VCAST Music Disables MP3 Playback
Class Action #2!!!!
It is 100% illegal for Verizon to sell a device with a feature, and then take that feature from the customer with a software update. The customer bought the phone based on the functionality it had at the time of purchase and NEVER agreed to forfit those features at a future time. This will DEFINATELY lead to a lawsuit.
Great move Verizon. 🙄
You just lost 6 loyal customers to Sprint. My entire family will be leaving once our contracts expire.
Alltel did something similar (maybe it was nokia's fault) with the Nokia 6255i. With the newest update they fixed the MMS sending but took away the games and collections menus, which held user installed games and programs. You could still download the programs from alltels Axxess Apps...
I needed an update on my Moto V710 for the buggy software on it, and it disabled my MP3 player..... anybody remember that?
If VZW doesn't do that again, it isn't a problem. If they do, they deserve to lose many customers over yet another stupid limitation.
Someday they may stop doing this. Then I will be happy to be a customer again.
What if you used your phone to send text messages and when you downloaded VCast you found that text messaging didn't work anymore?
VzwRsR said:
lol... your jokeing right? it is called a optional software upgrade for a reason. you do not HAVE to flash your software. IF you intend on useing the optional vcast music then you will need to flash your software. Also your telling us that all six of your family members who would pay 15$ a month to use vcast music are going to leave VZW bexause they chose to use WMA over your existing MP3.. Finally the original lawsuit was over a non disclosure how is telling you that you will need to upgrade your software to their new premium content against the law.
No, I'm not joking. Optional software update, my a$$. Take the 8100, for example. Version 06 of the software supposedly fixes the volume issue,...
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"I didn't read the terms and conditions but I am going to sue anyway"
Let's all sue McDonalds, too, because although their nutrition guide guide discloses the fat content in a Big Mac, the people at the drive through don't read me all the nutrition information and ask me if I agree with the purchase prior to telling me to drive through to window #1.
I am going to cancel my cable account because they didn't tell me that the coax cable was black. Blue is my favorite color. so I am going to end my service and sue them.
hybrid22 said:
thats such bull****! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..
Oh, I am waiting until I find out it is certain. I have to wait until my contracts expire in order to make any kind of move anyway. And there is no question, in my market, that Sprint is every bit as good as Verizon -- and they don't cripple features on their phones. DUN - Permitted on Sprint; MP3 - Also Permitted on Sprint.
And, for your infor...
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SForsyth01 said:...hybrid22 said:
thats such bull****! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..
Oh, I am waiting until I find out it is certain. I have to wait until my contracts expire in order to make any kind of move anyway. And there is no question, in my market, that Sprint is every bit as good as Verizon -- and they don't cripple features on their phones. DUN - Permitted on Sprint; MP3 - Also Permitte
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SystemShock said:...SForsyth01 said:hybrid22 said:
thats such bull****! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..
Oh, I am waiting until I find out it is certain. I have to wait until my contracts expire in order to make any kind of move anyway. And there is no question, in my market, that Sprint is every bit as good as Verizon -- and they don't cripple features on their phones. DUN - Per
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Flash machines will have v04 and v07 versions of the software on the phone. Employees are being instructed to inform the customer it will disable mp3 playback and it is reversible.
turbodeuce said:
100% illegal? What law is this breaking?
Flash machines will have v04 and v07 versions of the software on the phone. Employees are being instructed to inform the customer it will disable mp3 playback and it is reversible.
What is illegal is to package this update with other FIXES for the phone. If a customer comes in with a problem with their phone, and the only fix is a software update -- that update will disable their MP3 player without their knowledge. Even IF the technician tells them the MP3 is being disabled, why should a customer have to deal with "bugs" in their phone (volume and camera issue with the 8100 is a perfect example) that this software fixes simply because they don't ...
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duckbutter said:
Don't count on the update fixing the bugs in the phone. Has anybody actually confirmed that it will.
Not saying this one does. I was just giving a hypothetical example. All future updates, including ones that include fixes, will have this VCast Music feature, thereby disabling the MP3 capability. That is what my problem with the situation is.
You also seem to assume that the flash's comeing up are bug fix's given that no public information has been given I find the reactions to the flash information to be overzealous imho.
It has been said before all the thousand of song you currrently legally own will be able to transfer to this service with the exception of .aac which even that has work arounds. But for the millions of subscribers that use a non ipod site to dl music (46percent of the market) they will be able to...
