Was it really an upgrade?

[ChrisW]

I don't get why every seems happy about our "upgrade" this week. From my perspective, the tradeoffs achieve parity at best. Here's how I see the score:

Desktop software
I'm really horribly underwhelmed here. Sure, part of this is a bad feeling due to the mangling of my catalog (80% of the content was erased from my device, the collection was mangled, and no matter what I do, I seem to be stuck with a cover image from Megadeth applied to Dan Levinson & His Canary Cottage Dance Orchestra). To me the Genre and Year lists were more important than the Album lists, I'm going to miss them. They destroyed one playlist by deleting its tracks from the device, and I can't build it back up because it was generated from the Year view.

Advances

• Supports WiFi sync (which I don't use anyway)
• Ummm... I really can't think of anything else

Declines

• No more listing by Genre
• No more listing by Year
• Mangle your catalog on upgrade
  • Trash cover art
  • Put copies of random tracks into random albums (Ozzy under Johnny Cash? Hmmm)
  • Song ratings are left behind
• Can't see actual sync status, just a percentage

Device Firmware
The interface is more visually attractive, but it seems like they sacrificed function for form. There's still a huge missed opportunity that must be a marketing decision, that the device's file system will not be available to the desktop. This is terrible, and for what reason?

Advances

• Wifi sync that I don't use
• Slightly loosened restrictions on music sharing (that I don't use)
• Go to artist option (I think that's new), but why not other Goto's?
• Ummm... I can't think of anything else

Declines

• Album view contains less information -- artist isn't shown unless the album is selected.
• For non-upgraders, EQ has been removed

I may have missed something in those brief lists, but if so, it's not something that's important to me.

Judging from these things that I've noticed, it seems far from clear that the situation is an improvement, more like just a ... change.

If they could give me back the desktop Genre and Year lists I would be less dissatisfied, but even so, they can't give back the 3 hours I wasted putting my collection back in order after they mangled it.

[ChrisW]

I don't get why every seems happy about our "upgrade" this week. From my perspective, the tradeoffs achieve parity at best. Here's how I see the score:

Desktop software
I'm really horribly underwhelmed here. Sure, part of this is a bad feeling due to the mangling of my catalog (80% of the content was erased from my device, the collection was mangled, and no matter what I do, I seem to be stuck with a cover image from Megadeth applied to Dan Levinson & His Canary Cottage Dance Orchestra). To me the Genre and Year lists were more important than the Album lists, I'm going to miss them. They destroyed one playlist by deleting its tracks from the device, and I can't build it back up because it was generated from the Year view.

Advances

• Supports WiFi sync (which I don't use anyway)
• Ummm... I really can't think of anything else

Declines

• No more listing by Genre
• No more listing by Year
• Mangle your catalog on upgrade
  • Trash cover art
  • Put copies of random tracks into random albums (Ozzy under Johnny Cash? Hmmm)
  • Song ratings are left behind
• Can't see actual sync status, just a percentage

Device Firmware
The interface is more visually attractive, but it seems like they sacrificed function for form. There's still a huge missed opportunity that must be a marketing decision, that the device's file system will not be available to the desktop. This is terrible, and for what reason?

Advances

• Wifi sync that I don't use
• Slightly loosened restrictions on music sharing (that I don't use)
• Go to artist option (I think that's new), but why not other Goto's?
• Ummm... I can't think of anything else

Declines

• Album view contains less information -- artist isn't shown unless the album is selected.
• For non-upgraders, EQ has been removed

I may have missed something in those brief lists, but if so, it's not something that's important to me.

Judging from these things that I've noticed, it seems far from clear that the situation is an improvement, more like just a ... change.

If they could give me back the desktop Genre and Year lists I would be less dissatisfied, but even so, they can't give back the 3 hours I wasted putting my collection back in order after they mangled it.

[Jason Dunn]

Well, I definitely view things more improved than you do, but I can understand your frustration - especially seeing as you were heavily using the features they removed. The desktop software was exciting to me at first, but the more I use it the more I say "Hey, where did that software feature go?". Adding DVR-MS transcoding is great, but losing genre and year views is not.

Regarding the album art and metadata issues, give this a read:
New Zune Desktop Software FIX

Regarding the album view not having the album name, go into your settings - there's a way to turn that on.

[scionguy]

I have to agree the desktop software is definitely not an upgrade. No genre view, no detailed sync status, wiped out my library when it was first installed, completely trashed the albums listed under each track. If the old software would sync with the new firmware I'd reinstall it in a heartbeat. The only thing I like about the new software is the podcast functionality which means I don't have to use another app (Juice) to download podcasts.

The firmware I view as an upgrade only because of the Goto Artist option that I've been wanting since I first bought my Zune last year. The wireless sync absolutely does not work for me so it's not an upgrade.

[scionguy]

Apparently we also lost the option to not automatically add media when it's played. Also it seems that the folder settings mean nothing because it automatically adds anything it finds even though it's not in any of the folders I entered. This just keeps getting worse

[ChrisW]

I've searched for some kind of contact info in the software and on zune.net, but come up empty handed. Does anyone know how to contact the Zune folks to "officially" lodge a complaint?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by ChrisW

Does anyone know how to contact the Zune folks to "officially" lodge a complaint?

I think the forums are really the only official avenue - I do know the Zune team is reading the forums, so your comment isn't going unread (well, I hope). You could also try calling Zune tech support and seeing if they have a complaint system...