07-12-2008, 08:24 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Is The Zune Pass Living Up to the Hype?
"I had some free time the other day, and thought I would get some "interesting" music from the Zune Marketplace on my pass. With "over 3 million songs" in the catalog, these things might turn up. I actually found one of the albums: Kraftwerk's Autobahn. This obscure album somehow managed to get the only popular track blacklisted from the Zune Pass. I would have to pay more money to download the relatively popular track from the album while the rest of the album was available on the Pass. I checked early albums of the Doors, the Stones, other artists. Apparently, Microsoft has decided that if a track ever had more than a handful of listeners on the radio, or sold some albums, it would be much too valuable for those scruffy Zune Pass subscribers. Same thing for new releases from slightly-known artists. At this point I am idly wondering if the Zune Pass still covers "over a million" tracks. Is it possible that Microsoft should update that effusive marketing hype? My survey of the Zune marketplace showed about 1% coverage of tracks (and I had to really look for those) which would translate to about 30,000 tracks. Somehow the real figures just wouldn't sound the same."
Walter Lounsbery makes an interesting point in his blog post about the Zune Pass: it's just not providing enough value for him. I don't have a Zune Pass, and since Microsoft is a bit slow when it comes to getting it up here in Canada, I continue to wait. When the Zune Pass was first launched with the v1 Zune, it was one of the more important differentiating features that the Zune had over the iPod. But what's the point of the Zune Pass if it doesn't give you access to the music you want? If you're a Zune Pass subscriber, how has your experience been with it?
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07-12-2008, 08:44 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3
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Loving my Zune Pass
One of the main reasons I chose the Zune over the Ipod was the Zune Pass subscription. I waited over a year for Itunes to offer something like this, and I wasn't too confident of Rhapsody providing a good user experience. Being a long haul driver, I listen to audio content at least 10 hours a day. There is a limit to the amount of interesting podcasts you can find, and even XM starts repeating songs after awhile.
I signed up for Zune Pass almost immediately after receiving my Zune30 (got it used, at a pretty good deal!). I'm running at about 80% availability right now, though I'm just catching up on old music for now. It's surprising how the same songs they blacklist on the artists' own albums are available on a compilation. And then you have folks like Metallica who restrict ALL of their music - for them, they won't get my money. For the amount of music I DO find on ZunePass, the ones that are missing are not much of a problem; however, I doubt I'll be making up the difference by buying the missing tracks. Have I been infected by the horrid "sense of entitlement"? Well, you could say I'm paying for that sense of entitlement, so there you go!
Paying for the same amount of music via individual purchases would quickly smother my wallet, and I would be forced to restrict my choices. With the subscription, even with the blocked tracks, I'm still coming out ahead in the game.
It's funny that some of the old-style artists like Wayne Hancok (mis-spelled I know, but the proper spelling of the gentleman's last name gets edited - go figure) are restricted. It seems they'd be the ones that would benefit the most from a subscription market, where one can try out older or lesser known artists without the risks that an Itunes-like market brings.
Last edited by TruckinGeek; 07-12-2008 at 08:48 PM..
Reason: The filtering software has a mind of a teenager.
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07-12-2008, 09:00 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 5
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I'm satisfied with Zune Pass...
I'm very satisfied with Zune Pass. I, for one, thought the number of blacklisted songs were very low. Like the other comment, a popular song blacklisted on an artist's album can be gotten on compilations (whole album or single) or by extended or remixed versions of the song. I had an original 30G Zune, sold it, missed the whole Zune experience, and came back and bought a 80G. I listen to Zune much more than the 15-16 albums I have downloaded on my iPod.
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07-13-2008, 03:33 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,097
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I'm with Truckin, I've found very few tracks that I want blacklisted. They're out there but I get frustrated, then call the artist greedy and move on.
What I'd like is a video pass that has no blacklists and includes all of the video content. With a cap on the number of included movies per month say something like 15 movies a month more have to be purchased normally. And unlimited TV shows and other content on the pass.
__________________
Please see www.grlt.com "Tech with a twist of lime!"
The Midlands Hybrid Club MidlandsHybrid.com
Current: Kacey's Wing, T-mo Wing Past: GCM_T, T-Mobile MDA |
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07-13-2008, 04:10 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 22
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Subscriptions Don't Work
Subscription music in theory sounds great, but in practice it's abysmal for most users. Steve Jobs hit the nail on the head when he said people want to own their music, not rent it. If subscription model servies were a valuable asset to the MP3 player paradigm, then you can bet iTunes would have had it by now.
Subscription will forever be a stinker for the majority because of the DRM attached. What happens when a service goes under (MSN Music) and the DRM on those rented tracks is no longer supported? Well, there goes those months and months of $15 payments out the window. Not good.
I can't help but notice how many Rhapsody To Go and now Zune Pass members bemoan that the most popular tracks from an artist are excluded in the subscription model. This is just bad form and it conveys a notion that both the provider (Rhapsody, Zune) and the record labels view the subscription member as a second class customer who prefers to shop on the cheap.
Leave the subscription behind and purchase the tracks in an open form from Amazon MP3, Rhapsody MP3, iTunes Plus, and eMusic.
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07-13-2008, 04:24 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,097
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when Urge went under, all I did was accept the roll-over to Rhapsody, but the software was crap and didn't work properly on Vista and with my Zen Vision:M so I dropped them like a bad habit and switched to the new Zune 80.
