We're listening!

Yet another Zune owner disappointed by the elimination of power features in the latest version.  The software looks amazing, but is lacking essential power features. 

I would like to see:

• auto-playlists
• ID3 editor
• play count
• 5-star ratings
• memory footprint reduced - some times it uses 150 Mb and up - as opposed to iTunes' 50 Mb and WMP's 30 Mb.  I realize caching album art and other images is involved, but surely there is some waste.

Perhaps your market research didn't see many people using the auto-playlists because they were well hidden.  If you expose them, more people will use them.  This is not as big a deal for the 30 and 80 models, but the auto-playlists are essential for the Zune 4 and 8 - you can create a playlist that will automatically sync different songs each time it is plugged in - currently, I would need to manually remove and add songs, which is a pain.

1.Clock!
2.Dvix/Xvid Support in software atleast (if it isn't already)
3.Fix The Compulation artist issue.
All my compulation cds are now listed only under various artist, not the artist who recorded each song.


4.Meta data editing pleasee
5.Auto playlist!!!!


games soon?

I'm fairly dissapointed with the new software.  Although it looks nicer and seems to take up less recourses, it is no longer a useful program for managing my music collection.
Previously, I had used Zune software to manage my albums, change Metadata (track names, song titles, album release year) easily manage album art (Paste album art function was great! Where did this go?) and organize my data easily! (Formally I could exclude a subfolder in my music library from being scanned by the zune, Keeping my recorded class lectures seperate from my entertainment audio.)

All of these wonderful features are gone, and I feel betrayed.  The old software was ugly, and it hogged resources, but at least it was all-encompasing - I didn't NEED other programs to manage my music collection, and now I do, and it's less convienet and more difficult.

If nothing else, I would like MS to make a version of the old software that's compatable with the new firmware and store, so we at least have a choice. I don't want this new software, and now i'm stuck with unless I want to downgrade.

Also, some options with the new firmware UI would be nice.  Most of it is great, there is now browsing lag - but the "menu" on the front screen is now too large for me - it makes having my own background sort of pointless unless it is mostly a solid color. 
Did any of MS's focous groups include vetran zune users?

I can't stand the new software.  I don't know how it was downgraded so much.  User agib feels as I do:

            "What I miss:
DYNAMIC PLAYLISTS
Five-star ratings
The ability to choose what quality to encode my songs into (why the hell was this stripped from MEDIA PLAYER software?!)
An in-depth look at what was happening with sync, rather than the dumbed down view-only way it's done now
Not having my library screwed up just by opening the ruddy program (although thankfully this is undoable by a fix in the forums...still, I shouldn't have to fix what wasn't broken before the update...sheez)
Editing my ID3 tags...y'know to fix the stuff the Zune software screwed up"

Please fix this soon, especially 5 star and autoplaylist, because I too have defended zune assuring people that these are availiable.

I forgot, I'd also like to be able to see the progress of the sync - like in the old software you could see the status of the current sync, what it's checking and sync and when, and the progress for each file.

That was handy.

 SGT ANDREW wrote:

1.Clock!
2.Dvix/Xvid Support in software atleast (if it isn't already)
3.Fix The Compulation artist issue.
All my compulation cds are now listed only under various artist, not the artist who recorded each song.


4.Meta data editing pleasee
5.Auto playlist!!!!


games soon?

Have I mentioned enough that there are a lot of us who really want support for Windows XP x64?!

I will send ya'll a Zune cake if you do!

---

Best Regards,
Aaron

I've had a few iPods now, but disliked being chained to iTunes through their DRM practices.  A few months ago, I got a great deal on a refurbished Zune, and switched over.  It was an expensive, annoying process, but I did it.  The functionality of the player was fantastic.  It took some getting used to a new interface, but the smart playlists worked great, and most of my ratings came over when I switched.  I really enjoyed the Zune.

 

My listening habits are simple.  I just delete any songs I don't like.  Those I keep, I rate from 1 to 5, based on how frequently I want to hear them.  Then I set up a smart playlist that randomly selects songs to play with their frequency based on the rating.  It took six inter-related playlists to make that happen on the iPod, but Zune was able to do it in one fell swoop!

