[auee]

Do any members subscribe to the Zune Pass, the monthly subscription service? If so, I am curious about the sound quality of the songs played on a Zune 4G. Also I read that not all songs available for purchase on the Zune Marketplace are available for download as part of the subscription service. If this is true, is this a real limitation with the service? Is a high percentage of new music excluded or what criteria is used to exclude songs from the subscription service? Thanks for all of your assistance.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

more than 2+ million songs available. (4 million available)

Streaming support

the records labels are the one setting the criteria for adding or removing an album from the subscription service.

192 kbps WMA tracks.

 

[Tribalambient]

The Zune Pass subscription has been an amazing product for our entire family and is highly recommended. There is so much music that even when there is some selections that you can’t load for free with this subscription it’s never been a big deal because there is so many more alternatives that can be had instead.

We got hooked when I ordered up two brown 30 gig Zunes last fall for the family for $99 each at Costco.com. This took place after one of my daughters I-pod’s crashed and burned for the last time. We decided to try the Zune experience partly because of the Zune Pass.

The ability to have…
- Ridiculous amounts of legal music to choose from.
- Three Zunes legally authorized to use one Zune Pass subscription account.
- Easy track manageability and a nice interface that continues to improve.
- Diverse and ever growing personalized playlists.
- Unlimited podcasts and video podcasts (including I-tunes podcasts).
- The ability to listen to your playlists or stream new material via your account on three separate computers/laptops (I take advantage of this feature at work).
...all for one monthly price was just simply too much to “pass” up.

I quickly picked up an 80 gig soon after the 30 gig and I’m already planning on getting the new 120 gig because it’s so easy to fill up your devise with the Zune Pass music. There really is so much music yet to experience its incredible! My guess is with a 4 gig Zune and the Pass you will be upgrading sooner than you ever thought to a larger capacity Zune. Trust me…when that day comes just go get the 120 gig and don’t look back.

Apparently the 30 gig players sound better than the flash version Zunes. It definitely sounded better than the Nano we had. The 80 gig does sound a bit better than the 30. My guess is the 120 gig will sound identical to the 80 gig since it’s the same player with just a bigger drive. My point being, as I’m sure you already know that the players do contribute to making a small difference sonically not just the music sample rate. Of course so does the headphones, amp, cords, etc.

The sound is very acceptable using the Zune Pass. No it’s not FLAC or lossless WAV quality, but at 192K WAV it’s still pretty good. The kids could care less about the sound they just love the quantity over quality. I did do a comparison and noticed the Zune tracks are better sonically than what they were getting off of I-tunes. I have ripped some of my CDs too (lossless 977Kbps WMA files) which certainly sound better. It’s been hard to dedicate the time to do more of that and frankly I’m a little bored with my collection, especially when you have the Zune “all you can eat” music buffet at your disposal.

For now I’ve been really trying to just maximize my portable system and enjoy the best sound quality that is achievable under these less than perfect file format circumstances. I have been willing to make this sonic compromise for now with no regrets. The tradeoff between “the virtually unlimited selections of diverse music” with “I must only have lossless to get the best possible sound from my gear” has not been as big of issue as I would have thought. I guess in the end the music wins. I have both file types on my player with lossless and 192K and really don’t feel like I’m losing out too much in this area.

Some people might question the subscription model to music over purchasing, but we already subscribed to the idea of cable TV, phone service, movie rentals, bla, bla, bla, for a life-time so why not music! It was an easy choice knowing the kids were already spending more per month on I-pod singles than the Zune pass would cost! We immediately found no use for XM radio after subscribing to the Pass so that went bye-bye too. So for our family it was a no brainer for us. The Zunes and Zune Pass has worked flawlessly for us from day one. I have read that has not always been the case for others with some challenges coming with people who owned old computers.

Microsoft continues to improve the Zune with its software updates and features. The fact that they continue to offer backward compatibility and full upgrades for all of its players from day one is just icing on the cake. We use the Wi-Fi capability, FM radio, love the clock, now play games, and enjoy the larger screen for photos and videos. We really just started to get into the Zune social aspect which is great for finding new music and friends. It’s sort of like Xbox Live for music!

It has been a great decision for us and we will are absolutely hooked and frankly done with the I-Tunes world. The sheer joy of discovering and listening to new music has outweighed any and all limited sonic compromises.

I think they still offer a free two week trial for the Zune Pass so you have nothing to lose, or you could just rip some of your music at 192K WAV and compare the sonic difference yourself. In our music world the pros of the Zune Pass far outweighed the cons!

Sorry for the book length response.

Cheers,

 

[auee]

Tribalambient

Thank you for the information. I had a feeling there would be good reasons to be a fan of this subscription service. I use my portable player almost exclusively at the gym, so as long as the sound quality is not horrible, it will be ok for me. I, like you, am getting bored with the songs I ripped to hard drive and do not have the time or inclination to buy a large external hard drive and rip my large CD collection to it. I am in. I will start with one of the flash players because I can always change what is on it through the subscription service. Thanks again.

