31 replies to this topic

[MorganX]

Looking to see what other owners are doing ... particularly for playlists syncing.

[nitins60]

download windows phone app from store

[+Chsoriano]

I'm downloading songs from my Xbox Music cloud collection because I was seeing some weird duplication issues when I tried syncing through the Windows Phone app on my surface. Although I recently noticed almost my entire music collection being redownloaded on my surface a couple days ago, plus some updates to the app so I might try to selectively sync some albums to see how it goes.

[spy beef]

zune software

[+Chsoriano]

Okay, tried to sync a couple of albums selectively, and it is still a broken experience.

Scenario:
I have an album on my Xbox Music cloud collection and so it is available on my phone (just not downloaded) and on my tablet (downloaded). When I add the songs to my phone through the Windows Phone app, it should just place these songs on the phone and instead of showing as streaming songs on the phone they should now be stored locally on the phone.

Result:
They show up as additional songs in that album so every song is listed twice, 1 version streaming from Xbox Music cloud collection, and another that was just copied to the phone.

So it seems I am still stuck with manually downloading all the songs I want locally on my phone, Microsoft really needs to improve this experience.

[MorganX]

For those syncing with Windows Phone app, are you manually creating playlists on phone? I only see that you can manually sync files. Are you grabbing playlist files?

the Xbox cloud sync for playlists isn't working and only a handful of songs stream. I will most likely go back to Zune if I don't see someone here post a better solutions. I did want to avoid installing older .net frameworks on Win 8, but ...

[GP007]

Sounds to me like the wp8 metro app, if that's what you're using, isn't taking the cloud listing to note at all when it moves things over etc. Same for the desktop app if that's the one, seems like someone forgot to take that into account. Hope for updates to the apps to fix these little quirks.

Speaking of which, what happens if you just manually drag and drop songs to your phone via explorer and not through the apps?

[MorganX]

GP007, on 24 November 2012 - 18:57, said:

Sounds to me like the wp8 metro app, if that's what you're using, isn't taking the cloud listing to note at all when it moves things over etc. Same for the desktop app if that's the one, seems like someone forgot to take that into account. Hope for updates to the apps to fix these little quirks.

Speaking of which, what happens if you just manually drag and drop songs to your phone via explorer and not through the apps?

I think I agree with you. The biggest issue for me is playlists don't find local files the surface or PC if the playlist is created on the surface. It appears that if the cloud service can't match it to it's database, nothing is telling the local app, OK, now check the Music library and see if it's there locally. It just says can't find a match to play this file download it to this machine. Well, it's there in the default music library in the same location it was when the playlist was created.

I'm going to try syncing (thought I wouldn't call it that) a playlist file with the windows app to see if the phone picks it up.

[pmbAustin]

So, when I fired up the Desktop Windows Phone app the first time, it scanned my collection, and suddenly those tracks were available "in the cloud". So they all showed up on my phone and I could stream them.

But some albums didn't how up, and I have no idea why. These albums ARE available in the Xbox Music store, I can stream them... they're just missing from my phone/cloud-collection.

Does anyone know of any way to "force" an album (or track or artist) that is in my collection to be available via the store? Or figure out why it's NOT there?

And yeah, the experience when you have both local and cloud versions is less than idea... I really wish there were an option, at the very least, to "hide cloud track when matching track is available on the phone". And that, of course, should be the default eventually.

At least they're marked in some views so you know which one is which, and don't accidentally use up all your data plan... though that could be clearer, and in EVERY possible view.

And playlist creation is lacking as well. It needs to be much easier and more obvious, and should be doable from anywhere, at any time.

[+Chsoriano]

GP007, on 24 November 2012 - 18:57, said:

Speaking of which, what happens if you just manually drag and drop songs to your phone via explorer and not through the apps?

Didn't think to try that yet because that wouldn't be acceptable for me, but I'll give it a try sometime soon and try to remember to come share my results .

pmbAustin, on 25 November 2012 - 02:38, said:

And yeah, the experience when you have both local and cloud versions is less than idea... I really wish there were an option, at the very least, to "hide cloud track when matching track is available on the phone". And that, of course, should be the default eventually.

At least they're marked in some views so you know which one is which, and don't accidentally use up all your data plan... though that could be clearer, and in EVERY possible view.

And playlist creation is lacking as well. It needs to be much easier and more obvious, and should be doable from anywhere, at any time.

I completely agree with you - I hope the music collection management situation is addressed in the first WP8 update and updates to Windows 8/WP app,

[GP007]

I think the issue is on the windows 8 app side and not the phone itself. I believe if you go back and use windows media player and not the new apps to manage and sync with your wp8 device that it does a better job at it? If that's the case then it's 100% a problem with the new apps not talking with the phone or the xbox music service the right way. Also since it seems MS isn't bothering to update WMP anymore they'll have to quickly update the new apps to catch up with it and the zune client as well.

[+Chsoriano]

Just something to add to this discussion, I was hoping to try to add music via drag and drop today but my surface was running terribly slow (unusable).

Come to find out, when I saw "Downloading" in the Music app yesterday, it was actually re-downloading what seems to be my entire collection and creating duplicates in the Music library until it ran out of storage space (I see as many as 3 copies of some songs). I am inclined to agree with you, GP007, there is something terribly wrong with the Music app.

I'm guessing I need to post something to MS Answers...

[Mohitster]

spy beef, on 24 November 2012 - 17:14, said:

zune software

I am no Lumia 920 owner but I suppose Zune doesn't work with Windows Phone 8, or does it??

[greenwizard88]

I wasn't aware music/playlist sync was a feature of Windows Phone 8

I wish I was joking, but read this:

Quote

Reason 2: The removed feature
What I neglected to mention was the details of a single changed feature; Zune Music was replaced with Xbox music. However, in doing so, the Zune Media Player isn’t used to sync with Windows Phone anymore. If you run Windows 8, there’s an app that’s pretty terrible for syncing, while the situation for Windows 7 users is so bad that the best media sync app is Windows Media Player. You know, the one that’s existed since Windows 98 in one form or another. It gets worse though. Where Zune allowed for Wireless sync, arguably one of the best features of WP7, Wireless sync is completely absent from Windows Phone 8.
Rather than re-hash what’s already been said, let me simply redirect you to here, here, or here to see what others are saying.

(from http://www.gearsofte...oftware-review/)

[MorganX]

Chsoriano, on 26 November 2012 - 04:01, said:

Just something to add to this discussion, I was hoping to try to add music via drag and drop today but my surface was running terribly slow (unusable).

Come to find out, when I saw "Downloading" in the Music app yesterday, it was actually re-downloading what seems to be my entire collection and creating duplicates in the Music library until it ran out of storage space (I see as many as 3 copies of some songs). I am inclined to agree with you, GP007, there is something terribly wrong with the Music app.

I'm guessing I need to post something to MS Answers...

Ditto. I find it hard to believe Microsoft doesn't know this. That's the really frustrating/upsetting part.

greenwizard88, on 26 November 2012 - 04:35, said:

I wasn't aware music/playlist sync was a feature of Windows Phone 8

I wish I was joking, but read this:

(from http://www.gearsofte...oftware-review/)

Very sad. But Windows Media Player classic in Windows 8 will sync music and playlists with your cutting edge Windows 8 Phone. You must go back to the future with Windows 8/Phone and Music/Media management.