Music, culture, and the inside scoop from Cesar Menendez,
a Microsoft employee working on Zune - Microsoft's new music project.

February 26, 2008

Feedback: Zune Marketplace; Zune Pass

As many of you know, we’re constantly seeking feedback from users about what we’re doing, and what we could do to make Zune better. So I’m asking specifically about Zune Marketplace: what do folks like about it? What about Zune Pass? Do you have one? How can we make these better? Post a comment!

And for those readers who also participate in the Zune forums, you can also share your thoughts in this thread.

 |  Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:53 PM  |  138 Comments

Comments

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Timedrifter

Setup an easy way to remove all ZunePass music if we choose to stop it.

slimshady

Actually I like the Zune Marketplace and the Zune Pass, just please make it available to other countries. I'm not talking about official support, I'd just like to be able to log into zune markteplace with my german windows live id.

Feedback: Zune Marketplace and Zune Pass | Got Zune?

Sri

Marketplace:

Like the User experience, from searching to buying to downloading. But content is the key,

would be better with MOVIES and more MP3's.

(Xbox Live + Zune) Marketplace = AWESOME.

I dont have a Zune Pass.

hack

Matching price and MP3 selection with Amazon would be great!

Randy R.

Have the Zune Pass and love it!  Would be even more incredible if the Marketplace was the same for both XBOX and ZUNE and had TV/Movie downloads that could be played on both the devices interchangeably.  Rent a movie, get to play it on both the XBOX and The Zune for a 48 hour period or something... Download a song while on the XBOX and save it to your Zune That would be sweet!

Utahcon

I have a Zune Pass, love it! Only thing I would like is more artists on it. The longer I have been a member the more bands I have encountered that I can not listen to their music, because they are not part of the Zune Pass. At this point I am resolved to not purchase music unless it is something really spectacular, and Zune Pass allows me the best of both worlds. Except when bands don't participate. Especially older stuff, WTF?!

Add movies/videos/music videos to the pass!!!

Having content in the same marketplace is silly if it isn't included in the price. Especially for music videos, I would rather have free MTV than pay for a music video. I mean really, who pays $5+ to watch a music video? That is just dumb.

Finally merge Zune Live Marketplace with Xbox Live Marketplace, so I don't have to mess around with my music selections.

Everything should flow as one solid unit. Download music from either my PC, my Zune (with wifi, come on do it!), my Xbox or my Server, it all should store in a central location, or build a universal network location for the shares to be combined in, then stream out to all my devices.

Also Zune Pass should be per household. Just a thought. I can see why you would want per Unit. But you can already have multiple units per pass. I am just saying to extend the DRM a little. Not a ton.

My two cents.

dethzune

i have an "all you can eat" pass and i really like it. i dont care for having to actually buy the DRM  free music. it seems like that should be included in the pass. the only other thing is more of a personal observation, but you could use a better genre screening prosess, i mean, are you really going to put Pink and Christina Aguilera in the rock section?

austin

I agree, movie rentals and purchases are a must. itunes has a pretty good system for this but it could be improved on.

Zolar

I have a Zune pass.  It works great.  I easily have increased the amount of music I am willing to try an listen to any given week.   I probably pick a few whole albums every few days both from the past and current.  It can be quite fun finding bands or artists from 20 years ago that I remember but would never take the time to buy an album as I just want to listen for awhile.

The only gripe I have is its tough finding new albums on the Zune a few days later.  It would be nice to have a "recently added" way to sort albums or some such thing.  Not a huge issue if you only add a couple albums here or there but 4 or 5 a day in addition to what I already have makes it easy to miss it later.

I will have to give the market place some thought, which I guess is a good thing.  Nothing really jumps out from a usability stand point immediately.

Randy

I have zune pass and love it, but would like to see these two features.

1. Allow 3 devices I have a classic 30, a 80, and a 2gb

2. Enable tier one support to reset account when it zune pass forgets what computers are registered.

Timothy Huber

Love ZunePass. Love it.  That being said, I haven't purchased anything else from the Marketplace.  If I decide to purchase something I'll only buy non-DRM and I prefer not to deal with the Points thing... Particularly if I just want to purchase a single song.

Dan D

I have a zune pass  its basically perfect. but i would like a way to remove all drmed music if i decide to stop paying for it.

Dan D

Also any word on any alarm clock docks? i emailed memorex about their year late ones and they said they were basically canceled. Thanks.

