by Frank McPherson, author of How To Do Everything With Windows Mobile

 
I recently upgraded my original Zune, now called the Zune 30, to the latest and greatest version of the software. There are several complaints on the Internet about how the Zune desktop software messes up the metadata associated with music libraries, but my library appears to have survived mostly unscathed. However, oddly playlists that I downloaded from the Zune marketplace are messed up on the desktop, but are fine on the device.

I was anxious to try out the Wi-Fi synchronization that Zune now provides, and while it works there are a few things that I find odd. For example, you can configure Zune to always turn on Wi-Fi but it will not automatically synchronize unless it is connected to a power source. I would prefer it if Microsoft would allow me, the user, to decide whether or not I want the Zune to synchronize while connected to a battery. However, I understand why they are doing this because of what I consider a stupid design decision.

After the Zune synchronizes via Wi-Fi it remains connected to the PC! Why? I would expect that after the Zune synchronizes it would disconnect, after all I don't see much of an advantage to keeping the Zune connected. It's not like I am adding to my music library that frequently. It's is not like PIM data, which does change frequently, which is why it makes sense to keep Windows Mobile devices connected. Obviously, Zune follows the Windows Mobile mobile for synchronization, which is scorned more often than not by users.

Way back in the day when Microsoft was actually interested in what I had to say about mobile devices, I encouraged them to allow users to make decisions so that they can customize devices to their tastes, rather than making decisions for users. If you look at the many things that annoy users with Windows Mobile, such as "smart minimize" which causes programs to disappear but not stop running, they are situations where Microsoft is making decisions for users. Most programs that "fix" the smart minimize problem, such as SPB Pocket Plus, allow users to decide whether they want tapping X to close programs or to minimize programs. They even go so far as to allow users to specify that tapping X closes certain programs while minimizing others.

In the case of Zune, I think Microsoft should first allow users to specify whether they want the device to remain connected after synchronizing or disconnect. They could then allow users to configure a frequency at which they want the device to connect and sync for new content, or allow users to the right to only manually sync either after the first automatic sync or always.

While playing with my Zune I realized that with wireless sync I could now put the Zune cradle near my TV and have it connected to the TV, allowing me to play video podcasts on the TV when I want. My idea is to leave the cradle over there, with it connected to the TV and power, drop the Zune in the cradle to have it automatically sync so that it is ready with the latest content. This set up works, though I did find another thing about the Zune sync that I find odd. You cannot sync the Zune while it is displaying output to a TV, why, I don't know. In fact, there is a bug with this it seems because after I tried wireless syncing while connected to a TV the Zune then would not wireless sync at all. I had to connect it to my PC using the cable at which point I found that the Zune had lost the link to the PC, which I had to recreate. When I recreated that link I also had to reenter the network information so that the Zune connects to my home network.

Obviously, now that I know about these quirks I will know to work around them. The wireless synchronization could be very useful if it allows for updating my Zune without really thinking about it. I really hope that Apple adds a similar type of wireless sync to the iPod Touch. Since the Touch is running OS X, that shouldn't be too hard using something like Bonjour. Since the Touch as built-in Wi-Fi, I see no reason why Apple shouldn't add the wireless sync and if they configure it to automatically disconnect after sync is complete it really should be too much of a battery drain.

Labels: 2007, Zune

posted by Frank at 12:12 PM 3 comments Links to this post