From A Loyal Supporter From Day One - When Can We Expect A Statement?

you have discovered stoic... negative troll has been lurking here since v2 release. just bashes people for fun. ignore him. dont feed the troll.

 IWANNAGOLF wrote:

you have discovered stoic... negative troll has been lurking here since v2 release. just bashes people for fun. ignore him. dont feed the troll.

Yeah, I've run into him in another thread.
Almost seems like he works for the Zune group... "unofficially" of course

 sectionboy wrote:

So you don't agree it being called "beta", then fine, what about release version of version 0.75, since it's worse than version 1.0

I've owned mine and my wifes Zune30's since March and have love them(switched from my second Ipod Nano)if I had read any of these forums before upgrading software and firmware I probably would've switched back to Ipod. Unfortunately I made the mistake of upgrading and now would love to run it over with a steamroller, ITS CRAP! Why can't we have Auto-playlists, I had to scrap ALL my playlists and start over! OH WAIT can't make a playlist as EVERY name I've tried comes up as invalid. BULL---T I was warned by so many people before I bought my Zune in March not to feed the GIANT stay with the Ipod, but I said no look at all the cool features, radio built-in, sharing, larger screen.I even talked up the new Zune's to my friends saying look it's even better AND THEN YOU HAD TO GO AND F IT UP. I want to stay with the Zune, but the software makes it very hard when we're going backwards on features!

IWANNAGOLF you're still following me thread to thread posting nothing at all of any use to anyone.......you find every negative thread you can and post only your personal opinion of me that is truely pathetic.

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Hold your breath someone is about to tell the greatest lie EVER!

 wytwolf72 wrote:

 sectionboy wrote:

So you don't agree it being called "beta", then fine, what about release version of version 0.75, since it's worse than version 1.0

I've owned mine and my wifes Zune30's since March and have love them(switched from my second Ipod Nano)if I had read any of these forums before upgrading software and firmware I probably would've switched back to Ipod. Unfortunately I made the mistake of upgrading and now would love to run it over with a steamroller, ITS CRAP! Why can't we have Auto-playlists, I had to scrap ALL my playlists and start over! OH WAIT can't make a playlist as EVERY name I've tried comes up as invalid. BULL---T I was warned by so many people before I bought my Zune in March not to feed the GIANT stay with the Ipod, but I said no look at all the cool features, radio built-in, sharing, larger screen.I even talked up the new Zune's to my friends saying look it's even better AND THEN YOU HAD TO GO AND F IT UP. I want to stay with the Zune, but the software makes it very hard when we're going backwards on features!

I agree... Zune's are nicer than iPods.  For some strange reason I'm crazy about both of my Zune 30s even though they have far few features than my Creative Zen Vision:M.  (I can't explain it)  Just because the new software is frustrating you doesn't mean that you have to punish yourself further by going to an iPod.  If you are technically capable (or know someone who is), you might want to consider downgrading your Zune 30 back to the older software and firmware.  the process is unofficial and not supported by Microsoft and you will lose access to the Zune Marketplace, but it certainly is better than buying an iPod.... IMO anyways.  (if interested, see link in my sig)

There's a lot of chest thumping going on!  It must have been pretty sweet using the old software...  I read nothing but complaints and negative reviews about THAT version, too, though, so I wonder if anyone can be pleased by anything at all?  

I just bought my Z30 for $99 and I'm really happy with it so far.  Once I changed the background of the v2 software to be rid of the hideous pink (that designer should be canned!) and got used to the twist interface I was pretty happy with how things worked.   I foolishly let it retag all of my MP3s but things didn't get botched up too badly there (a few audiobooks got butchered, but I pieced them backtogether :) ).  Now that I (think I) know how things are working it seems pretty smooth.   I manually control all the content except for podcasts and that works for me because I'm not a pass subscriber, basically I have one synch group per artist or album and that's just fine.

Coming from a 4G IPod I'm a happy happy camper.  The firmware on the device is awsome... video podcasts are really cool, and the twist interface makes navigation really nice.  I do concur with the original poster that it would be nice if video could be categorized even a little, but I don't have any yet, so that particular woe doesn't affect me. I do wish for smart playlists, better audiobook support, ability to add/remove standard menu items (ie genre category under music, and "social") and for the damn thing to have a clock! Also the standard complaints about calendar, contacts and text reading... but maybe next year!!

I have had to just put videos in their own folders at least they are moderately organized this is one feature I would actually like to see in the software itself though

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Hold your breath someone is about to tell the greatest lie EVER!

