Fucking Microsoft

[bueno bob]

Listen, if ANYBODY is considering buying a Zune for someone this holiday season...think again.

In mid November, I got an "update" from Microsoft for my Zune, which was not an entirely new thing to have happen. I took the update and my music library has never recovered.

The problems (and there are several) culminated in the hijacking of my music library. I could no longer tell it what I was listening to, and all of a sudden Microsoft determined what my music was for me, since I apparently need to have dumbed-down software like every other 14 year old with a 30 gig out there.

You can no longer search by genre, and the album artist/song title/album title fields are all fucked up...and I mean BIG TIME...I've got Manowar singing Paradise by the Dashboard Light from the Word of Mouth CD with cover art looking strangely similar to Master of Puppets...

And that's but ONE example. Not a problem, until you realize that it automatically defaults back to whatever it determines the proper setting is once you click on edit. Or it just randomly re-arranges several other tracks/albums/artists with the same information.

I have made about 5 calls to customer support, and they're worth fuck all. Each call has had to escalated to what they call "Tier 2" support, which is I guess a supervisor. Down side? You'll end up being on hold for anywhere between 10 minutes to AN HOUR (I'm not kidding) before being told that "Microsoft is aware of the problem, please go to our website for solutions."

Fair enough. The problem with that? It's an EXTREMELY involved process to re-establish control of your music library (I worked on it the first time for about 20 minutes and still wasn't sure I had it right). Eventually, I followed ALL of the steps and come to find out, that fix only works about 75% of the time.

If you're in the 25% of the people who can't fix their media library, Microsoft's official position is "We're very sorry for the difficulty, but we're not authorized to offer refunds or repair units that technically still work."

I pulled out my original install disc, turned off the internet and reinstalled the original software and wiped my Zune unit, thinking that I could retrograde to the base install. Unfortunately, since the new software has latched on to my Zune unit, my Zune won't communicate at all with the old software.

On top of that, you can no longer use Zune Marketplace and Microsoft (if they find out you've done that) will no longer cover your unit's warranty.

:rolleyes:

I'm so pissed right now. On the plus side, my wife has something like 13 CDs in comparison to my 4,000,000...so I think she's getting a new Zune really quick...hopefully she won't experience the same issues, but it seems to be a problem affecting any sort of compilation CD/tracks that are ripped to your hard drive during the original upgrade...and she doesn't have anything like that.

Best advice?

MOTHER FUCK Zune and get your gift receivers an Ipod...

:mad:

[Jim Shetterlini]

Thanks for the advice, I was about to buy one for my son and I guess I will do the ipod instead.

[Little Lamont]

I love my iPod too.

Bob, I've been meaning to ask, do you take those pictures yourself?

[bueno bob]

I highly recommend it. The ORIGINAL software was brilliant, easy to navigate, easy to work with and very user friendly...the new software has this gaudy (read: ugly) font, the colors are ugly, the library's a fucking mess if you have multiple artist compilation CDs (soundtracks, tribute albums, et al...I have numerous of both)...

The old Zune I would have recommended to anyone at any time, but...for whatever reason, Microsoft sent out an update that essentially didn't work properly (don't they have BETA TESTERS?!?), never sent any warning that it was going to completely re-design the unit's working layout, and just said " Well, sorry if you don't like it, but hey...what are your choices? ;) "

Bottom line is that this is NOT what I paid for after I had it demonstrated to me, but having had it for over a year now, I guess I'm by and large pretty well fucked. Microsoft won't fix it (or can't), won't replace it (wouldn't do any good if they did, either) and I can't return it to the store and get something else.

No options, other than give it to the wife or sell it on ebay...and the wife may as well use it considering I wouldn't get what I put into it originally, you know?

Honestly, I feel like Microsoft attempted to take over my Zune and say "Well, yeah...you ORIGINALLY bought it...but really, let's face facts here...it's really OURS still, you know. Just a heads up for ya."

The Zune message board has something like a 900 page thread of people furious as all hell about this...since LAST MONTH...

Now that right there is proof of a fuck up on a HUGE scale.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Little Lamont
I love my iPod too.

Bob, I've been meaning to ask, do you take those pictures yourself?

Unfortunately, no... :(

Just know where to look!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by bueno bob
I highly recommend it. The ORIGINAL software was brilliant, easy to navigate, easy to work with and very user friendly...the new software has this gaudy (read: ugly) font, the colors are ugly, the library's a fucking mess if you have multiple artist compilation CDs (soundtracks, tribute albums, et al...I have numerous of both)...

The old Zune I would have recommended to anyone at any time, but...for whatever reason, Microsoft sent out an update that essentially didn't work properly (don't they have BETA TESTERS?!?), never sent any warning that it was going to completely re-design the unit's working layout, and just said " Well, sorry if you don't like it, but hey...what are your choices? ;) "

Bottom line is that this is NOT what I paid for after I had it demonstrated to me, but having had it for over a year now, I guess I'm by and large pretty well fucked. Microsoft won't fix it (or can't), won't replace it (wouldn't do any good if they did, either) and I can't return it to the store and get something else.

No options, other than give it to the wife or sell it on ebay...and the wife may as well use it considering I wouldn't get what I put into it originally, you know?

Honestly, I feel like Microsoft attempted to take over my Zune and say "Well, yeah...you ORIGINALLY bought it...but really, let's face facts here...it's really OURS still, you know. Just a heads up for ya."

The Zune message board has something like a 900 page thread of people furious as all hell about this...since LAST MONTH...

Now that right there is proof of a fuck up on a HUGE scale.

