re: Two People, One Zune Pass

Same story - my wife and I share a Zune Pass.

Another issue not discussed yet (i think) is that the latest update now allows for wireless Marketplace access, purchasing & downloads from the device. I had to associate my Zune Tag with her Pink Zune 4,  mainly because it is easier for her to download everythin wirelesly instead of through the software.

Is this still the only way?

 Shanti Om wrote:

Would someone give a few tips here if you know?
 Two zunes,two separate pc's,one wireless home network. If we don't care(because it sounds like we can't)how it screws with our zune social and all,how can we share one zune pass and download and sync music on our own pc's with our own log-ins,etc. Is this possible? Please help. The explanation may have been given above somewhere however if it was- for my own scenario- I don't quite follow. Simply put,what has to happen?
  Thanks in Advance......

I have 3 zunes on 3 computers for me, my wife and my oldest son. They are both wireless. I am hard wired. They have to sign into the Zune software on their computers with my Zune user name as do I on my computer in order to gain access to Pass music. From there, we each have our own libraries on our own computers that synch to our own Zunes.

3 caveats...

1. No more than one of us can sign into the marketplace at a time otherwise it boots the others off. We get around this by not automatically signing into the marketplace. We only sign in when we want to download something, etc. After the initial rush to fill our Zunes (lol), that has not been a problem.

2. We have never tried to connect our Zunes to each others computers. Not sure what would happen. Don't want to find out.

3. The Social account I use gets all the plays and stats and such. That makes it a little sucky for recommended music as all 3 of us like different music. But, not a huge deal.

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Part of a 3 Zune (an 80 and two 8's) family. We love the Pass!

Anonymous wrote the following post at 11-15-2007 2:51 AM:

 Karl Essinger wrote:

I assume two devices can still access one Zune Pass. So can I set the devices to two different users, so we can have two Zune Cards? How does this work?

Karl... Ignore these peeps... JUst have your library in a common place on the C: drive, then have seperate user accounts on the PC... One for you, one for her.. Should probably have that setup already anyway. Use your account to download crap, and have her sign into her Windows Profile and open zune there, pointing to the same pile of music... She should be able to log into it there... It's how my Girlfriend and I do it.. only I share the music folder over the network, and she syncs from her own PC downstairs...

Good suggestion in theory, but very flawed when trying to implement. I recently tried to setup multiple accounts under Vista; one for my wife, one for my son, and one for myself. Unfortunately every time we switched between accounts the display settings would go totally haywire. I run multiple monitors and each time my wife logged in it would flip-flop the primary monitor, move all the icons around, and a bunch of other random stuff. This not only affected the account you were logging into, but would propagate to the other accounts somehow as well. Very strange!

As for multiple Zunes sharing a Zune Pass, but being linked to different accounts... I'd love to have this... and it would seem like a good idea to implement it in the software because of all the new features that look at what you listen to. I'm thinking specifically about Channels. If my wifes listening habits are mixed in with my own then inevitably the music in the Channels is going to be out of wack and possible  inappropriate for both of us.

Would someone give a few tips here if you know?
 Two zunes,two separate pc's,one wireless home network. If we don't care(because it sounds like we can't)how it screws with our zune social and all,how can we share one zune pass and download and sync music on our own pc's with our own log-ins,etc. Is this possible? Please help. The explanation may have been given above somewhere however if it was- for my own scenario- I don't quite follow. Simply put,what has to happen?
  Thanks in Advance......

 I really thought this would be no problem when I bought the Zune Pass for my wife and I (the 3 computer/device thing and all?),but it is proving to be a real pain. We both have zunes and our own computers in our own offices on the same network through a wireless router,yet I'm having a hard time actually sharing the music with her. I have sent a couple albums to her,but she says that it will only play on her computer for 30 secs. of each song.  I tried logging into my acct. thru her pc,thinking that I could download directly to her's that way through my acct.,but I'm having a hell of a time.

 JefTek wrote:

Here is a post I made on the issue of Zune pass sharing that is hampering the value of the Zune pass for families, and hopefully how MS can resolve it:

Share your Zune Pass, not your Social

 

Nice reading.  I agree 100%, and have battled this problem since the inception of the Zune pass. I have myself, with multiple computers, a Zune, and 3 kids, each with a Zune and a computer.  I finally gave up and got myself my own Zune pass, and the kids have theirs.  I was fed up with my Zune card saying I've played Linkin Park 100's of times!

Also, this article was my first Clairvoyant experience.  Considering the article is dated Wed, May 21 2008, I've obviously seen into the future!

Here is a post I made on the issue of Zune pass sharing that is hampering the value of the Zune pass for families, and hopefully how MS can resolve it:

Share your Zune Pass, not your Social

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http://jeftek.com

 DrewH70 wrote:

 redpill Rabbit wrote:

Hi, my name is Brooks and I'm a Program Manager on Zune Marketplace.

As noted above yes with a Zune Pass you can download music on up to 3 PCs at a time and also synchronize music to up to 3 devices at a time.  This is noted in the Terms of Service and you should refer to that if you have detailed questions or to always find the current terms.

With the latest release of Zune as you've all discovered, we now track which music your playing and make it available as your privacy settings specify - e.g. don't share it at all, share it with your friends or share it with the whole community.

If you have multiple people, such as your family, sharing an account - it can be difficult to create multiple identities which track what each of you play.  My wife and I are going through this same process.

Since the Zune Client will use the current (or last) signed in user to associate plays with -- what I'd suggest doing is the following:

1. Create a shared account which has the Zune Pass associated with it.  each person can sign in with this account when needed to download music or get the monthly updated license to keep your music singing (sorry for the pun).

