alright! fans rejoice!

I have never had any problems with my Zune so I guess I won't be noticing very much from this update.  

Good to hear the skipping issues some folks had will be solved at last.

Hmmm.  Well I hope they have some surprises for us.  As I've said in a few other places, I couldn't care less about a clock or sleep timer.

The most important update in my mind is a proper storage driver.  Here I am carrying around a 30gb drive, and I can't put documents on it.  It's only about half full of music, and I'd like to stop carrying this bulky external 3.5" drive around.

If that causes problems for the RIAA, then make me partition off a section of the drive or something.  I can peel off 2-3gb and set them aside for documents easily.  Of course, having the ability to "squirt" a powerpoint to a colleague would truly be the killer app on this device.

Beyond that, kill the 3x3 rule for non-marketplace files.  I can't even keep pocasts given to me by the very people that MADE the things.  There's something inherently wrong with that.  Keep YOUR drm off MY stuff.

I'm glad you're fixing some bugs (though I wasn't experiencing any of them anyway), but a couple of new features would be lovely...

Of course my ultimate wish would be MP3s in the Zune marketplace. Even if it were just from Indie labels. Is there anything you can say about that?

I'm sad to say that I simply won't buy DRM-ed music. I'd far rather find the stuff I want on MP3 blogs, or buy a CD then rip to MP3.

(note: for mp3, you can substitute ogg vorbis or any other open format - i'm aware of the recent alcatel-lucent court judgement against MS)

I'm disappointed, damn we deserve more than that!  We've been waiting for too long.  The clock and other small things.  I could understand the video in the marketplace might take a while but, how hard is it to implement minor fixes.

Still no support for Audible books (.aa format) in this firmware release?

I'll admit, I don't yet own a Zune.  I have my money in hand, and would buy one this afternoon if someone could confirm that Zune will definitely support Audible in the not too distant future.  I spend nearly 2 hours a day on my commute, and Audible books are my entertainment during the drive.  I'm not going to spend the money only to have to carry around one device for Audible books, and a Zune for my music.  But man, I sure do want that Zune...

The skipping will finally be fixed! There is nothing more irritating than the skipping and lag on the player when trying to skip ahead a track or two. Thanks Cesar for the update!

Huzzah!

Specific information and deadlines are always good; hopefully we won't have to put Cesar through any undeserved pain if the "deadline" is missed. :-P

That's good to hear. I like how the Zune team is fixing the bugs first. New features can wait.

LPX

www.ZuneBoards.com

don't give specific dates about a release ask major nelson about that, instead say mid to late march. if the team finds a bug on the 19 and it needs a week to fix, there is going to be a lot of flaming.

i also second mel's post

Observation: I wonder how many of the posters have a technical background. No, I don't mean they're techies, nor that they have been an avid fan of the tech industry for a long time. I mean people with engineering backgrounds who have taken Computer Architecture and low level software development classes and can actually vouch for these "simple fixes". Remember that a clock, for example, isn't necessarilly a simple fix. Although a simple clock may be easily implemented, to conform to the Zune interface it would probably take a few days of work, days that could be spent on developing other more important features. I'm confident that the project managers are using every available resource and time to work on prioritized fixes. Now I'm rambing and my message is getting fuzzier, but as an Engineering student I seem to sympathize more with the team than the most demanding and unsympathetic people do (note: those who are just demanding have every right to be).

Somewhere in there was a point, have fun on your adventure finding that point :)

Oh, and marketing people have it tough too. Don't worry Cesar, you're covered in my book too!

Brad- I love audible too; I convert the files to mp3 (google it, its pretty easy) and split the file into smaller ones. Its an inelegant solution, and I'd be thrilled if they got audible support, but it hasn't stopped me from getting a Zune.

I'm happy to know that they're still working on the Zune. I assume features will be developed over time. Cesar's willingness to communicate with us is a big reason I bought one.

just add an internet browser and im OK

Sorry Cesar but I am jumping ship.  I converted my Zune to a dedicated video player for my daughter and I am switching to the ipod.

I have had my Zune since launch and I get so frustrated with it, I just don't use it.

Maybe I will buy back in when the product is more mature (figuring a year or two).  As a shareholder of MSFT, please keep up the good work and I hope for success.

Please make note that I know there are more people like me that are ready to bail out.  People that were waiting for more functionality only to find out the only update coming is to fix problems are fed up.  

Just wondering if there is a fix to the shut off because of static, or whatever keeps randomly shutting off my zune while I'm on the go.

That's really all I want.

That and a fade instead of a 1 second pause inbetween each track.

FINALLY...I've been fighting with skipping forever (3 zunes and exchange for an IPOD).  So my question; will I need to reload all my ZMP music to the Zune or will it repair the files while on my Zune?  

Chris I would think the actual songs have nothing to do with it. The problems lies within the Zune itself and that is why a firmware update will fix it. I don't have this problem since I do not have a Zune Pass.

I'm very dissapointed! Where are the features??? Where are the features for both the Zune and the Marketplace??? You're limiting my entertainment!

I just might have to switch to another player, maybe I'll go back to iPod after all. This waiting list is going for too long...

I'm not sure of the exact date when these issues were first idenfied, but your big announcement is that roughly 3 weeks from now your best customers...the ones that took a leap of faith and bought the Zune...are going to finally get a patch (not a firmware update) to fix the mistakes that you guys overlooked in the initial release?!?!

If this was adding new features, I'd be willing to accept your description of it being a firmware update.  But this is a patch, pure and simple!

It sounds to me as if the development team was working on other stuff thinking that the current Zune owners would sit around quietly.  Once the masses started complaining...they said "Oh #%&*!!!" we better do something.  THREE WEEKS for a patch!?!?!?  Come on!  You're the king of software...aren't you??

Consider me disappointed!

Just to comment on the previous: they were on all those parties promoting the Zunes! Super!

First, thanks, Cesar, and the others behind the magic curtain, for giving us something!  Period.  You gave us more information than we had before, and I'm grateful.

Can I request some clarification?  Are you saying that the 1.3 firmware release in mid-March and enhancements that are TBA are mutually exclusive?  Or is it possible that the mid-March release will have some enhancements as well, but you just can't talk about that part of the release yet?  I'd like to think it's at least *possible* we'll get a couple of enhancements in addition the the bug fixes in the 1.3 release.

To address Lord Baker,

I am a professional developer.  For example, you can see my pic on the front of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-ASP-NET-Databases-using-C/dp/B0000B0SZ5/sr=8-5/qid=1172701471/ref=sr_1_5/104-4862204-4471900?ie=UTF8&s=books.  

I point this out, not to brag to a bunch of anonymous people that I'll never meet in my life, but simply to show that some of us do, in fact, completely understand what goes into developing a seemingly simple feature.  I'm not recommending enhancements and supposing they can be done in an hour.  Most of us (there are exceptions) aren't even making idle threats about switching to another platform.  We simply want to be heard, want the Zune team to know that we care, and want to, in return, hear from them.  Personally, if my Zune never got another feature, I'd still use it, because it meets my needs now.  I want this platform to succeed, however, in the overall marketplace, and I don't believe it can in its current form.  If it existed in a vacuum, then, sure, it would do fine.  But it's barely a blip on the radar screen of most purchaser's thoughts compared to the iPod.  It can't simply be close to the iPod.  It has to exceed it in features.  It does in some ways.  But it falls woefully short in others.  

Cesar and the others on the Zune team, you've created a good product.  You've given us a larger screen, FM radio, subscription music, and WiFi.  The iPod can't match this.  Now we look forward to the software matching the hardware!  Bring it on :)!

John

Okay another question...Am I the only one that experiences the Zune vibrating when syncing and/or playing music?  Is this potential linked to the skipping of songs?

Thanks

Chris,

It has a hard drive inside, so some vibration wouldn't be unusual.  Excessive vibration (you'll just have to use your gut on how much is "excessive") might be indicative of a hard drive problem.  My hunch is that everything is fine.

WOW disappointed!!! Although I happy that other peoples problems are fixed...

At the very least I was expecting a CLOCK....

I read something about Microsoft throwing more weight behind new zune products as opposed to upgrading the current device.  Just using common sense, the first firmware update to add new features probably won't be around until sometime in the summer or end of summer.  A few months later, they'll probably drop the new zune.  Therefore, I'm not really expecting anything more from this device from this point on.  

Microsoft just wanted to put "something" onto the market and they accomplished this.  This firmware update in march will give us the device that we should have been purchasing in November.  But, we all have a choice here.  If we're not satisfied, we jump ship.  Personally, I want to wait until the smoke clears for next holiday.  I want to see what Apple comes out with and see what the Zune team comes up with.  I see from both companies (Apple & MS) that you basically get what you pay for on their music platforms.  No XBOX 360-like super updates to make you happy about your purchase.  That's fine with me...we just know what we're dealing with now.

Due to their enormous size, MS will probably always remain slow and methodical.  But, they always come through.  Look at the XBOX.  It took 5 years, but they did it.  If we factor in everything, things should start heating up in this ipod-zune battle by 2011.  No joke.

What really? Iv been waiting for so long for something, anything in the form of new features. Before i bought my zune i heard all these promises of commitment to the zune. So im quite annoyed to know that i was suckered into this and purcchased one. After a few months the only thing added has been a community section. Great. Just what i asked for. There ha sbeen so many requests for firmware updates and suggestions (albeit some far fetched), and yet there has been nothing. Now i have to wait til near the end of this month for a patch, not an update, no new features. The new features are not even confirmed. Right now im furious with microsoft for this. False Promises and a device which is pathetic compared to others on the market. Even the Ipod which i hate with a passion. Get your act together.

Wow, I'm really suprised at all the people commenting about how dissapointed they are. I may be the only person empathetic for the programmers of the firmware. They have to find a way to fix the bugs, do it so that no more bugs are created, and make sure the firmware is under the 2MB Flash size. All in a semi fast pace. Come on, guys, you should be happy that they are fixing all the known software bugs(the static thing is hardware and probably can't be fixed). Let them fix the current bugs before they try to add stuff to the firmware. Give them a break, I'm sure they want to add stuff as much as you want it added, but sitting here complaining about it and threatening to go to the iPod isn't going to help.

Be patient.

and to go with those *crazy* wishes for update ideas, i would like to say some things. i had realized, watching videos on my zune that it would be awesome to have either.. 1- live videos streaming like t.v. over some type of internet connection, or most likely and way awesomer, 2- dowloadable videos from an internet connection similar to the xbox 360's xbox live video thing... and with that a pass similar to the zune marketplace but one that includes videos... and also video transfers from xbox to zune, and if possible, wirelessly... xbox live arcade games on my zune (with multiplayer via wifi)... that would be AWEsome but incredibly unlikely, but which ever of those is possible with this model, is deffinately ok to be on the *next* update.

Interesting...  About half my music collection is from the Zune Pass and the only way I can make the songs (ANY song) skip a little bit is if I turn on the wireless while the music is playing...  Hope this update doesn't fix one thing and break 5... Like Dish Network PVR updates... ;)

Thank you!!! I love my zune and am just glad to know that yall are listening and still working. Thanks for keeping the Zune team and zune user community connected :) and also thanks for the zunited jersey ;) soo awesome!!

Kris

So does this mean that turning it off the normal way instead of the holding back, and down will be OK now, or will that still kill battery life?

The one major feature I'd like added, to the Zune Software, is plug-in support. I was baffled when I found out that the Zune didn't work with WMP. The Zune software seems like a WMP11 skin from a design standpoint - Can we please get plug-in support? I'm a dedicated Last.FM user and I'm tired of using both WMP and Zune software for my syncing / playback needs.

gimme a break. like the Microsoft cannot hire more programmers or like they have only a couple to work on all of the features. I thought they could do better. They shouldn't release the Zune now with all the promises of updates. I think they should have waited till November 2007 then.

once again very dissapointed!

Well, that wouldn't be a really good idea because I payed A LOT of money to get a zune. What seperated me from the other mp3 players was the Wi-Fi feature and the large screen. The hardware is entirely there. Everything is there. Hell, the hardware is faster than the computer my dad bought in 98. There's a lot of people with zune's, believe it or not. I seem some in the train and quite a lot in school for being a couple months old product. Fix this then move onto the other product. I understand that you guys want to add a better experience, but what about the other people that forked out hundreds of dollars for a DAP. Of course, I support Microsoft as a company because they're reliable but what you guys need to do is fix the 1st zune then show that you guys are ready for the 2nd zune because you will have a bigger fanbase and will show that you guys can put anything out there. This thing has total capabilities of syncing via Wi-Fi, web browser (not entirely important), buying songs from hotspots, or using the zune to do something other than sending songs. It would be really frustrating if you left the hundreds of thousands, perhaps, millions that bought the zune and then 10-12 months later you guys release a new zune. The zune is not well matured enough to be in consideration of a newer zune. I'm not saying that you guys should stop developing the new zune because I would really like it but I would say that firmware updates will get more people into zune's. The reason why the ipod isn't that good is because it takes new hardware for them to make something as simple as videos. We all know that the ipods back in the ipod photo's used linux/rockbox and played videos via that. Hell, they got Doom 1 and 2 running on that. What I ask of you guys is try to sqeeze out at least 3/4 of the Zune's capability to make it a real player seperating it from the other one's out there. I hope zune dev's read this because I am trying to voice for the majority of the people. Thank you for the firmware update.

THANK YOU! Looking forward to having my Zune actually play music on it without irritation!

zune has become dormant and its slowly dying.

i still can't find a zune in my surroundings in Irving,TX

And i see no marketing efforts from MS to let the world know about Zune.

No games , No apps  yet. and no roadmap .

Solo sucks. sell more Zunes.

I would love to get a reply to Spencer's comment regarding the battery life.

"SpencerSo does this mean that turning it off the normal way instead of the holding back, and down will be OK now, or will that still kill battery life?"

Thank you for telling us when and what is coming.  That helps a lot.  You have no idea.  It keeps people grounded and doesn't have them thinking a host of new features are going to be available if they just stay up until midnight every night.  Now we can watch videos and play music and not worry about anything until after 1.3 is out.  And yes, then we'll be wondering about 1.4, but at least for now I have a reprieve.

One more thing in my other post. Of course, like blackzune says, there needs to be more marketing. But with the current dry features the zune currently has, it is not worth marketing it. I am telling you now, if you guys do not improve the zune right now, you will lose at least 25% of customers that bought it. When people buy these types of products they are wanting for the best out there. Currently the ipod is what most people are getting. Sure the sharing feature is nice but with 3x3, it's useless. If it would've been unlimited, TRUST ME!!!! There would have been a ton of people buying zune's and actually sharing in the trains/public places. What you guys need to do is not play catchup with a product but BEAT them at their own game. Games are nice but most people don't use their mp3 for gaming unless you can play via Wi-Fi which again would be a total killer app. If you guys leave the customers that bought the zune in the dust you will have a lesser customer base. There is so many blogs and forums out there and many people are buying the zune just for the sole fact that we are waiting for Microsoft to deliver what we really want. I may be just a high-school student, but as a high school student I know what the "social" is really all about. It's not about trading songs then being deleted after 3 plays 3 days. That's just lame. Please Ceasar consider this because there is so many of us waiting for something to be added.

thanks everybody for the comments! Please note: http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2006/11/27/if-your-comment-got-deleted-here-s-why.aspx

no spam, no swearing, and no insulting other commenters :)

Can we please get AM. :)  Seriously I love everything about my zune so far, honestly I would like to see more movies available on marketplace.

thanks

Thanks for the update.

