2 Months with my Zune
First off, I want to say that I run both Apple and M$ platforms. I manage M$ desktops at work and at home I have both Apple and M$ products. I think both companies "excel" 
in various areas. I do not hate or fanboy either company. With that said here is how my 2 months have gone. Are you ready?
I decided to purchase the Zune a couple months ago to try out the subscription service and Microsoft’s first stab at a music store and mp3 player (i went w/ the brown :P)
The player is rather large. About the same size as the original iPod I purchase years ago. (wtf M$ u couldn't find smaller components). After loading the Zune marketplace on my test VM and nothing crashed, I decide it was ready to be installed on my desktop. The marketplace, even today, is not very intuitive. Everything is all over the place and hard to find. The main category drop down only has 8 generic categories. Everything else falls under the "more" category. This pisses me the f*ck off. If I want to browse music that falls under the ambient category, I have to find an artist that I know is in this category. Browse to that artist, then back track under the ambient tab. This is absolutely retarded.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Okay I see a song I want to buy. Yippee, wait, WTF are these points? I can’t use money? Okay how do I use points? I find how to buy more points and then realize I can’t buy in the chunks I want. The songs cost 99 cents (after doing the math), but I have to buy in chunks that are larger than 99 cents and I am left over with a weird amount that require me to buy more points before I can cleanly get rid of all my points. WTF why can’t use real money.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Now that I got the store up lets download some music. After downloading a ton of music using the subscription service (I gave up on that point $hit) I plug up my Zune. Holly $hit my machine says. Are you insane? I answer "yes" a couple million times and I get nothing. I have to find my Zune in the left hand column and click “set up sync”, then move the playlists I have created over. Then it starts syncing, then stops, then starts….takes forever. Also, this task randomly locks up my billy bad a$$ computer. I know it’s not a lack of hardware. So I leave it alone to finish.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Finally I get a ton of music on my Zune. I can finally start using it. I bring Brownie to work, share some songs w/ friend in next office. I soon realize that feature is completely useless. Just retarded. Shoot whoever thought of it. BAM BAM...the Zune shuts off and will not come back on. WTF!!!
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Google> “Hard reset Zune”
Find the reset options. Reboot the Zune and we are up and running. Maybe I did something wrong? Two days later at work again. BAM WHAM. Shuts off. GDAMIT!!! WTF!!!
Call M$.
M$
t “How are you charging it?”
MEt “Well with the USB cord plugged into my laptop dock.
M$t “That’s why it’s locking up sir. The Zune should only be plugged into the main ports in the back of desktops that offer the most power voltage. Plugging it into any low voltage port may cause it to shutoff while playing.”
MEt“Wow, umm okay” …click
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
So I break out my desktop at work. (thank god I am the desktop admin and can randomly find a desktop) Plug this brown headache into the desktops back ports to charge. Start playing music. Couple days go by.....WHAM BAM shutsoff. WTF! GDMIT.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Bring back to Wal-Mart, exchange unit. Next unit....rinse repeat everything above over a few more weeks time.
Google> “Zune sucks randomly shuts off”
I read lots of forums. Wow, seems this a “feature” on the Zune. The “RS” feature. Random Shutdown or Really Suxs..take your pick.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this. Just reboot everytime it shuts off. K I can do this.
....few days go by
Yippee today is gym day. Time to listen to some Rage Against the Machine as I go heavy on bench. Pull out Zune from bag. Guess what happens?
Shutdown you say? Nope…better
“Please sync Zune to verify your music service”
AH $hit, I forgot to plug it to my main machine in a while. SOB!!! MF!!! GDAMIT!!!
Zune is now smashed into little bits. Will take pictures this evening.
Nano…I am sorry for leaving you.
