Installing the Zune... sucked

From Engadget....

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/13/installing-the-zune-sucked/

Thoughts, anyone?

Hmm...not really a thought, but today my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her an iPod Nano G2.

That's my opinion of the zune

My thoughts:
This is the exact same post letter-for-letter that I've seen about this on 3 forums...

 Yeah, but on the other hand, it is bulkier, and heavier , got rid of the pesky Play4Sure , neuder wi-fi , requires you to perform multiplication in your head to buy Songs.... and much more. So, quit being a negative nelly.

Did they outsource the development of the Zune software to India?

You've got bigger issues than "too many screens" with the Zune bud.

I'm taking a wait and see approach. If they can fix some of their obvious mistakes i'll consider buying one.

It's silly that they go the "simplified installer" route by not letting you configure the install path or anything. And then do the exact opposite by having 900 million configuration screens.

I have no idea whether the Zune will be successful or not.  However I can say that this is unecessarily biased.  They state that they installed it on a second PC without any issues.  I myself can attest to installing the software without a hitch (don't have a Zune yet though).  The marketplace is very nice.  Search is instant (as in it displays results as you type your query like desktop search) unlike Apple's software.  The software is snappy, at least as much so as iTunes.  I've installed both iTunes and Zune marketplace now and I have to say they both take about the same as far as effort to install.  You can always download the software and install it before you buy a Zune to see if you have any problems.

nightski wrote:



I have no idea whether the Zune will be successful or not.  However I can say that this is unecessarily biased.  They state that they installed it on a second PC without any issues.  I myself can attest to installing the software without a hitch (don't have a Zune yet though).  The marketplace is very nice.  Search is instant (as in it displays results as you type your query like desktop search) unlike Apple's software.  The software is snappy, at least as much so as iTunes.  I've installed both iTunes and Zune marketplace now and I have to say they both take about the same as far as effort to install.  You can always download the software and install it before you buy a Zune to see if you have any problems.

What do you think of their pricing schemes (Zune Marketplace)?

z33driver wrote:

Did they outsource the development of the Zune software to India?

i dont want to start this. So all software from US or the rest of the world are good and never sucked  ?.  

LaBomba wrote:


What do you think of their pricing schemes (Zune Marketplace)?

This is actually the main reason I preordered a Zune instead of an iPod (a tough choice indeed).  The points system might honestly get annoying if you go the individual track route.  However, the fact that they are offering a subscription system is what sold me.  If I bought an iPod it would take hundreds of dollars and months of time to build up a good music collection.  However I can buy the Zune and instantly fill up the entire 30g if I wanted to with songs from the marketplace.  The only thing that does worry me slightly is how long the service will last.  If Zune flops then I'm out of luck.  But after seeing how much Microsoft is actually investing in the Zune brand I doubt that will happen, especially before the device itself becomes obsolete.

HumanCompiler wrote:

 if they said the install went fine on the second try. 

They never said it went fine, they said it took 20 minutes Working out how Apple do the 'it just works' thing isn't hard - think simple, pay attention to the details.  Two things that the Zune team appear not to have done.

Here's hoping it gets better over time, the iPod really could do with some decent competition.


Edit: It gets worse. I just popped over to Zune.net to download the software, just to have a look, and I get this ....

Zune wrote:

Zune™ software is unable to detect your operating system.

To install Zune software, check if your operating system is supported.

Zune software is compatible with the following operating systems:

• Windows XP Service Pack 2
• Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup
  

How hard does it need to be ? Trust me, *you* may not know if this computer is supported, but I do - just give me the link to try it ...

Looking at the Engadget thread, it doesn't appear that anyone else who had installed it, experienced similar problems.
One chap also pointed out that the screens looked different to the ones he saw on his installation. Since Engadget were using the software supplied with a review machine, it is possible that the software has been upgraded for the release machines.
And the fact that their RAID array collapsed soon after, and that they had no trouble installing it on a second machine, makes me think that perhaps there were other problems with the first machine.

So I'm holding off judgement to see how many other reported cases come in.

blowdart wrote:



LaBomba wrote:  What do you think of their pricing schemes (Zune Marketplace)?

Oh you mean the "points" system. What a compile pile of pooh that is.

"Give us a minimum of $x even if you want to spend 99c. because the interest on the rest should belong to us. Oh, and maybe they'll expire too"

So, still thinking of picking one up blowdart?