Thank you Cesar for "listening".

Also, i used to see , some Zunes in sams club.

now-a-days , i don't even see them .

Event at the costco's .. i see only iPods.

In person, i don't know a single soul, who bought a Zune. after i bought my zune , i know at least 10 people around me ..buying iPods.

people are not getting convinced with Zune.

All i could realize now is , when it comes to gadgets , it doesn't matter to people, what you have in your gadget , unless its sleek and sexy.

Cesar you rock and so does the release manager.

Reading some of the comments here - I feel bad for being part of that crowd in the previous thread. Why don't we wait till end of march ;) till we start again?

I'm totally on with blackzune. You guys need to provide a compelling feature why people would buy a zune rather than an ipod. This is why the xbox became a success because it was the first console to introduce online gaming. That's why everyone has it. You provide a compelling feature no ipod has and microsoft will dominate at this. You guys keep the current ways and you won't see so many people buying zune's.

So, assuming that the 1.3 firmware includes ONLY the items Cesar mentioned above in his post, how will you feel about the 1.3 update?

Are you asking me jorge? If so, I feel all nice and mushy inside ;) Frankly, I'm happy that they are working on something and that they are listening.

One of the reasons I gave up my iPod (5th gen) to my brother was because I knew that with the iPod what I had was what I would have. With the Zune there was a chance of more (a risk I took).

Cesar updates us on some information on the next firmware update for the Zune: version 1.3. The following

Where is the part about adding lossless audio support?

Excellent - that is truly great news.

I finally came to wit's end today at work with the skipping problem.  I have made a call to tech support about every 30 days since I got my 2 Zunes, both of which exhibit skipping.

Zune support was always glad to point out that it is a known issue, and that they were working on it.  Since a firmware update is coming out that will fix the skipping, that's awesome.  But 20 minutes before I saw this post I was on the phone with tech support again, and realized that I've been paying for a Zune pass for 3 months that I really haven't been able to use.  When I inquired whether there was a provision for a credit (a free month maybe?), I was told that there was a no-refund policy.    

I'm too tired to argue.  I have $700 wrapped up in 2 Zunes docks and chargers, so what's another $13/month or whatever?  Plus,  every third song does indeed play without skipping, so it must be good enough.  If I catch my Zune at the end of a song instead of the beginning, I can even adjust the volume.  But at least now I can focus on the future, and know that someday I might at last be able to listen to it without going nuts.

I'm not ranting on my Zune.  Customer service, yeah, a little bit.  But I'd do it all over again if given a choice.  And that concerns me most of all.

A little bit of pressure finally pays off. Doesn't sound like a major update.. maybe im just too picky! At least progress is in sight.

you complainers need to understand that m$ has not even been working on the og zune all this time.  they have been busy writing the software for the zune2.  only because of our complaints have they decided to finally do something about the problems.  you will not be seeing new features on the og zune until atleast 2 months after zune2 is released.

When I saw the announcement for a firmware update my heart skipped a beat. Podcast support! Audible book support! Increased wireless functionality! More goodies! But alas, as I read through Cesar's post I saw none of this was actually occurring. I was disappointed to say the least.  I love my Zune and have faith that at least some of these features will be added at some point. But if the Zune wants to rectify itself after the embarrassment it suffered during its launch and keep any more users from "jumping ship" then it had better hurry before its too late. But I guess functionality before features...whatever, but who am I kidding- I just want some freakin podcast support.

Appleinsider posted the results from NPD Group's latest survey...what's the word on the Zune??

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2533

Still trying to sell your millionth unit??  With dwindling user support and even less marketing "umph"...all while the sales of the market leader are growing...

As a software developer and a Zune user, I was disappointed the second I "preordered" this huge black box they are calling Zune. I have worked on 3 low level development projects since the launch of the Zune. We haven't done one patch, mostly because... they weren't needed after our launches. As for the Zune, the hardware is there... freakin' use it. Wifi syncing? Get on it, or just let Apple beat you to it. Wow, nothing adding but a few bug patches? These are simple code changes? Power management for just the radio? Ummm... a few lines of code to turn the radio off... Done. Here is some psuedo code...

if power is suspended AND radio is active

-- then turn the damn radio off.

Come on. The plan on releasing games to this thing by '08? Whatever. I'm out. Oh, Cesar, go back to the Xbox team... Apple is laughing at the Zune.

I vote for a clock to be added somewhere!

Cesar, Thank you man!!!  You give me faith in Zune still.  Although, I must admit that I had hoped for more.  Like others have said, I want to see Zune become a huge success.  It had pained me to see the growing complaints on the forums.  I know you all are working hard and probably could use more support.  Keep up the good work and thank you for taking the "feedback" so well.  I thought you might just shut down this blog.  By keeping it up, it tells me you all do care and are truly interested in making the Zune a success.  I look forward to seeing future updates.  I hope James continues to keep us informed.  Those of us who took the risk on Zune, deserve the respect you've shown in this blog by giving us some news.  Thank you!  Thanks for the shoutout also!  

Cesar, thanks bro...I'll take anything but I admit that I had assumed something more rich than 3 bug fixes.  I also assume that you are only able to talk about the firmware as it relates to current Zune capabilities.

I was just thinking, why not allow executable code run on the zune? Open the device up. That way, the community can fuel the fire, and create everything it wants for itself. Look at how big homebrew has come for the psp, it has streaming internet radio, streaming tv and video players, podcast/vidcast support, games, file sharing and everything everybody wants for the zune. Don't get me wrong, you could control the whole thing(think the XNA system where you have to pay to program for it) so that hackish programs aren't allowed. You could then have a community based website for all the programs made for it and that would be the way that non-techie users could get the cool stuff. Instead of rushing around trying to program the features everyone wants, just put it into the communities hands and let it prosper.

JiveMasta has a great idea....

I see the potential of the Zune, but I am tired of waiting for firmware updates. These past ones have done nothing but fix mistakes already in the device, many of which I don't even have. I would like to see new features, and I think the quickest and most successful way would be to open it up to the homebrew community. There are many examples of  open-source/homebrew leading to success. Just look at psp's homebrew scene, firefox's add-ons, etc.

I hope my comments aren't grouped into the same category as some of the very negative, off-base posts above.  I do hope, though, that they get linked with the good ones ;).

Here are my opinions on some of the issues raised above... I have no idea about the accuracy, they're just guesses!!!  Also, they're in no particular order.

Zune2

-----

Sure, Microsoft is probably working on other iterations of the Zune product line.  They've made no secret that the Zune brand is more than just this one product.  However, I think it's unfair to say that they're abandoning development on the "ZuneV1" because of it.  Microsoft is a software company first.  They know how to update software to make it better.  That's what they do, better than hardware.  So I have to believe they're taking the same approach here, and will make the ZuneV1 better, while working on the ZuneV2 in parallel.

AM Radio

--------

I'm guessing they don't have an AM tuner in the device.  I have no way of knowing that for sure.  If they don't, then we'll never see AM on it.

Windows Media Player

--------------------

This one's interesting.  I did some experimenting yesterday, and I was able to play all of my Zune music through WMP.  I couldn't access the Marketplace to download it, obviously, but once it was in the library, it worked like a charm.  What's even more interesting is that I was able to sync it to my HTC Hermes Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC and it played!!!  So, I can have my music in both places.  I can't fit a ton on my 2GB flash card, but it's enough for my "emergency" music needs :).

WiFi for other things

---------------------

I can see Wifi used for intermittent song sharing, syncing, etc.  But for things like browsing, it just wouldn't be practical because of one thing: battery life.  First, if you're viewing information, that means the screen is on, which kills battery life.  Second, there's a significant amount of processor usage when doing things like rendering pages, etc.  Finally, many of these other things people would like to see wifi used for would access the hard drive frequently, which would also impact battery life tremendously.

3x3 DRM

-------

It's interesting.  Someone above said "Keep YOUR DRM off MY device".  Hmmm... I would suggest that maybe you need to keep your hands off a Zune.  You bought it, knowing the limitation, and now you act like it's your "right" to do something other than what the product supports.  Let's face it... like it or not, people steal music.  Yep, it's stealing.  Justify it however you want, but the people who compose and perform this music do so expecting to be paid.  Every stolen song takes money out of their pocket.  I don't like the antics of many of these artists any more than the next guy, but I still believe they're entitled to be paid for what they do.  And do you know what people forget?  Music is a luxury.  You don't have to have music to live.  If you can't afford it/dispise the artists/hate the record companies, you have a choice: don't listen to the music!  

Because of theft, DRM is required, even for unprotected songs, because the vast majority of non-DRM music on devices out there is stolen (yes, using allofmp3.com is stealing, too!).  And people would pass these stolen songs around constantly.  The record companies can't allow that, and they shouldn't.  If Microsoft told them they were removing the 3x3 limitation, Microsoft wouldn't be able to sell music.  If they couldn't sell music, they wouldn't make the Zune.  If they didn't make the Zune, we wouldn't be able to be here complaining, would we?

Again, these are just my *opinions* on these seemingly hot-button issues.  Anyone else have any constructive thoughts?

John

Well here we have it from the horses mouth. The 1.3 firmware will have "no major feature updates to the player" according to Zune marketing director Jason Reindorp.

You can read all about it here:

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+issue+software+fix+for+Zune+skipping+glitch/2100-1027_3-6163289.html

MSN direct on Zune would be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the patch!  I just about threw my Zune into a wall today after it skipped for what seemed like the millionth time.  Very good news!  Now...how about some new features so my ipod-equipped co-workers can stop saying "I told you so!".

Dan H. - I read J.Reindorp comments and I am really disappointed not by what will be in the firmware update so much as his view of the current Zune device.  It seems the only thing he cares about is keeping a music centric experience.  I don't see Zune that way and I think there is a large segment of us who were looking forward to using the Zune large screen for video.

Steve -Good point. What's the point of a nice beautiful large screen if you're not going to exploit it for video as a competitive advantage.

It looks more and more like Microsoft REALLY doesn't understand how to compete in this market.  

Apple just announced they have sold over 90 million iPods to date, and Microsoft announces that they're on plan to meet their goal of selling 1 million Zunes by end of June. Soon the iPhone comes out, and then the new iPods for Christmas will likely be the iPhone minus the phone (but including the wi-fi) the Zune is dead.

Some of you guys give me hope (Matt Luers). I will now begin development on this super duper DAP I will call ENUZ, but instead of releasing it with all the features that every other DAP has/had for years (Like UMS, Clock/Sleep, bookmarks etc.), I will throw it out there knowing you will buy it regardless, yeah that's it!

FINALLY. I've been waiting for this firmware update. I will purchase a zune probably a little while after this firmware update comes out. unless i decide to wait until version 2 of the zune

Zune won't last at all if it only concentrates on music.

I'd just like to chime in and say that info like this is one reason I enjoy being part of the Zune community! It's not like you are handing out Earth-shattering secrets (which you can't do), but even this bit of info is way more than you get from other device communities. Thanks!

I'm sorry, but the Zune team sucks. Wtf have you guys been doing all this time? The Zune will fail. The Zune 2, if it ever is created, will fail.

Take it easy Chase M., I'm pretty sure these guys have a short and long term plan and are working hard on delivering on those new features.  I still think we will see two big firmware updates this year.  If I had to guess, May and November.  Of course I would have like to have these sooner but I'll take it.  Microsoft knows delays hurt Zune's brand and market potential.  So calm down let the man get to work.

While I am glad that the skipping issue will finally be resolved, I'm more disappointed in how long it took for this to be fixed.

I've had to give up on my Zune Pass and the Marketplace because of it, and doubt I will be going back anytime soon.

I think you should change your mkting slogan to "Welcome to the Whiners."

Wow, this was unexpected.  I have mixed feelings about this.  With pets and children you're supposed to give positive reinforcement of good behavior.  It also helps with people too, good job Zune team: Giving some insight into what is going on with 1.3 is very good.  I want to thank you for that.  

I see this as a positive step in communicating the intentions of the development team with the public.  

I think it is the right way to treat customers, especially early adopters who have the choice to use the dominant DAP.

Cesar, good job getting the meeting with the release manager.  I would imagine just a few feathers were ruffled in order to make that happen.

Ok, that's out of the way.  I have a few questions I'd like to pose:

1. Why did we have to go through the terrible episode of the Zune Firmware post in order to get some movement on this?

2. Why aren't there any new features on there, whatsoever?

1. When 1.3 is released, please include some information about plans for 1.4.  March 20th is a long ways out there, I suspect that it would be reasonable to assume that by then a few things can be easily ear-marked for 1.4.

2. Like everyone else, I'd have liked to see a new feature, even "sleep timer" on this release.  John is right that these are not being huge tasks.  

Anyway, I appreciate the update and personal note that you are reading us here.  I still feel discouraged by the product's progress, however.  I guess I just wanted way too much out of the Zune.  

tom

Four months and this is the best you can do?  Simple bug fixes.  You can bet Apple will have a wide-screen Ipod by years end and the Zune will be no more.  I am very dissapointed.

Well, I guess that the skipping is at least resolved. I'm just dissapointed that we don't at least have podcasting support in there. Keep up the good work guys :/

Great. "Mid March". My zune has been skipping since the firmware 1.2 update which was what 3 months ago back in December? its gonna take Microsoft 3+ months to fix this bug.

I was one of the early adopters. I bought mine on launch day. Microsoft has dropped the ball on support and marketing for this device. I have not seen 1 yes 1 commercial on tv for the Zune. Yet i see advertisements all the time for Ipod.

Hey Zune team thanks for the update...

Correct me if I'm wrong on this; but isn't the current market heading towards integrated components on one unit?  I would love it if my Phone, palm, mp3 player and blackberry were all one unit.  Sure it would suck the bejesus out of a battery and it would probably weigh a ton.  But if the Zune doesn't expand it's capabilities it's dead!  This is not hyperbole it's fact.

I don't buy this we need to keep hush-hush about what's next.  What was the CES all about anyway?  Get people excited about your products and POSSIBILITIES!  Cesar do you really need to keep top-secret about a clock? Or video expansion on ZMP?  Throw a squirrel a nut jeesh!

About a year ago I was contemplating getting an iPod. I get one big purchase a year (And yes the Zune was it). As soon as I heard about the Zune I forgot all about the iPod. Wireless, big screen, Radio, and MOST Important, Firmware updates. I dealt with the issues, no audible, limited wireless, etc. with the knowledge that it would be added later. 4 months later all we have received is 2 “Firmware” Updates that fixed problems and no new features. I expected ZMP to at least add SOME video, at the very least Music videos. I will not even look at it (ZMP) until then. I have to jump thru hoops to get any video on it now. So reading your post this morning, I had an epiphany. “I made a bad purchase, and I should have gotten an iPod.” Killing a v1 product 4 months after it was released for the v2? Bad form! $250 out the door. Word of mouth is what made the iPod huge, and you guys don’t get it. I will not be recommending the Zune to anyone. My Zune is going to go into my junk drawer.

This rant is not targeted at you Caesar, but rather the whole Zune Team

Cavan

I think you see my point, ENUZ: that it's suicide to have products released with that many bugs and have the bugs take that long to be fixed.  Forget all of the new features that have been promised; there were some major problems with prominent existing features that weren't addressed in a timely manner.