 

[Mr_Junesequa]

and you dont get recycled mp3's which have been transmitted and mixed with other files with the same name encoded differently with artifacts all over the place as with some p 2 p networks.

 

[zip22]

if you already have a large cd collection, won't you want that collection anyways?

 

[auee]

zip22

At home, I listen to CDs with my hi fi equipment and not my portable.

 

[zip22]

but you obviously enjoy that music, don't you want it on your portable player as well? ripping isn't that difficult, and hard drives are cheap. if you have a desktop, installing a new harddrive should be easy. If you use a laptop, an external harddrive should be easy as well. With the zune software, the CDs should be recognized automatically and ripping should be quick and easy.

 

[Ingen]

A while back (read years), I ripped about 100-200 CDs.. I found it to be a bit of a pain. I used WMP at the time, so another microsoft product. I don't know if Zune software is much different, but if not.. Ugh, boredom!

 

[zip22]

what was the hassle? at least with itunes, i know you can set the software to get the track names automatically, import the cd, and then eject it (all right after you put the cd in the drive). it would take time, but could be done while working on other things. when the drive opens, just put in another cd and the software should cover the rest.

getting the tags automatically has been reliable for me, but i suppose with an older or more obscure collection, your luck may not be as good and manually entering all the track info could be a pain.

 

[pata2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Junesequa /img/forum/go_quote.gif and you dont get recycled mp3's which have been transmitted and mixed with other files with the same name encoded differently with artifacts all over the place as with some p 2 p networks.

I don't know where you are looking for your P2P MP3s, but the ones I found are all in lossless format (FLAC or APE) complete with high-res scans of the CD booklet.

Although I think subscription music is good for certain market, I don't like it:
1. I don't want to support more DRM. Legal music download has been going to DRM free AAC/MP3s (Amazon, iTunes+, Napster, etc). Subscription style DRM is a step back.
2. When the server is shut down, you're screwed.
3. You're locked (in the case of Zune pass, windows + Zune only) with zero chance of multiplatform compatibility.
4. Not much selection other than mostly mainstream music.

 

[Ingen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zip22 /img/forum/go_quote.gif what was the hassle?

The problem lies in the more obscure cd's, it's amazing how typing the tracks in can tire and annoy me.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

Quote:

3. You're locked (in the case of Zune pass, windows + Zune only) with zero chance of multiplatform compatibility.

Incorrect. up to this day, Zune Pass songs can be played back in Windows Media Player.

These same songs can be transfered in up to 3 Windows Mobile devices (BlackJacks and HTC phones) or Plays For Sure Daps (Creative, SanDisk, Samsung, etc)

 

[pata2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricardo Dawkins /img/forum/go_quote.gif Incorrect. up to this day, Zune Pass songs can be played back in Windows Media Player. These same songs can be transfered in up to 3 Windows Mobile devices (BlackJacks and HTC phones) or Plays For Sure Daps (Creative, SanDisk, Samsung, etc)

Didn't know that. Thanks for pointing that out, although I'm not sure whether users have to re-transfer the songs or not when the DRM is renewed. I guess it's the other way around, that the Zune is not compatible with play-or-sure stuff, and the Zune software only sync directly with the Zune.

 

[Tribalambient]

Quote:

Originally Posted by auee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tribalambient Thank you for the information. I had a feeling there would be good reasons to be a fan of this subscription service. I use my portable player almost exclusively at the gym, so as long as the sound quality is not horrible, it will be ok for me. I, like you, am getting bored with the songs I ripped to hard drive and do not have the time or inclination to buy a large external hard drive and rip my large CD collection to it. I am in. I will start with one of the flash players because I can always change what is on it through the subscription service. Thanks again.

You’re welcome auee…

Like some have commented here subscription music is not for everyone, but for many the positives certainly override the negatives. I think once you get lost in the search functions, links and exploration of new music you will be hooked. Plus I’m a big believer in paying for your music in some form having spent much of my life around (as well as making my living within) the music industry. I don’t download illegally nor do I allow my kids too. That’s just me and our family.

Yes the small form factor is alot nicer at the gym. You could just create lots of small playlists then load and unload based on your mood. That is the nice aspect of so much music every day (week) at the gym you could literally listen to new tracks on every workout.

Plus you can load your computer with 1000 times more track than you actually load on the flash Zune and listen from there as well. I do that a lot using my laptop as my portable at the coffee shop, work, traveling, lounging around the house, surfing, whatever.

Have fun with it and post your experiences after you have spent some time with the Pass. We would love to hear your impressions.



Quote:

Originally Posted by zip22 /img/forum/go_quote.gif but you obviously enjoy that music, don't you want it on your portable player as well? ripping isn't that difficult, and hard drives are cheap. if you have a desktop, installing a new harddrive should be easy. If you use a laptop, an external harddrive should be easy as well. With the zune software, the CDs should be recognized automatically and ripping should be quick and easy.

You are right the Zune software does make it very easy to rip and load ones personal CD collection. I just found that as I was ripping I was thinking more often than not…do I even really like this CD…lol.

Cheers,