Help for Families with multiple Zunes

I've found that Zune isn't very good for families with multiple Zunes. I'll try to outline each issue and suggest a good resolution.

Issue 1: Zune Pass for kids - Currently, in order for my daughter to download her favorite songs onto her Zune using my Zune Pass (which can be used on up to 3 Zunes), she has to be logged into ZMP using my account. That means she will have access to all of the explicit content. I can create a child account for her that restricts explicit content, but she can't download any music because the Zune Pass is tied to my account, not hers.

Resolution: Allow an option on child accounts to be able to download using the Parent account Zune Pass. Additionally, there should be a "Family Settings" option available for Parent accounts (why is that option not available when logged in under a parent account????), where I can restrict explicit content, regardless of how old I am.

Issue 2: Child Account needs purchase permissions to have Zune Pass - We have 4 Zunes in our house. My wife, myself and my daughter use my Zune Pass. I created a new child account for my son and signed him up for a Zune Pass. In order to let him have a Zune Pass, I had to allow purchases. Explicit content seems to be restricted for him by not allowing him to download using Zune Pass, but it looks like he could buy some points and purchase explicit content. Resolution: There should be an option for child accounts to allow Zune Pass downloads, but disallow Points purchases. Explicit content should be completely "greyed out," or completely disabled like iTunes does.

Issue 3: Social doesn't recognize different family members - Again, since our one Zune Pass serves three Zune users in our family, that one Zune Card shows music from all three Zunes. Zune should allow accounts to "share" a Pass (only 3) so each person could be logged into their own account to sync and download music. This would allow each person to have their own individual Zune Card.

Thanks for listening! Hopefully the Zune Team will enhance the family features of Zune soon. We all love our Zunes!

Ron

I think that paying 15 a month for loading up 3 zunes is already a pretty good deal, and these drawbacks probably won't be addressed.  It would be great to share passes among accounts with this, but it would be a terrible thing for microsoft to do.  There are any number of reasons for this, the biggest being, that microsoft has absolutely no way of knowing if the person you let access your zune pass is your family, you could split a zune pass for 3 people all on seperate accounts, than what would be the point of anyone getting there own.

Family settings in this situation dont really seem to be microsoft's problem.  They have given you the facilities to control it, but it comes at the price of paying for another zune pass.  You probably wont like this suggestion, but since you have 4 zunes and only 3 want explicit content...why not get her her own?  That way all 4 zunes have access to pass content, and you have your problem solved.  It sucks an extra 15 a month, but unlimited music for 4 people comes out even at that price to less than 8 bux a person...not terrible. 

I am paying 15 a month for myself, and think I am getting the best deal in the world.  Just a suggestion (this is assuming all 4 zunes are used by dif people)

OiNK.me.uk - Never forget 10/23

I think they can do it. There are already mechanisms in place to associate children with parents (for example, in the OneCare Family Safety software). This should only be allowed with accounts that are associated in this way. Two separate, random accounts shouldn't be allowed to share a Zune Pass.

Actually - we have 4 Zunes, and only 2 should be allowed explicit content (two parents, to children). We already have 2 subscriptions to cover the 4 Zunes - it's just kind of a clunky way to handle it.

Microsoft has a great system for family settings for monitoring web activity (again, using OneCare Family Safety) - it seems they could do it for Zune as well.