Zune Desktop Software Irritations

[Jason Dunn]

As many people have pointed out, the Zune desktop software is, in some ways, the Achilles heel of the Zune experience: it's just not as good as it should be. Tonight I experienced a new glitch that surprised me: I just finished watching an episode of <a href="http://www.thewb.com/shows/smallville" target="_blank">Smallville</a> (what can I say, I'm a sucker for anything with a superhero in it because I was a comic book geek for so many years as a kid) and at the end they highlight the music by the artists used in the show. That happens to be a fantastic marketing move, because I've purchased several songs/CDs based on songs I've heard in the show. This episode happened to feature an artist named <a href="http://www.myspace.com/greglaswell" target="_blank">Greg Laswell</a> and his song &quot;High and Low&quot;. I jumped onto the Zune Marketplace, did a search, and had the song purchased in about 10 seconds. The Zune Marketplace is amazingly fast and easy to use. After it downloaded, I immediately clicked on the Recently Added section of my library - and nothing was there other than a message saying &quot;There are no recently added items in Music.&quot; Huh? If a Zune Marketplace download doesn't count as a recently added song, what does? I thought perhaps it was linked to the folder monitoring functions, and that if I left it for a minute it would find the song - 10 minutes later there's still no music listed in the Recently Added section. It only seems to list music that has been imported, and even then it does so in a dysfunctional way. Microsoft simply has to do a better job with this software if they want to grow their market.<br /><br />What are your frustrations with the Zune desktop software?

[David Tucker]

It drives me nuts that there's no good way to sort video on the desktop or on the zune. It all ends up in teh same place.

[grommet]

I swear you are cursed, Jason. ;) That's the one function that works for me reliably... at least for the local library. I keep it sorted in reverse... (Last added first.) All my Marketplace downloads appear the second they finish downloading and get moved from the temp directory to the the final directory. Even if you add files from Explorer... Zune watches for NTFS file system changes, so it catches all new additions almost immediately if the Zune software is running at the time.

Now, for browsing stuff on the Zune device itself via the PC... that's not always a perfect experience. In fact, it sucks. In many cases, it takes a long time for the software to index or "do maintenance" on the device... so you don't always see everything you have on it (so stuff like "recently added" is empty)... and album grouping often gets fried. That really needs improvement. Not to mention you can't play or manipulate the content, like you can with iTunes/iPod. Grrr. I guess this isn't a big deal for auto-sync users since you know what's there already in most cases... but for people like me (that only add selective content manually), it's a pain.

[Jason Dunn]

I swear you are cursed, Jason. ;) That's the one function that works for me reliably... at least for the local library.

Cursed? Maybe. :D I'm using v.1.2 of the software on Vista. I had thought this worked well before on XP...(fires up the software on different machine running XP). Ok, this is strange, there's no Recently Added option at all. It must vanish if there's nothing recently added...but that seems odd, and it's not the same behaviour on Vista. :confused:

This software is so badly in need of more testing and polishing...

[Paul Martin]

Had this happen last night. I loaded up the Zune software and my library was EMPTY. It said it was searching for files in the background but nothing was showing up. I double-checked manually and the audio files were still where they were supposed to be. I rebooted, thinking that was the problem. Nope. Still gone. I ended up unistalling, rebooting, and then reinstalling. At least this time I've gotten better at pointing it to the monitering folders.

The reinstall also fixed another oddity...I think. I wanted to monitor a folder under Documents and Settings. So, it added that one, and the whole D&S folder (and all the junk under it.) Fine, I'll just delete that monitoring item. It came back and kept coming back. Nothing I did made it go away...except perhaps this reinstall.