in various areas. I do not hate or fanboy either company. With that said here is how my 2 months have gone. Are you ready?I decided to purchase the Zune a couple months ago to try out the subscription service and Microsoft’s first stab at a music store and mp3 player (i went w/ the brown :P)
The player is rather large. About the same size as the original iPod I purchase years ago. (wtf M$ u couldn't find smaller components). After loading the Zune marketplace on my test VM and nothing crashed, I decide it was ready to be installed on my desktop. The marketplace, even today, is not very intuitive. Everything is all over the place and hard to find. The main category drop down only has 8 generic categories. Everything else falls under the "more" category. This pisses me the f*ck off. If I want to browse music that falls under the ambient category, I have to find an artist that I know is in this category. Browse to that artist, then back track under the ambient tab. This is absolutely retarded.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Okay I see a song I want to buy. Yippee, wait, WTF are these points? I can’t use money? Okay how do I use points? I find how to buy more points and then realize I can’t buy in the chunks I want. The songs cost 99 cents (after doing the math), but I have to buy in chunks that are larger than 99 cents and I am left over with a weird amount that require me to buy more points before I can cleanly get rid of all my points. WTF why can’t use real money.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Now that I got the store up lets download some music. After downloading a ton of music using the subscription service (I gave up on that point $hit) I plug up my Zune. Holly $hit my machine says. Are you insane? I answer "yes" a couple million times and I get nothing. I have to find my Zune in the left hand column and click “set up sync”, then move the playlists I have created over. Then it starts syncing, then stops, then starts….takes forever. Also, this task randomly locks up my billy bad a$$ computer. I know it’s not a lack of hardware. So I leave it alone to finish.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Finally I get a ton of music on my Zune. I can finally start using it. I bring Brownie to work, share some songs w/ friend in next office. I soon realize that feature is completely useless. Just retarded. Shoot whoever thought of it. BAM BAM...the Zune shuts off and will not come back on. WTF!!!
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Google> “Hard reset Zune”
Find the reset options. Reboot the Zune and we are up and running. Maybe I did something wrong? Two days later at work again. BAM WHAM. Shuts off. GDAMIT!!! WTF!!!
Call M$.
M$
t “How are you charging it?”ME
t “Well with the USB cord plugged into my laptop dock. M$
t “That’s why it’s locking up sir. The Zune should only be plugged into the main ports in the back of desktops that offer the most power voltage. Plugging it into any low voltage port may cause it to shutoff while playing.”ME
t“Wow, umm okay” …clickOkay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
So I break out my desktop at work. (thank god I am the desktop admin and can randomly find a desktop) Plug this brown headache into the desktops back ports to charge. Start playing music. Couple days go by.....WHAM BAM shutsoff. WTF! GDMIT.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Bring back to Wal-Mart, exchange unit. Next unit....rinse repeat everything above over a few more weeks time.
Google> “Zune sucks randomly shuts off”
I read lots of forums. Wow, seems this a “feature” on the Zune. The “RS” feature. Random Shutdown or Really Suxs..take your pick.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this. Just reboot everytime it shuts off. K I can do this.
....few days go by
Yippee today is gym day. Time to listen to some Rage Against the Machine as I go heavy on bench. Pull out Zune from bag. Guess what happens?
Shutdown you say? Nope…better
“Please sync Zune to verify your music service”
AH $hit, I forgot to plug it to my main machine in a while. SOB!!! MF!!! GDAMIT!!!
Zune is now smashed into little bits. Will take pictures this evening.
Nano…I am sorry for leaving you.
Comments
Sebastian
Brilliant and hilariously funny post! Do you do any writing (non-technical)? If not, you should.
Trailmaster308,
Brilliant and hilariously funny post! Do you do any writing (non-technical)? If not, you should.
HA..no I keep busy enough supporting M$ products
....Okay I see a song I want to buy. Yippee, wait, WTF are these points? I can?t use money? Okay how do I use points? I find how to buy more points and then realize I can?t buy in the chunks I want. The songs cost 99 cents (after doing the math), but I have to buy in chunks that are larger than 99 cents and I am left over with a weird amount that require me to buy more points before I can cleanly get rid of all my points. WTF why can?t use real money....
Isn't this absurd? This has to be so MS doesn't have to pay credit card fees for every 99 cent download. That right sums up, more than anything, the absurdity of the Zune and MS.
HA..no I keep busy enough supporting M$ products
Yeah, but come on TrailMan, I want you to write " Zune: The Return" or "Being Bill Gates: How I learned to love my Zune". Hell, I already nominated you to AI for post of the year.
Isn't this absurd? This has to be so MS doesn't have to pay credit card fees for every 99 cent download. That right sums up, more than anything, the absurdity of the Zune and MS.
