Microsoft Zune Pass

Zune Pass – What is it?

Several years ago Microsoft came out with their Zune mp3 player to compete with Apple’s iPod devices. It’s had moderate success.

To boost sales, Microsoft created a new subscription service called Zune Pass. For $15/mo, you have access to almost every song ever made. You can download songs, albums, and even full play lists from the Zune software with a single click.

If you ever cancel your service the Zune software will delete all the music you have downloaded.

The Nuvo M3 Music Server

The Nuvo M3 is a music server that ties into our Grand Concerto and Essentia multi-room audio systems. It stores your entire music collection and allows you to access it in any room of your home.

My Tests

I had 3 things I wanted to test after Steve let me know about the Zune Pass service:

1. Could we store and play the music we acquired from Zune on the M3.
2. What would happen if we canceled our Zune subscription.
3. Syncing the M3 after canceling our Zune subsection.

Test 1 – Syncing our Zune music collection onto the Nuvo M3

This was actually incredibly easy to do. The M3 uses Windows Media Player to sync its music. Since both Zune and Windows Media Player are made by Microsoft the music I downloaded in Zune automatically appeared in WMP. It was then as simple as dragging the music onto the M3.

After the sync finished, I went to my audio keypad and pulled up the new music. I was able to access it just like any of my other music. The downloaded music sounded great on my Episode A6 in-ceiling speakers.

In total I had downloaded about 1,000 songs and created 3 playlists from those songs.

Test 2 – Canceling the Zune Subscription

I had signed up for the Zune 14 day free trial. For this test I let my trial end and then canceled my service.

When I canceled, Zune told me it would delete the music I had downloaded. It did delete the songs it had provided, but did not touch any of my other songs that I previously had acquired.

After Zune was off my computer I went back to the Nuvo system. Since I did not do a sync after canceling, the M3 did not know my subscription had expired. I still had access to all the songs I had downloaded. They all continued to play for the week of testing after I canceled my subscription (and would have continued to play if not for Test #3).

While not legal, it would be theoretically possible to download 20,000 songs during your free trial, sync them to your M3, then cancel your subscription. You would then have a huge music library at your fingertips for free.

Test 3 – Syncing the M3 after the subscription was up

As expected, WMP deleted my Zune content from my M3 on the next sync.

The integration between the Zune service and M3 is outstanding. Zune allows you to quickly and easily build your music collection, while the M3 allows you to share your collection throughout your home.