I'm not sure because I hadn't changed any audio settings when it resynced to the Zune. So, when I went in and changed from auto to use best audio, it's now resyncing all 1800+ songs, so I'll let it enjoy that while I get some sleep. Thanks Microsoft! :mad:

[grommet]

Why did you set the device audio properties to use "best" instead of auto?... If I understand what you set, you just told the Zune software to transcode every song you have to WMA @ 192 Kbps before syncing to the Zune. So, it would resync everything! Auto (the default) = "Only transcode if necessary" (which most people want)

That feature is really only necessary if you want to, say, use a lower bitrate (like 128 Kbps) to save space on the Zune... and don't mind the slowdown caused by transcoding at sync. (You get to keep the higher bitrate content on your desktop where it matters more.) This feature is more aimed at smaller capacity flash players, which don't currently exist in Zune-land.

[robshobs]

I hate that there is no way to manage videos. All of my movies are mixed in with my video podcasts. I can't create groups for my video podcasts so it's easier to find what I want. Then there's the constant converting of video files. Even if my .wmv file is 320x240 the desktop software converts it. :mad: Converts it to what format?

I have had good success with the Marketplace. With the exception of downloading the original StarWars sound track. It plays OK on the website but once it downloads, it's not the sound track. It's some other album. :confused: This has happed on two PC's and two Zunes.

Rob

[Paul Martin]

Why did you set the device audio properties to use "best" instead of auto?... If I understand what you set, you just told the Zune software to transcode every song you have to WMA @ 192 Kbps before syncing to the Zune. So, it would resync everything! Auto (the default) = "Only transcode if necessary" (which most people want)

Well, I wanted to best quality audio. If it's at auto, what bitrate does it put the songs at?

[Damion Chaplin]

First of all, I'm annoyed that I have to use it at all. My machine already has at least 3 programs that are capable of navigating/synching the Zune, and they're all made my Microsoft! I didn't want another program just for the Zune.

•Putting that aside, the software just doesn't work as advertised.
•Plugging my Zune in doesn't make it launch - I have to manually open the Zune software.
•It takes more than forever for it to detect file changes and add/delete them from the library - so long that I always tell it to re-scan the directories.
•As mentioned already, browsing the Zune itself is agonizingly slow.
•I also think that if they're going to restrict us to WMV files, the Zune software should have built-in video conversion software (like a movie maker plugin).
•The album art resource sucks, so much so that I use a different program to download the album art before I even open the Zune software. Give us some higher-res art please.

I love my Zune, but the Zune software is just so much superfluous garbage.

[cr8tv*sYnrGy]

just recently i can't get videos off my zune when i sync. i'v erased them from the marketplace and even from my hard drive. when i connect the zune and click on my player, it says there'are no videos. new videos are getting on, but the old ones aren't coming off. any suggestions?

[Noel]

[quote="There are no recently added items in Music."quote]

That was my same very irritating experience too Jason.
Then the USB connector malfunctioned so that to get a connection I had to prop it up against the edge of my laptop and weigh it down with my iPod.
That was pretty irritating too.
Two irritating weeks have passed and I was told the RMA would be back today. Today I was told it would take two months.
All of the cool "recently added" music from the Marketplace 15-day Free Pass
"recently departed". Now to top it all off, in a vain attempt to salvage anything worthwhile from the irritating experience, I tried to pay for the music with my Canadian charge card. :mad: "IRRITATION" doesn't even come close!

[grommet]

Well, I wanted to best quality audio. If it's at auto, what bitrate does it put the songs at?If the device is set to "auto" for sync quality (the default), it doesn't change (transcode/re-encode) the original file unless it has to. It just copies it as is. The quality will be whatever it was when it was ripped.

[NPrtmn4evr]

The reinstall also fixed another oddity...I think. I wanted to monitor a folder under Documents and Settings. So, it added that one, and the whole D&S folder (and all the junk under it.) Fine, I'll just delete that monitoring item. It came back and kept coming back. Nothing I did made it go away...except perhaps this reinstall.


That's one of the first problems I had to overcome when I got my Zune. I would delete things I didn't want, and then they would keep coming back. Apparently when you monitor a folder it will automatically send any compatible file in that folder to the Zune software- even if you already deleted in the Zune software. It's definitely an odd decision. I eventually had to move all the files I wanted on my Zune to their own separate folder and just monitor that folder instead.

