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Still limited on the number of files on my Zune 120

Well Microsoft changed their error syncing page to no longer include a mention that the Zune will only allow a certain number of files that they don’t specify a specific number still. So I tried syncing a large number of audio only podcasts & I ran into the same issue I have had with the Zune 120, that is I have about 50% of the space unused & I can’t get the podcasts I want on it because I’m limited by something other than available storage space.

This is the 21st century last time I checked & we are not using the FAT16 file system anymore. Heck the most that FAT16 could deal with was 4 GB on Windows NT 4 (You could make a 4 GB FAT16 partition the issues were that no other OS at the time could read it & the cluster size was 64 KB, this was an issue because a file that was 1 KB wasted 63 KB of space.) They fixed some of the issues with FAT16 when they released FAT32 as the file size limit was raised from 2 GB to 4 GB, the limit of 512 entries in the root was raised to supposedly unlimited according to Microsoft.

Everything I’m seeing indicates that the current generation of file systems can deal with 120 GB of data, heck I have two 1 TB hard drives so it makes even less sense to me that they have a limit on the number of files. I really wish they would just fix this or at the very least admit that they have a limit & what the actual limit is.

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blog Microsoft Zune Zune software

A new feature in the Zune 4.0 software that I just noticed

In an attempt to check if they have done something about the file count limit that had appeared in previous versions of the firmware I decided today to test that by syncing all unplayed episodes of several of my audio only podcasts to my Zune. In doing that I discovered a new feature, it looks like the software gives a visual representation of what percentage the additional files will take up on the Zune that is being synced. It shows up as orange on my computer, & it doesn’t say what the expected space is in any way other than the way the bars normally show up using space.

This goes as one of the many features that was never mentioned. My only wish now is that they fix the issues that I’ve run into with the software so far.

I’ll make another post after I find out if it runs into a file count issue on the Zune when the sync finishes.

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Daylight Savings Time

If you have frequented my site over time you would see that I had been having the future Daylight Savings Time AKA DST listed for when they happen in the State of Utah. I have found that for performance reasons that was a bad idea to implement on every page & post so I have relocated it so that it only shows up in one page.

You should now see it under my pages, assuming you are not seeing a cached page.

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blog Microsoft Zune Zune software

More issues with the 4.0 software

Well I decided to do some pruning on all of the podcasts I was subscribed to so I un-subscribed from several podcasts & since I knew that prior version would leave an empty folder I decided to go & make sure the folder was deleted as it should be when I tell the software to un-subscribe & delete a podcast, but it turns out that for some reason the folder was still full of every episode I had downloaded. Why it makes no sense to keep files that I specifically told the software to delete.

Even more infuriating is the software then tried to download the episodes of the series I just deleted. Which makes me wonder if it is that ZuneStore.sdf file getting messed up. I hope it is I also hope they release a patch soon that fixes those issues.

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More on the Zune 4.0 & related stuff

Well I just made another large post on the Zune forums about the issues I’ve had with the 4.0 software & other related stuff. It made me realize I forgot to mention another issue is they seem to be abandoning the pre Zune HD hardware. It looks like they are going to only be releasing apps for the Zune HD which means back when “Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson” said that were doing XNA for the Zune that they dropped support for the originals or they are taking the back burner, IE the apps in the Zune Marketplace are only for the Zune HD at the time of this post with no indication of that ever changing. I really want to know which it is & why. I figure part of it is the new device has a much more powerful processor but beyond that I don’t see a reason why they would do that.

This is one of those issues I’d just like them to address as to what their plans are. I like having my expectations set as that makes me happier.

Oh I just thought of another issue that I’ve had with the Zune software for some time why do we only have unrated, broken heart & heart. I like the way that Netflix does the rating system better. Unrated, Not Interested, or a 1-5 star rating. I guess in the case of the Zune software that sort of arrangement would make more sense. Then we would have something like not rated, broken heart, or 1-5 hearts. That makes more sense to me then the current broken system. One more thing I don’t care that to someone else 1 star means a different thing to them since no one has said this is what they mean in the software. I think that is something else that Netflix has done better 1 star = Hated it, 2 stars = “didn’t like it”, 3 stars = “Liked it”, 4 stars = “really liked it”, & 5 stars = “Loved it”. So if you would just say what you think the different stars mean like they did you would have less confusion as you would have set the expectations of everybody. I remember back when I was trained to do support for Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition that one of the key points to making the customers happy was setting expectations.

Also does the software have to keep all the past downloads listed. The only way I’ve found to clear that list is to close the software. One more thing I just remember why after I finish a video or a piece of music does it still want to play it again & keep switching between showing that & the downloads at the same time in the area it used to in prior versions if you finished watching or listing to a single podcast episode just stop saying you are playing what ever it was you just finished. I like it showing when I’m playing but after I finish I want it to go away like it used to.