Zune Performance Hog

Since upgrading to Zune 4, connecting to Zune Marketplace has been really really slow.

8GB for zune software (upped from 2), my temp files were emptied after the update.  please don't tell me 4.0 requires as much space as my collection, it's almost a TB.

 Bill Pet wrote:

8GB for zune software (upped from 2), my temp files were emptied after the update.  please don't tell me 4.0 requires as much space as my collection, it's almost a TB.

I don't have any idea what it requires...but I'd either make the conversion space really, really big until the files are done, or do the files one at a time...

it would take more than 2 years at the rate its going to convert my TB of vids!  that's part of why i'm so burned, they lied about the vid requirements prior to purchase (now changed due to 4 mos on the phone)....took me 3 mos to find the settings and have been converting vids since thanksgiving last year on 6 computers just to be finished this month!  now i'm left with letting this ______ software spend that much time converting my collection (that i'll have to do in parts because i don't have the space to dupe my entire collection anymore)??

 

at least they should tell me what changed so i can have a faster converter do it.  why on earth does 4.0 convert vid files 3.0 didn't have to??

owned this thing for more than a year and have yet to have a single day of enjoying it fully functional with a audio & video collection that was converted for it.

I turned off Convert in background and still 100% CPU spike and no music added in my library, what the *** gives?

Which Zune do you have? Why do you have to convert the videos, to play it on the device or software?

zune120, the software recognizes and plays the vids still, but they cannot be sync'd without the zune converter converting them again.

 

*forgot to add that i can run extremely heavy apps like directv's supercast (275K+ in process mem usage--triple zune usage) with all the stardard proggies and still maintain cpu usage under 80%, but the instant that converter hits its pegged and unresponsive.

I had this problem when I first used the 4.0 software, but now my Zune software is back to using 100% CPU usage. I can't watch videos at any quality, and often the UI becomes unresponsive, or it stutters. Even though I haven't changed or updated music, the Zune software after days of not having this problem is searching my external hard drive, but not playing anything. The Zune Software isn't acknowledging that it is updating or checking for anything, which I find to be a huge problem. If it wants to do something, it better tell me, especially if it's going to make my computer and the software useless while it does it. If anything I want to be able to see what it's doing, and tell it to stop or wait while I use the software.

Thanks to the lovely Resource Monitor in Windows 7, I can see that quite literally the Zune software is going through every folder on my external drive. Something that it should have already done and have finished days ago. I see no reason why it would just be starting up today, after I let the software open doing it's own thing until it calm down.

Now as I right this, I am getting pausing and jittering just typing into this text field. This is completely unexceptable, even if it is only temporary. Until the Zune software feels that it's done whatever it is trying to do, I cannot use it properly, as it completely freezes my computer.

There needs to be a CPU cap limit, and idle detection built into whatever the Zune software is trying to do, and absolutely it needs to be telling me that it's trying to do something. There is already an update area from downloading podcasts, and this needs to be added to that. It can say "Updating library" or "Updating library Album art" or "Updating Library Info" whatever they want, it justt needs to be fixed, and with the option to stop it.

 

 Update: Using the Win 7 resource monitor I was also able to see that a file called ZuneStore.sdf in my local appdata folder for zune, is another set of files that is being accessed while the Zune software is using 100% CPU usage, doing "nothing"

I was watching the resource monitor go through the folder alphabetically, and I thought it might be done when it got to ZZ top, but instead it jumped back to the "B"s. It seems to be trying to analyze every song or something. Again, the Zune software says it's doing nothing at all. This is very frustrating.

 BucksterMcgee wrote:

[snipped]

 Update: Using the Win 7 resource monitor I was also able to see that a file called ZuneStore.sdf in my local appdata folder for zune, is another set of files that is being accessed while the Zune software is using 100% CPU usage, doing "nothing"

I was watching the resource monitor go through the folder alphabetically, and I thought it might be done when it got to ZZ top, but instead it jumped back to the "B"s. It seems to be trying to analyze every song or something. Again, the Zune software says it's doing nothing at all. This is very frustrating.

that's a big clue.  zunestore.sdf is a file the software itself creates, as an index to your collection.  it keeps track of what's in collection, what the sync status is, podcast settings, etc.  When you upgraded to 4.0 the software did, or tried to do a complete scan of your collection.  MS has made changes of course...smart DJ, artist pics during now playing, etc.  It's reasonable to expect these changes affect or are saved in this file.    From here though, it gets a bit speculative for me.  I would check to make sure your monitored folders and the files inside them are not set to read-only.  If they are, all the metadata changes the software makes (if that is turned on...) can't be written to the files, so are stored in zunestore.  I can imagine that being a pretty big job for a big collection.  I'd also experiment with re-building your zunestore.sdf file.  Find it using windows search (it's a hidden system file, so turn those search options on) and rename it to zunestore.old.  Then start the software-  it will go thru the same scan it did the first time you ever started the software...i.e., starting from a clean file.