Not to throw more salt on the wound, but if Apple launched a trade in program, where they would swap out the zune for an ipod for free or real cheap. I would do it, and i believe alot of peeps would. And the zune would be dead. You guys have a Mega competitor you have to beat, and you are not even in the same timezone.

uh oh, oh no, here we go

it's spinning out of control

Cesar and gang are in trouble

The Zune is on the bubble

I asked for a fix and update

Now it's 3 months to late

I've been to best buy and back

Returned my Zune and now I'm on track

Downloaded my songs on ITunes

No skipping on my IPOD like my Zune

Music the way it was meant to be heard

Glad I got rid of that brown turd

VISTA is the best you say.

Hah I think I'll trust my gut and stay away.

Microsoft the software champs and kings of progress.

Can't wait for my IPHONE and then I'll digress.

Until then Cesar and gang

Keep trying not to be lame

Because you'll never be number one

until you can get it done

Right out of the gate

And not make YOUR CUSTOMERS wait

For a good product with good design

Keep trying because you failed this time.

I don't know who thought that people who own MP3 players would not want podcast support!  Real genius there.

Relax folks.  Sure, it would be great to see tons of new functionality being shoved out the door.  But try to realize two things:

1) Any significant new functionality (i.e. podcast support, or expanded video offerings, etc) are a whole lot bigger than just building the functionality into the firmware.  There's a whole ecosystem that must be put in place.  For example, can you imagine the screaming if podcast support was added without the online half of the offering being completed?  I can hear the shouts of "what were you thinking, only releasing half of the puzzle?!"

2)  For those who are screaming about how they feel cheated, not getting new functionality after 3 months, and how iPod would never make this mistake, I have to say "you have very short memories".  I bought into iPod back in the early days.  And many of you did too.  If we're being honest with ourselves we'll remember how bad the iPod was in the early days.  And how long it took to get bugs fixed.  And how slow new functionality was in coming.  And how many months (actually years, in some cases) we had to deal with players that would lock up and have to be returned to the Apple Store to be reset.

It takes time to build this stuff.  I've spent the past 18 years in the software development business.  I know whereof I speak.

"No specifics yet, but again, the dev team is always working on making Zune better."

that's funny, b/c it seems to me that all they are doing is trying to make it work?

I went from an iPod 3Gen (which didn't play video) to the Zune for the bigger screen (compared to the iPod 5Gen).  I like how the device works, but have problems with the Marketplace software (takes a long time to recognize content on the Zune; will reverse sync photos but not video).  I am glad the synch issues are being addressed.  Would be nice if you could delete content directly from the device.

"For those who are screaming about how they feel cheated, not getting new functionality after 3 months, and how iPod would never make this mistake, I have to say "you have very short memories".  I bought into iPod back in the early days.  And many of you did too.  If we're being honest with ourselves we'll remember how bad the iPod was in the early days.  And how long it took to get bugs fixed.  And how slow new functionality was in coming.  And how many months (actually years, in some cases) we had to deal with players that would lock up and have to be returned to the Apple Store to be reset."

Olmy

------------------------------

While you are right there, you must keep in mind, that the bar is higher now. When ipod first came out, just the fact that you could carry your entire music collection around in your pocket was great. But now, things are different. i.e. podcasting, video, etc.

I am a web developer, So i understand the development process, but I would *never* release a static ecommerce site. 9 or 10 years ago maybe.

The overall experience between the Zune and The first Ipod can be compared. But feature wise, it should be up to or near par for the current iPod, or it will pass into obscurity

Timedrifter, you make a good point that the bar is higher.  That's certainly true.  But it's also true that it simply takes time to build this stuff.  Apple has had years.  Sure, they could have held off releasing Zune until it had parity, but we'd be waiting a long time.  

See, not only is the bar higher, but the model has changed.  These days it's the norm to release an early product and use its sales to finanance its evolution.  The Zune is a good product with enormous potential for evolution.  That's the vision.  But evolution doesn't happen in the blink of an eye.

Well, I must say that I share the general sentiment here that the Zune (name copied from an Amiga software development tool - too wierd a name to be coincidental) totally failed as an iPod competitor. Why? Because it's lame. I have several players (Creative, Apple etc.) and this apart from the pretty menus has got to be the least exciting player I've ever used. I got it to develop software for it, as I'm a long-time Windows CE developer, and maybe one day I might be able to... At the moment it has sat unused since a day or two after I bought it in November. Why? Because it does nothing that my other players don't do a whole lot better (give me a break the WiFi is *completely* useless), and most things worse (or not at all). And it's so loaded to the gills with restrictions, it makes you feel like you did something wrong by deciding to own it. Ok, so it's pretty and it feels nice, but WTF(!) 3 months with nothing but a lame bug fix (that *may* be out in another 3 weeks or so) that should have been done before or shortly after day 1.

I write (commercial) Windows CE software for a living and I can tell you that I BY MYSELF could have done a lot more in the last 3 months to make this player more exciting... Probably you (Microsoft) don't care, and will just wait for some anti-trust opportunity to force this mediocre (apart from the pretty menus) player onto people who used to have a better choice (or a choice at all)...

I have absolutely no empathy or appreciation for the Zune team. I know what can be done with 1 person and limited resources. You guys have billions of dollars and can make a team of whatever size you like, and this is the best you can do? At least you don't surprise us... 5 years to make a new skin for Windows and 3 months to patch a music player so that it can play music... HAHAHAHA

One of the 'selling points' I've heard sales people repeating around the holidays were MS would have firmware updates (being a software company) for the Zune etc. That was the justification for many who bought the Zune (besides the useless wifi), now it's 4 months later and all we have is a few fixes that should have been done months ago. Users (early adopters) are looking for more than a few fixes at this point; where is the Podcast, Audible support, true Bookmark, Clock/Sleep, Gapless, UMS...etc?

What will happen when Apple releases their wide-screen iPod with multitouch and wifi? Will MS follow suit again with their own wide screen multitouch Zune, or will you continue to use the fake scroll-wheel Zune body? Seems like the company with the most resorce and influence in the tech world should not be playing follow the leader.

Oh yeah, just in case anybody forgot, the Zune released in November is the Zune v2 or should we call it by it's former name Personal Media Centre? So Zune v2 will actually be PMC v3...

John West, while I appreciate your comments, I must say that music is most definitely not a luxury. Music is an intrinsic part of human culture and existence. Please don't trivialize it.  Access to music might be a luxury, but not music.

"But it's also true that it simply takes time to build this stuff.  Apple has had years."

So has Microsoft. Let's not forget that this isn't the beginning of Microsoft's attempts to make personal media player OS's or online music stores...

I really want to buy and enjoy a Zune, but there are two major barriers standing in my way:

-Not available in Canada

-30 Gb drive?

That 80 Gb ipod is looking more and more reasonable every day.  I was hoping that there'd be more good news at CES, but it seems like there's no way that the Zune is going to catch up to even the basic features that the ipod offers (podcasting and a hard drive big enough to hold all of my music).  

According to the Zune Insider, Microsoft will be releasing an update to their firmware for the Zune. Version 1.3 of the firmware is reportably only going to contain some fixes for now, but we can only ...

That is great news about the skip!

For anyone who wants to download a ZuneCast go here . . .

http://www.savethecolors.com/zunecasts.html

These are from the Pentagon Channel with shows like "The Great War" (WWI). They play full size on the Zune and have been downsized memory-wise about 2/3s from the original.

Regards,

Keith

I owned a 4G iPod and was very angry when a firmware update killed the dynamic smart playlist feature.  It took Apple months to fix this problem.  When I heard about the Zune, part of my decision to switch was that I thought MS would be better about updating the firmware.

So far it looks like MS will not be much better in that department, but I think it is important to point out that Apple isn't perfect either.  In the long run, I think MS will be more responsive than Apple, but the fact that the Zune was rushed to market has put a lot of extra pressure on the dev team.  Hopefully they will catch up and begin to deliver some real improvements.

Incidentally, the dynamic smart playlist feature I was so angry at Apple for messing up, was not a feature included in the initial Zune launch.  Why it wasn't included is beyond me.

Correct, MS has been at this game for a while, but would like you to believe the Zune is their first attempt. Portable Media Centers I think were the first attempt at dethroning the iPod. The thinking at the time was why just release a music player when you can release a 'Media' player. PlaysForSure were the second attempt, and a closed system (ala iPod/iTunes) makes it their 3rd try. Stop with the "this is their first attempt", especially from a Software company that have years of experience creating software for hardware partners.

I find amusing that after being on the market for only 3 months many consumers are expecting lots of software changes to have been made already.  

It really just illustrates how out of touch most people are with technology these days.  People just expect electronics to do what they want, when they want it.  They have no idea how much code it takes to do what they see as simple tasks.  Not to mention the testing and certification process.  

The Zune project is not some kind of open source project or something that some guy writes in his spare time from home.  There will never be nightly or even weekly updates for a device like this, and there shouldn't be.

One of the major problems that people were upset about with the Zune, the skipping issue with some marketplace content, is being fixed in this upcoming firmware release.  That's great news.  Sure, it would have been great if the problem was caught before the zune was released, but that's not what happenned.  

We are the early adopters.  It used to be where you could buy something new, and it had to work, becuase there was no way to update it or fix it without recalling or replacing it.  So much of what we buy today relies on brand new and innovative technology that just can't be field tested long enough to get all the kinks out before it's released.  People who think new technology should just work right out of the box are only kidding themselves.  I suggest people do a little more research before jumping in to a product they know nothing about.  

The Zune is a great piece of hardware, and the software on it does some great things.  Best of all, it's still being improved.  New features will be added and fixes will be released.  To the people who think they were conned into buying a zune because it hasn't reached it's full potential after 3 months on the market, just relax, and think about what you are asking for from a more technical perspective.  

When the Original Microsoft Xbox was released, it took a full year before Xbox Live launched, dramatically improving the Xbox software.  When the 360 launched it took many months before we started seeing background downloading, and video chat, and now video downloads on Xbox Live Marketplace.  To expect everything that so many of you do in 3 months, it's just unreasonable.

Yay, new firmware on the way! I'm so excited I think I'm gonna squirt... some songs... to my friend's Zune...

So many people are serving up some hate on here today... but not me. I'm very satisfied with my Zune, and you and the team.

Thanks for keeping us informed, Cesar. You rock :-)

"So much of what we buy today relies on brand new and innovative technology that just can't be field tested long enough to get all the kinks out before it's released."

That may be true for a next-gen games console or a programmable robot. But this is a PDA without a touchscreen and with a hard drive. It's not exactly rocket-science and there is absolutely nothing innovative at all about either the (Toshiba) hardware or the (Windows CE) software...

Where they totally missed the ball (IMHO) is by locking down the player. The potential of this player (that they will realise at some point or will have to drop it altogether) is that they are able to leverage a large developer base that is experienced with the hardware and OS running on the platform (probably more so than the Zune development team). Until they open the platform and allow this to happen, they had better get their shirt together, work 24 hours a day, and add *all* of the features that people reasonably expect to be on music players in this price range...

I totally agree with HoHumZune. For this price we all expect that a MP3 player of any kind shouldn't only play music. That case was probably 5 years ago but not these days sorry.

I like the device, but I expect far more in the feature section.

Please allow us to do our own os and programs. You can't program so leave it to someone smart. Otherwise you're making zune a piece of crap...

Wow... give everyone and update and they still go on about how much they should have bought an ipod.  Well why not another company's player that would work better than an ipod then?  I'm not awful fond of my Zune now (Skipping has made all its vaunted SQ pretty much worthless to me), but it's only been out a few months.  Early adopters to new things are almost always screwed over for awhile.  

As I recall the ipod didn't really start to take off until the 4th generation (I do recall buying a Rio Karma after hearing all the reports of the crap batteries in the 3g).  How long did that take?  3 years was it?  And they're coming out with a new ipod, rather than even bothering to update THEIR firmware and add more features.  The Zune has the capability to be updated much further, and we haven't even heard about any concrete rumors about a new HD Zune player (A small flash one yes, but not a HD Zunev2).

Right now I think that it's better to work at it one problem at a time, rather than going wild and possibly introducing more bugs.  A stable music player is better than a buggy media center player.  Obviously we'd all like a stable, feature-filled media center player, but first you need some stable foundations to build it on.

I was just thinking that a just ordinary customer like me is not really concerned how much time things need to be fixed. In fact I don't really care. All I want the things to work and I want them now! Or else you loose me over some other competitor (not sure if you guys care about that). I don't know or care how many people will take, or how many hours, I want it now, and I think that many of us feel that way. A multi billion company like this one should do and make miracles not flakes. thx.

When is Video coming into the Marketplace?  And Podcast support?!?!

Thanks for the update.  I look forward to the firmware to fix the skipping.  That's great news for me.  I'm suprised to see all these Zune owners complain so much.  I'm completely satisfied with my Zune aside from the skipping (I set mine to display always on to fix that for now).  I love the Zune Pass and find myself listening to all kinds of music now.  I can't wait for updates to the Zune software to include Video downloads and such but it's not something that I'm going to sit here and bitch about.  

Again...thanks for keeping us informed.  

Oh..get online on 360?  Hit me up with an friend invite (Gamer tag is my name)

Yes! No more skipping at last! I'm a heavy Zune Marketplace user so this is very exciting.

Olmy said:

"2)  For those who are screaming about how they feel cheated, not getting new functionality after 3 months, and how iPod would never make this mistake, I have to say "you have very short memories".  I bought into iPod back in the early days.  And many of you did too.  If we're being honest with ourselves we'll remember how bad the iPod was in the early days.  And how long it took to get bugs fixed.  And how slow new functionality was in coming."

"How bad the iPod was in the early days".... uhh, what? Please site some examples... I bought a first generation iPod the day it was released. It ran strong for several years before being replaced by a third generation iPod. I had NO problems with it. In fact, I sold it to a friend for $100 who got another couple years use out of it.

"And how long it took to get bugs fixed."... WHAT bugs?! Care to site some examples?

"And how slow new functionality was in coming."... Apple never *promised* new functionality by firmware updates. The iPod was sold as is. You got what you paid for. If you wanted new functionality, you bought a new iPod. Simple.

"And how many months (actually years, in some cases) we had to deal with players that would lock up and have to be returned to the Apple Store to be reset." Resetting iPods has always been a simple, end-user procedure.

STOP trying to rewrite history, friend. It isn't going to work. Too many people (like myself) who were actually there when it happened will pipe up to set the record straight.

Zune team and Cesar please ignore these whiners. They do not represent the majority of the Zune users out there. It's just like real life ... a discontent vocal few make it sound all doom and gloom. There are a whole bunch of happy Zune users out there who have better things to do than complain over and over. (Sent while listening to ZMP and Zune library songs played on my PFS device while my spouse is enjoying watching videos on my Zune)

-- to the complainers ---

Get a life!

TJ, that's the standard consumer mindset. I think everyone here, even me, wants all the features now. I'm sure the programmers want to start programming features now too. Everybody wants it now, trust me. The problem is, programs can't just  get thrown together. Programming just a little program is equivalent to writing a novel. And programming a firmware for a device is like writing a trilogy. You have to make sure every thing works together nicely, and also give old fans what they want. It's going to take a while, it's not like they are over there just laughing at us for expecting new features. I think I know what Cesar is doing by making all these firmware posts, he is trying to get a feel for what we want.

And to the developers/marketing people, and their bosses. I really think the opening up of the device to homebrew would be a way to keep people intrested in the brand/products well after you have moved on to a new version. I'm not saying open up the firmware(only in my dreams), just allow plugins to be made for it.   Which I understand would take a while to implement, but after it would be released, the community would explode with plugins that give people the featues they want. Plus, it's something that has never been done(willingly) in the mp3/PMP industry. I know people who bought a psp(me included) as a portable media player. If it wasn't for lack of storage space(only 2gb), I would still use it for all my songs/ movies. Because it has homebrew that can stream media from my computer to anywhere in the world with internet access. Now imagine that amount of power for the zune. Welcome to the social indeed, the worldwide social.