The free firmware upgrade, along with the low price (Zune 30 for $79.99) were the two decisions for me to jump onto the Zune Train. I agree with your assessment of the software, it is awesome, for me (and a few others) it just has some quirks. Songs repeatedly sync, some files that should sync don't, I'm feeling a little raw that I've had to troubleshoot the issue myself (with the help of this user comunity). Then again it's given me something to do with my free time and maybe thats what The Social is about. Phone tech support has definitely been helpful, but the Z men haven't said anything to me about my issue (maybe that's my problem). I was wondering where the Zune team was for a while, but I've started seeing more 'Z' posts, so I see they're around. I was talking to my parents this afternoon, and my mom is in love with her Zune (claiming she has a new love in her life with my dad in the car right next to her), she thinks its the greatest thing, takes it everywhere, and she hasn't even discovered NPR podcasts yet. Thats a great tribute, to the power of a strong product with great design. I'll sing the praises of the software, but I've had to fight to get to where I am, with the software, and that isn't fair.

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

 AxeMeTender wrote:

There's a lot of chest thumping going on!  It must have been pretty sweet using the old software...  I read nothing but complaints and negative reviews about THAT version, too, though, so I wonder if anyone can be pleased by anything at all?  

Well... those complaining about the new software are not the same that were complaining about old, so I don't know what that proves beyond the fact that personal tastes vary.  And we already knew that.  And you certainly don't work towards pleasing MORE people by REMOVING functionality.  The thing about the old software is that for those who were so inclined, it could be used as an all-in-one tool...  manage your library, manage your device.  As much as I like the old software, I only used it to BROWSE my library and manage my device.  I still used a dedicated ID3 tag editor (MP3Tag) to get all of the tags set properly.

 AxeMeTender wrote:

I just bought my Z30 for $99 and I'm really happy with it so far.  Once I changed the background of the v2 software to be rid of the hideous pink (that designer should be canned!) and got used to the twist interface I was pretty happy with how things worked.   I foolishly let it retag all of my MP3s but things didn't get botched up too badly there (a few audiobooks got butchered, but I pieced them backtogether :) ).  Now that I (think I) know how things are working it seems pretty smooth.   I manually control all the content except for podcasts and that works for me because I'm not a pass subscriber, basically I have one synch group per artist or album and that's just fine.

Cool.  Sounds like a pleasant introduction to the world of Zune ownership.  I bought my 2nd 30 on Black Friday for $99.... an awesome device at an awesome price.

 AxeMeTender wrote:

Coming from a 4G IPod I'm a happy happy camper.  The firmware on the device is awsome... video podcasts are really cool, and the twist interface makes navigation really nice.  I do concur with the original poster that it would be nice if video could be categorized even a little, but I don't have any yet, so that particular woe doesn't affect me. I do wish for smart playlists, better audiobook support, ability to add/remove standard menu items (ie genre category under music, and "social") and for the damn thing to have a clock! Also the standard complaints about calendar, contacts and text reading... but maybe next year!!

Video organization is where the old software stood out.  Not only could you organize videos by genre and browse by genre... not just SORT by genre, but thumbnail images of the video were cached making the UI very responsive even when there are 100's of video files to display.

Since you are/were an iPod owner and are currently happy with your Zune experience, then it means that Microsoft appears to be striking the right chord to expand the Zune's appeal.  I hope that they don't abandon us techie-types in the process.

 MrZoglog wrote:

 IWANNAGOLF wrote:

you have discovered stoic... negative troll has been lurking here since v2 release. just bashes people for fun. ignore him. don't feed the troll.

Yeah, I've run into him in another thread.
Almost seems like he works for the Zune group... "unofficially" of course

umm I read through all 16 pages of this thread and I have to agree with these 2 above stoic...hehehe.  I found it funny how some people get mad that  an early adopter like myself would be a little frustrated that for one my media is butchered and in need of weeks of reorganizing using a separate program (mp3tag).  I was unaware this would happened with something as simple as an "upgrade" and that now all the things I have grown to love about my Zune and the first software are turned upside down without warning. If the product was first gen and the software a first release then all the justifying by saying it is early give them time and they can add features down the road would make sense. but there are many of us that had been patiently waiting for a long time and had just finally gotten a glimpse of what we had waited so long for only to have it stolen away. Now we find ourselves back at square one playing the waiting game and it seems it will follow the same time frame as the last year with version one that is what is so depressing to me at the moment. I truly don't know if i want to go through it again, should i really be expected to wait a year and a half after purchase to have a solid functional product that i can trust in. 

p.s. I love the hardware but it is only as functional as the software to manage it. I think if the Zune could sync with WMP 11 it would of been a home run.

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And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky... A human being that was given to fly! E.VEDDER

Features (or lack thereof aside) the software itself is a joke, besides the installation issues that MULTIPLE users are having (despite what another poster said) the software is bogged down, slow, crashes frequently and mostly useless.
 It takes HOURS to get pocasts and videos synced and usually crashes before it's done. it copies the same things over and over again to the zune I've got multiples of the same damn song _up to 6 copies in one case_ it also does this with videos. Then in other cases it will say a song or album is synced but then when I look it isn't on the Zune.
Don't even want to get started on the jumble it made of my tags, and what sucks is the "workarounds" won't work for those of us who never had  the old software.
If I could get music to it through explorer or some other option I would be happy, but this software and the fact that it's our ONLY option really bothers me.

wow, still can't believe we're waiting even for a statement or indication that things are being worked on.