 NSILMike wrote:

 BucksterMcgee wrote:

[snipped]

 Update: Using the Win 7 resource monitor I was also able to see that a file called ZuneStore.sdf in my local appdata folder for zune, is another set of files that is being accessed while the Zune software is using 100% CPU usage, doing "nothing"

I was watching the resource monitor go through the folder alphabetically, and I thought it might be done when it got to ZZ top, but instead it jumped back to the "B"s. It seems to be trying to analyze every song or something. Again, the Zune software says it's doing nothing at all. This is very frustrating.

that's a big clue.  zunestore.sdf is a file the software itself creates, as an index to your collection.  it keeps track of what's in collection, what the sync status is, podcast settings, etc.  When you upgraded to 4.0 the software did, or tried to do a complete scan of your collection.  MS has made changes of course...smart DJ, artist pics during now playing, etc.  It's reasonable to expect these changes affect or are saved in this file.    From here though, it gets a bit speculative for me.  I would check to make sure your monitored folders and the files inside them are not set to read-only.  If they are, all the metadata changes the software makes (if that is turned on...) can't be written to the files, so are stored in zunestore.  I can imagine that being a pretty big job for a big collection.  I'd also experiment with re-building your zunestore.sdf file.  Find it using windows search (it's a hidden system file, so turn those search options on) and rename it to zunestore.old.  Then start the software-  it will go thru the same scan it did the first time you ever started the software...i.e., starting from a clean file.

Good luck!

Interesting. Thank you, I'll try a few tests.

 livelyppop wrote:

I'm having the same problem. I dl Zune software to see how it works and all because I am thinking of getting the Zune HD. But when i start the software it works ok for a few minutes and then it shuts my whole computer down. I have gone into task manager and checked the usage. It doesn't seem to be too far out of line as to what my itunes is using. But after just a minute or so it shuts everything down. Computer turns off.
If the software does this I may just have to stick with my first thought and get a new iTouch. At least iTunes doesn't shut me down.
I really like the Zune HD though... this is going to be tough...

 

This is unheard of! People have performance issues, but nothing like this. You should try fixing it before resorting to iPod. The Zune software uses Microsoft .NET framework 2, which may not be installed correctly. In that case, use Add/Remome Programs to uninstall all .NET framework programs. Then go to Microsoft Update at

http://www.update.microsoft.com

and install the activex control, Windows Genuine Advantage, and finally all high-priority updates, which are selected by default.

If you still have the problem, back up your personal files and re-install Windows (Be sure to go back and get Microsoft Update afterward).

If that doesn't work, you may need a new computer. If it's more than four years old, it may be incapable of running new software, like Zune. In that case, iTunes works because it's old technology. It has many front end features added recently, but the actual program hasn't been rewritten in years, and doesn't have either the technology or the graphical and other UI features that the Zune software has.

If your computer is not old, it may have some other minor hardware problem which the Zune software is exposing.

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User devices:
 Zune HD 32GB

 GhostBoy78 wrote:

Hi, I have recently updated to the new Zune 4.0 software and when I started using this software, it's been using 100% CPU usage non stop, is extremely slow, and can't seem to find my music after leaving on for ~2 hours. This computer is perhaps old. Running ~800 MHz Pentium III with only 512 MB of RAM. I have about ~4000+  songs stored on an external hard drive, and the Zune software is set to check that folder though it doesn't add ANY music at all. The software just sits at 100% CPU usage. On the Zune 3.0 software, I had no trouble with this EVER, everything worked fine. Is it my computer? Or just faulty software because I'm already sitting here pissed waiting for another update or a solution.

Wow. I had exactly the same issue. And not only that, I had exactly the same hardware configuration. It seems we're finally starting to see a pattern here. This should be posted on the official Microsoft support page so people can stop wondering why their ten-year-old beige box doesn't run Zune 4. My original post:

 MusicGamesPCs wrote:

Please help!

I just got a new Zune HD and I can't use it. I updated to Zune software 4.0 and it imediately took 100% of available CPU time. I thought the software must be loading my music library or maybe Smart DJ information, so I left. When I came back two hours later, it had loaded nothing! It was still using all available CPU. It would not play any media, go online, or even sign in. I had to use my computer for other tasks, and I did. Windows runs no more slowly with Zune software 4. I was running a word processor and a browser. After about 6 hours of work, there was no change. I tried reinstalling Zune, but that did nothing.

My system:

-an ancient beige box

-800 MHz Intell Pentium 3 CPU

-512 MB RAM

-128 MB NVIDIA GPU

Zune support was usless. They recommended the typical:

-uninstall Zune, restart computer, reinstall Zune, restart computer;

-uninstall Zune, restart computer, uninstall .NET framework, restart computer, reinstall .NET framework, restart computer, reinstall Zune, restart computer;

and so on! (I have to admit that I tried it, but of course it didn't work.)

I gave up after 4 hours and went to bed, leaving the computer on with Zune software running and screen/power saver disabled, hoping that Zune would finish processing whatever it is.

And now, 14 hours later, I'm actually listening to my MP3s on Windows Media Player! (Zune software has been running the entire time and is still using 100% of available CPU time.) Zune software 3.1 worked beautifully on my system, so I don't see any logical reason for Zune software 4 not to work.

Anyway, I can't use my new Zune HD. Someone please help!

________________________________

Bug details:

What works:

- The GUI. Specifically, anything user interface-related that doesn't require internet. (Like browsing collection, now playing screen, menus)

What doesn't work:

- Any feature that uses internet. (Like Marketplace, login, usage rights)

- Video playback

What partly works:

- Local music playback. Specifically, the first time after software launch, a non-DRM song will play after about a minute of loading. Sometimes, I can jump to different locations in the song, but it never shows the correct time, just 0:00 or "opening". But I can never successfully switch songs or pause/play or double click another song. Then, playback stops, and it says "opening" until Ctrl + S (stop). No song will play after this point, until I close the application, end the process (it continues running after closing the software), and reopen it. The above behavior is consistent across multiple software restarts.

[I haven't tested all software components.]

It seems this hardware configuration is incapable of running Zune software V. 4.0. You need a new computer.

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User devices:
 Zune HD 32GB