Xeslana

I have a zune pass and I love it.  I download probably 10 albums a month so I save a lot of money.  The coolest thing about the pass is when you are with some friends on a trip or something you just give them a computer and they can download all the music they want to listen to on the trip.  Great way to find new music.

Joe

I have a Zune pass, and the new software makes it very hard to organize my music.  Here's some ideas:

Better ratings and auto-playlists.  We need these back.  I have no idea how to systematically check the music that I've downloaded.  I want to be able to delete my subscription music that I've given a low rating.

Better sorting and grouping.  I can't filter my music to music I own, DRMed music and subscription music.

Better information about music.  Like the inset sleeve on a CD.  Lyrics, who wrote the song, more artwork etc...

Video organization is bad.  iTunes is bad, Zune software is worse.  

The Zune software should be able to convert DRMed dvr-ms files (the ones recorded from HBO).  THe Zune is tied to the PC - there should be no issue with this.

There should be a way to manage subscription content.  A way to say that I downloaded this but I don't want it any more.  So a user has an active subscription content library that follows them (i.e. a virtual library).

For a minimal fee all music should be playable for a limited number of plays.  Say, $4 per month shoud allow you to play any music 3 times - then buy it or not.

We need TV and video rentals.  

We could have free TV and movies if you managed to embed commercials that are targetted to the user.  If the user is willing to give up some profile information commercials could be embedded that would provide free movies - maybe a month after release date.

Provide a funding mechanism like the above to podcasts so that each caster doesn't have to seek out their own sponsor.  Like an affiliate program where the podcast gets a %age revenue from the targetted adverts embedded in their download.  An audio version of Google AdWords if you like.

Better stats and integration with the social.  Number of listens next to each song with average rating.   This data is very useful.

An API for all the above (as a service and local .NET objects for accessing the library metadata)

I could go on...

Zune2

Zune pass:

$8.99 for music only

$1.99 for music & video

7mgte

Movies are key for me. I really don't care if they're in MP3 or WMA format.  When you purchase the music you own it anyway.  I have a Zune pass.

williamc

I wish Marketplace did more to recommend music I might like based on purchases, and provide a better way to go in deep to what's available.  Some weeks, the front page doesn't seem to list all the new available albums, which is frustrating if you are ready to browse. Rhapsody does a great job of opening up its catalog and I'd like to see Zune do a little more of that.

Jaxim

I don't use Zune Marketplace or Zune Pass. I got my music from ripping my CDs. But at some point I will have a need to purchase more music. And when I do, I'd like to use a service that is easy to find MP3 files of high quality (no DRM).

In other words, I'd like to be able to filter out and not even see any songs that are not available in DRM-free mp3 format.

I'd also like to see a service where a user can save money by buying more songs regardless of its album affiliation. I'd like to see the death of the concept of the album. For example, I'd like to get a discount for buying 50 songs from 50 different albums and/or artists. The more I buy, the bigger the percentage discount. No online service does this, so if Zune Marketplace did this, it would be trend setting and newsworthy.

nik

I don't like the Marketplace points, I personally would rather just pay directly and not have to bother purchasing points.

Sri

Adding to my comments above,

A Price structure based on popularity or something similar (like Amazon) would be very attractive (making most of the collection DRM free would be even more sexy).

PS: as i mentioned again, Xbox Live + Zune FTW.

Jaxim

Also, the Zune Marketplace should have audiobooks.

Audible support, Audible Support, Audible Support!

Expugnare

Adding more video support (.avi specifically) would be amazing.

MP

I have a zune pass and use it a ton.  I absolutely love it.  

Improvements:

1) Add Movies/TV similar to XBL

2) I wish there was an easier way to see what was downloading

3) It's annoying when you can download a song from an artist from a certain cd, but not from another cd (when you search for a song, your choices come up, and click on the link, but it's not available, so you have to continue to search for it).

4) Reccomendations similar to the bottom of an artist's page on the social.

5) Reccomendations based on age group, sex, etc.  (ie. a 27-30 yr old male would like...) and then break it down into genre.

Otherwise I'm hooked on the Zune Pass/Marketplace!!!

MP

One other thing...fix the inability to stream from the marketplace using vista.  I can do it with xp, and when both laptops are side by side, I get an error message (COD11something) on the vista machine when I try to listen to the same song.

ZyppyC

(cross-posted to Zune forum)

Regarding music not available via Zune Pass...