It's smart for MS as they keep you buying points to use up your residual points. It sucks for the consumer.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/m...ves/113293.asp
First off, I want to say that I run both Apple and M$ platforms. I manage M$ desktops at work and at home I have both Apple and M$ products. I think both companies "excel"
I decided to purchase the Zune a couple months ago to try out the subscription service and Microsoft?s first stab at a music store and mp3 player (i went w/ the brown :P)
The player is rather large. About the same size as the original iPod I purchase years ago. (wtf M$ u couldn't find smaller components). After loading the Zune marketplace on my test VM and nothing crashed, I decide it was ready to be installed on my desktop. The marketplace, even today, is not very intuitive. Everything is all over the place and hard to find. The main category drop down only has 8 generic categories. Everything else falls under the "more" category. This pisses me the f*ck off. If I want to browse music that falls under the ambient category, I have to find an artist that I know is in this category. Browse to that artist, then back track under the ambient tab. This is absolutely retarded.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Okay I see a song I want to buy. Yippee, wait, WTF are these points? I can?t use money? Okay how do I use points? I find how to buy more points and then realize I can?t buy in the chunks I want. The songs cost 99 cents (after doing the math), but I have to buy in chunks that are larger than 99 cents and I am left over with a weird amount that require me to buy more points before I can cleanly get rid of all my points. WTF why can?t use real money.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Now that I got the store up lets download some music. After downloading a ton of music using the subscription service (I gave up on that point $hit) I plug up my Zune. Holly $hit my machine says. Are you insane? I answer "yes" a couple million times and I get nothing. I have to find my Zune in the left hand column and click ?set up sync?, then move the playlists I have created over. Then it starts syncing, then stops, then starts?.takes forever. Also, this task randomly locks up my billy bad a$$ computer. I know it?s not a lack of hardware. So I leave it alone to finish.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Finally I get a ton of music on my Zune. I can finally start using it. I bring Brownie to work, share some songs w/ friend in next office. I soon realize that feature is completely useless. Just retarded. Shoot whoever thought of it. BAM BAM...the Zune shuts off and will not come back on. WTF!!!
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Google> ?Hard reset Zune?
Find the reset options. Reboot the Zune and we are up and running. Maybe I did something wrong? Two days later at work again. BAM WHAM. Shuts off. GDAMIT!!! WTF!!!
Call M$.
M$
ME
M$
ME
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
So I break out my desktop at work. (thank god I am the desktop admin and can randomly find a desktop) Plug this brown headache into the desktops back ports to charge. Start playing music. Couple days go by.....WHAM BAM shutsoff. WTF! GDMIT.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this.
Bring back to Wal-Mart, exchange unit. Next unit....rinse repeat everything above over a few more weeks time.
Google> ?Zune sucks randomly shuts off?
I read lots of forums. Wow, seems this a ?feature? on the Zune. The ?RS? feature. Random Shutdown or Really Suxs..take your pick.
Okay, breathe. I can deal w/ this. Just reboot everytime it shuts off. K I can do this.
....few days go by
Yippee today is gym day. Time to listen to some Rage Against the Machine as I go heavy on bench. Pull out Zune from bag. Guess what happens?
Shutdown you say? Nope?better
?Please sync Zune to verify your music service?
AH $hit, I forgot to plug it to my main machine in a while. SOB!!! MF!!! GDAMIT!!!
Zune is now smashed into little bits. Will take pictures this evening.
Nano?I am sorry for leaving you.
Zune is now smashed into little bits. Will take pictures this evening.
Can't wait to see those pics
Hilarious.
And sad.
I mean Zune almost makes you feel sorry for Microsoft.
Not really. Microsoft will absorb the cost and persist as they have always done until they have enough units sold that it's actually worth mentioning somewhere.
Sebastian
Isn't this absurd? This has to be so MS doesn't have to pay credit card fees for every 99 cent download. That right sums up, more than anything, the absurdity of the Zune and MS.
Actually, the points system is so that people don't try and get their money back, and also open the door for the possibility of something like 5 bucks = 5 points, 50 bucks = 70 points, that sort of thing, instead of 50 bucks = 70 bucks, which would confuse a lot of people and probably result in some lawsuits in America...
Also, it prevents further lawsuits if people ask for money back from their "account". The account system is a lot better for many people than pay per song, because some banks still charge per transaction (and may do so in the future still), in which case it makes a lot more sense to pay a single service charge for a couple months' use, than every time you download something....
While the above article is amusing, it makes me wonder what you were thinking - if you don't like the size of the unit, shouldn't that have rung little bells in your head at the store? And maybe you should also have made a basic check on the internet to find out how the store works before spending that kind of cash on something that you were basically guaranteed not to like...