2. Each person create an account of their own and once they've downloaded music, sign out and sign in with their own account to play it.  In this way, all the music will be tracked based on the individual id.

3. A device can only be identified with one user id -- so associate it with whomever is the primary  user of the device.  all plays on the device will be associated with that account.

Sorry, I know this can be a bit cumbersome and we realize this -- I can't promise anything about future releases and we don't discuss future plans, but I can say we are aware of this problem and we're working around this the same as you are.

I hope this helps,

Brooks

I've tried this and it works good when playing the music from the Zune software.  However, when you go to sync the music with the Zune device it gives an error basiclly saying you need to sign in with the user id that downloaded the Zune Pass content in order to sync it.

OK I'm curious. Are things still like this? Can I have one Zune pass tied to my account and a seperate account for my fiancee? Can she sync her Zune with her account and zune pass music still work?

*

 redpill Rabbit wrote:

Hi, my name is Brooks and I'm a Program Manager on Zune Marketplace.

As noted above yes with a Zune Pass you can download music on up to 3 PCs at a time and also synchronize music to up to 3 devices at a time.  This is noted in the Terms of Service and you should refer to that if you have detailed questions or to always find the current terms.

With the latest release of Zune as you've all discovered, we now track which music your playing and make it available as your privacy settings specify - e.g. don't share it at all, share it with your friends or share it with the whole community.

If you have multiple people, such as your family, sharing an account - it can be difficult to create multiple identities which track what each of you play.  My wife and I are going through this same process.

Since the Zune Client will use the current (or last) signed in user to associate plays with -- what I'd suggest doing is the following:

1. Create a shared account which has the Zune Pass associated with it.  each person can sign in with this account when needed to download music or get the monthly updated license to keep your music singing (sorry for the pun).

2. Each person create an account of their own and once they've downloaded music, sign out and sign in with their own account to play it.  In this way, all the music will be tracked based on the individual id.

3. A device can only be identified with one user id -- so associate it with whomever is the primary  user of the device.  all plays on the device will be associated with that account.

Sorry, I know this can be a bit cumbersome and we realize this -- I can't promise anything about future releases and we don't discuss future plans, but I can say we are aware of this problem and we're working around this the same as you are.

I hope this helps,

Brooks

 

I'm getting confused.  Is this all about the social aspect?  I mean, what my wife plays on her Zune will come under my Zune card?  If that's it, it buggy but still is no big deal.  I know you don't promise an update for this bug, but it really dose squash the whole "my Zune" thing.  But there are really much bigger issues that need addressing before this bug. 

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We want Audible support! We want Audible support! We want Audible!!!

 redpill Rabbit wrote:

Hi, my name is Brooks and I'm a Program Manager on Zune Marketplace.

As noted above yes with a Zune Pass you can download music on up to 3 PCs at a time and also synchronize music to up to 3 devices at a time.  This is noted in the Terms of Service and you should refer to that if you have detailed questions or to always find the current terms.

With the latest release of Zune as you've all discovered, we now track which music your playing and make it available as your privacy settings specify - e.g. don't share it at all, share it with your friends or share it with the whole community.

If you have multiple people, such as your family, sharing an account - it can be difficult to create multiple identities which track what each of you play.  My wife and I are going through this same process.

Since the Zune Client will use the current (or last) signed in user to associate plays with -- what I'd suggest doing is the following:

1. Create a shared account which has the Zune Pass associated with it.  each person can sign in with this account when needed to download music or get the monthly updated license to keep your music singing (sorry for the pun).

2. Each person create an account of their own and once they've downloaded music, sign out and sign in with their own account to play it.  In this way, all the music will be tracked based on the individual id.

3. A device can only be identified with one user id -- so associate it with whomever is the primary  user of the device.  all plays on the device will be associated with that account.

Sorry, I know this can be a bit cumbersome and we realize this -- I can't promise anything about future releases and we don't discuss future plans, but I can say we are aware of this problem and we're working around this the same as you are.

I hope this helps,

Brooks

I've tried this and it works good when playing the music from the Zune software.  However, when you go to sync the music with the Zune device it gives an error basiclly saying you need to sign in with the user id that downloaded the Zune Pass content in order to sync it.

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Drew

 KennyPotPie wrote:

This is a bunch of crap!

 

What logical thinking went behind this?   I understand that multiple zunes and pcs can share a zune pass, but why tie it to the Live ID if your limited to only one Live ID?    It kills any effective use of the software if I have to LOGOUT and LOGIN each time I want to stream something off of Zune.net.

 

I understand I can login to the shared account, sync my music, then login with my normal account.  But what happens when I find something new to listen to?   This kind of retarded opertions will make this product almost impossible to use for normal people.

 

As it is, I signed up using my personal Live ID, only to find that the child accounts will not share a Zune Pass.  Since there is no way to transfer the subscription, I am left with either sharing out my Live ID or paying for a 2nd subscription on another bogus account.

 

Rhapsody had this same flaw, but did not tie your subscription to your Live ID.   This at least allow multiple people to share the subscription with out all these extra jumps.

 

and on another side rant, Why the hell can't we monitor/manage/control the Child accounts from our Parent accounts?    more useless hoops to jump through.

 

Please get your s**t together so we all can have full usage of this wonderful new toy.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Definitely safe to say there should be some sort of "Family Zune Pass" so that people can have multiple Live IDs attached to ZunePass with one master ID to manage it.  My wife doesn't use her Zune as much as I do but if she starts using it we really won't be able to use the Social aspect of Zune the way it's intended which is a huge shame.

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