I wish there was some way to see an explanation about availability when an artist/album/song can't be downloaded. As much as I love the idea of Zune Pass, I hate it when I am browsing the Marketplace and I come across music that is available but only for purchase. I know Microsoft can't control the studios or artists, but at least we could have a brief note about the reason why it can't be made available for Zune Pass (and maybe even what they outlook is for changing that). It's especially frustrating with artists that have some of their albums/songs available for Zune Pass download but not others.

And what about a way to be alerted to (or see a report of) music that has recently been enabled for Zune Pass downloads? I've been disappointed by not being able to download many things in the past, but I have no easy way of finding out if the status has changed for those items. It's easy enough to recheck on specific music, but I want to see a list of ALL music enabled for download in the last week (or something to that effect). I don't want to have to remember to check Led Zeppelin or The Beatles or anything Disney (for my kids, I promise!) every couple months to see if things have changed. Or another angle might be to have the Zune software allow users to flag specific artists/albums/songs for later follow-up (either to purchase or hopefully download with Zune Pass).

As many others have pointed out, Zune Pass can be a great way to experience new music or indulge in nostalgia without having to buy. I certainly don't want to buy "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer, but I love that I can just grab stuff like that (legally!) when I'm in a flashback mood. Or I can download 30 albums of Christmas music and then ditch it all when the season's over. Especially for us old fogies who had their main music collection on pre-CD media formats, Zune Pass is a nice option to have. Now if Microsoft would just enhance the usability a bit more...

Snapped

I love love love my Zune Pass.  Would love to see the music videos included and would of course love to see TV shows and movie downloads.  A tie to Xbox "subscription" would be good - and netflix. :) did I ask for too much?

Michael

Throw in the really nice fluid-UI Marketplace into WMP 11, and you've got yourself a winner.

I love Zune, but the software program is far too simple. WMP 11 is surprisingly really nice, compared to both iTunes and the Zune program, but a lack of a 'real' compelling online store is what WMP 11 is missing. The Zune program is missing popular functions and customizations which WMP 11.

Put two and two together, and merge the two things.

You'll get happy users, and less complaints. And cut down the cost of ZunePass a bit more and get more CONTENT onto Marketplace so people don't have to use Bitorrent and all that.

Michael

Oh, and get RID of Microsoft Points. It's very annoying to have to convert figures in your head as to the real cost of an album. 80 pts. = $1.00 is one LESS conversion that I should have to deal with everyday.

Not every album costs the same, and checking the real price of it can be a hassle. Especially when points are not exact with the American system. That makes people AVOID Marketplace.

Do what's smart, and post prices in plain English. Will make many of us happy.

Manu

I have a ZunePass and use it constantly.  I love it.  More bands.  More support.  Music videos!  That's what I'd love to see in it.

On the Marketplace as a whole, the big thing I don't get is the lack of interaction between Xbox Live Marketplace and Zune Marketplace.  I have both accounts.  My tags are linked.  Why can't I listen to my DRM protected Zunepass music on my Xbox 360?  Why can't I watch DRM protected shows on my PC or Zune?

Why does one have music and no videos and the other has videos and no music?  

It makes no sense that there is this gap between services.  

Eddie

Right now, the only things I'm concerned  about with marketplace are when videos will be added, and when Everthus The Deadbeats' new album will be up. It's been out for a few days now and its still not up there. =/

Logan

Marketplace: Needs videos. Specifically TV shows. (Or, alternately, Microsoft could at least support its own DRM and let the Zune play Amazon Unbox video files.)

Zune Pass: A way to force updating of expiration date of my content in a hurry. Or better yet, a way to have my Zune connect wireless to a server over the net and verify that, yeah, my Zune Pass is still good (if my files expire while I'm out and around without a laptop that has the Zune software on it).

Also, the most common thing I've heard, let Zune Pass owners pass Zune Pass music back and forth. We've both already paid for it.

Vishwas

I wish that there were some kind of reward points / incentives for the zune pass which could be converted into free music purchases.

For e.g.:

If a user has zune pass for 3 consecutive month ($45 worth in all) then (s)he is eligible for converting a certain number of songs (from the leased songs) worth a certain amt of $$ (lets say $5) into permanent purchases (i.e which do not expire after subscription ends).

JJ

I have the Zune Pass and love it.  I have to echo the earlier comment that a way to find things on the device after download would be great.  A recently added menu would be a great way to do this.  

