Microsoft Points must go!

Can anyone give me one good reason why Microsoft points are more beneficial to customers instead of using $? I personnally am boycotting the purchase of any content from the marketplace until they change it! I am a Zune pass subscriber and would love to enjoy other features of the marketplace and would most definitely purchase content.....however why would anyone want to purchase more than they need. It's insulting and quite frankly is an example of a company that does not have their customers best interests at heart. It's like going to get the oil changed in your car for $25 but the mechanic can only take $50 bills and there is no change......but hey you can use the other $25 when you get your oil changed the next time! How ridiculous is that!

How many others of you feel the way I do?

Hey there...

Lol... this is a somewhat polarizing topic and you have half of the folks that hate it, many don't care and a few that love it.  I'll admit, it has grown on me and makes sense.  But I understand why some folks would just outright hate it.

AussieDaveMS is an employee on the Zune Team that deals with business stuff. He posted over at anythingbutipod.com some reasoning for it and I've added some more.

1) We wanted the ability to award some kind of currency in games and competitions. You can't do that with real money - otherwise it becomes gambling OR the legal restrictions across multiple territories are too complex. Remember that XBL is international.

2) If we billed your Visa card for each $0.89 transaction, or $1.29 transaction - credit card processing costs would eat up a huge chunk of that. So, we needed to bundle.

3) International currencies. If a game offers the ability to buy a "power" for 500 points, it can be 500 points for everyone in the game universe, no matter what country they're in. If a game marketplace had to offer a power for US$7, A$9, GBP4, JPY6589, etc... ugh - gets messy real fast. Very hard on developers too.

Cheers, Dave.

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Additionally, many younger folks, especially when MS Points were introduced on Xbox, didn't have a cc, so there needed to be a way for them to purchase stuff without one and/or making it easier on parents (no need for cc transactions, just give points).  I guess it make even more sense for folks that have both Xbox and Zune.  I buy games, add-ons, themes, music and movies between the two and would hate to have to pay fees and interest every time, so large chunks of 'point' is better for me.  Plus, with Zune coming to the Xbox this fall and going international, MS Points offers more flexibility.

Winning straight $$ is gambling, but in 1v100 (really fun trivia game on Xbox), you can win MS Points.  Will there be such a thing for Zune Users... it would be a cool thing, imo.  There's also the prospect of 'gifting' points which is something I think MS should allow all zune/xbox users to do.

Anyways, I like the point system, and there's some advantages for both MS and Consumers here.

Maybe they could use both?  Would that increase MS costs and therefore passing those costs onto us?  I don't know.  What you think after my long winded explanation lol

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Thank you for your response and you make some very valid points.

I guess the biggest problem is that MS doesn't place any value with customers pre-paying for a block of credits. I understand the additional costs argument...but shouldn't that mean that some of the savings to bundle be passed through to the customer. Currently, on Itunes it costs 1.99 to download an episode of the Office....on the marketplace it costs 160 points or $2.00( I have to spend $5 to get a $2.00 download). If all this money is being saved to bundle why don't customers get something back for pre-paying for points in a system where you will always have points left over and have to add more to get the next download?. It's almost as if MS is using my money until I find something I want to download. Just doesn't seem fair.  

I like the idea of using both....however I don't think MS is going to be too willing to change what has to be a very lucrative ....cash flow friendly point system.

Just let me buy what I want to buy.....I don't need any gimmicks.....and that's what the MS point system is.....one big cash flow friendly MS gimmick.

I AGREE. the only reason i can think of is that they want to have seemless intergration with XBOX LIVE. Which i don't even care for. And then again why not make the currency count normal for both?  The whole "points" idea seems very childish to me. I'd rather work with money I've grown up with knowing about.

why not let the customer choose from whether a point system or a money system. example in the setting section their should be a option to choose from point or money. I think that would be best.

PS. If a customer is under the age like under 18 then it will be a point system. I am sure MS can intergrade that into XBL and Zune 4.0.

I agree with the OP and almost everyone else that posted.

all of the reasons given except for the multiple currencies are total crap when talking about buying media to use whith my zune. unless microsoft is going to start giving away points for people that hit plays milestones like 1000 plays gets you 500 points 5000 plays get you 1000 points etc...

even so it is important to remember that zune is not xbox live.  Also I agree that users should have the choice.  or the exact number of points needed are purchased from your cc at the time of purchase with blocks going bye-bye...

I could care less if points are better for downloading games and rewarding people on and xbox. I am trying to buy music for my zune. at this point I will only buy music through amazon or rhapsody. I will never load itunes on any of my pc's ever again. And I refuse to use points.

 

good job microsoft you really know how to keep people from using your services.

Agreed. I also refuse to purchase content beyond the Zune Pass until points are gone. Plain and simple MS. Get rid of Points.

Why then do 2000 points cost $25? Why not have 3000 points cost $25? I'll tell you why. It's because people equate a 100 points with a dollar. It's a great way for MS to get people to spend $25 on content and think they are only spending $20. I shouldn't have to use a freakin' calculator to understand how much I am paying for things. And I shouldn't have to float a loan to the world's largest software company. Points must go.

I think the reason that points exist is because each time someone makes a 99 cents transaction on their credit card MS has to pay a fee to the credit card company for each individual transaction. By forcing consumers to buy points in bulk they drastically reduce the number of  credit card transactions (seller fees).

While there is the financial benefit for MS that you have to purchase points in bulk, there is the drawback that people will be more reluctant to buy anything if they are forced to purchase into a bizarre points system. I wish they would at least make a system where 100 points equaled $1.00 if they are going to continue to make use buy points. Still MS has to recognize that the competition (Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, Real, etc.) are not forcing their customers to buy points. The points are dumb, MS needs to dump them no matter how much money it is saving them. Competition in the digital download space is getting tough and this is a compelling reason for consumers to not buy into Microsoft's ecosystem.

I used to feel the same way about points and figured it had something to do with foreign currency, but it's interesting to see that you can win points.... almost makes you wish you can get points for getting badges in Zune MP.

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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..

TPissant,

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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..