There is only one thing (aside wireless sync--but that's a pipe dream) and that is GAPLESS PLAYBACK!  I know it's not really a difficult fix as a lot of old mp3 players have it on their firmware.  It really ruins the flow of a lot of the albums I listen to.  Please take heed Microsoft Zune Team!

Really mixed reactions. Getting some solid info is *great*, thanks Cesar, but knowing that it's almost another month to wait just for some more bug fixes is a bit demoralising (although i'm totally in agreement that bug fixes are more important than new functionality as mentioned quite a few times above).

In the Zune team's defence, better to let us know the scope of the update now rather than waiting until it hit then finding it didn't have what we hoped/assumed it would.

What would be really great on the back of this would be a list of things which are in the pipeline for the first update which adds new functionality, even if it was just a list with a few of the most requested features with "Being added in next update", "being considered" or "not being considered for next update" so that we can not set our hopes too high.

I'm sad to say that as of yesterday I started using my iPod again, not in protest or disgust, just frustration that the Zune doesn't do what i need it to. I'm still using the Zune wherever it makes sense, but it looks like the iPod's final retirement is a bit further away than I expected.

Tim L said:

"It really just illustrates how out of touch most people are with technology these days.  People just expect electronics to do what they want, when they want it.  They have no idea how much code it takes to do what they see as simple tasks.  Not to mention the testing and certification process."

Tim, people have that expectation because we live in a very on-demand world, and in most cases, technology DOES do what people want, when they want it. That's exactly why you are seeing this response to the Zune situation.

People are starting to wise up... Microsoft better catch on to the change, or they'll be left in the dust.

My Zune software will no longer play songs from the MarketPlace. I get "Zune software does not support the audio codec that was used to create the file." It also effects some songs in my library of which all were downloaded from the Market Place.

Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks,

Keith

Honestly I don't get all teh fuss. we were promised an mp3 player with radio, a big screen, and wireless sending. it's exactly what we got when we bought our zunes.  Nobody promised us a web browser, wireless sync, or anythin like that. for 250 it's a good buy. just because cesar isn't telling us about a firmware update w/ new features, people are mad? three months isn't all that long.

What about being able to repeat ONE song?

Or instead, why don't you even try to fix being able to edit stuff ON your zune? Instead of deleting, editing, and syncing...

I'm getting more and more bored over my zune that's fo shizzle..

Lots of upset people. I can understand why in some cases, in others I think people are being unrealistic and silly. Development takes time, and we're talking about something that has been on the market for about 100 days. 100 days people, let's keep that in mind...

I don't think anyone has thanked Cesar for actually TELLING us what's coming in the 1.3 firmware update - the Zune team is starting to be more transparent, and that should be encouraged. More dialogue on this kind of stuff is great.

Regarding what's coming in the firmware update itself, well, I don't see anything that gets me all that excited - maybe the improvements in the sync process, every now and then my Zune acts strange and requires me to disconnect and re-connect.

I really want a clock. I don't wear a watch - I want to look at my Zune and see what time it is. That's not so much to ask, is it?

I also really want to see some improvements in the desktop software client. Come on guys, we know there's been a beta since December that would sync DVR-MS files, so let's see that released so we can watch our Media Center TV shows on the Zune without going through all sorts of hoops...

Jason Dunn

www.zunethoughts.com

No feature updates in 1.3 sucks, if this device is going to be locked into lossy compressed audio and only a couple of codecs for it's life spam please tell me now so I can still sell my zune for a decent price.

I'll sell it for the gigabeat which is pretty much the exact same hardware but yet DOES SUPPORT lossless audio files and a lot more codecs.

Please be aware: Writing programs for the Zune is not equivalent to writing them for the iPod or Creative player (with proprietary single purpose OS's). It's a lot easier... You can download trial versions of the tools you'd need from Microsoft. All you need is an SDK (which gets exported from Platform Builder as part of the OS). The Zune team has this or they wouldn't be able to write software for the (Toshiba) platform.

So you know, the Zune is a Microsoft Pocket PC (Windows CE) without a touch screen, running a custom shell (PMC). The OS lives on a seperate partition on the hard drive. The flash memory contains a boot loader (which they probably wouldn't update unless completely necessary due to the high risk of "bricking" the player). They can grow the size of the OS image several times it's current size before needing to repartition the Zune drive (which would result in you needing to reformat after you installed a firmware update). Believe me, they're not sitting for months figuring out how to cram a clock application into the flash chip...

If you could load a Windows CE program onto the Zune (like one of the basic samples provided with the Microsoft developer tools), it would run. In fact, the only thing stopping you from doing it now is a read-only registry, which causes the device to run a set program (which you can't change) once it has booted. This is because the player is closed, probably because of the DRM. BTW, a one-line change to the device's registry would enable 3rd party applications to run.

The completely ridiculous irony of it all is that if you were planning to attack the DRM (on the music) you would use your PC...

There's no excuses for the lack of (missing) features in this obviously highly-awaited update... Does anybody remember the (WiFi) DJ feature that the Zune is supposed to have?

All of this is pretty mind-boggling considering that Microsoft's idea was to be competitive in this field (wasn't it?)...

The problems is that I don't get anything from all these firmwares so far cuz I never had any of these problems (and I have a Zune pass).

Therefore, I get a ZERO satisfaction in 3 weeks when the firmware will be released. That means who knows when will I and most of us get something worth while, where I can praise the Zune Team for doing their great job.

So when then, tell me, can I expect something thats usefull to me, by the end of this year, or in 2008?

Cesar, as the development team to stelthy (sp)add a clock on this patch...and you will see a lot of happy Zuners...

(P.S: I'm really happy with my Zune!)

@HoHumZune:

I think it is a little more complicated than you make it out to be, otherwise we would be playing doom on our zunes by now. I can understand why they would be hesitant to allow homebrew to run on the device. It would be only a matter of time until someone would bypass the 3x3 drm. But if they controlled the content somehow, it wouldn't be a problem. One way to do it would be: You would have to pay a fee to join as a developer, and then you upload your plug-in/app to microsoft, and then after a verification process(where they make sure the app is legal), they allow it to be downloaded and installed. A way to prevent people from just putting programs on, is it could only run signed code that microsoft has digitally signed.

I don't know, the more I think about them allowing homebrew, the more I think it will never happen. I'm kinda hoping somebody hacks it so we can get homebrew running on it, but if  the Zune team can allow it first, it would be better for them.

I posted this at ZuneThoughts and no one had any info.

Does anyone have any info on the FM tuner/battery drain problem? I listen to the radio (NPR on my walk to work) every day. Yesterday morning I glanced at my Zune and it showed greater than half charge left. Twenty minutes of radio later I arrived at work and see a low battery warning. This has happened a few times before and my Zune's battery life in general seems quite poor.

@Paul:

I'm guessing since the tuner requires more power, the battery drains faster. But twenty minutes seems a little odd. Try a test from a full charge, and see how long it takes to fully drain. Also, you might want to change your backlight settings.

Paul,

  I just moved to Vermont from SoCal, and sometimes, when my zune gets cold, I have the same problem. For some reason, cold weather (and I am talking like a range from about 20F down) just drains the battery. Where are you walking?

the_poet677

Interesting, I'm in Portland, OR and it has been a very cold winter.  The Zune rides in my chest pocket so I think it stays warm (my walk to work is uphill for about two miles).  Based on what the new firmware is to fix I am wondering if when I use the radio, put it to sleep for 24 hours, and then use the radio again I'm experiencing the "battery drain" they allude to.  I should test the battery life but with 3 young kids and a job it seems to fall to the bottom of the list.  I will, at least, shut the Zune down tomorrow (not sleep) after arriving at work.  

@Jivemasta

Surprisingly it is that simple. I'm not going to go into major details on the CE OS, but the lockdown is really down to the way they've implemented the platform (without a writable registry). To change the registry you have to rebuild (or correctly patch) the OS image. And that's really all there is to it. The hard drive is FAT(32) formatted, and the OS is well known. If you copy an EXE onto there it will work as expected, as long as you can find a way to start it, which due to the lack of a shell that provides this kind of functionality requires a registry edit...

I guess it's complicated if you don't have the experience and tools, and maybe nobody's done it yet because those with experience and tools and a Zune don't have the time (or inclination) to do this. There are certainly quite a few who could if they did...

@HoHumZune et al

It is reasonable to assume that dispite opinions expressed by some people in here, the 1.3 will not include any additional features beyond what the Dev. manager has said.

I think it is also likely that there will not be magic 1.4 update that includes podcasting / audio bookmarks / clock / sleep timer support any time soon either.

Therefore, it makes sense to conclude that Zune owners will have to look to the community to hack the device.  After all, the Xbox had its bios "dumped" only a few months after release.

It makes sense that mod'ing your Zune would end your warranty and restrict you from using the Marketplace, but who really cares?

With the skipping problems and lack of video downloads at the Zune Marketplace, there isn't really much incentive to not to risk losing access to it.

If there were a new modded firmware that you could run on your Zune that gave you the features like lossless playback and unlimited wi-fi sharing, who could blame people for doing it?

It is a shame though that lack of a plan to deliver even the most basic feature improvements is in place, if there were the impetus for hacking the device would be greatly reduced.

Until such a hack is released, however all of the responsibility for making the product more enjoyable falls on the company.  If they're finding development on the Zune to be as difficult as it appears, the best thing may be for them to simply leak a starting point for a firmware hack to the internet.

Jason Dunn, "let's see that released so we can watch our Media Center TV shows on the Zune without going through all sorts of hoops..."

I'm feeling the pain too Jason.  Media Center represents an Ace and they have to address Media Center integration with Zune, we just don't know when.

IMHO The best direction that MS could have gone would have been adding in monthly or so,

Dec - clock, alarm, timer

Jan - more video formats(dvr-ms)

Feb - gapless/lossles, audible

Mar - podcasting,open up the wifi, etc

All along sneaking in little fixes here and there.

The whole point is, right now, I am not having any problems, So all i think about is the lack of features, and all the problems i hear bout. I all I can think is "I should have gotten an ipod." in stead of "hey, check it out, i got audible on my zune now!"

I don't mean to bring you guys down Cesar, but the lack of positives is going to kill this product.

timedrifter@gmail.com

One of the issues we all must face when suggesting "features" in a product like the Zune is what is actually possible (what is allowed by the basic platform and hardware) via a firmware update.

I haven't researched what hardware is in the Zune or its available memory.

Some of our hopes are probably very doable but others probably can't be or are expensive (time-wise or with an impact on other existing or future improvements.

My self I would like a clock ( I lost my timepiece years ago!), podcast support (better) and audio book capability.

lets forget about these firmware updates, lets get some updates to marketplace, the software for these mp4's are there software, the reason why ipod hit it off so good was because of its apple store, so much selection for just one device, Microsoft shouldve established a marketplace with at least tv shows.  Movies came later, right now were all using a software to put our shows on there. Outrages i say, I love the Zune, but feel that its not giving me what my money paid for, i shouldve gone with ipod video. But i still have faith in the ZUNE, show me Microsoft Developers. You guess are more than capabale

i heard about some zunes that skip regular mp3 files too. will this update fix that too?

For those that want a clock. I don't the zune can have a clock. Unless you plan to leave it on 24/7.  It's just not in the hardware, most devices have a secondary battery(like a computer) or are hard wired to go off of the internal battery. Which means that if they meant to include a clock, it would already be on it. Some other "features" people want are just rediculous to expect. Web browser? Come on, you have 7 buttons to work with. It would take forever to type urls and navigate pages. There are only a few things that I believe are needed, possible and wanted.

1. Gapless playback, not really essential but it wouldn't hurt.

2. Lossless audio, same as #1, not needed but nice.

3. Playlist editing, the quick list is nice but what if I want to save it on the go?

4. Now playing playlist, come on, its in every other media player by Microsoft, why not this?

5. Audio books, I'm not a fan but why not?

6. Squirting videos, again, why not?

7. Access to the hard drive, not major since there's a workaround though.

I think that is a pretty definitive list of what is possible/wanted by everybody. Some are just slight modifications to the zune market place, some are just minor changes to the firmware. Heck, just adding a few would hush some of this heckling, at least for a while.

a clock, text reader, and true H.264/MP4 support should be added when firmware 1.4 is out.

And character encoding for Korean and Japanese would be nice..

chirp, chirp, chirp...

Customer feedback up the wazoo about what's next on the Zune and nary a sound from the guy who could answer us all.

What a corporate cluster f@#k this MS is.  It's like the Iraq War (sorry for going political) we got into this thing, we've got no idea what's next, lets hope the people figure out how to fix their own problems and then we can move on to something else.

Holy cripe if you guys don't even have a schedule of firmware updates laid out for the next year that's ridiculous.  EVERY COMPANY worth a damn has strategic plans to go forward and you refuse to even let us know when we can expect updates.   This whole firmware 1.3 launch tells me that you guys are constantly scrambling to keep up.  Otherwise the media would have read as follows "we've got a firmware launch planned for March 1st"  holy crap that was yesterday.  "Yeah we know.  We anticipated that in November we would schedule release firmware updates and this is one of those scheduled releases".  Boy you guys are ahead of the game "Thank you.  We at MS believe strongly in being a front runner.  To be able to do that we constantly need to stay ahead of the curve".

NOT A FIRMWARE (PATCH TO FIX) 1.3 UPDATE IS AVAILABLE ON MARCH 20th MAYBE!  Cesar if you're as close to this as you should be and you need to check exactly when the date was again; we (zune users) are in for a world of grief.

The obvious question is what do we have now. music, video, photos, community, And radio

ok on the main screan with these selections should be a few new thingsa little note should pop up at the bottom when a person is neer. why depend on having to click community first. make it like xbox 360 when friends come on.

ok i noticed unlrss you are able to some how be friends with a countrysong lover or a metal rocker but you listen to rap the way this social community could work if by some luck you know someone likes the same music. keep DRM 3x3 that is just fine because the song your friend gives may not be to your taste.

the next gen of zune If it does come out will use flash and be 4-8 gigswill that be the same size or smaller because size does not make the machine the quality.

would it be possible to have a link on the main screen to extras a calculator because my teachers dont know it is a music device but a calculator minesweeper that would work on zune how about solitare like in windows which run on hard drive not flash.

Until the next firmware JREAL out.

The most important thing here (IMHO) is to throw us a bone. We can be patient, but if we are in the dark, then patience is out the window.

I waited for the Zune, when I could have bought an iPod. I waited because I knew it was coming. If I dont know what features are going to be added and when, I am not going to wait. I will sell my Zune and buy an iPod.

Here is my opinion on what should be added to the Zune:

Play lists:

- Create a permanent ‘5 Star’ and ‘4 Star’ Play list

- Allow multiple play lists to be chosen and played simultaneously on theZune

- Create, add and delete music from a play list directly form the Zune

Sound:

- Add graphic equalizer with at least 5 separate sound spectrum bands

- Add sound enhancements like Windows Media Player (WMP) Bass Boost and SRS.

- Allow each user to apply a specific equalizer setting to each song in both the Zune Manager and on the Zune itself as a song plays.

- More Volume

Video:

- Allow more video formats to be played on the Zune especially .avi

- Allow a wider tolerance for video sizes; at least up to 720x480 (which is standard NTSC) so I do not have to convert everything I have to a special Zune format.

