Nearly a year in and still a huge hole in the Surface armor!

[pwaggs]

Ok, so one year in and I love my Surface RT. No real regrets and the computer is better than I had anticipated. I don't like the fact that there is no functioning USB to Ethernet adapter, however, my number one issue is a non problem that Microsoft solved years ago and then abandoned with the Surface. So frustrating. My number one issue is the lack of a coherent and robust podcatcher. I had thought that the ecosystem should come with a Podcast player under the Music app, however, I bought into the idea that MS was leaving that to developers. In fact they have not and are blocking their efforts to make a robust podcaster not letting them access the SD card for storage etc. What makes this most frustrating is the fact that Zune was/is the perfect podcaster. Zune offered all of the bells and whistles in a seamless and elegant fashion. Users loved. I love the Surface, but am having a hard time justifying upgrading when one of the most fundamental issues still has not been addressed.

 

[jnjroach]

PODCASTS! is available in the store as are others, Windows 8.1 makes using the SD Card for storage much easier as well as the SkyDrive.

 

[pwaggs]

Podcaster

Podcasts! Is nice, but not great. I am a paid user of both the Surface and Windows Phone (Lumia) variants. Podcasts! Is the best yet, however, it has so many holes it is hardly robust. One of my largest gripes is that it needs to sync wireless or over the air before it allows you to do anything. Terrible for air travelers. I just want my old Zune functionality back.

 

[jnjroach]

Zune was written in Silverlight and didn't run very efficiently as an App, but it had great features. It may take the Xbox music team to catch up but the are adding features regularly.