AlSngsCnsdrd wrote:
When I first switched over from my ipod, I loved the new rating system. Before, 1 star meant delete from device, 3 stars meant keep on device, 5 stars were my favorite songs. Having only three options seemed perfect at first. Now, I would like the five star or maybe a half shaded heart. With a Zune Pass and so much music, it's hard to keep track of what is unrated(unlistened) and unrated(just ok).
This is why you need both. People aren't afraid of change like another user said. If that were a true statement, then that user would be afraid of change. It's not so much change as is that it's a dumbing down of what was not a really complex thing to begin with. The reasoning for the hearts were to tell us that 5-stars were too vague. If anything, it's more detail than many need.
Even CNET.com said the new Zune HD sounded amazing but that the bad news was that you would still need to use the Zune software with it.
Auto playlists are harder on the Zune than on iTunes. Even half-shaded hearts would give you the granularity of 5-star ratings and would be better.
I made due with the Like/No Like hearts until I found it too difficult to do what I wanted. My playlists had to try to use all three combinaions to give me a 3, 4, or 5 star rating. No longer could I just specify 1 star and then have it removed on the next sync while still being able to use 3 hearts. At least with the stars on other players, my autoplaylists could be Not Recently Played in 6 months (2 stars), NRP in 3 months (3 stars), NRP in 2 months (4 stars), NRP in 1 month (5 stars).
This is what frustrates me with the Zune. It tries to make the experience simple for most users but just irritates more advanced users who also hate that damn paper-clip character in the Office suite. It may be nice for a little while, but it's still irritating to those of us who are better at computers than the average user.
The Zune software interface is OK, but the ability to design an auto-playlist is much better in WMP, iTunes, MM, JR Music Center, etc.
The iPod sucks in terms of sound quality (although v2 of the Classic firmware is much better than 1.0 -- still far from the Zune quality), but at least it does what I want it to do and when you complain about something, they at least try to placate you. Look at Anamorphic video out. They added that within a single firmware release after people kept asking for it. Despite having to buy a special cable for the iPod, it at least did something useful. If Zune team doesn't want to listen, perhaps your market share could dwindle even further with a few of us jumping ship.
No Plays4Sure support..... No 5-star playlists.... No automatic computation of Smart Playlists on the device.... No external Media Player support....
Subscription music was very good as was the Zune tags, but you've isolated yourself into a world that most people choose not to enter. Using an MP3 player is supposed to be enjoyable, but unfortunately the Zune is not for me. At least with the iPod, if I go on a business trip for a week, it keeps track of my music playtimes and updates my smart playlists until I get home. Zune has yet to be able to do that even though the XNA would allow you to come up with some way to do it, but they don't seem to let you control the media player through it in terms of intra-track seeking.
Many deficiencies.... all we're asking is to have both types of ratings. It's not that hard for you to do and then all of us are happy.
Lauren
My Zune 30 is not only still having a good run, but it's now grown up into a Zune 60 running for twice as long of a run..