- Zoom in/out function

- Bookmark video

- Dynamic music visuals like on WMP that pulsate, beat, twirl, etc.

Misc:

- Create various repeat modes: Repeat one song, repeat one or more play lists repeat song/list X number times where X is determined by user.

- Provide support to play .aa audible audio books

- Allow user to bookmark audio books and any other media.

- Allow iTunes content to be played by the Zune.

- Allow content to be stored in user defined folders, especially videos so it may be appropriately organized, i.e. Adventure Movies, Comedy Movies, Scary Movies, etc.

- Allow Zune to act as a external hard drive

- Record songs off the built-in radio. (RIAA: Boom Boxes all come with cassette recorders since I can remember. Why shouldn’t the zune have the same capability)

- Give Zune the ability to read and write to an external hard drive or USB stick with the use of a separately purchased cable so you do not have to link to a computer to transfer non-DRM content. (I know… another RIAA issue… I hate those guys)

- Easy setup sleep function.

- Allow user to define what play screen displays i.e.: artist, album, year published, etc.

I'd like a "resume" feature like what's in WMP and ZMP. I often like to listen to a playlist, then check out one song but have have the ability to go back to what I was playing. It's probably unrealistic, but it would certainly be nice.

Please.... UNICODE Support is something that needs to be fixed on hardware side with the firmare update! I can live without a clock on the device :) but half of my mp3 collection is in Russian/French/Spanish languages... Zune software displays the tags correctly but Zune itself shows boxes instead of letters... Thanks for listening - great blog, by the way!

To address John West.  When I say I want them to keep THEIR drm off MY stuff, I realize a lot of the music is downloaded illegally off the net.  Keep the DRM on stuff from the marketplace by all means if you want.  But if I have an MP3 sitting on my hard drive as a file, then Zune has no right to modify it with DRM.  

By the way, the MP3 in question just so happens to be an episode of DotNetRocks... which you can download for free.  Nothing is being stolen, but my coworker now has a 3 day countdown clock to listen to the show or lose it forever.  Oh, and what if he can't get through it all in one sitting (or 3 sittings).

My point is this.  I have in my posession a rather lengthy, technically dense MP3 which is completely free of DRM problems... UNTIL I put it on the Zune.  You don't know where it came from.  You don't know if it's illegal.  Leave it alone.

As for me having "chosen" the Zune in the first place... that's not entirely correct.  I actually WON the thing at the CodeMash conference.  If the seals hadn't already been broken in order for the sponsor to insert their business cards, I probably would have done my research, read about the limitations, and taken the thing to Best Buy and exchanged it for something less crippled.

I love Microsoft stuff.  My livelihood is directly tied to Visual Studio.  But you can't kill the iPod with an inferior product.  If they want to compete, then COMPETE.

I had kind of told myself I was going to stop posting, because the negative, even mean-spirited attack-oriented responses are getting out of hand.  However, Mel, I would like to respond to you...

Your comments are fair enough.  You sound like the exception to the rule.  Like you, I too make my living within VS.NET.  My response to you is:

First, they don't actually modify your mp3.  They only wrap it in the 3x3 container.  For all intents and purposes, though, I'll grant you that this is mostly semantics :).  

Second, I wish that people passing around stolen music would be the exception rather than the rule.  But, even among my adult friends with good jobs who could afford to buy music, piracy is rampant.  It's even worse in other segments of the population.  If MS could know what was pirated and what wasn't, of course they'd allow the non-pirated stuff to be sent with no restrictions.  Since they can't do this, however, they have to punish the few for the sins of the many.  If they didn't, the record companies wouldn't allow them to resell their music, which would in turn make it a bad business decision for MS to sell the Zune in the first place.

I guess we'll agree to disagree on this one.  However, a good middle ground at least would be for them, once they do add podcast support, to allow those to be transferred without restriction :).

Cya,

John

@Philippe - This is your lucky day. You can get a couple of those features now:

Create a permanent 4 and 5 star playlist: in the Zune software, right click on playlists in the left pane and choose Auto Playlist, then specify that the playlist should contain music rated 4 stars or greater. Now With your Zune connected, in Sync Options choose Set Up Sync and add the new playlist to the list of playlists to sync.

Allow the user to bookmark audio books and other media: Do you mean like the flag function? On second thoughts, maybe you mean remembering the position in a track, which i agree needs to be added badly.

Zune as an external hard drive: There's a workaround that lets you do this if you want to go to enough trouble.

And finally it's not reasonable to list "Allow iTunes content to be played" as a request, because assuming you're talking about FairPlay protected content (i.e. what you buy from the iTunes music store) there is no way that Apple will agree to licence the technology that MS would need to be able to do it.

Thanks FieldEffect. I need to get familiar with the flag function. It may already do the bookmarking function I mentioned. Resume would definitely be a great function to add.

Hope it upgrades the desktop also. Starting today about 30% of the music I have from the Marketplace (I have the monthly contract) shows an error of "no sync rights".

Guess I'll try calling India.

Regards,

Keith

Some "update". As soon as my Zune craps out, I'm buying a ZVM.

What a week! The Zune Markeplace editorial team got featured in the Seattle P-I. Readers expressed their

Can anyone at ms spell Divx or xvid? please wake up, if u are really wanting to sell more zunes.

No audible...  Well, that is annoying still.  It sounds like there is not even any time line for adding support for this.  It is annoying to me to have an audio device I cannot even put my books on.  I wouldn't have bought a zune at all, except I got it as a gift.  I hope they add audible support sometime soon, or I will end up using it a lot less and go back to my iPod.

I'm just wondering if it's possible to add a function of categorize videos. Something similar to categorizing pictures (creating folders, and view by folder option in zune)

Well first of all, artists do not get hurt when people pirate their music. In fact, the music industry relies on music pirating to distribute new music out. The only money the artists get is from the record companies and concerts. This is why they are so huge, because more people want to come to their concerts. One person alone in a huge concert is like $50 X 10000 people will equal to $500,000 alone for one concert. Artists go on tours so they are easily getting hundreds of thousands by every tour. Also, the record company's are treating music like it's some kind of food or "treat". Music is not a treat, it is a culture that has been around for millions of years.

Mp3 players is an innovation made by companies to allow hundreds and thousands of songs to be played in one device. What I mean by this is that most people do not buy their music online. I can make a whole report on this but I will stick to some basic facts. Some of the reasons why 1)people don't buy music online is because you are limited to what program you want to import your music. 2) The song is not available in different kinds of formats/crappy quality. 3)If it is a subscription service and you have been paying for years then with all the music you bought, you will not be able to play it on another device and all that money will go down the drain. 4)Most services will not allow you to legally backup your music in case your partition or hard drive doesn't decide to boot!

5) Music C.D.'s allow for you to purchase the entire C.D. for cheaper. Do the math: Most c.d.'s come with 15 songs. You are paying $1 for each song. 1x15=$15. A C.D. will cost you only $10. I just recently bought a C.d. (stadium arcadium). I get both discs, the artwork, and I get 28 songs. If I have bought it at the zune marketplace, it would come out to almost $30!! Also, I have physical backup of my songs and I can rip them to any format, wav lossless, flac lossless, wma, AAC, OGG, mp3, etc. Yet, when you buy music from iTunes, you will be buying a crappy 128kbit AAC song which is worser than a 128kbit mp3. All this marketing hype about how AAC is better than mp3 is a joke. At least zune marketplace sells 192kbit wma's which didn't sound to bad when I was using their pass which expired.

Now with DRM, you don't have the power to control your music. You still payed for it but the way you use it is up to the record company's. No thanks, I'll buy a c.d. which I can do ANYTHING to do the c.d. In case you didn't know Bill Gates himself said to buy C.D.'s to avoid all the problems.

Now you know what?? I don't give a hulla, I use torrents and p2p to get my music. Why? I get them FREE DRM, C.d. quality. I also buy my c.d.'s. Now enough talk on how DRM is corrupted. Oh by the way, in case you didn't figure out, DRM increases piracy. Have fun with that one.

Now, I bought my zune because of the larger screen and the Wi-Fi. I am not totally upset with it. The main thing that upset me is the extra inch that the Wi-Fi chip has to add bulk onto the device. The reason why I'm upset about this is because I am not getting any thing out of it. It's basically adding bulk to my device. My friends tell me how blocky the zune is. I wish I could tell them "Well, its a bit bulkier because it has Wi-Fi". Then they'll say "well, what can you do with the Wi-Fi'". I tell them "you can transfer music from one zune to another". My friends have TOTAL no knowledge of computers and one asked me: "hey can you wirelessly get your music from that thing". I said, "in the future, they'll update it". If the zune team doesn't get their butts and works on some significant wireless feature, it will make me and the other people that bought Zune's like a**holes.

Last month, I was so excited when I joined forums and they told me how in the next update, they'll add a wireless feature such as wireless sync, and buying music directly off of your zune. I even got excited when they announced the wireless "filling stations". When is that coming, zune team?

What really itched me was that they had a LONG time from December to start working on these features and they just ignored all the reviews and starting to fix bug fixes. What? you can't just include bug fixes in the feature update? Is that impossible?

I remember I had a sansa sandisk e250r which got stolen. It was ok. After a few months of release, they listened to the community and added a custom equalizer. I wanted something more with video and I got a zune. Please there is so many things that can be added. Why don't you guys delay the bug fix patch and start to announce a new feature. Let it be a clock, let it be more codecs, hell let it be a custom equalizer. Just let it be something and don't leave us in the dark until we find nothing at the end of the tunnel.

I am voicing for the majority of people. If you don't agree with me, you must be a Microsoft employee.  

So, still no official answer to why the Zune just randomly turns itself off during playback of a song or video?

Any idea on when an update with new features will be out?

I agree with most of you, sure fix the bugs...but can we please have some new freakin features. It is taking way too long! One thing I posted earlier was what I am wondering, when are we going to be able to change the font color and font highlight color on the main menu??? Also when are they going to put out the firmware update so we can enable or disable the gradient on the main menu! It messes up my black backgrounds!! Yea the otherday my zune turned its self on out of nowhere. I am not trying to be impatient or ungrateful ..but it sucks only having limited features, its sort of like when the 1st ipod came out, it blew chunks and now its much better than it originally was. I am just so ready for some of these changes you all are talking about as well!! Lets work on the bugs but also lets get some significant changes going.

I beleive one thing the Zune could really use if the Firmware can doso with the Zunes hardware is a  CLOCK. The iPOD had a clock, which meant I didnt really need to risk flipping out my phone at school just to check the time, or turn off my FM tuner in the car to see the time.  The ZUNE Needs a clock.

Another thing it needs is better repeat options. The Album repeat gets annoying, oen way repeat for bedtime would be nice. Any other cool features that wouldnt be as important...wireless bluetooth?

HoHumZune

I totally agree with you, hire some more freaking people and get on this. I specificly purchased the zune because I hate apple. I hate macs, and I hate the ipod and I own a dell with xp. I am all about no offense to some of you ..software that was made for people over the age of 40 with no technology know how. I was waiting for something awesome to come from a billion dollar corporation and I know this thing has only been out for a bit but..come on. What have you been doing since the damn thing came out? Working only on the bugs??!! And it took that freaking long? Unbelievable!!! I can be patient, but I think you guys really need to stomp on apple. They are a bunch of jerks with their stupid pc/mac commercials. I really appreciate all that you did with the zune and what not, and sure its totally fine for a video/mp3 player but lets get some new features on this thing and compete with apple..cause I aint buyin an ipod any time soon unless they totally sell me on some incredible and new features.

I think updates that add no new functions should just be called patches and come out a lot more often. They should release patches as soon as they can fix reported problems. Waiting months for patch fixes is kind of sad

Firmware updates or version updates should be reserves for new features. And these would be less frequent bot more than one every 3 months.

Why call it a 1.3 update when it is just fixing things? It should be something like update 1.2.1 or something.

Lossless audio buds it better come sooner or later.

Get this thing rolling already, we need support for lossless, we need more features.  I just don't want bug fixes, I want more features, and move video file support.

Seriously, when do we get:

-Video in the marketplace

-Support for podcasts/vidcasts

The Zune software and marketplace are a joke. Period. No video sales or support for vidcasts cripples this device. I'm sorely dissapointed that I've owned mine since the first week of release and still have no easy way to download video. Also, the payment system through Zune marketplace is stupid. I'm also an iPod owner and this is making iTunes for PC look good. I'm starting to regret my early-adopter decision to purchase.

I'm also tired of the Microsoft employees defending this by saying "Apple wasn't like it was today". Or, "it's a 1st Gen product". Well guess what? The Microsoft zune is competing with both the Zen Vision: M and the apple ipod. Saying this, the microsoft zune should have much more than audiobooks and a video store. The only thing you guys need to beat apple is to get on the time frame and start at least announcing soon to come features.

I WANT A DAMN CLOCK!!!!!!

why not just fix it so that the songs show there correct photo from the id3 tag instead of all songs inheret the same photo that the last song uploaded has. come on BASICS here. why add features when you cant even fix the basics ??

it's kinda like you go to a party. You knock on the door. It opens to much fanfair. Whole bunch of people there. "Hey, Welcome to the Social." "Come in and sit down" Music is blaring, "Leave you far behind" by Lunatic Calm. You sit on the couch. All the people go into another room and close the door. the song repeats. and repeats. 20 min later you go knock on the door, "You guys got anything to drink?" No answer "How bout some chips?" No Answer. "Bread? Water?" No answer. Guy pops his head out "Parties Rockin huh?" He Closes the door before you can answer.

"I wanna wanna wanna"

"I wanna wanna wanna"

"I wanna leave you far behinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd"

Welcome to the Social my arse!

They must have skipped out the the "Wow" party next door, guess there wasn't enough "Wow" for the zune.

Well put jlb!

It does amuse me that people are so quick to make excuses for the Zune's lack of basic features. It would be like GM introducing a new car without power steering, air conditioning, seat belts, & air bags, and then saying they're looking to their customers to give them feedback on what features they want in a car. And then when anyone criticizes the new car for lacking these standard features, the owners defend GM by saying, "but the model T didn't have power steering, AC, seat belts and air bags".

Microsoft needs to realize they aren't competing with the 1st gen iPod. They're competing with the current models, and soon they'll be competing with a whole new generation of iPod and they'll be even farther behind.

But hey, maybe Microsoft still hasn't figured out what people want in a portable media player.

When us have a software in Spanish and/or another lenguages for the Zune, is very important for the latin american community, thanks for read... i love the Zune and XBox 360

Nicely put jlb!

I always get a chuckle when I hear the excuses for this Zune. How in the wold can you release a hard-disk player in 2006 with no mass storage capability? Basics like clock/sleep/alarm, notes, contacts, Calender (vCal), Audible support, podcast support, plus bookmarks (or resume).

The day the firmware adds Japanese language support, is the day I can start considering buying Zune. I mean, as it is right now, tags for half of songs I have won't display correctly! (and a lot of Zune competitor displays this correctly already!)

Great analogy Dan H!  I love having a portable music player (this is my first) and I really love what my Zune could be.  I just can't help but feel it was rushed to market way too early to capitalize on its potential.  

I would really love to hear from the zune dev's honest perspective on this issue. It would really show something if the zune dev's commented on what all you smart people have been saying.

guys, I remove comments b/c they knocked the readers/commenters on this site.

the ppl in this thread are totally knocking zune without ever having used it.