As far as software goes, I have a few comments:

1.  When I do a search I would like to be able to see if the albums that pop up are included in the Pass.  The old software was great about this but this info is not available without clicking on each individual album, song, etc.  Sometimes they aren't even available at all, Pass or not.  As someone said earlier, it seems that I am finding more and more stuff that isn't available.  I would like to know that from the main search screen without clicking lots of results.  In all, the search portion of the new software is not on par with the old.

2.  When searching podcasts I don't like that the software always returns to the head of the category when I click back after reading about a particular podcast.  Why can't it remember where I was in the podcasts lists so I don't have to scroll through the category hunting for where I was in the list?

3.  Ditto on the TV shows and movies.

dps

Ditch the Zune Marketplace and support Amazon Unbox now!

macfor3

A couple of points are top of mind:

- Zune marketplace should allow for the sharing of member playlists and highlight the top playlists that members have downloaded.  "Also needs to bring back auto-playlists which is frustrating me right now."

- Zune marketplace should add a ranking for the most played songs.  This should be in addition to purchased and downloaded.

- Zune marketplace needs to get a real ranking system and allow users to view the rankings in different lights. (Community ranking, Favorite artist ranking "How people who have Snoop Dogg as their favorite ranked his song library", and critics ranking.

- Zune marketplace should allow for the autodownload of new music by artists you select as your favorites.  

- Zune Pass should cover all types of media whether it is music or videos.  Helps sell higher capacity players and will get more usage.

- Zune Pass should have a family plan.  $ 14.95 for all media is great, but I would pay more (say $19.95) so that my wife and daugthers could have their own players / subscriptions and social interactions.

bob e

I love my Zune Pass !

As others have said - lets have some video content (Movies).  I'm heading to Seattle next week for a SharePoint convention.   Sure would be nice to have video on my Zune...  It's a 5 hr flight.

thatguy

I am rather new to the Zune Marketplace, but I am not new to online music services.  I do like that there is the ability to choose to buy music through the Zune Pass or off a song by song basis.  While I never use subscription based services (because of the horrid DRM that comes with it, and they're always just too darned expensive!), I think that it's important that it is offered to not only keep specific customers happy (because that's how they like getting their music) but also because it helps to encourage the discovery of new music (which is/should be one of the major themes of Zune).

I personally love the selection on the Marketplace, however, I have noticed many albums that I would be willing to purchase only to find out that it is not available.  Perhaps increasing the amount of music (more so than is already being done) would help to sway me to think that the Marketplace is the best (pretty close already).

While I don't know if everyone is in the same boat as me in this opinion, I think that movies, tv shows, and even further expansion of the music video market should be considered.  These are all important to help the Zune continue to grow, and I know several people who have wanted a Zune but did not want to miss out on all the other content available on things like iTunes (like movies).

I understand that the focus of the Zune is a music player (and I don't want that to change), but I have noticed that even the commercials state that it's an entertainment device that can do more than just music, and that should be true of the Marketplace.

No matter what happens from all of these opinions; I do appreciate the fact that Microsoft cares enough to actually ask its customers what they want.

Mark

I know there is a limited collection of Mp3's but I would really love to be able to search for just MP3's.

I like DRMless music and so the idea of checking all these artist to see if they have drm is just a pain.

ljtj28

The biggest thing I'd say is to cut out the whole Microsoft Points thing.  It's just such a pain.  Right now I have something like 70 points left over and I can do nothing with them.  

I'd prefer if Marketplace allowed you to purchase songs (and videos!) with dollars.  

Espiox

1: Strip DRM off as much content as possible. The "cleaner" the catalogue, the more enticing. Nobody likes DRM.

2: Bring it to the UK. Please.

3: Integrate with Xbox Live Video Store to bring in TV Shows and Movie Rentals.

lt.milo

I absolutely love my zune pass but i have to say, the drm is getting to me.  i really think that after you have had a song for over a year, or w/e, you should be able to keep it.  im getting tired of the bill and may cancel mine if i cant get some way to keep my music in the near future.

Mark

I have a zune pass and all is well with that. Of course, there's the obligatory mention of no movies/tv shows but I know you guys are working on getting that nailed down. (I'm really hoping what I heard on Leo Laporte's podcast is true and that you guys are in talks for a subscription tv system for either free with commercials or a monthly fee for no commercials, and that that actually goes through) Aside from that I don't have too many complaints, it works pretty well. Oh, except it would be nice if those of us with subscriptions could get music videos too, since you can find them for free online at any time and it really doesn't add enough to the song to have to pay for it too.