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VzwRsR said:...
yes the vzw before my name eludes to the fact I work for verzon.. I have also worked for sprint.. I fail to understand how being told "your going to lose mp3 compatibility if you CHOOSE to upgrade your phone to use our Vcast music" constitutes a breach of terms.
You also seem to assume that the flash's comeing up are bug fix's given that no public information has been given I find the reactions to the flash information to be overzealous imho.
It has been said before all the thousand of song you currrently legally own will be able to transfer to this service with the exception of .aac which even that has work arounds. But for the millions of subscribers that use a non ipod site to dl music (46percent of
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VzwRsR said:
that is incorrect.. if you plan on leaveing the internal memory and storeing songs your fooling yourself. I can see people rocking to two songs on a loop. No seriously you can and I will be useing up to a gig of external memory. As far as drag and drop I cannot comment on that before rollout but needless to say we have users covered and you will be given means to transfer hundreds of songs to your new WMA compliant cellphone effortlessly and in a way that doesn't take forever.
I know....I am going to have to do it via USB cable that I will have to buy from Verizon instead of simply inserting my memory card into the reader and placing songs on it. More money for Verizon. What else is new?
H...
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Phantom1 said:...
Here's what you fail to realize. The VCast Music system is not designed to disable the ability to play music from your memory card at all. Instead of you being able to play files tagged ".mp3" you will instead have to play files tagged ".wma" it isn't that difficult. You say it's 2 tedious steps...no it's not, it's the same thing you had to do to change iTunes into MP3. The compression will be better with WMA and you'll get more onto the card. You don't have to download them from VZW to use the card, just convert correctly. As it stands the 8100 reads .wma anyway without the software flash. As for your continued proclomation that "vzw doesn't tell you it will disable when you flash" next time you goto
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Also keep in mind that you can utilize the internal memory of the phone.
Also, given that your computer doesn't have built-in memory reader, like most of the inexpensive machines, you would've to purchase something anyway. I'd prefer a cable, it gives me more flexibility and I'm gonna fear loose the itty-bitty memory card somewhere on my table.
kvazzz said:
Also, given that your computer doesn't have built-in memory reader, like most of the inexpensive machines, you would've to purchase something anyway. I'd prefer a cable, it gives me more flexibility and I'm gonna fear loose the itty-bitty memory card somewhere on my table.
#1 - it sucks for everyone who already bought a memory card reader
#2 - The phone only has enough memory for about 5 songs
#3 - MY memory card reader is built into my printer, so I didn't have to buy anything extra to make it work and it would be nice if I still didn't have to. The only reason I have to now is because Verizon is out to make more money.
It's not always about you. 😛 Bummer, isn't it?
Think about people who still have no idea what's the difference between MP3 player and the Ipod. 😎.
Oh, and you forgot, what if I loose my card switching it?
kvazzz said:
Aren't you the lucky one?
It's not always about you. 😛 Bummer, isn't it?
Think about people who still have no idea what's the difference between MP3 player and the Ipod. 😎.
Oh, and you forgot, what if I loose my card switching it?
No, you are correct. It's never about the customer to Verizon. It's about revenue - that is the only reason they care about customer service is to increase revenue. They could care less if they screw them over.
And, if you lose your card - that's your own dumb fault for being irresponsible. Playing from a memory card is MUCH better as you can put many more songs on there. People will be VERY disgruntled only having the ability to store 2 to 4 s...
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SForsyth01 said:
And, if you lose your card - that's your own dumb fault for being irresponsible.
So you're argument is that Verizon should cater to your needs of being able to drag/drop files to your memory card and they should ignore the concern that someone could lose their memory card taking it in/out of the phone constantly? Basically, your (idiotic) concern trumps over someone else's (idiotic) concern? Hypocrisy is so wonderful isn't it?
temp_name said:SForsyth01 said:
And, if you lose your card - that's your own dumb fault for being irresponsible.
So you're argument is that Verizon should cater to your needs of being able to drag/drop files to your memory card and they should ignore the concern that someone could lose their memory card taking it in/out of the phone constantly? Basically, your (idiotic) concern trumps over someone else's (idiotic) concern? Hypocrisy is so wonderful isn't it?
No, you are missing the overall point of the discussion. THE POINT IS: Verizon is the SERVICE provider. They should not have control over how I can transfer anything to or from my phone. They should not be able to...