Wow, Cesar. I'm really surprised and disappointed that you removed my comment, which was in no way insulting to the readers of this site. The worst thing I said in my post was that disparaging the first-generation (1G) iPod with easily falsifiable claims makes the Zune community look silly. That observation holds true for the fans of any competing products in any category. For instance, if a bunch of Linux advocates were sitting around sniggering that all Windows XP installations crash literally every fifteen minutes, would they not appear ridiculous to the computing community at large?

I provided many carefully researched facts and details to support my arguments that (1) the original iPod was an excellent product when it was released in November 2001; (2) Apple provided many (five major and six minor) firmware updates for the 1G iPod over the course of more than three years; and (3) the Zune currently lacks quite a few features that the 1G iPod had.

There was no profanity in my post. I named one commenter with whom I agreed; I did not insult (or even name) anyone with whom I disagreed. The overall tenor of my post was no more negative than many, if not most, of the other comments in this thread. In fact, two subsequent commenters endorsed my post before it was removed.

You're certainly free to moderate your site as you wish, but I just don't get it. Since when is providing facts considered an insult? Welcome to the social?!?

Yeah, perhaps we could get some Audible support sometime this year.  I can't read.

jlb - I'd  suggest you repost without the "offending" comments as your post was one of the more rational ones on this board. I guess when the facts make Microsoft look bad, they're going to remove them from their blog.

SO EXCITED!!! Have any information on when it is coming?

HALLUJAH!

[Part 1 of 3. As suggested by Dan H, I am reposting my original comment from last night as a series of three posts. I have edited out the portions Cesar might have construed as insulting; new material is included in brackets. If any of these comments is still deemed offensive, I hope that the factual parts will be allowed to remain. My point here is that when one makes up stuff to augment one's argument, one's entire position is weakened, no matter how correct one might otherwise be. In short, stop trotting out iPod myths and stick to the facts!]

I would like to echo nighthawkz6's comments [immediately before Cody's March 3 post]. Please stop making excuses for the poor execution of the Zune launch by claiming that the original iPod [was a poor product] or that Apple never releases iPod firmware updates. Both statements are patently false and make the Zune community look [misinformed].

I assume that most, if not all, of the posters here are PC users and, therefore, did not pay much attention to the first iPod, which was a Mac-only product. Let me disabuse you of some of your misconceptions. The original iPod was announced on October 23, 2001 and released for sale worldwide on November 10, 2001, almost exactly five years before the Zune release (November 14, 2006). In its first four months, the first-generation (1G) iPod received one major and three minor firmware updates, none of which was solely a bug fix. Over the years, Apple released a total of eleven (five major and six minor) firmware updates. The last firmware update for the 1G iPod came out in February 2005, when the player was more than three years old. Apple did not in any way abandon this product, as some people are alleging.

The 1G iPod was truly an outstanding device. Yes, it was expensive ($399 for 5 GB), but it was the first MP3 player that ordinary people could use without difficulty. It was the first high-capacity MP3 player that fit in your pocket -- made possible by using newly available 1.8" hard drives. It was the first MP3 player that synced absolutely seamlessly and automatically with the host computer. It was the first MP3 player that included a high-speed data transfer interface (FireWire; other players used USB1 at that time). It was the first high-capacity MP3 player that had a decent battery life. And the iPod's interface -- both software and the now-iconic scroll wheel -- [far surpassed] that of every competing product.

[Part 2 of 3: Detailed, factual comparison of the 1G iPod and Zune features]

In fact, the original iPod had many basic features that the Zune is inexplicably lacking five years later. From day one, the 1G iPod had:

 (1) full Unicode support.

 (2) multiple language support (English, French, German, Japanese). Eleven more languages were added within four months of release (Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese).

 (3) lossless codec support (WAV and AIFF).

 (4) the ability to be used as an external hard drive (without hacks).

 (5) a sleep timer.

 (6) a game (Breakout, included as an Easter egg).

 (7) perfect syncing (auto or manual) with iTunes, the pre-existing Apple media player.

 (8) no audio playback glitches.

 (9) no crashing problems.

(10) battery life that routinely surpassed Apple's estimates (Apple said 10 hours, usually got ca. 12 hours).

The biggest complaints about the 1G iPod were the lack of an equalizer and a clock. Twenty equalizer presets were added in the first major firmware update, and a date/time clock was added nine months after release.

All iPods (except for Shuffles) have had:

 (1) support for contacts (vCard format) since March 2002.

 (2) track scrubbing (not fast forwarding) since March 2002.

 (3) support for Audible files since August 2002.

 (4) a date/time clock since August 2002.

 (5) calendar functionality since August 2002.

 (6) AAC (.m4a) and protected AAC (.m4p) support since April 2003, when the iTunes Music Store opened in the US.

 (7) full podcast support since mid-2005.

In addition, Apple made various improvements in the 1G iPod's battery life, playback performance, and user interface over the years. Subsequent iPod generations have, of course, added many more features.

[Part 3 of 3: My opinions. Please note that I do not fault the developers for the current state of the Zune. From the outside, there is no way to know for sure, but my assumption is that the programmers are bright people who have lots on their plates and are working very hard. My criticisms are about the strategic direction of the project, which was presumably determined by the Zune managers at the earliest stages. I'm sure they're wonderful human beings, but I question some of their choices and especially their strict adherence to their Gantt charts in the face of a not-quite-finished product.]

From day one, the Zune really should have included all of the above items [listed in part 2], except perhaps for the contacts and calendar. Microsoft might have been forgiven for some of the absent features had everything else worked absolutely perfectly. But alas... How can the Zune appeal to audiophiles when lossless support is MIA and even high-bitrate lossy files are transcoded during transfer? Is it really "social" to prevent users from reading non-Roman characters? Does Microsoft really think that Zune users aren't interested in podcasts and audiobooks? How could the skipping problem have slipped past QA? How about the random rebooting? The syncing issues? The low-resolution album art? The mix of features and flaws is just bizarre. You have only one chance to make a first impression, and the first-generation Zune's reputation may already be beyond repair.

Microsoft seems to have focused entirely too much on what is essentially a gimmick (the wireless sharing) and ignored many of the details that elevate a decent player to a great one. The gutsy move would have been to withhold the Zune from the market until it was worthy of release. The desperate firmware pleas won't end until the Zune's many shortcomings are addressed. Unfortunately, the Zune team's slow response even to critical bugs does not inspire much confidence...

Ceasar, I would like to say that I own a zune, before you start removing my comments.

All I want to say is bravo to jib for having the balls to stand up for us.

You'll probably get your comment deleted, nighthawkz6, you said "balls"!  ;-o

Geez...what a depressing site.......

Have had my Zune for a couple of weeks now,no problems.

Granted it the first player I have owned,but my kids all have that other thing and after looking over the Zune, they all (all 5 of them want to trade me). The reasons..bigger screen, doesnt scratch up after 15 minutes out of the box,easier to navigate thru well it just goes on and on.

The Zune IMO does what it said it would do.

Any updates/fixes are again IMO just frosting on the cake. And actually is one of the reasons I bought the thing in the first place,cause you can actually get them.

A clock....Give me a break.

Dont have a Zune pass, just buy the points and download,(no problems) so cant comment on that problem.

Do wish there was more Video to download, but my guess is that will be coming soon.

Bottom line......I wish the Ipod folks would get off the site....(My bet is that its somebodys job at Apple to get on the Zune sites and talk trash)

Of course this just my opinion.

Good product,does what it said it would do, and I am very happy with my ZUNE.

With all due respect, Joe, bug fixes are not icing on the cake. We should certainly expect Microsoft to fix critical flaws in a timely manner. Additional features, on the other hand, clearly fall into the icing-on-the-cake category.

Around the time of the Zune launch, a lot of tech/gadget sites, as well as Zune team members themselves, were claiming that Microsoft was planning to add lots of cool features to the Zune via firmware updates, which -- wink-wink, nudge-nudge -- the other guys don't have.

The problem with statements like these is two-fold. First, as I demonstrated a few comments up, Apple (Microsoft's main competitor in this area) has in fact released many firmware updates -- some of which added new features -- for its iPod models going back to the very first one. Other manufacturers also provide firmware updates for their media players. [Note that you too make this false implication in your comment.]

Second, these nebulous references to "great new features" stoked the imaginations and expectations of many early Zune adopters, setting them up for disappointment when new features did not emerge at a fast and furious clip. I think that's where a lot of the frustration you see in these comments is coming from, especially when coupled with a lack of information about future updates. The lesson here is, of course: buy consumer electronics products as-is (which you seem to have done), not for some imagined potential.

Finally, don't knock the clock requests just because a clock isn't your cup of tea. For whatever reason, people seem to like having clocks on their hand-held gadgets. At any rate, it should be fairly easy for Microsoft to add, considering that the Zune surely has an internal clock to monitor 3x3 tracks (and maybe also Zune Pass tracks).

"Any updates/fixes are again IMO just frosting on the cake. And actually is one of the reasons I bought the thing in the first place,cause you can actually get them."

Yes, but for paying $250 we should be have much more than what our competitor has. The competitor? iPod video. How much it costs? $250. What does it include? More audio/video formats, clock, gapless playback, podcasts, audiobooks,  games and much more. We all knew that the Zune did not have these features from day #1. We still decided to go with the Zune because we heard from many Zune devs that these features will be regularly updated through Zune software very often. The Zune has been out for what...4-5 months? Our competitor has about 10+ features that the Zune currently has. For paying this much money we deserve to have more features that our competitor has.

There is nothing stopping the Zune devs from implementing these features. They have surely touched an iPod video and used iTunes to know what the game is all about. They know everything they have to do, they're just too focused on the non-important stuff.

When a consumer goes into a store, he/she compares feature by feature with the iPod and the Zune. If the consumer doesn't find anything special about the Zune, he/she will go with the iPod. When you are dealing with such a market you would want to put the features the iPod has  plus more. That's the point of releasing a newer product? Sure you guys provided the Wi-Fi, but it's useless. When a customer looks over at a Zune stand and sees, "A sample track can be sent for 3 plays or 3 days", don't you think he/she will say "this is useless". Right away, the Zune will be knocked off from the customer's mind. Now if you guys had the DJing feature originally thought to be added or some compelling feature like buying songs from the Zune itself, that would totally outweigh the negatives.

Like many said, the 1st Gen Zune is the one that will be looked upon as the iPod video competitor. You guys only have one chance to get it right. Make the right choices and delay 2nd Gen Zune and make this near $300 purchase worthwhile.

We all had the chance to go with the iPod, but we didn't. Please don't make us upset.

Oh by the way, I'm a high-school student that owns a Zune. I am not saying I'm disappointed with the Zune, I'm just saying it's not living up to it's expectations. I'm still happy with it and would definitely prefer it to the iPod any day. Let's just hope they don't abandon the 1st Gen Zune.  

adding the ability to play music thats on your zune through the zune software would be nice. I bring my zune to work with me but I can't play anything since my library is at home.

For those who aren't having problems with the Zune shutting down randomly, are you only loading content from the Zune Marketplace? I just wondered if it's certain MP3 encodings for music and/or the Zune software not converting video files properly?

I'm really tired of all the Zune people getting on here and posting positive talk about the Zune.  Oh wait...that argument doesn't make sense.

Just because I'm negative on the Zune doesn't mean I'm an Apple devotee; it means the Zune is lackluster.  It also means I speak from experience.  I don't care about a clock, codec support, 3x3, wi-fi, blue tooth support, or any other add-on.  I care about my Zune not skipping!!!!  Because when I bought it, it didn't list that as a feature.   FIX THE PROBLEMS FIRST and FASTER then add-on "icing"

Cesar is a marketing guy not a tech guy, I really would love a tech guys email or blog site!

They need to release a firmware that opens up the functionality of this thing... or better yet, some enthusiast should create his own homebrew firmware .  

Microsoft is fortunate that they have a license to print money with Windows XP, cause they keep making bonehead maneuvers like Vista, 360 and this thing.

Strange... I post a comment it gets deleted.

I comment on my comment getting deleted.

Then poof my deleted comment comes back, but my comment about my deleted comment gets deleted.

Chris, I think you got your threads mixed up; your missing comment is on the earlier firmware post. Cesar purged some comments, including one of mine, Sunday morning. I haven't noticed any more removals since then.

As for your wish to hear from the tech guys, I would be shocked if at least one of the Zune devs weren't reading this site -- and the firmware threads in particular -- on a regular basis. It would certainly be nice if one of them could clarify why the fix to the skipping problem has taken so long. Is the fix technically difficult to implement? Did it really take months to identify the problem? Were no development resources allotted for bug fixes? In other words, what's going on? Can we expect better response times to critical bugs in the future?

I just really want an easy way to download videos and get them on my Zune.

I don't know how but we should get AM Radio added.

There is more to AM then talk shows... sportscasts, talkshows, radio disney (ugh .... ignore that one)

LET US TRANSFER OUR CODECS FROM OUR PC.  Don't tell us what codecs we can use, let us decide!  Anything Windows Media Player can play, should be playable on the zune.  WMA is a lacking format (due to, nothing comes in WMA, can't buy anything in WMA, and it's not Xvid).

Clock would be awsome, I look at my zune all the time expecting to see a clock (force of habbit from other devices).

Uh, other then that I don't really want anything else, but it would be nice to be able to use Windows Media Player with Zune.  On windows vista (and Xp?) it doesn't recognize it in WMP, only Zune.  Be nice to connect Windows Media Player to Zune Marketplace also...

Just to keep things universal, switching back and fourth between WMP and Zune is a little annoying, heck be nice to just use Windows Media Center, then we could plug the zune in and do it all from our TV.

ok guys, do u seriously need help?

step 1. feedyourzune.com ,<----go here

step 2. click download

step 3. search 4 podcasts in feed your zune program.

i have podcasts from mtv, youtube, n more.

if i can find a way to get podcasts, why cant everyone else?

as for video, buy a converter program online (i recomend imtoo) and you can put entire dvds on your zune. it only costs 20 bucks...

btw, all info above is vista compatible, i know b/c i'm running both of these on home basic 32bit.

Every once in a while, it’s nice to get a take on Zune from someone not in marketing. This just in from

I think the reason why the zune devs aren't responding about the features is because they don't care. They're too busy making the 2nd Gen zune no one is gonna buy because they left the near millions without the promising features that are so capable, all it takes is a month to implement them...

Why didn't u guys just made the firmware a little more hackable, that way the community would have been tweaked up the way most of us would have liked it. I just don't understand what's so wrong about that..

It's not like we're breaking into Some Navy SEALs PDA and taking info or something..it's a damn mp3 player, we payed for it, we should be able to do what we want with it.

I just recently noticed that some albums I download from the marketplace cause the Zune to freeze. If I burn them to a CD, re rip it, and resync, problem gone. Though, I shouldn't have to do this.

I am also disappointed by the sheer lack of content on the Zune Support site.

I would also like Unicode support. Not all artists on this planet use Latin characters.

It's a bit upsetting to have come this far with my ZUNE to get this update, but it's better than nothing, lets hope there will be continued development, and for those who can't wait and have skills (John West and others) please go to RockBox and start a ZUNE project to write what the community wants.  There are loads of Rockbox developers there writing for other players and they would be happy to share.

