03-18-2008, 12:56 AM
|
|
Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 7
|
|
Can You Originzie Playlists in Zune?
Hi,
I'm about ready to purchase a Zune, but after watching every Youtube video available, I'm still not sure if it has a feature that I need, and another that I want.
Needed Feature: Can you create folders in Zune for the different genres of music? In other words, can you organize the lists so that instead of scrolling through a massive list of artists names or album names, can you create folders such as, "Jazz", "Classical", "Opera", etc, and then have the album titles for the particular genre appear alphabetically only after you've entered the genre list or folder? This is important for people like me who have been collecting music for about 30 years, and need some logical means to organize large collections.
Desired Feature: Can you create a folder or song list for favorite music from various CDs, i.e. a song from this CD, another from that one, and title it "Sean's Favorites 1" and "Sean's Favorites 2", etc.?
These would seem to be basic features, but I haven't seen anyone mention them online, and I'm not going to fork over $250 if it can't do these basic things.
Thanks,
~Sean
|
| |
|
|
|
03-18-2008, 03:14 AM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Sean,
Hello and welcome to Zune Thoughts!  Great first post!
The vast majority of MP3 players on the market have music sorting based around metadata - you're thinking of files and folders, but MP3 players, the Zune included, filter music based on metadata.
In your example, each of those genres you mentioned would be separated out if the metadata on your music was correct (and that's easy to do in batch mode with a tool such as Media Monkey). So, yes, you'd turn on your Zune, you'd go to the genre filter and flip to Opera, then inside the Opera genre you'd see all your Opera albums listed in alphabetical order. Genres are completely under your control - I've created genres such as '70s Pop, '80s Pop, etc.
Creating a list of songs from various albums is called creating a playlist, and that's something that you the Zune desktop software. You create a playlist, say "Driving Music", then drag and drop the songs from your collection onto the playlist. Then, when you're done, you drag and drop the playlist onto your Zune - and all that music comes along for the ride. On the Zune itself, you can select that playlist
You're questions have given me ideas for some new Zune 101 videos - watch the Zune Thoughts front page for them, probably mid-April.
|
| |
|
|
|
03-18-2008, 03:40 AM
|
|
Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 7
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
The vast majority of MP3 players on the market have music sorting based around metadata - you're thinking of files and folders, but MP3 players, the Zune included, filter music based on metadata.
|
Thank you, Jason, that eliminates my last vestiges of hesitation to buy.
~Sean
|
| |
|
|
|
03-18-2008, 04:00 AM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alethinon61
Thank you, Jason, that eliminates my last vestiges of hesitation to buy.
|
Glad I could help! Be sure to come back here once you get the Zune if you have any questions - or just to tell us what you think about it.
|
| |
|
|
|
03-19-2008, 04:00 AM
|
|
Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 7
|
|
Well, I Bought it, and I'm Returning it for an iPod
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Glad I could help! Be sure to come back here once you get the Zune if you have any questions - or just to tell us what you think about it. |
Hi Jason,
I'm sorry to say that after much too much contemplation about whether to get a Zune or an iPod, I finally purchased a Zune today, and I am very sorry to have wasted the time with another Microsoft dud. What a piece of junk! I installed the software, plugged the Zune into my computer, and the Zune said:
"On your PC, open the Zune software and restore the Zune device firmware."
Well, I couldn't find a how to do this, but didn't need to as I was immediately taken to a screen to download the latest software. Unfortunately I got the same error that you experienced on one of the videos that I watched (at least I think it was one of your videos). The difference is that while your Zune updated despite the error message, mine just sat there and did nothing. Wouldn't update no matter what I did. So I clicked on the URL for web help, and didn't find anything that so much as hinted at a potential fix.
The only potentially helpful hint on the web page I was taken to was a suggestion that if I can't get it to work then I should go to one of the forums and see if someone can offer a suggestion. Excuse me? No, no, no, you do NOT sell someone a faulty product -- a fairly expensive faulty product -- and then tell them to see if anyone who owns a Zune can offer a suggestion. What garbage.
I installed Linux on my laptop recently in an effort to at least partially free myself from the nightmare that is Microsoft, and now I'm going to free myself from yet another MS flop (and no, I wasn't trying to use the Zune software in Linux). I should have listened to the one star reviews I read on Amazon, because those folks were spot on, my friend -- spot on.
Frustratedly yours,
~Sean
|
| |
|
|
|
03-19-2008, 04:32 AM
|
|
Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 7
|
|
Hi Jason,
Ok, so I took a deep breath and tried again. I decided that moving nearly 80 gig of music from an external drive to the C drive used too much of my free space, and one of the potential reasons for the program's inability to install was insufficient disk space. Fine, so I moved the music back to the 80 gig external drive. I then had to uninstall the zune software because it had populated the songs from the C drive and was therefore no longer pointing to the right place. I reinstalled the zune software hoping to have the oppertunity to have it search for songs to populate the program with as it did before, and guess what? Yup, like so many mischievous MS programs, it must have created changes in the registry that it isn't smart enough to fix when un-installed, so the entire list of songs reappeared, still pointing to the C drive!!!
Once again I clicked on the URL for web help, and can you guess what it suggested? Yup, move the music back where it was. No, really, I'm not kidding, that's MS's solution. Either that or I can delete each song, but no suggestion is offered regarding what I should do after deleting the songs, all 8,000 of them! It looks like the only option I have if I want to give it yet another try is to reformat my hard drive, and reinstall Windows to clean the registry, and then reinstall the Zune software. Sorry Bill, but I'm not willing to work that hard to get your garbage to work.
Miscrosoft *really* needs to learn to work out the bugs before they sell a product, because people like me, once put off, never return. The Zune goes back tomorrow, and I won't be giving Gates another chance to get it right.
In any case, it's been nice visiting ya'll,
~Sean
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Hybrid Mode
