[AZBrowncoat]

This might sound weird but if you have access to a mac use iTunes on the mac and the mac windows phone software. I was surprised that it works a lot better on the mac then it does on windows 7 or windows 8.

I ended up using the mac software to get all my iTunes somngs and playlists to the phone then use windows media player to sync up the rest to the 920.

May have to try this using my Mac Mini :-)

[badMojo69]

Try a doing it with a Xbox movie...oh wait you can't.

FACE PALM

[elibohnert]

I feel as if Xbox music is a train wreck also. I was just trying to get all my music tagged correctly and it find these odds songs with only the same name and renames the whole almost into some random song. #1 reason I'm sticking with a iPhone and not a Windows Phone 8 for now. I really had high hoes for Xbox Music. But I find Zune was 10000000% better.

[vedichymn]

I did get some stuff (podcasts) transferred down with the desktop tool, but even then, it's not really "syncing" anything as far as I can tell, just copying files. Things like album art, some metadata, podcast position, etc. don't get synced up at all. :(

[Bourbs]

5 hours later....
Screen Shot 2012-11-17 at 05.48.41.png

Bit ridiculous seeing as I have a 256GB samsung 830 SSD.

[badMojo69]

So much fail on MSFTs end. They are going to kill WP8 before it gets off the ground. Watch how many returns they have in two weeks. And did none of these professional reviewers ever mention this huge missing link. The only thing they talked about was the GD camera and weight.

[dvdhills]

This experience of syncing WP8 onto Windows 7 has made sure that this is my last Microsoft device. I am so disappointing. I used a 30g and 80g zune. I used windows mobile 6 and wp7. Wp8 will be my last. How could they cut support for Zune and leave WP8 uses with a significantly less functional experience. I have not been able to get a single podcast onto my Lumia 920. As much as I despise the Apple experience, I can not imagine being this disappointed if I had used my upgrade to get an iphone instead of a lumia 920.

[Lee B]

Yeah, I keep getting an error message when I try to download the desktop sync app (beta? total side note wtf btw) and I keep getting an error message:

"Windows Phone requires .Net framework 4.0 Please install from 'http://go.microsft.com/?LinkID=186913/' and restart setup"

But when I try to go to that address it's a dead end. Best part now, as I read this blog, even if I were to download the sync a bunch of people are having problems with it. Was the windows 8 release a total surprise to microsoft or do they just expect people won't notice their ****s not working?

I also subscribed to the super expensive xbox music pass but I can't get it to work on my 920. Online it says music pass should appear under the "new" menu in the xbox video/music app but, NOPE!

I must say this has really got me thinking if windows 8 mobile is ready. I'm burnt out on iphone and its lack of innovation but at least their **** worked. I'm wondering now if I should return my 920 and xbox and get a galaxy with a sweet speaker system instead.

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to trouble shoot / thoughts about making a switch to a better functioning ecosystem.

-Thanks

When I tried to download the phone app, I got the same message about needing the .Net framework, but in my case the link worked. .Net and phone app both downloaded and installed with no difficulty. I then used the phone app to sync a 7GB iTunes playlist, and that only took a few clicks and ran fine. On the PC tab, the phone app looks like a mini-clone of iTunes -- it lists all my playlists and music. On the phone side, though, it's not clear that the idea of a playlist has been implemented. Windows Explorer shows that each album has its own folder, and then there are separate folders for "Album" and "Artist", which must serve some purpose that isn't clear to me.

The phone app is labeled " preview", and the OS just came out. I've been here before with new technology and there's always some pain on the bleeding edge. Apple's recent Maps fiasco is only one of many examples. MS certainly has some coding talent to throw at these problems, so I figure things will be getting better.

Maybe sync is a lot smoother if you've never used Zune, and don't expect it to work on WP8.

[badMojo69]

This works a lot better than that crappy WP8 app...Welcome to 2003 we missed you!
The Best Way to Sync Windows Phone 8; Not What You’d Expect | Pocketnow

[Josiah Glickstein]

Nokia Music does use the Explicit music, but it's more like a radio mix that plays a random track by the artist (if you use the free service) rather than letting you play a particular track. To play the track you want, you have to buy it/own it.

[pdskep]

I certainly hope someone at MS is paying attention to this. If I was using my phone as an MP3 player like I was a year ago I would dump my entire MS ecosystem and move to Apple as much as I hate Apple, this catastrophe would make the switch necessary. As someone who just upgraded my computer to W8, upgraded my Focus to a 920 and bought a Surface, I am pissed off. The Xbox music app is an abomination. They've gone 3 steps backwards and quite honestly I don't give a crap about cloud music as data plans are not cheap. I want to be able to manage music effectively on my computer and easily sync to my phone. Like I said, since I don't use my phone as a music player as much the positives of the phone outweighs this HUGE negative and I'm able to find some workarounds, but I shouldn't have to. Someone should be fired for this!

[badMojo69]

You assume they don't know exactly what they're doing. ;)

[Workshop2]

Been banging my head against a wall today. This thing keeps splitting albums up due to different artist names.....zune didn't have this problem :(

[kantFTW]

I use Media Monkey. It works perfectly. Also, it'll add in album artwork to my songs embedded so that it appears on my phone.