Someone said "if i can find a way to get podcasts, why cant everyone else?". That's not the point. Everyone can go on that website and download podcasts, but these audio files are still gonna be in the music section among other albums/songs. All I want in the next update is a separate section for Podcasts. :)

what we need (anyway I do) is a play all function for videos ... I've hundreds of them (30 GB are so a huge space ...) but I want to play them without interacting every three minutes ... so a play all and even a shuffle option will be so fine ...

what the hell this pisses me off. i want some damn  

features its not like the zune is cheap i wonder if i can get my money back and go buy a damn ipod

just to throw more gas in the fire pit:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/rumor-overheard-at-gdc-nextgen-zune-available-in-august-242095.php

Meaning, forget about the features...sell your zune and get ready for a 2nd gen one!!!

I will and others will be highly upset if a next generation Zune arrives.  I mean why would anyone release another device and make lots of devoted owners even more angry. I appreciate the updates, but why not fix some more problems or at least add more features.  What about the simple picture arrangement by titles?  Why can we not view our pictures in portrait mode? I think that's a major defect to be fixed!

Clock

games

internet browser

more video format

video sending

email

podcasts

powerpoint viewer

wireless connection xbox 360

live TV

wireless marketplace access

wireless sync

save your themes

rename songs

I would like stuff that doesnt have to do w/ the marketplace (which i dont use)

Things like - games and a clock

also a way for you to rotate the pictures once you put them in your zune  so that you can make them full screen. If there is a portrait picture then you have to view it as widescreen...it'd be pissa if you could rotate it so it took up the whole screen

I don't care what features they add or the "icing" - I just want them to fix the bugs in the software and then allow us to do more with our Zunes.

What about international characters support??? How come it wasn't implemented, and it's not in the upcoming upgrade? Every other player on the market is able to display non-English characters. If it's not in this update I will sell my Zune, just tiered seeing the boxes for albums/song titles. Common Microsoft I like the Zune, but internationalization support is just pathetic!!!

If they just made it able to partition some off so i could use it as a hardrive, and prehaps and clock and slightly quicker and relieable software, it would be perfect. Despite that my zune has been perfect i've had o problems and i'm so glad i didn't get an iPod. I hope they do this some time soon but i know i wont be exchanging my zune any time soon.

well I don't think "all" of those features should be included BUT i would really like to see wireless sync w/ the xbox 360. It's totally possible, the zune devs are just not doing it for 2 reasons:

1) wireless sync is slower than USB- Who cares about speed when you can sync from your kitchen to your media center pc/360?

2) They are lazy- it takes them almost half a year to fix problems that would've been addressed at the most, 1 month.

I love my Zune...To the "Dev Team" I want to be able to put my playlists on shuffle.  Also if I want to put a specific genre on shuffle.  For example if I go to Blues and select that genre, my only options are; play all, or add to quik list.  I want to shuffle them.  I believe this is called "The Limited Shuffle Blues".  Looking forward to updates. Keep up the good work.  Thanks.

Cesar, i love my zune and all, i love how it feels and the quality and everything but the zune could do SO much better. Help us out here man we payed money for this thing and it doesn't even have a clock? common.. also WiFi should be able to do something other than trade music with a zune for 3 days, is that even useful at all? if you made WiFi do something you'd have 10x more adopters from ipod. I decided to drop my ipod and get a zune and although i love it i am extremely dissapointed by tones of things you could have done.

Here are some things that'd would be very nice to see get updated in times to come.

- A clock, like common man, of ALL the things you DON'T have A CLOCK?! WHY A CLOCK?! thats so easy to put on..

- Let WiFi do something, MSN, AIM, even internet access would be nice, im not asking you to re-invent the zune just give us a virtual keyboard and let us work from there. the WiFi is such a useful thing to hvae, why not utilize it instead of making it do some stupid 3 day trade. waste of time.

- More EQ's would be nice, maybe more bass?

- The zune program should be able to convert videos before so we don't have to let our zune sit there while its just converting and coverting THAN adding the videos. why not let it convert before so it saves us time.

- thats my main concerns, some more stuff would be nice but those are the main things id liek to see get fixed.

The main thing i'd like to see though would be WiFi doing something. I have wifi sitting there doing nothing, and thats why this zune cost me 250+? A wifi that can't do anything useful and thats the reason it cost me an ipod video that could do and has more features than the zune.. wow. dude seriosly when you update it, give us the BASICS atleast.. i can almost garuntee you that if you were to let wifi access internet and chat online and stuff, you would actually become the "ipod killer" but right now your just another stomping ground for the ipod since the zune doesn't even have a clock.. when i go out i dont have my phone all the time so i rely on my zune WHCIH apparently DOES NOT have a clock. don't depress man, don't let us down, when you update and give us more firmware and stuff, make it GOOOD and worth our money, BECOME the "ipod killer" liek your supposed to be, not another mp3 player that gets crushed by apple, AGAIN..

Thanks for reading and please PLEASE take this into consideration, i don't want to feel liek i wasted my money on a zune that doesn't even compare to a ipod which costs the exact same..

Ya, got to recognize that we will never see support for podcasting and RSS feeds in the Zune until it becomes main stream and our Mother learns what it is. We are just in the minority, when RSS and podcasts become part of Windows Media player - we may see it on the Zune.  You mentioned Feed My Zune - Their software is as unfriendly as what we got from MicroSoft.  I don't like spending so much time putting files in my Zune, compared to my friends IPOD.  Much less trying to find them once they are on the Zune.  I love the big screen, but the more time I spend putting things on the Zune, the less attractive it gets.

Im glad to hear the update is soon, but here goes the wish list:

practical

-clock

-calender

-able to delete directly from zune

-wireless xbox360/pc/mac integration

-audible

-mass storage

wishes

-hot spot downloads

-drm control (choose 5 songs to share)

-internet browser

-games

hopefully the piratical items can be taken care by the end of the year or at least this time next year.

thanks for the news

Vote!!! who would like to be able to put programs on like u can on PDA's and mobiles, it would be awesome to run skype, IE and bittorrent =)

What are you smoking dude? You know this is a Microsoft blog and you're talking about adding Skype and Bittorrent?!?

Give me some of that dude!!!

For a future update (1.4-1.5)the ability to browse through folders of video (not just music & pictures), also more support for the xbox 360 & the ability to connect to a Wi-Fi network to sync (i.e internet router or xbox 360 wireless network adaptor). Plus start/stop times for songs (a must) of course a clock is a must and some of the other ideas people have been wishing for.

Please please please have an option to turn off the main menu gradient, it messes up my backgrounds!!!

Like many people, I dont care for new features right now, I love my Zune as it is, but get the damn bugs fixed.  The zune software sucks ass right now, its just plain out sucks.  The software was pissing me off so bad, I seriousoy thought of getting an Ipod instead, and I hate apple, thats how bad it is.  they promise that this 1.3 should fix all those bugs, we shall see when it comes out!  if it does, ill stay, if it doesnt, im switching!

People are going to be let down when there is no update tomorrow.  I know I will be.

My bad, indylux - but the update *is* coming.

This is / will be a major let down...  I've told many people of this update coming tomorrow or was coming tomorrow.  It would be great if you guys could try to break the long ms code of no updates to the community

huh...what... "*is*" as in tommorrow? this week? this month? this year????????

just to add to indy, i will be let down when there are no easter eggs, add-ons, or whatever

"Throw me a bone mannnnnnnnn!"

P.S. Please fix the "Leave a Comment" image, very much annoying!

**Sits patiently waiting for update**

way to go Cesar...way to go. Now, expect the ifanboys from Engadget ang Gizmodo to begin trowing more jabs here.!

ricardo, eh, it's just part of my day :)

Weak.

Soooo...what am I even looking out for? Does the update become available at 00:00am of the 20th exactly or do I have to wait till noon.

MARCH 20th! NVM

wow so is the update comming out march 20th or not cuase now im confused, or is it gonan be released in fukin like june, im starting to get fed up with my zunes

Come on folks, it's Microsoft were talking about here... King of delays.....

waiting for that update.........???????

WOW! Lets go to a weeklong party and not fix the crappy Zune that we rushed to the market and leave our customers high and dry with this half asked piece of crap.

As long as you put unicode support somewhere in that firmware update that SHOULD be coming out soon, i'll be happy. until then... i have about 11 more days on my return policy...

This sucks now we are forced to wait even longer for MS to fix the bugs that should have already been fixed since the release.

This is ridiculous , im so sick of microsoft, the zune, everything, no only do they refuse to keep the public in the loop , but when you call support 9 times out of 10 , you end up knowing more than they do, I should have got an ipod , and come tommorrow im giving this piece of crap to my sister and I will go out and buy an ipod, and curse the day I ever read the headline " MICROSOFT TO DEBUT ZUNE KILLER!" hahah yea right, next time spend more time on product development, and a lil something called PROGRAMMING instead of releasing a product that is barley good enough to be a beta version , and a piece of software that is so horrible it ended up messing peoples computers up , the only thing you guys haver right is the 360 as for every other product ? Absolute garbage,

I've had a Zune and Zune Pass since launch day and I can't wait until they release this patch for songs to stop skipping.  

I returned 2 Zunes (thus on my third right now) because of the skipping problems before I found out how common it was.  I found a temporary solution online, so I bought a car charger and set the backlight to ALWAYS ON (this fixes the skipping problem but not the unresponsiveness at the beginning of playing Zune Pass songs).  

Hopefully the new update will fix the unresponsiveness as well as the skipping.  That it took more than 4 months to fix this tremendous flaw is unacceptable.  I haven't been able to recommend the Zune to anyone in its current state.

I took a road trip to New York a month ago, and didn't use the ALWAYS ON fix because I didn't have my charger, and was very embarrased as my friends constantly asked "why is it skipping?" on nearly every track.  I was fuming.  Could you guys please work faster?

I feel that it is time to fix the issues that the firmware update is bringing.  That being said, I'm also completely baffled that the Zune Team hasn't brought us Video Content on Marketplace yet.   In a world where Zune's screen looks and feels superior to iPod, where deals have been inked with Universal.....that someone in the months Marketplace has been live could have brought some content forward.

It is time.   It is waaay past time.   Get the content on Marketplace soon.

I know it took a year to get Video content on Xbox360, but that was a paradigm shift for consoles.  We are talking about doing something that the competition has been doing for a long time and Zune should have been prepared to do out of the gate.

Heck, even MSNBC still talks about downloading video content for your "iPod" instead of even mentioning the Zune.   I thought the MS in MSNBC stood for Microsoft?  Why continue to NOT promote the Zune?  

I bought my Zune thinking I could actually listen to music.  Silly me.  I got my Zune about 4 months ago and for the first 2 weeks everything was fine and then the skipping started.  Every single song skips.  What's the point of owning a music player if I can't actually listen to the music?

Apple had a problem like this with iTunes several months back and it took them a week or two.  Why does it take so many months to fix a problem like this?

I'm getting the feeling that I'm just a beta tester for Microsoft.  I try it out, let them know what features I like and don't like, and then the next release will be the real Zune.  Even the Marketplace has barely been updated since the Zune came out.  Where's the video?  The Zune can play video but there hasn't been a legit source of video for it yet.  

Sadly though this was the biggest waste of $250 I've ever spent.

Hmmm... Think this shoulda been the first topic today. Instead of hiding it in this edited post from almost a month ago. Zune insider would infer that we would be getting inside info on the Zune not SXSW. How about any info on what will be included in this upcoming patch besides the three  already mentioned bugs that oddly enough don't affect my Zune. Keep our interest here would ya

Come on Cesar, you owe us a new post today explaining what's going on with this update.  My Zune is practically bricked from the syncing issues - I can't delete files from it and I can't add new songs to it without it disconnecting from the PC.  I'm running out of politeness here ;)

Big Mistake Zune Team. I find it funny how you are nice to actually acknowledge the skipping issue that alot of the Zune Players have with subscription content instead of like Zune customer service that states "this is the first time we heard of this issue" and imediatley wanting me to send my player in, is that not a huge profit lose on a player barely making you anything at the moment as it is. The issue is YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE I N AT LEAST A MONTH THAT CAN BE CONFIRMED BY POSTS and been happening since I got my player in December)!!!! I hate ipods trust me I would touch one if my  life depended on it. They average ipod fan have purchased 22 songs as of data collected from DEC 06. $22 is all apple get on average from its fans, not in an month,on average TOTAL life of the product. ZUNE owners are forking over $14.95 a MONTH for skipping music, restarting players, and a few other issues. Please I ask as someone that just want to at least get a decent music listening experience at least get a patch out for the skipping. I don't care and I sure the other ZUNE owners don't care about new features and fixes at the moment...THEY WANT TO BE ABLE TO LISTEN TO THERE MUSIC.  I understand if you had to push the date back a few days on an apparantly unconfirmed date that everyone posted at their websites (even other zune staff members). BUt its sounding like is not any time soon you guys are fixing this. So please hurry and don't post info again giving peoples hopes up cause I'm "110% sure" you are going to lose some more people over this and I hate to see that.

Jason

A loyal fan that is really losing hope.

We want a update, come on everyone join in

Update, Update, Update, Update

sorry, guys - James (the release manager) and I haven't been able to connect to do a proper, full blog post. that should be coming later today

You mean like the update was supposed to be? :P

oh I see what you did there ;)

J.Allard is probably contemplating setting up a tent camp outside the Zune offices right now.

I have been exited all day thinking the skipping would end today....   :(

Cesar removed this comment b/c of language. feel free to re-post w/out swears :)

Damn, I thought the update would be today...

Maybe you guys should have shut up about the update :p , Great job Zune dev team, i frigging love this thing! it is a little laggy with menu transitions, but great job! everyone remember this is "gen 1" zune.

You should throw us some free tunes for this skipping we had to put up with ;)

It is 6'o clock PM on the 20th.  Where is it?

Oh, I see the edit.

So we might get it eventually?

i have a zune about 4 weeks now and it works great i only have about 300 songs on it but as i look up the reviews, when it almost full the skippin will start, where is the 1.3

Where is the update???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Im Really Hopeing The Update Comes

Soon And Im Excited For New Things

Like The Clock And Stuff I Hope That Doesnt

Take Long HURRY

Oh well they will give us the update pretty soon hopefully...man i love my damn zune ever since i got it's never left my side for more than an hour i still carry it now even though i can't use it because i broke my usb cord ZUNE FOR EVER

I think that the ability to sync via wi-fi would be awesome!  That is my request for the Zune Team..:)

Comme Fab en parlait... Transformez votre zune en mini média center ... Voici une série d'accessoires

So, I'm new.  I bought my zune new off a guy on on Craigslist for $150.  So, my cost:value analysis is a bit different than those who may have paid $250.

I really enjoy the product.  I knew what I was getting into when I purchased.  This is the first in a line of what I can tell will be a great player.  iPod has 4 generations behind it.  So, there are a few tweaks that need to be taken care of - I am sure it they will come in time.  For now, here are some things I would like to see changed.

I. Quick find.

I am envious at how fast my friends's iPods can scroll through music.  It seems to be faster than the Zune even while holding up or down.  I would like to see the alphabet from a-z spread out at the top of any list (i.e. genre, playlists, songs, artists) so that you could click left or right to go directly to that letter sections.  So, scrolling right to "T" would take you right to the T's in your Zune.  Also, A search feature would be GREAT so that I could type in "LOVE" and every song/artist/playlist in that section with LOVE in the title would appear.

II. In device playlists.

One can place songs into Quick Lists.  This tells me that the Zune has the ability to move songs from one place to another.  It would be nice to be able to add songs to other playlists. So, "Add to Quicklists" would be changed to "Add to..." and under that "Quick Lists" would be first followed by the rest of your playlists.  Or, better yet add the ability to create playlists on the Zune without having to use the computer software.