Also, my band mate has one and has never had a problem charging from his 3 year-old laptop. I think the only kind of USB that wouldn't charge it is USB 1.0, and maybe that would explain why you had so many problems - your system wouldn't be up to spec...
Actually, the points system is so that people don't try and get their money back, and also open the door for the possibility of something like 5 bucks = 5 points, 50 bucks = 70 points
Or, and I think this is more likely, something like 5 bucks = 5 points to 5 bucks = 3 points.
While the above article is amusing, it makes me wonder what you were thinking - if you don't like the size of the unit, shouldn't that have rung little bells in your head at the store? And maybe you should also have made a basic check on the internet to find out how the store works before spending that kind of cash on something that you were basically guaranteed not to like...
Also, my band mate has one and has never had a problem charging from his 3 year-old laptop. I think the only kind of USB that wouldn't charge it is USB 1.0, and maybe that would explain why you had so many problems - your system wouldn't be up to spec...
The point system is retarded. Again, I am fully aware of how it works but I have every right to look at crap and say....."Hey this is CRAP....everyone come look"!!!
Tell your band mate to keep his Zune. It is a rare find! When you get bored, google "zune randomly shuts off". Its a good read. I enjoyed it.
As far as the laptop goes...I order 40-50 laptops in bulk. I order 100 lots of desktops at a time. I am responsible for over 3500 devices. I can buy any device I so choose and always have the latest for testing
I am pretty sure my dell xps is up to spec.
And EVEN if I did plug it into a USB 1.0 port, the damn thing should still not shutoff like Zune support states.
:......however, I love all new tech. I am what you might call a junkie and its a habit I can't break.
.....As far as the laptop goes...I order 40-50 laptops in bulk. I order 100 lots of desktops at a time. I am responsible for over 3500 devices. I can buy any device I so choose and always have the latest for testing
So, Trailmaster308, you are a fox who minds the hen house! Love it!
On a serious note and getting off this escape entertainment topic for a second, I posted in another thread about a Ziff-Davis survey of IT managers as to when they were going to implement Vista. 42% were not going to Visat at all or not for 18 months. ~17% were going to wait > 13 months. What's your opinion on Vista implimenation in general for companies and yours in particular? We value your opinion highly here because of your Pulitzer-Prize winning article/expo-zay on the Zune.
So, Trailmaster308, you are a fox who minds the hen house! Love it!
On a serious note and getting off this escape entertainment topic for a second, I posted in another thread about a Ziff-Davis survey of IT managers as to when they were going to implement Vista. 42% were not going to Visat at all or not for 18 months. ~17% were going to wait > 13 months. What's your opinion on Vista implimenation in general for companies and yours in particular? We value your opinion highly here because of your Pulitzer-Prize winning article/expo-zay on the Zune.
We have just finished building our lab for testing. We are in the process of testing the new Exchange and the next version of RIS called BDD (Business Desktop Deployment) along with the new Sharepoint Server(rocks!) and live communications server (plus lots of other cool tools).
Our IT staff is broken up into two departments, Technical Services (desktops, servers, network, helpdesk) and Application Services (software/programming and junk :P).
One of many jobs in Technical Services is to build an infrastructure that will support a move to new technologies that offer value. All the peeps in TS have moved to vista to get a feel of the OS. So far we have not had any problems that keep us from doing our jobs (aside from having to do some weird stuff w/ Orca on the adminpak.msi when it first came out).
Also, our main applications are not what we call FAT clients. We try to steer clear of applications as such. It’s a support headache. We prefer to run web-based applications or if need be Citrix based applications using the web ICA client. We have many load balanced Citrix servers. When we make a change, we take one offline (which forces all future connections to go to the other servers) make the necessary changes then bring it back online (rinse repeat). This way the users have no interruption. Plus these applications are published on our Intranet site and uses are authenticated via Active Directory for security. A users see's whatever their security rights allow them to see. Long gone are the days when we load applications locally (sorta). Plus, we force all office document saves to go to the users network share that follows them where ever they log onto the campus. That way, their files are always available and we take great care to run backups (our backup system is pretty amazing. I am still in awe when I go into the server room).
That’s how we are set up in a nut shell.
