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Now where did I put that download?
Why does Microsoft make it so hard to find some stuff on XBLM?
I'm down at Sharon's and since she has a better Internet connection than my download-quota-restricted, uber-lagged satellite connection at the house I tend to save my 'iffy' downloads and browsing for when I'm down here. I was having trouble sleeping the other night and got up to play a little Portal and Mass Effect. I can't play games as soon as I get out of bed, so I was just nosing around the XBLM to see what I may have missed while I woke up enough to focus on the games. I happened to catch a banner promoting content for one of my favorite bands, Dream Theater, so I clicked on it and saw several free videos, a free theme, and free GamerPics. (Due to Rock Band and my new found interest in drums, that's their drummer Mike Portnoy that I'm using now)
When Sharon got up I wanted to show it to her, since she is a DT fan too. I headed straight to the Music Videos section and didn't see anything. So I started scouring the entire menu system for it. It was nowhere to be found. I eventually saw the banner again and got to it that way, but it doesn't seem to be accessible any other way.
I don't expect to see Major Nelson publish about every little thing that hits the marketplace, there is just too much stuff for that to be reasonable. MS has done a decent job of reorganizing and cross linking content so that it is more accessible lately. It would be nice, however, if stuff like this was obtainable just by surfing around the menus. What happens when this current batch of banners rotates out? Is it just going to disappear? Just how lucky was I that I couldn't sleep that night?
It's not just me, although this is an extreme case. I've seen comments galore on Nelson's blog about stuff being difficult to find. Sometimes it's just new stuff that doesn't get put in the 'New Release' section right away, but a lot of times it's just general stuff that isn't found in any menu. It happens often enough that I have a hard time believing it's simply an oversight every time. I have no problems if the content is time limited, but I think they ought to tag it as such. That way when I see it I would understand why it may not be pushed to the full menu system.
It just makes me wonder what other content I may have missed, from just not knowing about it.
I'm down at Sharon's and since she has a better Internet connection than my download-quota-restricted, uber-lagged satellite connection at the house I tend to save my 'iffy' downloads and browsing for when I'm down here. I was having trouble sleeping the other night and got up to play a little Portal and Mass Effect. I can't play games as soon as I get out of bed, so I was just nosing around the XBLM to see what I may have missed while I woke up enough to focus on the games. I happened to catch a banner promoting content for one of my favorite bands, Dream Theater, so I clicked on it and saw several free videos, a free theme, and free GamerPics. (Due to Rock Band and my new found interest in drums, that's their drummer Mike Portnoy that I'm using now)
When Sharon got up I wanted to show it to her, since she is a DT fan too. I headed straight to the Music Videos section and didn't see anything. So I started scouring the entire menu system for it. It was nowhere to be found. I eventually saw the banner again and got to it that way, but it doesn't seem to be accessible any other way.
I don't expect to see Major Nelson publish about every little thing that hits the marketplace, there is just too much stuff for that to be reasonable. MS has done a decent job of reorganizing and cross linking content so that it is more accessible lately. It would be nice, however, if stuff like this was obtainable just by surfing around the menus. What happens when this current batch of banners rotates out? Is it just going to disappear? Just how lucky was I that I couldn't sleep that night?
It's not just me, although this is an extreme case. I've seen comments galore on Nelson's blog about stuff being difficult to find. Sometimes it's just new stuff that doesn't get put in the 'New Release' section right away, but a lot of times it's just general stuff that isn't found in any menu. It happens often enough that I have a hard time believing it's simply an oversight every time. I have no problems if the content is time limited, but I think they ought to tag it as such. That way when I see it I would understand why it may not be pushed to the full menu system.
It just makes me wonder what other content I may have missed, from just not knowing about it.
I think the banner you saw was the "Artist of the Month," (though now that I'm looking for it, I can't find it on their webpage, but it does exist). In which case, the banners are the only way I know to find and download the content. I think that previous months' content is not available either. It is kind of like the iTunes free song of the week (assuming they run the promotion still). Live looks benevolent in giving away free content, and the band gets a bunch of face time, all at next to no production cost (take already made content and convert it to the right format).
I have had a similar situation, though I spent very little time investigating it. I don't know where you find the iPod or optional media downloads. Turns out the media download will pop up when you play a video needing it.
Dang!! I used to know exactly where the iPod stuff is before they rearranged everything, and I just saw it the other day when I nosing around. I can't remember now. I think it may be somewhere in the Music Store section. That's where I spent most of my time, looking for Dream Theater and it just makes sense that it would be with the music. It's under the menu titled "Optional Downloads" or something like that. May be in a "Free" section.
Artist of the Month sounds about right, and I can understand why that isn't in the regular menu system. Although it would have been nice to have it tagged that way. Sharon would have missed it if I had just told her about it and let her go find it at her convenience.
But your example is similar to many I've seen. There is nothing to indicate where the downloads are. Since all of that is "Media Center" type stuff, you would think they would create a "Media Center Downloads" section to stick it all in instead of putting it here and there or just have it pop-up when you need it without any indication that it will do that.
I think MS does a great job with the Marketplace and getting content out there, but organization has always been a weak point for MS, IMHO. For example, has any one ever tried to find the Registry Editor in Windows? I don't know of anybody that doesn't use the "Run" window to launch it because it's nowhere/impossible to be found. Now granted that is an extreme example since most people have no idea what regedit is much less have any business playing with it, but still.