III. Automated Artwork Addition.

The Zune has a beautiful screen.  I love how I can set backgrounds and the transition effect when you click to play a track!  But, I find that the computer software had added artwork where is shouldn't have.  This is compounded by the fact that I have to drag and drop artwork into the software when I know that the software can see the artwork in the internet database.  When I use the computer software to search for album or track information I get the title, artist, album, and other information.  I often times see the artwork for a given track or album.  But, when I select the new track or album information, that artwork is not added to the track along with the new information.  I would really like to see the addition of artwork to tracks to be more streamlined.

Great job, keep up the GREAT WORK!

well im sort of getting fed up with zune.  Im havig issues with skipping in all my media and complete freezing of the zune and Techsupport wont do anything until this stupid firmware comes out, and now its past mid march and is the end of march. So now it looks like ms wont launch an update to shortly before or even into april.   Thnks Microsoft once again you slap fans in the face

well im gonna be more happy with my zune when this new firmware ever comes out. hhmmmmm i wonder when that will be ??????????

Everyone Keeps Saying Theres Is Skipping I Have

Had Mine For A While Now No Probs But Freezing

And The Stupid Fm Radio Really Needs To Be Fixed It Dies So Fast =-[

Well, it's past the middle of March!  Is there really going to be an update?  Will we ever see better support for Podcasts?

I know people have requested this but i would love to see a clock on the zune.  I love my zune but cant wait until the update to get rid of the skipping on some songs.  Thanks again for everything  :)

^ Get A WATCH! ^

I love my zune! After having a zen and having it break less than 60 days later I needed a better option. If you want a podcast on your zune, go to the creative site and download "zencast". Save the podcasts in your my videos folder and the next time you sync your zune all the podcasts will be converted. Also "tubesucker" is a great program for getting video cont on your zune but requires a converting program like "Super"

hey does any one know of any patch to make my zune work on my apple i book g4???

I have spent numerous hours on the phone with Zune support and still nothing has been resolved. I was told to continue using my Zune Pass and that the 1.3 update will solve my skipping problem. Well, I've paid for my Zune and all the accessories and I've paid for my Zune Pass and haven't been able to use the product at all, without skipping. My Walkman I got in 1980 works 100x better than this device. So, I wanted to stop paying for the Zune Pass, cuz it doesn't make the music listenable, but I was told no refunds of any sort ar allowed for the Zune Pass and they wouldn't even give me a complimantary month of Zune Pass to see if this skipping issue is resolved. Well, I REFUSE to pay another penny for a product that doesn't work, so I have decided to return my Zune, my G/F's Zune and my sons Zune to Circuit City and get my nearly $1000 back in my pocket. I am VERY disappointed with this product, it never should have been sold until it worked properly.

I'm actually having my lawyer look into this whole issue and consider a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. All other paths have been tried and this is my last resort. I am going to video tape my return of the 3 Zunes I have and will be posting the footage on YouTube, so everyone can see how to get your money back for this inferior product. And lastly, I'd bet my entire world that Bill Gates uses Ipod or something other than Zune!!!

Well im still waiting for the updates.  Sigh, I just dont feel like calling zune techsupport.

HEY I GOT A PERSON WHO ACTUALLY SPOKE ENGLISH WITH ZUNE TECH SUPPORT.  I was pretty excited when I talked to him, ive called 4 or 5 times, and its always been some indian guy with a horrible phone connection i spend half the time trying to understand the garbled static on their lines.  I think he was a little more clueless then the indian guys though.

Another face is, if its a drm issue, then why does my video skip? or does the Zune put DRM on the video.  I mean it doesnt skip.  My zune stops, then starts playing, it doesnt skip anything.   Is this the same with everyone elses, or is it actually skipping music?

So next time I call in zune tech support, im not hanging up till i get my new zune.

lol just realized this.

Am I the only one who sort of feels embarrased when people walk up and go hey Whats that.  I mean it would be cool if I could respond like this "Yeah this is my zune I can transfer songs to other people with zunes, I can play videos in wide screen, and I get all the music I want for free." , instead I try to ignore them or if i know them i just nail MS with "Yeah this is my zune, I can send songs to other people,well actually only 3,per 3 days.  The songs also have to be pirated or bought, I cant send the music I download with a zune pass thats not allowed,  Oh its 30 gigs, well actually 12 gigs , you cant use the other 18 gigs, they dont work. I also have a radio, but its just wastes storage on my zune i dont use it.  OH BUT I CAN PLAY VIDEOS IN Widescreen, well sort of when it works, but after 12 gigs no media on it actually works.  Sorry my zune just froze I have to restart it."

And one major thing that could be changed is the EQ, give me something to change or something, I really do not like the shitty EQ settings that the zune has.  Hey a better IDEA SUPPORT MORE VIDEO FORMATS IN THE ZUNE SOFTWARE.  That way we dont have to buy 3rdparty software/pirate it just to get our movies we DL off of video.google.com for free.  Yeah the zune was a waste of money.  I should have stayed with my idea of an Archos media player >.< then I could atleast watch tv on a 7inch screen.

I have Serveral comments on my brand new Zune, still within it's return-period.

I had the good fortune to take advantage of the OfficeMax offer, but I went to BestBuys and had them match it. Got to use exisiting their RewardZone $, and to earn more RZ Points/money on the purchase

I am a Reseller but the OfficeMax pricing was BELOW WHOLESALE by a significant amount.  I'm sure they were using it as a loss-leader both to get rid of Zune stock or overstock, and to get bodies in the door.  As a Reseller, I get Creative products at 1/2 of list. and yet I still chose a Zune for personal use.  I'm still undecided whether this was a mistake.  One of the big reasons I chose MS/Zune over Zen or anything else, short of an Ipod, is that most of the smaller volume manufacturers do not enjoy the 3rd party support that Ipod has and that Microsoft swore up and down would be there for Zune.

I have not yet experienced either of the technical issues with shutdown, or poor battery, or playback skipping.  I have had problems with the software's management of MetaData and called support and was told it couldn't be resolved short of deleting and reripping my tunes.  I have a 500GB drive filled with lossless-WAV rips of over 5000 CDs that I personally own.  Of these 5000 CDs, I converted 1250 of them singlely, taking almost 3 weeks to author my playlist.  I do not want to have to go thru the process again.  I Requested an escalation to ENGINEERING level, to at least get info on the database that Zune 's front end uses for Medadata management, and the tech told me he would not escalate my ticket, basically to like it or lump it.  I had to decide whether I could live with the issue. and with the attitude of the 1st level support reps.

I have only owned and used one PMP device before this, the Zen Xtra.  There were features already in the ZX that I expected the Zune to have, notably the portable harddrive functionality, & the playlist-on-the-fly.  I also expected the capability to Sync-with-XB, & sync-with-PC, especially an XP-MCE-PC via WiFi.  

WiFi Services are what I would most like to see, like 2-way sync with MediaCenter, being able to send to a MediaCenter Extender, being able to BE a Media Center Extender.

User Replaceable batteries have long extended the life of other PMPs; I did not expect MS to duplicate Apple's mistake in that area. I actually thought they might do something groundbreaking like externally-rechargable swappable batteries.  

Microsoft has an opportunity witht he Zune to surpass the Iphone as well; Apple made the mistake of handicapping it with 8gb of solid state and no Large capacity (Read Spinning Disk) storage.  How about an addon akin to the Belkin "Tune-" series that wraps around the Zune, adds touchscreen, replaceable batteries and phone / PDA functionality ?

I Agree there are features that aren't there in the base Zune that should have been, like the clock, and WEAK Codec support .

I want the clock, for meit's a preference, but I can see the high level of usefulness for certain customer bases.  

I want the lossless audio.

I want the Zune front-end to include a DVD ripper ; it can incorporate DRM-Wrapper in, if it's doing it's own ripping. Advanced users can rip and convert and defeat DRM anywya .  first Timers, and non-computer-literate users would like a simple way to get video stuff onto the Zune, and since you need to deal with RIAA and MPAA, wrapping it in your own DRM is a simple and cost effective solution.

As a MAtter of fact, over a wide variety of transcoding Codecs, to convert to Zune Media formats, and retain the exisiting DRM setting, either protected or not, Stop wrapping non-protected material in the 3x3 DRM wrapper.

Audiobook, Ebook, and Video Codecs are a must have, and should include their own playlisting and bookmarking features.

with the amount of metadata that the Zune can track, that should be a breaze.

the Custom EQ you've seen requested is a feature that would be simple to add, and would be enjoyed by many; presets satisfy very few people.  a more complicated custom-EQ where you could save EQ-per-song would be a groundbreaker in a PMP and again, relatively simple to add to the Metadata database.

on the desktop software side, I would love to see a feature to "Normalize-Volume" for a given playlist ; again, an easy piece of code to implement. Zen has it in the player as a sync-time or play-time option.

I would love to see the Zune being able to store/display Appointment & contact info from outlook, even though there's no capability for direct entry .

I would love to see a WiFi or bottom-port  link for an external input device like a keypad or keyboard or touchpad, to be able

to edit metadata & playlists, etc.

If the forthcoming Razor/Zune Keyboard can do this as a standalone feature, without a PC connected, well then, WTG, I'll buy in & I guarantee I'll sell one with every Zune that goes out the door.

the Audio I/O requests I've seen mentioned in other posts on this site are incredibly insightful.. optical SPDIF I/O, Mic Jack, are all things that have been done before with other PMPs, especially the Minidisc formatted ones

The DJing feature would be a natural extension of the 3x3 DRM; Have a ZuneServer product for a given venue or event that can send WiFi DRM-encoded material and have it expire-unless-purchased.

I think that about covers it for gripes/suggestions  at the moment

Im glad that somethings been done, even if the things are minimal fixes. What I have been wanting are games maybe, simple games, the classics, is that too much to ask for? I love my zune, and many others do to. Its taken a while until the first few zunes beside mine started to show up in my area, and maybe if it had games many more would buy the Zune. Besides games, the only more useful fix I can think of is the editing of playlists straight from the device. I travel alot and dont always carry a computer with me so maybe that fix would be a bit useful. I cannot complain though, this device is supreme among any and all music players.

Ok So I Just Got The New Firmware Update

Thanx God Its Out If You Dont Have It

I Just Got It =]

I just downloaded the 1.3 update and guess what? My POS ZUNE still skips, still skips really bad. I don't notice a freaking difference...What a piece of shat....

"When do I get (insert ‘podcasting’ or another feature here)?” No specifics yet, but again, the dev team is always working on making Zune better."

Seriously, is this a joke?! Are the developers that incompetent that they can't even make a podcast feature? I'm a programmer myself and I know how piss simple things like this would be to implement... Someone really needs to hack it to run linux or something then it would be good.

Yesssss, I use my zune at work in a hydraulic shop pretty much all day and have it hooked into my stereo there. Random play is fine, but the load times when it hit the 3rd or 4th song on an entire album were driving me crazy. The skipping was just insane for about 4-7 seconds until it stabilized a bit.

Much thanks on the 1.3 patch....seems to have solved that. I still get a feeling that we shall all be waiting till Q3 2008 for tv shows/movies from the marketplace. Untill then I will continue to use my *other* methods for obtaining that content on my Zune.

Thanks again for the update. hehe, still no clock....that it just so funny. =P

OK I like the Zune, the only thing

that I would like to see in future Zunes would be a record function for FM recording.

As for a clock, HA! Use a watch or your cell

phone

O.K listen up I don't buy music off of the Zune market place I download it "illegaly" but anyways my zune skips and lags on both videos and music in regular formats and lags plus freezes when i going to and from songs and back to home menu

Cody, you spelled "illegally". It's with 2 l's. Anyways, we all can't wait for the new update thats coming out in June! Hopefully that will fix all you guys' problems cause, my zune's workin' fine.

Ok i received a Zune for my mother's day gift and boy am i grateful. However, I called audibles to find out that Microsoft does not support AA format. I want to try some other sites becuase this was a gift and i would hate to say hey honey thanks but no thanks, i need the IPOD instead. So, i am a big audio book listener expecially with my commute. I feel like i am stuck between my hubby's feelings and Zune which does not have what i need. Come on microsoft, you have just about everything else, what not an audio book icon. To compete with IPOD you should have everything they offer and more. If anyone knows where i can download audio books (don't mind paying) of my choice like i could with Audibles.com on my other mp3 player. please email me at harlemdreamm@yahoo.com  U am dying here...

Right now my biggest wish is a more comprehensive list of what's been added to the marketplace instead of just a small selection of new additions.

Kina...Your husband may be reading this right now...

I agree with Hideki can't buy this until they support Japanese (and Korean, Chinese...thai?)  or else I won't be able to read anything!  I wanted a Zune, too.

I really want a clock on my zune so i can tell people what the time is with out having to get my phone out of my pocket.

I would like to see the volume increased more, on some headphones the sound is not as loud as others, for example noise cancelling headphones. Some of us like to hear out music a little louder than others.

i feel that in order to truly contend with the various kinds of ipods, MS will need to include at least a simple internet browser soon, possibly in an upcoming firmware update.  The ability to check email, fantasy sports, google/wikipedia search, and watch youtube videos are necessities in today's world.  Also, a number of sites report that games will be introduced in the summer of 2008.  MS, be sure to take this time to make some great advances in portable, wireless play.  Possibly being able to play games on the xbox 360 from your Zune, as Sony intends to use the PSP for with the PS3.  A very cool, practical idea would be to create a xbox360-like controller that can be   plugged into the Zune's port.  http://zunecorps.com/?p=365

the image at the top of that page would be phenomenal, if possible.  IF MS takes a look into that, plus an internet browser (youtube vids on the go!), it could potentially get all xbox360 owners as customers, blowing Apple out of the water. (a clock would be a good idea, too! just a small one, similar to what is seen in the bottom right-hand corner of a computer monitor)

I still cant restore firmware on my Zune

I was wondering why in my zune is some of the songs repeated more than once??

does anyone else have this problem? In the Zune software it doesn't show the song being repeated but it shows it in the Zune.

I would love a web browser because the wifi support is pointless without that or a way to download from mp through a wifi connection but i do love the zune and if it goes just a little further it will smash ipod (ipods suck i have had 3 (30GB vid, 2x 1gb nano)they all broke so for any of you that are thinking of switching or know someone who is DON'T)

also support of more formats would be nice (like .RMVB (AkA real player)) i have alot of videos in that format and when i try to convert them the audio gets cut out

another idea would be a PowerPoint viewer that would be nice to have but it still needs the ability to double as a hard drive

(maby you could also make an accesory to let it read SD cards for mem expasion)

I have had my zune for 6 months, and i love it. I have had no problems downloading movies and music. I use Movie maker to convert the movies and with a little time it is zune ready. I will happy when games are available, but other than that I think its a great product. Keep up the good work.

Hey

i have had my zune for alittle over a year now and love it to death.this is one electronic device that never gets old.

One thing Im always wishing for though is a sleep timer... that would be incredibly nice because i tend to fall asleep listening to my zune at night...

30G Zune<3

Please...make a sleeptimer and if possible a EQ setting or even make BASS a little bit more !

Thanks !

I would like to see a few thing in the next generation zune.  A clock with alarm, touch screen technology and be able to sync outlook with contacts.

my 30GB zune is just *** and ask me to restore fireware .....

any body Helip me Plz

my contants :

usman_smartboy2002@hotmail.com

4) The zune should OBVIOUSLY have a most played feature that is easy to use, and works independently of the songs on your computer...incase my last comment isn't posted because i named other devices, make the computer stop refusing to play songs on MY zune just because they aren't on MY computer