What happened to music in Windows Phone 8?
Table of contents:
"I&39;m very happy with my Lumia 920. It&39;s a good phone and the accompanying software, Windows Phone 8, is even better. Except for one slight detail: the music. From decent support for music in Windows Phone 7 we&39;ve gone to rather crappy support in Windows Phone 8. Why do I say this? I must admit that I have special needs with music. I use smart playlists (by artist, genre, etc., I don&39;t mean SmartDJ or Genius playlists), ratings, keep all my songs neatly organized… With Windows Phone 7, I was pretty happy.Considering that I haven&39;t found any player (either mobile or desktop) that completely satisfies me, this is saying a lot."
"I had a hard time making the transition to Zune, but once I got everything set up, set up my automated lists, and migrated over to my previous little star ratings, everything went smoothly . Just plug your phone into your computer, Zune will turn on, sync tracks, ratings, update charts, delete bad songs, fill in new songs, and your phone is ready again. "
With Windows Phone 8, I expected things to get even better. For example, the very limited ability to edit playlists on the phone: you couldn't remove or add songs to playlists, nor could you create automatic playlists. I also didn't like the Zune's auto-list method, it didn't give you all the flexibility of other players like iTunes.
I was also hoping for some improvement in ID3 tag support: show sorting by composers, multiple genres and artists… However, the disappointment I got with Windows Phone 8 was huge .
The worst, the synchronization with the computer
Windows Phone 8's music app didn't surprise me at all. There were some improvements, like the ability to add artists to the current playback, a slightly more comfortable interface, but nothing great.
But the worst of all was not that. The worst was when I tried to sync my phone with the PC. Zune gone completely, and in return we have the most limited synchronization software I've ever seen. The funniest part is that it works better with iTunes than with any other player.It only syncs podcasts if they are from iTunes, only iTunes auto playlists… Totally absurd .
Before reinstalling iTunes (the further away the better) I tried syncing with what I already had, my Zune folder library, to see what would happen. The Zune lists reappeared (the automatic ones did not), but also the backup ones that I had in a different directory. With nothing to differentiate them from the originals, because I couldn't see what they had or what directory they came from. Great everything.
More surprises: after taking forever to sync, I find that the little hearts on my songs have disappeared. I am also not clear what they are there for, because they are not transferred back to the computer. No more discovering and rating music while I'm on the subway.
Normal use of synchronization software is horrible. In fact, you shouldn't call it synchronization, but transfer.You press a button and files are transferred, no information is synchronized. It is not more than that. Basically, my Windows Phone has been transformed into a clunker that music-wise doesn't have much more options than a mid-range MP3. Play songs, preset playlists and go. For me, very limited .
The fault lies with the MTP
Why is Windows Phone 8 like this? Everything comes from an idea that at first glance seems good: that the phone is independent. You don't need software as heavy as Zune to use it. Make it compatible with more players.
For that, they use the MTP protocol, Media Transfer Protocol, a standard that allows you to transmit music, playlists, movies, podcasts, and more to a device. Many music players support it. The problem is that MTP is a limited protocol for limited players. There is no transmission of grades, no smart lists, or anything more complex.And of course, this makes the experience with Windows Phone 8 much worse.
It would be fine if they hadn't scrapped the Zune entirely. Yeah, I know, it wasn't perfect, but at least it made your life very easy with music and podcasts. Wireless synchronization, for example, was a real plus that is no longer available.
What about Xbox Music?
My last hope is in Xbox Music, but it's not like I'm putting much faith in that either. The Xbox Music Windows 8 app is too limited, the same (few) features as Windows Phone.
The only advantage I see is the fact that it syncs all the music with the cloud, something that works really well. In fact, 10 euros a month for music streaming and synchronization seems to me a very juicy offer, especially taking into account the multiplatform support.
"Perhaps for a not very intensive user of music, what Windows Phone 8 offers is enough. But as soon as you want something more complex, with more options, you are lost. To make a comparison, my old man>"
"I think Microsoft should take this issue more seriously. This is not enough for most users. Music is a central feature of most phones these days, and lackluster support will cause many users to dismiss Windows Phone 8 as an alternative."