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Phantom1 said:
If you were smart...
...that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen!...
... customer service reps are the ones that have to listen to people like you complaining about the stupid things...
Better do your research before you make comments...
I think its that kind of nasty attitude that's part of why Forsyth is dumping Verizon for Sprint, as I've heard him discuss in other posts.
Let's put it this way... berating current customers is sure no way to help out the churn rate, bro...
SystemShock said:Phantom1 said:
If you were smart...
...that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen!...
... customer service reps are the ones that have to listen to people like you complaining about the stupid things...
Better do your research before you make comments...
I think its that kind of nasty attitude that's part of why Forsyth is dumping Verizon for Sprint, as I've heard him discuss in other posts.
Let's put it this way... berating current customers is sure no way to help out the churn rate, bro...
Thanks, Shock. You are exactly right. My issue is the revenue driven crippling of features by Verizon coupled with the horrible attitude of the VZW employe...
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I didn't have to buy any new equipment.
To me the benfits of the upgrade out weigh any of the other changes that occured with the upgrade. I consider the phone more of a viable music player now with the upgrade than it was prior to the upgrade.
The music is easier to manage and the volume is much better. And I still have the ability to play MP3's.
You DON't HAVE to get the software update UNLESS you WANT the new service that is to be OFFERED to the USER of the handset.
You want to keep the MP3 ? Don't BUY the new SERVICE.
clr7181 said:
Good luck filing that suit. Too bad you won't win it. Because the VCast Music was not offered at the time of your handset purchase. And the feature of the MP3 was available. And besides And you are not required to take the software update to get the VCast music capability. I wish you luck at Sprint. They don't offer half the features we do, nor the coverage area.
Sprint Coverage area: Not a problem - with roaming agreements they actually cover more than VZW. Check out the map:
http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/coverage/NatwideNe ... »...
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SForsyth01 said:
You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer.
True dat.
SForsyth01 said:What about vzw's business makes you think they want to be fair to the customer? We saw how they locked down bluetooth and are surprised when they lock the mp3's feature???
You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer.
The problem here is they allowed it then took it away.
vzw = shady business
What are your options? Send it in to the manufacturer. They will be able to take care of any issues like that. And if you aren't happy with that, well there's no making you happy. All you want to do is whine. My only other thing I have to say on this is that, if Verizon went ahead and launched VCast Music, and didn't offer any software upgrades to some existing VCast capable equipment, there would be even more B****ig because someone out there doesn't want to pay full retai...
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clr7181 said:...
"You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer."
What are your options? Send it in to the manufacturer. They will be able to take care of any issues like that. And if you aren't happy with that, well there's no making you happy. All you want to do is whine. My only other thing I have to say on this is that, if Verizon went ahead and launched VCast Music, and didn't offer any software upgrades to some existing VCast capable equipment, there would be even more B****ig because someone out th
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SForsyth01 said:Especially when the phone was originally sold with the capability.
Your best bet, as an obvious Verizon employee, would be to accept that the customer is entitled to certain things - and not losing functions on their phone in the process of getting something fixed is something that I feel they are entitled to. Pardon me for living. 🙄
If my fiance` went into a vzw store and asked for a refund because this feature, that was advertised with the phone was removed, she'd be laughed out of the store.
nikedabs said:
acutally the phone manufacturer does have the software. When there are problems with the software it's the phone manufacturer that comes out with the new software.
In a normal situation (where the carrier doesn't require a particular UI), you are correct. But, in Verizon's case, Verizon owns the UI. It is up to them to fix any issues with its implementation.
nikedabs said:
Read that last issue of Consumer reports buddy. Verizon was number on is every state except one.
Never said they weren't. I am just stating that there are good alternatives. People aren't stuck with Verizon due to their coverage as they used to be.
In my area, Cingular is equal to (if not better) than Verizon as far as Signal Strength is concerned. And Sprint is not far behind those 2.
Only being able to play WMA files is the kind of crap you're going to have to deal with if your provider gets in bed with Microsoft. And Microsoft these days seems to be all about DRM. At least Apple publically stated they don't like using it as evident by their most lax DRM scheme and them not suing the creator of JHymn (FairPlay DRM stripper).
Not meant to turn this into a Mac vs PC thread, but showing the sad reality of dealing with Microsoft.
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This forum is closed.