy again.  

Long version:  I was at my local Wal-Mart to pick up a Zune at Oh-dark-thirty before work and was pleased to see they had some.  They didn't have storage for them yet so they were actually in the iPod display case.  Kinda funny; should'ave taken a picture.  Anyway, I headed straight to work and just couldn't resist plugging it in and syncing it.  This also set my home station at work.  When I went home, I had some updating to do as I had MCE 2005 w/o SP2.  Pretty straight forward and once it was done, the install completed flawlessly on my second machine.  Unfortunately at home, the software kept wanting to use a guest setup.  This made syncing a little obtusive.  So, I knew I'd lose the data and pulled the trigger to wipe the Zune.

I'd really like to see Britt...  uh, the preloaded content back but totally understand why I can't.  

Thanks again, guys!  Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to future updates.

how many zunes can use one subscription zunepass? i had thoughts of getting another zune for the wife, especially if we can both use one zunepass subscription...

Scott: Apologies if the Zune is not currently the player/ecosystem that fits in with your exact expectations or lifestyle. Getting into the reasons why some features were or weren't added is beyond the scope of this thread, but your feedback has been recorded and added to the list of future features. Thanks for trying out the software and hopefully you'll keep Zune in mind when you're considering your next purchase.

Bruce: Are you having problems installing the software and syncing, or is it purely getting access to the Markeplace? If it's the latter, it's possible it could be a firewall issue, but that's beyond my level of expertise.

Rumik: The Zune ecosystem is only fully supported in the US at this time. It may be possible to work around this if you live outside the US, but we don't support this scenario at this time.

Robin/Reije: On your initial sync, it's likely not all the album art will have been downloaded by the time all the tracks are copied to your device, so these tracks will show up with the placeholder art. When your library is built, album art is added to tracks at a slower rate than metadata like track name or artist name. Over time, all the album art will be updated in the software. If you keep your device connected, it will check tracks already synced to your device and update album art and metadata that's missing.

thanks

The name of one of the albums where this happened is "1000 Years of Popular Music" by Richard Thompson.  But that's a bit aside from the point.

Really what I'd want is multi-disc sets to be considered as one album, but I just want to hear the songs in the order originally intended, rather than hearing all the firsts songs of however many discs there are, then all the of the seconds songs, then all of the third,etc.

This is really rooted in the way the eMusic store works.  When you buy multidisc albums, each "disc" downloads with the same album tag and into the same folder.  However, rather than have track tags going way up into the stratosphere, each virtual "disc" has it's own set of tracks.  So once "disc one" is over, disc 2 starts at "track one."  This confuses the hell out of the software because it doesn't seem to understand how to handle 2 or more different tracks both claim to be track one, two, three, etc.  While I'm no iFanboy, I would like to point out that iTunes manages to handle this flawlessly, so it can be dealt with, it's just that I have no idea how.

The difference with actual CDs is that they are stored as separate albums or discs, so there is none of this conflict.

Any idea when the Zune crew is going to officially aknowledge the inability for people with existing Live accounts to login to the marketplace? A site where people can check the status would be nice. I'm starting to feel like I'm losing out because I've already registered my 14 day pass trial but that was on Tuesday night. It's Friday night now and I still can't log in.

YoYo: Thanks for the suggestion but it's still a no go. Still not seeing any artwork.

YoYo:  I can only assume that some how you are connected officially with the device.  The fact that you even acknowledge the existence of the comments let-alone respond raises your stock many points in my book.  Maybe there is hope.

The choices of Music, Pictures or video for sync options are really no options.  If we have spent the time to create playlists then we will surely spend the time to choose what we want on the device.  WMP allows us the ability to auto-sync our choices. Options for deleting tracks that are not on the auto-sync list and unmounting the device when the sync is complete are just basics that should not have been overlooked.  Just because most folks you talked to had libraries that could easily fit on the player does not mean that that is what they wanted.  My library of music is 70gb and video is 3tb.  Sync all is not going to work.  

You completely missed the idea of file sharing between devices.  PC to Zune of Word, Excel and others wirelessly would allow company employees to share PC-Zune-Zune-PC.  MS has years of sync experience with WinCE, draw on that knowledge.  Make sure to compress the files as they are added.

DO NOT force the device to suffer because of a lame app.  Many of the issues you see posted are because the device can only accessed by the ZUNE app.  If your plan is to be better then do not make the mistakes of the others.  Create a driver that everyone and every app can use.  Make it appear as an addressable device.  Think out of the box.  

What would it have hurt to have a SD slot on the hardware? Imagine the possiblities there.