Doomdude

I think that the Zune pass is amazin it has opened my yes to music that i never owuld have found before. The only thing that i could ee an improvement in is if you combine it with xbox live.

{Log Anarchy}

I want to subsribe to the Zune pass one month to try it out. And, honestly, I will probably convert the songs in Tunebite so I can keep them forever. Sorry.

But you know what sucks, a free trial for the pass came with my Zune 30 and I lost it... (The pass, not the zune)

Kerri

Love the Zune Pass.

Only suggestion I would make is possibly trying to extend the time limit on downloaded music. Say you pay for a 3 month subscription, but you're music license always needs to be renewed after 1 month.

I'm sure it's probably a legal issue, but it can get really annoying when you travel a lot and have no acess to a computer.

cwhistler

The pass already allows 3 devices, but where did you get that number?  My family has 4 (myself, wife, son and daughter).  As it stands my wife and daughter have to share a Zune because of this limitation.  Give me just one more!!

Zappa and the Beatles

Open up the DRM and the codecs.  I have MP4 movies that take up to 3 hours to convert and move to my Zune.  Seriously, there really is no reason for this so open it up and give me the convenience that all IPod and Creative Zen owners have!

james

Bring the social into the software! I don't want to use my browser to send my friend (also a paying subscriber) a song! I wanna right click the song, select "Send track/album to:" and have a list of friends.

As a matter of fact, I don't want to have to use my browser for anything zune/social related. It's nice to have as an option, but it should be for when I'm away from my home pc.

Naris

Agree with what everyone said about the better, more organized navigation and the ability to pick out songs that you never want to download again.  Sometimes people have a huge catalog of songs downloaded, and gradually delete them as they sift through it.  At this time if you have a huge library it keeps record of all your downloads, regardless of whether or not you deleted them and didn't want to see them again.

This becomes a problem if... well say if your hard drive crashes and you don't want to sift through thousands of songs to pick out what you deleted in the first place.

Another vote here for the Amazon.comesque recommendations on the front page based on previous downloads, and another vote for making a combined music/video pass choice (when you start carrying video) for just a BIT more.  Given the way movies are priced these days I'd fear the combined pass would be $40+, which is absurd.

I do however have one suggestion that I don't see posted here yet.  How about rewarding long term subscribers (3-6+ months old) with a free, unrestricted MP3 song or two of their choice every month?  It wouldn't really shut up the detractors who don't like the idea of "renting" music, but it would be a nice gesture showing that you trust and appreciate your customers.  It would make you guys look a lot better than a certain association which regards all DAP holders as criminals.

Then again, those sorts of organizations tend to make spawn of (insert derogatory name/demon/moldy cheese here) look good.

Louis Davidson

I am a big fan of the zune pass.  I actually have two of them for my family's five zunes.  The biggest thing I would change would be to make it easier to move my files from one computer to another.  Over the past year I have had to move music from three computers for one reason or another, and while i could copy the music and play it, I couldn't actually get it to play in the DRM scheme.

TV/Video subscription would be the greatest, at least older stuff/music videos.

And like has been said a few times before, give us back our auto playlists!  I really miss my shuffle lists on my smaller devices (I have an 8 gb device, and it would be nice to be able to shuffle a 2 gb playlist to it.  That is probably the biggest downside of the subscription model.  The ability to have too much music very easily.

wayne froese

I won't buy music with DRM. I'd like to buy music and not a music license.

jeremiahnelson23

video!

Travis Brown

It would be really nice if the Zune Marketplace had user reviews and ratings for individual songs, albums, or artists. It would also be great if the marketplace gave recommendations based on the songs you've downloaded and the artists you browse.

Movies or/and television shows should eventually make their way on to the marketplace. It would be nice if the Xbox 360 video marketplace and the [future] Zune video  marketplace were integrated with each other.

For example, you rent a movie off the Xbox 360 marketplace, you now have the ability to watch that movie on your PC via the Zune software or via your Zune after downloading it off the marketplace.

This is similar to what Apple does with Apple TV, iPod, and PC (via iTunes). But then again, the user base of the Xbox 360 is way larger then the user base of Apple's 'Apple TV'.

I really like the interface of the Zune Marketplace; although I think the interface for the individual genres look a bit pale. Considering the Zune Marketplace has so many tracks available for download, I think you should make that known by adding more instead of the 'top songs, music videos, tracks, albums, etc'.