 

Imagine, then, my complete shock and disappointment at the new software.  First, all my painstaking rating of thousands of songs is now completely inaccessible on the Zune.  Second, even if I could access it, the smart playlist that made all that work worthwhile is no longer an option.  Instead, I'm left with manual playlists, and the incomprehensibly useless 'like' and 'dislike' rating system.  I'm not sure how to explain to you the complete worthlessness of a rating system for songs I dislike.  The whole point of digital media is that I'm not stuck with songs I dislike; I just leave those on the album.  What am I even going to do with a 'disliked' song list?  The flag system worked perfectly well for identifying songs I might want to edit or delete.  You've taken a set of very useful tools, and eliminated them for... well, I can't really tell what the exchange was on that, which is why I guess you're losing me as a customer.

 

Even the changes to the player firmware make no sense.  Why make the main menu too big to fit on the screen?  How does that help?  The rest of the hardware UI type is tiny, so you aren't even making it more accessible for users with poor vision, since they presumably wouldn't be able to read the menus further in.  It seems like a purely aesthetic choice that made no consideration of functionality... which is a baffling move from a company that does so well with ergonomics in mice, keyboards, and business software.

 

So I'm glad I got the Zune player at a great price, because it is now just a portable drive.  As much as I hate to do it, it's back to the iPod for me.  I certainly now regret buying a car adapter and case for the Zune, since they were only useful for a couple of months.  Since I can't roll back to the old software, it's now all just money down the drain... which of course ultimately leads to more money for your competitors since I'll have to go back to buying thing from them.  No one wins in this arrangement, and I am completely baffled by the decisions made in crafting this new software.

I personally think that the new software is "alright"
I could deal with not having things like the 5-Star rating, and such.

The only thing that caught my attention at an instant was about the music video image quality, which is only at 320 x ??? (depending on if it's in a wide format or not).  I mean, the Xbox 360 has videos in their market place that are 640 x 480, and better, so I was really hoping to see the same for the Zune Marketplace, after all, they both are under the name of Microsoft.  Really, I wouldn't have been bothered by this at all if I was just going to be watching music videos on my Zune 30, but I also enjoy watching the videos on my TV by streaming them through my Xbox 360.  I know that the Zune 30 has a TV out resolution of 320 x 240 at the max, but the Zune 80 has an output resolution of 640 x 480, which now makes me think, why?  My only guess is if someone was to go on and find videos on their own, in a much higher resolution.  Even so, the iTunes store offers their videos at a resolution of 640 x 480, and even higher, depending on what you're getting yourself.

I know the software just came out today, so I'm only making this a wish.  Hopefully things will look a lot better in the future.
Oh, I personally think that there should be a section of the marketplace that is devoted to the Videos section too. hah, that'll be a future thing too, most likely :P

support to be detected as an external HD please!  this is a key feature (more important than a clock imo) that shouldn't have been left out in the first place.  there have been many times when i have needed to transfer large files between my computer and a friend's, and my ipod was very useful in these situations.  i'm out of space on my 30gb 5.5g ipod and i REALLY don't wanna get another one, but this is a major deciding factor for me (and my girlfriend as well)

I think the best feature you could have added was to actually have them shipped the day they're supposed to come out.

I think the tangibility of the Zune 80 was the most important feature that we lost.

I like many of the others also have an Xbox 360 that I use to stream content off of my Zune with, as well as multiple locations I have the zune software installed (IE..on my laptop and at work). So I use my zune basically every where I go. That being said...I use it for multiple things, naturally music, but I watch movies and listen to audio books on long work trips. With this in mind I have a few requests....besides the clock.

1) Would like to see a decent resolution for streaming to 360 or other devices.
2) Would like to have more sorting options in the software as well as on the Zune.
3) Would like to be able to have some type of control so the videos can be played in widescreen or standard view.
4) Would like to see movies as well as episodes added to marketplace.
5) A game would be nice... a "social" game..tic-tac-toe, chess, checkers.
6) Some sort of basic browser would be nice...even if the links were predetermined as to not have to type.
7) for the clock people...widgets that could gather data via WiFi would be great. Such as seing our Zune tag in our zune.
8) Would like to be able to delete content from the device.

Thanks in advance,
Brent G.