I don’t know what version of Parallels it was but it was the current version at that time. It worked fine and I suspect it would work with VMWare Fusion too.

Hi James,

I came across your post from last year regarding running your Zune on a Macbook Pro with Parallels. I was wondering, what version of Parallels Desktop were you using? Were you able to get your Zune to sync?

Grateful for any info. There’s not much on the web about people trying to use a Zune on a Mac…

Jeff

Your Blog rocks!! Just wanted to share something with ya… one blogger to another…
There is this amazing site that I came across where u can make money by sharing information…check it out here’s the link http://www.myndnet.com/login.jsp?referral=alpa83&channel=XM

The coolest part is…every time ur information gets sold u get paid for it!!
I signed it for it.. very cool stuff… u can also mail me at barot.alpa@gmail.com

Cheers!
Alpa

bluemonq, it’s running Vista Ultimate under Parallels.

Hrmm, rest of my comment got cut off. Here it is:

Because if XP is being virtualized, then that clears everything up, doesn’t it?

1) Zune works fine for you in Windows XP
2) Zune breaks with your Fujitsu running Vista
3) Zune works fine with your MBP, which is running Windows XP as a virutal machine.

James, I might have missed something, but on your MBP, what version of Windows is being virtualized, Vista or XP?

OMG!! What a mess! Drivers? Chipsets? DRM? For crying out loud! You’d think that the Zune team at Microsost would at least do lunch once with the Vista team to make sure that one works with the other! This is classic Microsoft. All of this nonsense about the problem being with the P1610. All can say is that, after spending six billion dollars on Vista development, at least Microsoft would have made sure stuff works with their so-callled “PC Partners”. Let’s here it for Apple’s vertical integration strategy!

So the virtual machine solution returned you to your Zune Zen. Thanks to virtualization, the computing world is no longer flat. You don’t have to choose sides. Keep your Macbook. Keep your Zune. Send Parallels a Thank You card and sleep well.

“I had a unique problem where one machine couldn’t browse the marketplace. AT ALL. Turns out it was because even though I joined our old NT 4 domain at work, somehow it didn’t give the domain user I was logging on proper privileges. If I’d log on as a local and not domain user, then the Zune store would work. Wacky.”

Not really so wacky or inexplicable — this is a rather mundane firewall issue, of the type responsible for probably upwards of 90% of instances of things online not working in a corporate setting.

That’s….weird. I haven’t heard of that happening to anyone yet. What kind of audio chipset does the 1610 have? So far I’ve installed the Zune software on my Dell at home (vista pre-installed), a T60p (vista business) and the odd ball, a Mac Pro running Vista 64-bit (Realtek audio). So far all of them have worked flawlessly.

Well…I can’t say flawlessly. I had a unique problem where one machine couldn’t browse the marketplace. AT ALL. Turns out it was because even though I joined our old NT 4 domain at work, somehow it didn’t give the domain user I was logging on proper privileges. If I’d log on as a local and not domain user, then the Zune store would work. Wacky.

I second the first comment. I have yet to try under the very latest release, but under the last update Apple did, the iPod performed WORSE. I first hooked it up and it says “optimizing 1 of 233 photos” 2 min later…. “optimizing 2 of 233 photos”….2 min later. Finally I unpluggd the thing in frustration.

“Ed, points well taken but according to the Zune tech support rep the P1610 (or any other hardware) should not be able to stream music nor sync it properly to the Zune player without also being able to play it on the P1610 itself.”

If that’s what your Zune tech rep said, then I’m afraid that he led you badly astray. Streaming music and syncing music does not require an audio driver, because it’s identical to streaming or syncing any other kind of file (and in fact the streamer or the syncer does not even have to know that it is working with audio).

Playing back, however, does require an audio driver. Thus, your problem did not even require much troubleshooting to identify (certainly not 20 hours!). It is clear that the problem is with the audio driver on your P1610.

Your tech support guy was a ringer. He had no clue what he was talking about. This is especially evidenced by the fact that he started accepting YOUR theories, based on the popular buzz about a product rather than any technical principle (through no fault of your own, you’re not the tech support guy), and HE just says ‘Maybe so…’?