The joys of owning a first generation product:rolleyes:

[Jason Dunn]

Well, I wanted to best quality audio. If it's at auto, what bitrate does it put the songs at?

It doesn't touch the bit-rate of the songs. The setting you changed is ONLY meant to be used if you want to DOWNGRADE the quality of your library - let's say you have a collection of 320 kbps MP3 files, but you want them to be transcoded to 128 kbps MP3s when synched over to your Zune. That's the only instance when you'd change this setting. I think I need to do up a tip on this feature. ;)

[Jason Dunn]

Two irritating weeks have passed and I was told the RMA would be back today. Today I was told it would take two months.

Two MONTHS to get your Zune repaired/replaced? That's insane! :eek:

[Paul Martin]

It doesn't touch the bit-rate of the songs. The setting you changed is ONLY meant to be used if you want to DOWNGRADE the quality of your library - let's say you have a collection of 320 kbps MP3 files, but you want them to be transcoded to 128 kbps MP3s when synched over to your Zune. That's the only instance when you'd change this setting. I think I need to do up a tip on this feature. ;)

Thanks, Jason. I did exactly what you said...ripped at 320 kpbs mp3s so I guess I'll need to "undo" it and let it sync AGAIN. :eek:

[jpcw]

Here's a strange one: I had some mp3 files sitting on my PC from ages ago which didn't have the ID3 tags with the correct album information. I sync'd the files with the Zune, then realised that it wasn't going to work (just ended up in 'unknown artist' unknown album bucket). So I edited the ID3 tags to put the correct info in, and then tried to re-sync. The software however did not update the artist/ album info on the Zune, even though the correct info was displayed in the software. So I did the registry hack and deleted the files and .alb file on the Zune itself and retried the sync - same result. What I discovered is that the old data stored in the CurrentDatabase_365.wmdb file (under C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Zune) was not getting updated by the software and so was being relayed to the Zune so that the files kept being associated with old data. In the end I had to close the Zune software, rename the .wmdb file, and then reconnect to the Zune as a guest, sync the specific files for the Zune to accept the new ID3 tag data. I've also noticed that the CurrentDatabase_365.wmdb file gets very large very quickly, and there doesn't seem to be any way to compact it (or edit it for that matter).

Another thing I've noticed - if you have mp3 files in a single older on your PC, but the ID3 tags don't quite match (for example, if there's a typo), the Zune software will store the files in separate folders on the Zune, as well as create separate entries in the album list. You can rearrange files through the windows explorer hack by moving them between folders, deleting any resulting empty folders and .alb files, and the Zune will adjust itself accordingly, but then it gets screwed up again when you re-sync. Also, if you have a compilation album with lots of different artists, the Zune software sticks each song in its own folder rather than keeping them together, even if they were originally in a single folder, which I find bizarre (though not a problem as long as they all have a common album name). Whilst you can move files around and delete them, you cannot create folders or open them directly from the device (and of course drop files into a folder).

Can anyone suggest why the .alb files appear as having 0 file size, and yet contain metadata like album cover image?

[grommet]

jpcw, to update the songs on the Zune once you've made changes... you often need to delete the content from the Zune device first. Just select the Zune device from the Zune software and delete the content. Easy. It'll copy the content back next sync... with any changes you made. (If you want to start from scratch, you can even Right Click... "Erase Zune Device.") I don't think you needed to blow away the Zune local database!

To get correct grouping, you need to use "Album Artist" to keep albums with multiple artists on tracks grouped together. Rip a multiple artist CD with the Zune software to see this in action. It works well.

Also, digging directly on the Zune portable with the hard disk hack and manipulating the music data directly is asking for trouble with the Zune software.

[flatline response]

[quote="There are no recently added items in Music."quote]

Today I was told it would take two months.

</i> That's unacceptable, especially considering how MSFT wants to compete against Apple. When I had a problem with my 3G iPod after only about a month or two of ownership, Apple simply gave me another one.