Will we move to Vista anytime soon? Hell No. Not before all the above "stuff" is certified to continue to work. And trust me, that’s a lot of stuff that can break. Security and OS at the desktop aside, lots of stuff happens on the GPO side, every time a user logs on, that users and non-IT people never see. We are a looooooooong way away from that happening. But we have to prepare.
I can say that Vista deployment on an Enterprise level is going to be much nicer. Let us say we get 50 new desktops in. Currently w/ RIS, we riprep the image and we are good to go. All a tech needs to do is plug the desktop into the network anywhere on campus. Boot up w/ PXE turned on and hit F12. Enter his/her logon credentials and then choose the image created for that desktop. A couple minutes later it’s done. We can roll out some serious hardware fast if need be. With Vista I will be able to easily add drivers to an already created images along w/ software packages embedded into the image. Currently w/ RIS its not nearly as easy and it forces you to cycle the binlsvc on the RIS server.
However, I can say that licensing is a major challenge. Currently we have VLA license, which is nice, but with Vista Enterprise, it is recommended that you run a license server.
In other words, we will have to build a server that houses all our licenses, point all desktops to that server and allow that "one" server to keep our licenses valid. Sounds stupid, but its easier than allowing each desktop out to the internet. Most of our desktops are locked down and only have intranet access for applications only.
We have just finished building our lab for testing. We are in the process of testing the new Exchange and the next version of RIS called BDD (Business Desktop Deployment) along with the new Sharepoint Server(rocks!) and live communications server (plus lots of other cool tools).
Our IT staff is broken up into two departments, Technical Services (desktops, servers, network, helpdesk) and Application Services (software/programming and junk :P).
One of many jobs in Technical Services is to build an infrastructure that will support a move to new technologies that offer value. All the peeps in TS have moved to vista to get a feel of the OS. So far we have not had any problems that keep us from doing our jobs (aside from having to do some weird stuff w/ Orca on the adminpak.msi when it first came out).
Also, our main applications are not what we call FAT clients. We try to steer clear of applications as such. It’s a support headache. We prefer to run web-based applications or if need be Citrix based applications using the web ICA client. We have many load balanced Citrix servers. When we make a change, we take one offline (which forces all future connections to go to the other servers) make the necessary changes then bring it back online (rinse repeat). This way the users have no interruption. Plus these applications are published on our Intranet site and uses are authenticated via Active Directory for security. A users see's whatever their security rights allow them to see. Long gone are the days when we load applications locally (sorta). Plus, we force all office document saves to go to the users network share that follows them where ever they log onto the campus. That way, their files are always available and we take great care to run backups (our backup system is pretty amazing. I am still in awe when I go into the server room).
That’s how we are set up in a nut shell.
Will we move to Vista anytime soon? Hell No. Not before all the above "stuff" is certified to continue to work. And trust me, that’s a lot of stuff that can break. Security and OS at the desktop aside, lots of stuff happens on the GPO side, every time a user logs on, that users and non-IT people never see. We are a looooooooong way away from that happening. But we have to prepare.
I can say that Vista deployment on an Enterprise level is going to be much nicer. Let us say we get 50 new desktops in. Currently w/ RIS, we riprep the image and we are good to go. All a tech needs to do is plug the desktop into the network anywhere on campus. Boot up w/ PXE turned on and hit F12. Enter his/her logon credentials and then choose the image created for that desktop. A couple minutes later it’s done. We can roll out some serious hardware fast if need be. With Vista I will be able to easily add drivers to an already created images along w/ software packages embedded into the image. Currently w/ RIS its not nearly as easy and it forces you to cycle the binlsvc on the RIS server.
However, I can say that licensing is a major challenge. Currently we have VLA license, which is nice, but with Vista Enterprise, it is recommended that you run a license server.
In other words, we will have to build a server that houses all our licenses, point all desktops to that server and allow that "one" server to keep our licenses valid. Sounds stupid, but its easier than allowing each desktop out to the internet. Most of our desktops are locked down and only have intranet access for applications only.
Great post TM, especially for this forum. I have a close friend who does exactly what you do but for the city of New York! He's done a lot of work bullet-proofing his Citrx-based Apps and general system from the incredulous stupidity of the "lifer bureaucrats" which constitute most of his users. He's told me some unbelievable ( some very funny) stories about keeping "the Big Apple" running.
Did you get a chance to squirt?
I think the squirting followed the smashing.