If you’ve been a long time user of Microsoft’s Zune Music Pass -and really, who isn’t around our neck of the woods, we’ve got some exciting news for you. Zune and it’s music services begin their new life as Xbox Music in about 24 hours.
Along with a rebranded Music Pass for the same $9.99 a month, the new music service from Microsoft will offer ad-supported streaming to Windows 8 devices, and the option to purchase from the now 30 million strong MP3 catalog. We’ve also noticed a lot of talk about your music collection following you from device to device along with playlists and Smart DJ picks.
We are still parsing the press release for any earth-shattering nuggets of news so keep your browser locked on enConnected for the latest. You can also check out video footage of Xbox Music via Microsoft’s PressPass website.
This begs the question: I have a Zune pass, which currently works on the Preview of XBox music. My understanding is it will continue to when I move to the final version in a little over a week.
I also use this pass on my Titan, so am I to understand this will STILL work for my Zune hub>? Also, I use the same pass on my XBox, so here I am with a totally splintered life, as I MUST still use the Zune Client on W8 for BOTH my phone and my HD. I have linked to my My Music Folder, the default for Music in W8, but it is hit or miss whether the tunes show up in my Zune software. HOwever, I was able to download the same album on my phone, no problem. Will copy to my collection….Yikes!
Does this seem like a disaster in the making to anyone else?
I’m not sold on the disaster angle just yet, but it’s certainly turning into one of those situations the could end up that way.
I did some digging and got a little info for you. According to ZuneSupport on Twitter Zune device and Windows Phone 7 subscribers shouldn’t notice any difference in the way their devices behave. You won’t be getting access to any of those new features like cloud syncing of playlists and so fourth however.
I also did a little digging on the software and Microsoft has confirmed to both The Verge and myself that in fact the Zune Desktop software will in effect continue to live on after the launch of Xbox Music but only for the Desktop users.
They’ve still got a lot to explain on this cloud syncing stuff, and you can bet your bottom dollar i’m going to be all over this thing come tomorrow morning.
Obviously, I am still running the Zune client in my W8 devices, both my tablet and my PC. It has seemed recently that Microsoft is trying to shoe horn everyone into moving to the new platforms asap, and there are many good reasons to do that. Witness lack of support for older office docs in WP7.5, no XP support for Sydrive apps, now WP7.5 devices being excluded from native W8 support. Obviously, without the Desktop program, I can’t sync my Zune HD to Xbox music. With supposed Android and iOS support coming, one would think that a wide range of devices would be supported directly through the Xbox interface. This is the sort of “fragmentation” to borrow a term that I was alluding to.
As I noted, I downloaded an album with my Zune Pass ID in the Music app on my desktop. I realize this is not yet Xbox music, but for purposes of this demonstration, we’ll go a little further. I have downloaded several files and they reside in My Music which is linked to my Zune Desktop, as is my main Zune folder on an external drive. However, even though I am logged in with the same ID, these files are not accessible to my HD or my phone.
The other side…MS just gave me my 1000 points! I am happy BUT….I can’t use these on my WP7.5 phone to purchase anything due to the muddied up payment systems. I can use PayPal for many things some places, but not on the phone. I can’t use points clearly designed to allow me to purchase content on Xbox Music in the rest of my eco system, so I either still have to go through the desktop and have no way presently (due to international restrictions) to purchase content on my phone with my present Zune ID/Xbox Live ID.
I have always found ways to work around these things and will likely get it figured out here, but there is that constant nagging fear that with the flip of a switch everything will cahnge and I will wind up locked out, considering Japanese Milquetoast support of both Xbox and Windows Phone.
Wow. Xbox music is letting me down. I was hoping msft was going to fancy up the Zune software or do away with it. But it sounds like you are stuck on the Zune software with Zune devices or any W7.x devices. I was thinking about getting an old Zune 120 and then run it on windows 8 with Xbox music. But if I can’t…..not good. I hope I am wrong, but it sounds like it all getting left behind for W8 & WP8 devices.
@ Mark – I have the same questions as you – this is why I love enConnected – I am sure Travis will get the info!
You can still run the Zune desktop software inside Windows 8 PCs so theoretically your plans for syncing should work… as long as you are running Windows 8 and not using a device running Windows RT.
The email they just sent out indicates that the Xbox music pass will “continue to work in the Zune PC software and on Windows Phone 7 devices.” It doesn’t say anything about Zune devices. I sure hope that’s just an oversight in the email’s wording. I’m going to be seriously upset if my Pass music stops working on my classic Zune or my daughter’s ZuneHD.
Any word on that, yet?
Also, I didn’t see anything about whether those of us with a legacy $14.99/month Pass will be able to continue keeping 10 songs each month.
I’m chasing that little tidbit now. So far nothing. I’ll update you guys when I’ve got something.
Thanks, Travis. Yeah, I noticed that Zune Support answered my first question (sort of, the wording was a little weird), but completely ignored my second question.
It looks like Microsoft is now redirecting zune.net over to xbox.com. As part of the announcement, they have confirmed that we will no longer be able to stream music over the Web. That pretty much means I’ll either not be listening to music at work, or I’ll have to carry a micro USB cable with me so I can keep my phone plugged in all day to stream music over it (can’t leave it unplugged, as that will cause it to disconnect from WiFi and use my data plan to stream the music). I can’t say I’m overly excited about this change.