[pdskep]

Zune worked PERFECTLY. Why abandon it other than the name?

[jasqid]

Zune worked PERFECTLY. Why abandon it other than the name?

I was really expecting them to just rebrand the Zune app to Xbox. Wasn't expecting it to turn into what it is... And for wireless sync to be removed for a nonworking cloud.

[invertme]

I don't use the new WP8 toll for Win 7. I just use the file manager option. Drag and drop. No issues whatsoever. Makes pulling pictures off a **** of a lot easier than it was with Zune. "Plug in phone>Run Zune Software>(pictures sync to PC)>go to folder..." It got old, and annoying. I don't sync pictures to SkyDrive because I like having them on my local PC. So, the drag and drop method is so awesome now.

This is what I do too and it couldn't been any easier for me - well unless someone else did it for me...

[dvdhills]

I have had to start using itunes to manage my music and podcasts. Everything ran so smoothly just a week ago. I remember the efforts made to make sure the 30gb Zune was compatible when zune upgraded to podcasts. The Zune/WP ecosystem is what has given MS this new metro advantage. I picked WP8 because I have chosen to operate in that ecosystem. Why make me work with Itunes to get podcasts on my phone. What good is the charging pad for the Nokia 920 if there is not wireless sync. To sync my new Lumia I have to plug the phone in. Wait for the Sync program to recognize it (several minutes). Wait for the sync program to populate the libraries, which it has to open Itunes to do. Wait for the sync button to appear in black. Click sync and hope it works. This is a several minute interactive process.
A week ago I could plug my phone in and everything would be taken care of.
I am curious why Microsoft would create a process that gives more exposure to iTunes.

[aalex]

I have had to start using itunes to manage my music and podcasts. Everything ran so smoothly just a week ago. I remember the efforts made to make sure the 30gb Zune was compatible when zune upgraded to podcasts. The Zune/WP ecosystem is what has given MS this new metro advantage. I picked WP8 because I have chosen to operate in that ecosystem. Why make me work with Itunes to get podcasts on my phone. What good is the charging pad for the Nokia 920 if there is not wireless sync. To sync my new Lumia I have to plug the phone in. Wait for the Sync program to recognize it (several minutes). Wait for the sync program to populate the libraries, which it has to open Itunes to do. Wait for the sync button to appear in black. Click sync and hope it works. This is a several minute interactive process.
A week ago I could plug my phone in and everything would be taken care of.
I am curious why Microsoft would create a process that gives more exposure to iTunes.

You have to be a great programmer, but a social moron to work at Microsoft it seems. I have a hard time understanding how any company can be this clueless. It just makes me nod my head in absolute disgust. Let's get our flag ship product out the door and let's not tell anyone it's broken. They are either too stupid to know it is, which is worse, or they are so stupid they didn't think they should get ahead of this and warn us and reassure us that the feature is coming soon. Either way you're looking at clueless idiots. It just makes me want to throw a chair at someone over there. I just want to sit down with someone there and talk some good ol common sense into them. Nothing pisses me off more than IDIOTS.

[Auric Jarrel]

Pretty bummed with how much of a step back from Zune this has been. My Zune collection was organized PERFECTLY. All my music was neatly labeled and tagged, and when I moved it to my HD7 it kept the same tags, album covers, and even recognized the artists by showing their pictures in the background during playback. With the 8x, I had to uninstall Zune, load up Windows Media Player (which I haven't used in nearly 3 years), and then re-tag ALL of my albums so they were organized properly. Syncing is a nightmare, but it's less nightmarish on WMP. Now I'm having problems with Xbox Music on my phone recognizing album artists properly. What the **** were you thinking, Microsoft?

[jasqid]

This is right up there with Apple iOS 6 MAPS fail. Clous sync is one thing... but NOBODY is going to use it with metered data plans. And for Gods' sake please bring back WiFi Sync

[vedichymn]

This is right up there with Apple iOS 6 MAPS fail. Clous sync is one thing... but NOBODY is going to use it with metered data plans. And for Gods' sake please bring back WiFi Sync

I think it's personally worse than that (as someone who upgraded my wife's phone to iOS 6), and there's almost no mention of it.

I still don't understand why I didn't see ANY reviews mention this. Either they didn't get a copy of the sync software (possible), or they didn't actually use it the way a real person would.

[GSOgymrat]

At least you guys can at least get your phones to connect to your computer. I can't get my Lumia 920 to connect to ANY computer or my Surface. I can't get past square one.

[dudedud]

They probably DIDNT use it. Most reviews say "These are the specs this is it compared to the iPhone it looks nice, it's fast. *end*" and then they touch on things that were hyped about.
I'm currently cleaning my music folder up and letting XBOX music re download all my Zune pass downloaded music, then im gonna have to delete all the Zune music :D
I'm thinking the file explorer in windows 8 will work well for organizing the music once it's all said and done.
I guess they did this to appeal to the android nerds who said that WP7 sucks because there is no drag and drop.

---------- Post Merged at 04:58 AM ----------

At least you guys can at least get your phones to connect to your computer. I can't get my Lumia 920 to connect to ANY computer or my Surface. I can't get past square one.

That sounds like a hardware issue.

[OptimusDims]

Is there a way you can get Xbox Music to download all your Zune pass content with kicking everything off manually?