Once again, Microsoft wins the retard award
In a similar (and related) frustration to previous annoyances, I am absolutely baffled and befuddled by Microsoft's decisions regarding the Xbox 360 interface.
Here are the things you need to know:
1) The Xbox 360 can function as a video player (for recognized formats) and a music player
2) It comes pre-loaded with a few songs and a few clips on the hard drive
3) It has a "save playlist" feature for the music
4) It can be set up to network with a local computer to play music from there
*Intermission* Hey, that sounds great! What's the catch?
5) You can't save a playlist for songs that aren't on the console's hard drive
6) Every time you try to play music, the console defaults to its own content, rather than network content
7) You cannot transfer music between console and computer via a network connection -- not even with a PC running Windows Media Center.
So here you have all these great features, that would just be peachy keen if you could actually load music onto the console, but instead it would appear the only way to get them there is to rip audio CDs directly (see link above), one after the other. Let's journey to a fantasy land where I own all the CDs for the music I listen to. I still wouldn't want to rip all of them twice!
Why am I so concerned? Well, frankly, I was looking forward to actually having a way to play music while I reformatted Johnny this weekend. Now I'll either have to improvise, or suffer through my limited CD collection and silence.
Here are the things you need to know:
1) The Xbox 360 can function as a video player (for recognized formats) and a music player
2) It comes pre-loaded with a few songs and a few clips on the hard drive
3) It has a "save playlist" feature for the music
4) It can be set up to network with a local computer to play music from there
*Intermission* Hey, that sounds great! What's the catch?
5) You can't save a playlist for songs that aren't on the console's hard drive
6) Every time you try to play music, the console defaults to its own content, rather than network content
7) You cannot transfer music between console and computer via a network connection -- not even with a PC running Windows Media Center.
So here you have all these great features, that would just be peachy keen if you could actually load music onto the console, but instead it would appear the only way to get them there is to rip audio CDs directly (see link above), one after the other. Let's journey to a fantasy land where I own all the CDs for the music I listen to. I still wouldn't want to rip all of them twice!
Why am I so concerned? Well, frankly, I was looking forward to actually having a way to play music while I reformatted Johnny this weekend. Now I'll either have to improvise, or suffer through my limited CD collection and silence.