This guy doesn’t have a clue about anything, sorry to say. Ed Bott is right. The Zune might be useful to you, but you had what is probably a minor issue that should have been answered with a simple ‘Wait for Fujitsu to patch their Vista audio driver’ and got screwed into a hole by tech support.

This happens often with many companies. So I suggest you double-check anything said by a corporate stooge with a local geek who isn’t eager to get you off the phone.

OK, let me know when you have anything to support your assertion that this is even remotely related to DRM. It’s not, IMO. The end user experience is awful, I agree. If you would stop at that and not try to blame it on DRM, I would be happy to let go of this issue.

Ah hell, I’ll let go of it anyway. Just send me an email if you ever want to share some actual links that support your belief that DRM is behind this.

James, your experience with Vista is just one of the examples I use for not running headlong where angels fear to tread. Even though it is the **AAs that are driving DRM, MS seems to be embracing it with their agreement to give proceeds from every Zune sale to Universal. (Apple fanboys note that iPods do DRM, too.) With DRM issues and user accounts and user security being all over the map as far as user experiences go, Vista is for damned sure not ready for prime time.

Woadan

Ed, I am not confused. I wrote this post from the viewpoint of an end-user, which in this case I am. I bought a computer that was tagged as “Vista capable”, waited until the OEM released Vista compatible drivers, upgraded to the latest OS from Microsoft, and the Microsoft created Zune software broke. It is the only software that doesn’t work at this point, although several other pieces of MS code gave me trouble too. It is almost certainly a driver issue, I’ve made that clear. The end-user experience is the same, I can’t use the Zune on my PC running Vista.

I am very aware what a virtual machine is, I’ve used them many times. I agree with you that this proves the Zune software can run under Vista, the Mac experience does prove that. In the end it doesn’t matter why it works from the end-user experience. When the Zune was first announced I wrote a piece here on this site that stated that since the Zune was a mainstream consumer electronics device that if Microsoft didn’t make the usage as bullet-proof as that of the iPod then it would fail.

This whole situation is a killer for the average consumer, and that’s my whole point with this. I have no doubt that a room full of experts could get this working, but after wasting over 20 hours myself I’m done with it. And I’m sure I lasted a lot longer than most consumers would have.

>>>I was about to sell my Zune player due to the inability to use the software as intended

Ho! Welcome to the Anti-Social!

You know you really want an iPod.

It goes good with Mac!

Oh, I’m such a tempter. But, ahem!, you’ve already bitten into the Apple!

Har-har!

James, here’s where you’re getting confused:

“It worked on XP, doesn’t work under Vista, does work on the Mac…”

No, it doesn’t work on the Mac. It works on Windows Vista running on a virtual machine. It would almost certainly work if you were to install the software on Parallels Desktop for the PC as well. When you run Parallels on a Mac, you are creating the equivalent of a generic PC. Generic video hardware, audio hardware, etc. In other words, it is a different machine.

What you have established is that the Zune software doesn’t work on your hardware and it does work when you install it on different hardware. Which happens to be virtual. In fact, by running it on Vista in the Parallels VM, you have established that the software *does* work under Vista. I don’t own a Zune and I’m not trying to defend it. But your statement is simply not correct.

You write: “I have read online that Vista DRM is incorporated into the device driver level.” And I can tell you authoritatively that is not true. I think I know the article you;re talking about, which is a sensationalist bit of claptrap riddled with errors. Unfortunately, it has now been accepted as gospel despite its fact-free nature. If you can give me a link, I’ll be happy to read the page in question and see what the discrepancy is.

This is why most people who buy an Apple product are pretty happy with it – it just works and you don’t spend a lot of reloading the OS (whether it’s the portable mp3 player or the computer). My three computers running OSX for an agreggate of 15 years now have had exactly 1 OS reload – most Pc users would find that hard to believe. At work, I have not gone a full year without at least 1-4 full OS reload in 10 consecutive years.

That’s just a fact of life with Win – if you are okay with the need to constant tweak and fiddle with it – great – no one is telling you to switch but if you find it tiring or wearing – there’s always the Mac.