Kurt Shintaku's Blog

First all, if you own a Zune and you listen to a lot of podcasts, you probably won’t want to miss this desktop software update for the Zune.  It purportedly has a lot of podcasting related fixes.  (I know that occasionally I’ll get certain podcasts registered twice in the desktop Zune software. 

Personally, I use my Zune primarily to listen to podcasts, and podcasts alone.  (I’ve only recently really started to load up more than a gigabyte of music on my 8GB flash-based device.)  In fact, I should probably do an entry highlighting the IT related podcasts I listen to as some point.

The software update’s available here:

Zune Desktop Software 2.3 Download
DOWNLOAD: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7313338

I discovered this interesting tool that got created because metadata was apparently getting lost in the past with versions of the desktop software prior to 2.1.  It shouldn’t be run unless you have bad metadata in your songs. (Instructions here:  http://support.microsoft.com/?id=945319)

Zune Media Collection Reset tool
DOWNLOAD:  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=105882

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WHAT GOT UPDATED
<taken from http://forums.zune.net/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=125458>

Here’s the list of fixes in this update:

• Fixed top crashing bugs submitted by users
• Fixed bug where Zune software thinks the device memory is full (but isn’t)

Key Marketplace fixes

• Allow users to view top music videos in marketplace
• Misc improved error messaging including splitting sign-in issues into 4 separate errors for customer and support benefit
• Resolved most cases where retrieval of subscription download history stalls
• Better handling of accounts that have expired credit cards
• Podcasts with spaces in their name can now be subscribed to
• Marketplace no longer blocks explicit content purchases when parental controls are set to allow
• Points balance label is now updated when user purchases new points

Key Player UI fixes

• Allow zooming in/out (2x, 4x, fullscreen) during video playback to prevent stretched playback
• Ability to switch Zune to GDI mode through command-line parameter

Key Podcast fixes

• Allow subscriptions to podcasts larger than 10MB
• Fixed some parsing errors that prevented some podcasts from syncing to the device
• Fixed bug where podcasts were unsubscribing themselves

Key Setup fixes

• Fixed numerous bugs affecting build to build upgrades
• Improved installation for users accessing from corporate networks
• Fixed driver uninstall failures
• Included device 2.3 firmware in client download
• Failure in creating system restore point no longer blocks client installation

Key Sync fixes

• Fixed issues with reverse sync
• Fixes issues with sync meter UI showing incorrect information as to what is on the device
• Fixed issues using wireless sync with multiple devices to the same PC
• Fixed a few different issues setting up wireless sync
• Device is no longer being reported as full even after deleting large file from device
• Device content is no longer being turned into guest content when it shouldn’t be
• Content with bad metadata now shows properly so it can be removed from device
• Turning off “autolaunch when a Zune device is connected” no longer prevents “Sync Now” from working from a wirelessly connected device
• Podcast bookmarking is now transferred/saved to the device
• Wireless sync connection continues to work after rebooting host computer
• Unsubscribe podcast from device now works properly
• Changing album art in the client now updates the device as well
• Duplicate tracks are no longer synced to the device twice

Key Xbox Streaming bug fixes

• Xbox Streaming now monitors the rip folder if user changes default location
• No need to reinstall client to fix Xbox Streaming when upgrading from XP to Vista

Key Infrastructure fixes

• Vista x64 customers can now get to web help from error messages
• Client no longer crashes if database is corrupted

Key Library fixes

• Changes in pictures or video metadata made outside client will now get updated in the library
• UI is now smoother during file groveling
• When a track is added to an album we will now always update the track on disc
• User can now update album art for marketplace tracks
• ‘Unknown Artist’ metadata is no longer written to files when writing out user edit of album name
• Renaming  an artist now more reliably keeps the change
• Two different copies of the same album no longer get duplicated down to one when it shouldn’t
• Access violation no longer occurs when checking song properties in the burn list
• Multi-disc albums imported from iTunes no longer show in the client as a single disc album
• Thumbnails for video content now extract on XP properly