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All posts tagged "support"


Saturday, March 10, 2007

Microsoft Australia Warns Against Early Adoption of Zune

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 07:50 PM

http://www.smh.com.au/news/digital-music/local-zune-early-adopters-warned-to-wait/2007/03/07/1173166764794.html

"Microsoft has strongly advised Australians to avoid buying its Zune music player from local retailers. The software giant is yet to announce plans to distribute the device in Australia, but that did not stop one Australian retailer from obtaining stock. Mwave.com.au, an online store based in Sydney, sells the Zune for $389. It appears to be the first and only retailer in Australia to stock the player, although some second-hand units have been sold through eBay. An Mwave spokesman said "about 100 units" had been sold since it began stocking the Zune in late December last year."

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft Australia has warned against the purchasing of the Zune in Australia for all the reasons that one would expect: no local support, lack of accessories, and an out-of-reach Zune Marketplace. Of course, that hasn't stopped me (and a few Australian MVPs that I know) from adopting one. Yes, it's understandable that Microsoft Australia does not want to be inundated with support requests, but I feel this is moot when (a) the reseller (Mwave) has stated that Microsoft will not support the Zune locally, and (b) courtesy of the non-existent local advertising, most who purchase the Zune in Australia know that it's a US-only release. What would eliminate these uncertainties is an official release of the Zune in Australia and other countries, but hey, that doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon. :(


Thursday, January 4, 2007

Zune Customer Support Experience Not So Rosy

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 10:10 AM

Ryan Jonasson contacted us recently to share his first Zune customer support experience. While the issue was resolved, there were a few too many bunny hops. Read on to learn more.

"Dec 18 Afternoon. Call 1-800-GET-ZUNE for customer support. Wait time was very fast, was talking to a person almost immediately. After the 1-time product registration (3-4 minutes) told them my earbuds had quit working. I described the problem exactly, that occasionally the right channel would cut out but if I wiggled on the "Y" connector in the middle of the cord that I could get the sound to come back, and I felt there was a loose wire in that connector. The tech I spoke to said that they would replace the earbuds but their computers were down that afternoon so he couldn't open the trouble ticket. They asked me to call back that evening and if I gave them my Zune serial number they would see that he attempted to open a ticket and would complete it. Total time on the phone: 25 minutes.
Read more...


Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Zune Shows No Love for NAS

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Software" @ 11:00 AM

http://aranworld.com/article/105/zune-doesnt-like-my-nas

"I have done some troubleshooting on my problem importing music into my Zune, and have concluded that the problem is that Zune has a difficult time adding songs from a NAS hard drive. Yesterday, I took a cd, Ennio Moricone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, and used Zune itself to rip this CD to a location on my NAS hard drive. Zune was able to successfully rip the CD and all MP3s were saved. If I double clicked on one of those files from Windows Explorer, Zune played the file just fine. However, I could not ADD any of those files to my Zune library. When I then used Zune to rip the same CD to my laptop’s hard-drive, the songs were added without any problem at all."



For the longest time, I've had this burning desire to purchase a NAS and store all of my media on it, but if the Zune software can't befriend a NAS, then that takes away some of the craving. Admittedly, it hasn't been a good week for Microsoft. Bugs have plagued the Zune software to no end causing frustration levels of consumers to rise. When can we expect an update? This month, next month? Or will we be forced to wait until early 2007?


Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Support for Vista, Podcasts, and Device-Based Marketplace Access

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 10:00 AM

http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6135131.html

"And although Microsoft is starting with a small feature list, Erickson said the company will be able to make additions fairly quickly through software updates. First on that list is compatibility with Windows Vista."

Yes, we all know that the Zune is a little crippled in its current form. First, the lack of Windows Vista support, but they're working on that (expect an update by November 30; if not, well before January 30). The lack of support for podcasts is a deal breaker for some, but that's going to be amended in the short term too. You can also expect a new and easy way to get videos on to the device (cryptic, I have to admit). In the long term, Microsoft is hoping to open up the Wi-Fi and perhaps reach out to enemy territory. Flagging and purchasing songs direct from the device? Mac support? It's all under consideration. The Zune team at Microsoft has ideas and wants the consumers to tell them what's hot and what's not, so go on, post 'em in this thread and we'll do our best to ensure they read it. ;-)


Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Zune: Sorry, No Love for Vista

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 02:00 AM

http://www.zune.net/en-US/meetzune/software/OS_not_supported.htm



Two days ago, we ran a story discussing the possibility of the Zune not supporting Windows Vista, and today, our worst fears were confirmed. Within the next fortnight, MSDN subscribers and business users will be able to pick up a final version of Windows Vista, and to not have the Zune work with it is a huge slap in the face. I know a lot of people who are genuinely interested in the Zune and rolling out Windows Vista as soon as possible. If Microsoft doesn't release some sort of Vista compatibility patch by November 30, there are going to be a lot of disgruntled folks around the place.


Sunday, November 12, 2006

Zune and Windows Vista Compatibility

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Software" @ 08:00 PM


Click the image above for a larger version (JPG, 80KB).

Last week, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista RTM'ed with business availability expected on November 30, and consumer availability on January 30. Naturally, we were curious to see whether the Zune (its release date being November 14) would be compatible with Microsoft's latest operating system. Read on to find out!
Read more...


Saturday, November 4, 2006

CNET's First Look at the Zune

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 05:18 AM

http://reviews.cnet.com/Microsoft_Zune_30GB_white/4505-6490_7-32102769.html

"Overall, the Zune is a well-designed portable media device with good playback performance, a snappy processor, and an excellent interface. Wi-Fi sharing worked well, but prospective owners should know that its format support, especially for videos, is limited. The Zune looks like a good fit for MP3 player novices."



CNET's James Kim got some hands-on time with the Zune and whipped up a short video preview and a reasonably-sized article. Unlike Engadget's video which has a greater emphasis on the software layer of the Zune device, CNET's video pokes around some of the hardware components, so do check it out. The article covers a lot of points, though one worth highlighting is the issue of file support. By now, you're probably aware that the Zune is not PlaysForSure-compatible, so all of your existing DRM'ed WMA tracks won't work. Native WAV and WMA Lossless are apparently out the door as well, so that leaves you with MP3, unprotected AAC, and Zune's WMA (tracks you'll end up pulling from the Marketplace). Video support is weaker, with the Zune supporting WMV only. There's no love for DivX or XviD. MPEG-4 and H.264 aren't supported natively, though the Zune software on the PC will convert these to WMV. On the topic of video, you can't share them wirelessly, unlike music and pictures, which is understandable considering movie-length videos would take an eternity to send over Wi-Fi (either the battery or user's patience would suffer a miserable death). Pictures are limited to JPEG, and unfortunately, the Zune software won't convert other picture formats to JPEG, so this is something you'll have to perform manually (boo!). Otherwise, the Zune appears to be a smashing device. I certainly hope that Microsoft will solve some of these file support issues with an upcoming firmware update. The Xbox 360 team have done an excellent job at adding new features, so fingers-crossed, the Zune team will follow in their footsteps.


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