I don't have a Zune Pass but I'm definitely considering one. The only thing stopping me from getting one is the possibility of me deciding to stop paying five years from now, and all of my tracks would become unplayable. I guess this is the only way this system would work. I must say, the pricing is actually great right now. But, I bet more people would jump on a Zune pass if it were even cheaper.

To be honest, I think you should look at the competition you have out there and see what works for them, and what doesn't. The Zune team is on the right track with what they've done thus far.

thatguy

I am rather new to the Zune Marketplace, but I am not new to online music services.  I do like that there is the ability to choose to buy music through the Zune Pass or off a song by song basis.  While I never use subscription based services (because of the horrid DRM that comes with it, and they're always just too darned expensive!), I think that it's important that it is offered to not only keep specific customers happy (because that's how they like getting their music) but also because it helps to encourage the discovery of new music (which is/should be one of the major themes of Zune).

I personally love the selection on the Marketplace, however, I have noticed many albums that I would be willing to purchase only to find out that it is not available.  Perhaps increasing the amount of music (more so than is already being done) would help to sway me to think that the Marketplace is the best (pretty close already).

While I don't know if everyone is in the same boat as me in this opinion, I think that movies, tv shows, and even further expansion of the music video market should be considered.  These are all important to help the Zune continue to grow, and I know several people who have wanted a Zune but did not want to miss out on all the other content available on things like iTunes (like movies).

I understand that the focus of the Zune is a music player (and I don't want that to change), but I have noticed that even the commercials state that it's an entertainment device that can do more than just music, and that should be true of the Marketplace.

No matter what happens from all of these opinions; I do appreciate the fact that Microsoft cares enough to actually ask its customers what they want.

Rohit

Here are my thoughts:

1. The number one thing which I would like in ZMP is ability to create smart playlist.

2. A separate section for MP3s

3. When I delete a playlist I should be able to delete all songs from that playlist which are on the hard drive

4. Equilizer. Equilizer in Zune device too and the equlizer setting from Marketplace should get transferred to the device.

5. Share Playlist with other friends. So I can make my playlist public or invite a friend to share with.

6. It might be asking for too much but how about adding lyrics to all the songs.

7. Give me some recommendation based upon the songs I have liked.

8. How about some other content in marketplace about the artist. Like the artist’s latest news feed. So I can subscribe to an artist’s news feed which I can follow.

9. How about radio. Depending upon artist I have liked the ZMP can offer me a radio with similar artist.

These are the few things I can think of right now. I will come back with some more soo.

ACE

Love the Zune Pass.  I would love to see some video extended to the Zune Pass.  I think the model could work where some vids would be needing to be purchased, but some vids offered free with the Zune Pass.

I love the visual appeal to Zune Marketplace.  But, the Zune Marketplace needs dynamic search back.  Searching for music is trouble-some at best.  Typing into a searchbar and waiting for an output is so 1980's-90's.  We need it back how it was in the version 1 software where as you start typing, you immediately start seeing results.

I yes.  I would strongly be in favor of buying/renting movies on Zune Marketplace.

Kris

Like williamc, I'd like a better system in place for new music discovery. I often use Pandora to discover new music and when I find something I like I'll download it with my Zune Pass.

I know there's the "related" section when viewing an artist, but that's hardly a natural or convenient way to discover new music.

Also, as many have mentioned, an improved rating system and smart playlists need to return.

Toph

I don't mind MS Points too much, 'cause I'm sorta used to them from the XBLM. I've bought some music from the Marketplace; more non-DRM'ed music would encourage me to buy more. I don't have a Zune Pass, although it's tempting.

My #1 suggestion is absolutely, without a doubt: combine the Zune + Xbox Live Video Marketplaces. Absolutely. Would be fantastic. Mainly for video portability.

Also: how about user reviews and such?

BrittRossiter

I'm an iPod convert that has fallen in love with my Zune 8 (red).  

My only real gripe about Marketplace is that it takes too long for pages to load.  I've got a very fast connection, and sometimes it takes nearly a full minute for various pages to load.

Also, add me to the list of people who think Movie and TV (especially TV) downloads thruogh Marketplace are are must-have.  Work the licensing deals out toot sweet please.  :)

B.

Ed

I have the Zune pass and really like it.  I moved from Urge to Zune when they merged with Rhapsody.  I get to listen to way more music than I would otherwise... has anyone checked out NPR.ORG/ALLSONGS?

