First prize in the ugly pageant
Via BoingBoing: Seriously. Could the Zune be any less attractive?
Zune’s wireless sharing is described by Microsoft with a footnote – indicating that “the Zune to Zune sharing feature may not be available for all audio files on your device”.
Curious about this, I conducted a test of my own. I pulled down the top 50 songs downloaded from Zune Marketplace, using my Zune Pass subscription. I then created a playlist of those 50 songs, and attempted to wirelessly send the whole playlist to my wife’s Zune.
When the transfer completed, a message appeared on my player: “Can’t send some songs because of rights restrictions. 29 of 50 songs sent to Carrie’s Zune”.
Some Zune songs are untransferable. These songs are not flagged as such when you buy them. “Welcome to the Social,” indeed.
Of course, Zune Articles provides some solutions for how to make this situation better. They nevertheless lack the best one – don’t buy a Zune. Seriously, just about any mp3 player would be better.