The Zune pass worked nicely too. I don't have the money to buy all the music I listen to with the pass, and some of the music is only marginal so I'd have way less music even if money were no object.
Getting the amount of music currently sitting on my Zune would set me back about $8830.80 from iTunes. Vs $14.99 a month from Microsoft. It would take me over 49 years to get this same amount of music from iTunes at the same monthly price as I spend now with Zune.
I don't know about anyone else but I don't think I'll still be listening to ALL of the same music 50 years from now, maybe a few choice tracks, but if they're that good I'm sure I'll buy them between now and then.
I don't understand why I need to OWN copies of ALL of my media, some content I'm emotionally attached to, and I do own that content; I also own all content that I've personally created but I don't see why I'd want to pay for all that mass media content. If Zune goes under I'm sure I'd be able to obtain whatever I'm in the mood for, for a nominal fee, of course.
__________________
Please see www.grlt.com "Tech with a twist of lime!"
The Midlands Hybrid Club MidlandsHybrid.com
Current: Kacey's Wing, T-mo Wing Past: GCM_T, T-Mobile MDA |
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07-13-2008, 07:09 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,053
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kacey Green
Getting the amount of music currently sitting on my Zune would set me back about $8830.80 from iTunes. Vs $14.99 a month from Microsoft. It would take me over 49 years to get this same amount of music from iTunes at the same monthly price as I spend now with Zune.
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I remain convinced that subscription music users have a much firmer grasp on finance than those who for some reason ridicule it. (Those people probably have cable TV which is the SAME THING. Except for video.)
As for this article...its completely and utterly wrong. 1%? Really? REALLY? He was very clear what his search parameters were: early albums from artists who aren't popular anymore but were once big (or in some cases...artists that aren't well known). I have noticed that if an artist has some albums not available they almost always are the older ones. Hmm, maybe that's got something to do with the fact that artists change their labels all the time (and many times the older ones are with smaller labels) and while Microsoft certainly has the major labels on board for subscription...it is probably a lot harder to get permission from the thousands of tiny labels out there.
But yes, it must be a big conspiracy.
If he estimates that there's 30K subscription songs out there then my music collection includes over 10% of all available music. Which is unlikely. My experience says that its probably in the vicinity of 80% available. Certainly not perfect but millions of songs are available to me.
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07-13-2008, 07:11 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 17
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I once owned most of the cds I had for old music. Do i care how i get the music that i paid for once in my life? no, if its not on zune pass i will download it via a torrent.
For new music, mainly european bands, I either buy it on cd if it's really good or find it on zune pass which has gotten ALOT better with european bands lately.
I would never ever buy all the music i have on my zune. I have like 40GB of stuff. Most of that is old stuff i once owned or zune pass with a few torrent things.
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07-13-2008, 10:02 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kacey Green
I don't know about anyone else but I don't think I'll still be listening to ALL of the same music 50 years from now, maybe a few choice tracks, but if they're that good I'm sure I'll buy them between now and then.
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There's a surprisingly large demographic out there that gets attached to their music and stops listening to anything else. I find that a lot of folks switch to this mode once they cross 30. I'm 31 and constantly trying to expand my music selection -- that's why I have Rhapsody -- but I notice I'm a shrinking population.
That said, when I discover music I end up buying the CD or the MP3s via Amazon. Zune Pass and Rhapsody don't support all the players, and while I know it's not their fault (well, not Rhapsody's -- Zune Pass is too limited for me by design), the bottom line is I want flexibility on where and when I play my music. Also, I've had times when some of my favorite artists' material rotates inside subscription services. Some albums by Orbital, for instance, used to be in Rhapsody, and they aren't anymore. By owning the music, I know I can listen to it at any time. I essentially use Rhapsody as a customized radio subscription, but for me buying the music is the eventual goal.
--janak
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07-14-2008, 01:25 AM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 853
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdaddy20
Subscription music in theory sounds great, but in practice it's abysmal for most users. Steve Jobs hit the nail on the head when he said people want to own their music, not rent it. If subscription model servies were a valuable asset to the MP3 player paradigm, then you can bet iTunes would have had it by now.
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That's like saying, "if people wanted feature X in a desktop operating system, then Microsoft would have implemented it by now". It's simply not true - there is the power of selectivity when you command market share.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdaddy20
Subscription will forever be a stinker for the majority because of the DRM attached. What happens when a service goes under (MSN Music) and the DRM on those rented tracks is no longer supported? Well, there goes those months and months of $15 payments out the window. Not good.
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See here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdaddy20
I can't help but notice how many Rhapsody To Go and now Zune Pass members bemoan that the most popular tracks from an artist are excluded in the subscription model. This is just bad form and it conveys a notion that both the provider (Rhapsody, Zune) and the record labels view the subscription member as a second class customer who prefers to shop on the cheap.
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What's your basis for this statement? There are some tracks excluded, but it's often because of the artist/label - not the Zune service. Metallica has the clout to set their terms. Finger Eleven is similarly blocked, but most likely due to the label.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdaddy20
Leave the subscription behind and purchase the tracks in an open form from Amazon MP3, Rhapsody MP3, iTunes Plus, and eMusic.
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Each serves a purpose. For me, subscription isn't so much worth it for the music I like, but rather the music I think I will like, but end up hating. I download 5-6 new albums a month, and I keep at most one album in my rotation. Using traditional services, I would be out $60/month for crap music I don't like. "Owning" music doesn't really make sense, now, does it?
Last edited by onlydarksets; 07-14-2008 at 01:30 AM..
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Hybrid Mode