Zune Pass could use the following:

1) Social for ZunePass holders - I have friends with Zune Passes, but I can't send them music from my Zune Pass!  We should be able to beam music to each other and have it automatically be licensed.  Yea Right: "Welcome to the Social" for Zune Pass.

2) Better editorial selections - update the music on the different home pages with new well reviewed choices (the indie rock page has had the shins and cat power since the Zune 2s came out).  Maybe even hire some guest "DJs" to recommend new music.

3) The Zune pass should be per household - One Zunetag for me and one for my wife on the same account.  Keep in mind that there are marital property rules that what I own, my wife owns.

4) Updating Playlists - Along with editorial content, I would like playlists that change weekly based on various genres - like radio stations

5) All the combine with Marketplace, add movies/tv, more music are great too.  

xanadu1979

Please let us change the name on our Zune Card.

Shawn Oster

Talk about opening the flood gates!

- Allow sharing/publishing of playlists so I can say, "Hey, check out this cool playlist I whipped up in the Marketplace"

- I want a personal page like my Social page in the Marketplace, with richer interactivity.

- Provide some way to mark/tag songs for later purchasing.  Sometimes I listen to a playlist and want to quickly tag items for purchasing.

- Protected Playlists!  Use your 3-play DRM to allow us to play a Marketplace playlist three times before it reverts to 30 second samples.  "Squirt" us a guestlist then allow us to mark it for purchase, so when we re-sync it queues it for buying (with a prompt of course).

- A podcast of the playlists for each genre, so each week we get a podcast with 10 songs in that genre, with a 3-play limit or for Pass users they just get it.  Or just a "Song of the Day for Genre X", each day a new song in the podcast.

- More MP3's

- Fix up some of your metadata

Basically more discoverable options, either via podcasts or RSS feeds or editorial style content that is pushed to us.  Most people don't go to the Marketplace everyday yet they do check their feeds/podcasts.

RL

I have a Zune Pass, and I am enjoying it as well.  So far you are doing everything right, but there are a few things that you can improve on.  Have a software button that will allow you to login to the Zune Software and update all of the expired tracks at once with a progress bar showing the updated drm.  You can use the software update trick to get this done as well, but there's no feedback and I sometimes have Zune clients that I don't attatch my zune to.  I have noticed in a extremely few exceptions where some tracks (due to the artist and music publisher's wishes) have been pulled.  I would like to be alerted when this happens so I have the option of purchase if allowed or delete so I can free up more hard drive space.  I do feel that there should be a music video option to the pass as well.  Whether it should be ad-supported or accomplished by a fee is another question in itself.  I also agree with others that X-Box Live Marketplace and Zune Marketplace needs to be merged.  One purchase should count towards both platforms and there is the larger question concerning the execution of X-Box Live and the Zune Platforms respectively.  Zune handles the idea of a multiple user home fairly well, but this is an area where the X-Box marketplace fails.  Lastly, there is a great potential for a streaming music service using the Zune Social website.  I log in without the Client Software and have a streaming "radio" experience.  This might be an area that could be ad-supported as well, but it needs to be executed better than the internet T.V. beta that is currently available through Media Center.  (Internet T.V. has potential, unfortunately it's current execution is slightly off mark.  The content is far too random and the ad content overpowers the media content.)  The Zune Social "Live" experience should allow me to build playlists or listen to tracks and if necessary an occasional ad thrown in maybe every 5 consecutive plays.  There should also be an instant messenger service that would allow me to share what I am listening to other Zune Pass members on the Social Site.  Sort of a subscribe to RL's stream feature maybe.

I purchased my Zune for many reasons, one of which is the ability of Microsoft as a company to build connected experiences.  Adding a music player that was a distant cousin to my Media Center pc and my X-Box was something I could not pass up.  The Zune Pass sealed the deal for me, and the Firmware 2.0 update gave the device the final steps towards being a connected experience.  Now it seems like everything is up to fine tuning the ecosystem, and building the experience of the platforms.

TheNumberDevil

Zune Pass -- we have two.

-You should be able to import a .zpl and email another user (who has a Zune Pass) and the list of songs should download when you sync the .zpl to the player!

TruthTruman

When subscribing to Podcasts, most videos need to be converted before being synced. I really think if they're being offered in the Zune Marketplace, they should be in a Zune-ready format. It really discourages me from using the Podcasts or syncing my personal videos when the Zune device can not recognize the most popular video formats.