Yeah, I really like my iPod, but the batteries tend to suck on the older ones. Eleven hours of music? Uh, no...

[bueno bob]

Well, that's the one plus side of the update, if there was one...the battery power seems to have doubled, I literally left it on for a week (not constantly playing music, but...).

Still had half the battery left, so...I guess that was a plus, all in all.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by bueno bob
Unfortunately, no... :(

Just know where to look!

The redhead is really hot!:D

Vista, Zune, all suck. They have gotten away with selling shit for so long they figure they can continue to get away with it. Apple and Google are going to eat their lunch.

[Coyote]

Fuck Microsoft.

I LOVE my Creative MuVo... Simple, no updates required and it fits nicely in my pocket.

[scamper]

Originally posted by bueno bob
so I think she's getting a new Zune really quick...

Why would she get one if you're telling everyone else not to.

[BITEYOASS]

Fuck even Sandisk is kicking microsoft's ass in mp3s.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Coyote
Fuck Microsoft.

I LOVE my Creative MuVo... Simple, no updates required and it fits nicely in my pocket.

The Creative player was the only one that would work on the summit of Everest. Even the mighty iPod wouldn't work after the tempurature abuse.

[scamper]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
The Creative player was the only one that would work on the summit of Everest. Even the mighty iPod wouldn't work after the tempurature abuse.

A little CVH at the top of the world.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by scamper
Why would she get one if you're telling everyone else not to.

Like I said, she only has a handful of CDs (9, I believe). None of them are various artist compilations, which is where most of the overwriting by the new software has a tendancy to occur. By way of comparison, I have in the vicinity of 200 CDs worth of multiple artist compilations (tribute albums, soundtracks, genre/year compilations, etc). In her case, she'll most likely be fine, but in mine...I have more difficulty getting things to function.

On top of that, the Zune is still a pretty decent video player and she has an 8 gig already, so if nothing else it should still be of some value as a am/fm radio and a video player. She can keep the 8 gig for the music.

For me, though, unless I figure out a solution here really, really quick, I'm just going to say "Fuck it" and hand it over to her...

[BITEYOASS]

The one thing I like about my Sandisk 512MB is that it's cheap, has a graphic equalizer and uses AAA batteries.

[Steve Savicki]

Originally posted by bueno bob
Best advice?

MOTHER FUCK Zune and get your gift receivers an Ipod...
Apple products are better.
Wonders why people still use Microsoft products.

[scamper]

Originally posted by bueno bob
Like I said, she only has a handful of CDs (9, I believe). None of them are various artist compilations, which is where most of the overwriting by the new software has a tendancy to occur. By way of comparison, I have in the vicinity of 200 CDs worth of multiple artist compilations (tribute albums, soundtracks, genre/year compilations, etc). In her case, she'll most likely be fine, but in mine...I have more difficulty getting things to function.

On top of that, the Zune is still a pretty decent video player and she has an 8 gig already, so if nothing else it should still be of some value as a am/fm radio and a video player. She can keep the 8 gig for the music.

For me, though, unless I figure out a solution here really, really quick, I'm just going to say "Fuck it" and hand it over to her...

I'm not very familiar with the zune or the ipod, can they be plugged into a bigger display screen to watch video.

[bueno bob]

Well, the Zune can...mine can, anyway...

I guess it merits saying that I finally (after a MONTH) got the library straightened out...but it was a FUCKLOAD of work, work the I shouldn't have had to do in the first place and it's cost me a LOT of time and irritation because of it...

So...buyer beware if nothing else...

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
Apple products are better.
Wonders why people still use Microsoft products.

Apple products use to be expensive and out of date but Steve Jobs has done an excellent job of redefining Apple and it's products. I have a MacBook, eMac, iMac, and a brand new iMac with Leapard on it. No complaints on anything. No problems with anything. The iMac is actually a better deal than the PC equivalent.

[Nitro Express]

What I like about Apple is they make a complete system. They make the software and hardware so there's non of the pass the buck attitude you get between Microsoft and the hardware manufactures. I cringe when I think about how much time I wasted trying to get PC stuff to work. Lot's of port problems. The you had to deal with the periferal manufacture, the PC manufacture, and Microsoft. Fun days.

[Little Lamont]

I'm an Apple man all the way, but you got to give credit where credit is due: Bill Gates was a genius. He became the richest man in the world by selling a product that DIDN'T WORK! Imagine if cars were like that: the thing starts sputtering and the steering wheel locks up and you just say, "Oh don't worry, pull over and turn the engine off and start it again. It'll be fine for a few more miles..." hehehe

People would never put up with that kind of crap from any other product but they EXPECT it from their Windows computers. Now the funniest thing to me about all this is that Apple is out there with their flawless machines and some idiots actually prefer Windows! Amazing.

[BITEYOASS]

Originally posted by Little Lamont
I'm an Apple man all the way, but you got to give credit where credit is due: Bill Gates was a genius. He became the richest man in the world by selling a product that DIDN'T WORK! Imagine if cars were like that: the thing starts sputtering and the steering wheel locks up and you just say, "Oh don't worry, pull over and turn the engine off and start it again. It'll be fine for a few more miles..." hehehe

People would never put up with that kind of crap from any other product but they EXPECT it from their Windows computers. Now the funniest thing to me about all this is that Apple is out there with their flawless machines and some idiots actually prefer Windows! Amazing.

I'd like to get an Apple, the only problem is that they are so damn expensive, you have to buy new software for games and applications and plus you have to worry about Apple turning it into a brick like the Iphone.