Andrew R

Marketplace needs more mp3s , less drm and dont forget movies and tv shows....the experience of using it is fine.

Oh and this really bugs me, you have Soca and Calypso artists as under the Reggae/Dancehall genre. Im Jamaican and have friends with zunes here it really buggs us that when we want  to find a Trinidadian or Barbadian soca artiste like Alison Hinds we find them chilling with Bob Marley. They are two VERY different styles of music, and its almost offensive...actually it is offensive and ignorant of other ppls cultures to have us lumped together because we're Caribbean. Thx and bye!

Stoudemire

I Dont Have A Zune pass but it would be nice if we could organize our music, because everytime i edit the artist name it leaves it at unknown. and it wont let me fix it or what album its from. thats my only problem editing the artist, album.

Deathrace King

I love my Zune Pass, but I find lots of errors.  Maybe it's just because of the non-commercial small label metal bands I listen to, but I find lots of errors like:

-band names listed incorrectly

-album titles incorrect

-misspellings

-albums listed as "parental advisory" but after downloading it's the edited version

-etc

Is there someone we can report this stuff to directly so it can be fixed?

Mark

hmm was my post edited out? I posted several hours ago and it's still not up. Not really sure what I said wrong.

EZRyder

Get it out to the rest of the world - UK as a minimum :o)

Josh N

I think that making the Zune Pass cheaper would be a good step - more like $10 per month.

Freddie Tshiaba

Zune Marketplace and Pass should be launched worldwide. It will make it simpler for those of us living in the UK.

williamc

Me again. Hello.

Metadata needs to be fixed when dealing with certain albums. I purchased yesterday the Blade Runner 25th Anniversary album and it appears in my collection as three albums, and not as the three albums evenly distributed across the physical CD set.  Here's a pic that explains how the tracks are divided.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/viking3/2296240466/

So the only way to play this album in track order is to create a separate playlist.  Which is a bit silly.

Joe

One more thing...

Music metadata for genres is broken.  The classifications don't work and are next to useless.  We need a community driven tag cloud for music.  Think Flickr tags for marketplace media.  Using some sort of tagging voting system.

sjgmoney

I don't buy any DRM'd music so until the Marketplace began to offer MP3's I didn't buy a thing.  I subscribe to Emusic and download from Amazon and get my music that way.  I love the fact that MP3's are now offered but the pricing isn't always in line.  Just last week I wanted to buy an album, but it was cheaper to download from Amazon so I did so.  No way pricing should be different.

sportsunit

Integratio!!! XBOX 360, Media Center PC, and Windows Mobile say hi!!!

zune_educator

I am an educator using the Zune for podcasting but is facing an uphill battle against the iPod entrenchment. The Zune is great for this and the 80GB model with video out is great to connect to a projector. Would like to see this capability in the 4Gb and 8GB models also.

The MarketPlace podcast submission while great in concept DOES NOT work for me. When I submit a feed it tells me thank you and then the submission disappears into a big Black Hole never to be heard from again. Is there some type of feed validator that podcasters can use to validate their feed before submission? I have submitted my feed multiple times since mid-November 2007 when the new software was available and this is frustrating not being able to "register" my podcast in the MarketPlace. This is an opportunity that is frustrating many podcasters that want the Zune to be a success but the level of service is disappointing to date with the podcast submission feature. There was built in excitement in the podcasting community with the release of the new software in November 2007 and many podcasters submitted their podcasts to the MarketPlace only to be disappointed that it never showed up in the directory. This has been a golden opportunity lost for the small but devoted podcasting community. Please help us as we are searching for viable alternatives to distribute our podcasts.

The other great thing about the Zune that attracted me to it in the first place is the ability to "beam" podcasts and songs from one device to another wirelessly. Yes I said "beam" please do not use the derogotory term of squirt ever again. While I realize the Zune is targeted to younger hip users the podcast thing has great potential for educators, if you are interested in pursuing some educational uses of the Zune please leave a comment regarding this post with your contact information or make a separate posting on Zune Insider related to educators so I can contact the person responsible for educational use within the Zune division.

The Zune Marketplace is a bit sluggish and slow, I am using XP Pro. One BIG benefit would be to open up the Zune to allow direct uploading of files using the Explorer interface so that the Zune is recognized as just another flash drive (like the iPod, capable of storing regular PC files), that would be a HUGE improvement for educators preparing multiple Zune devices for student use.

hack

oh yeah, a merger between xbox and zune would be excellent!!!