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Wish I would have known I can't stream my own music without a subscription before purchasing. Likely would not have paid for my Sense if I knew it had less music functionality than my Ionic. Ridiculous.
I'll chime in. I've had my Sense for a while now and just got my first truly wireless earbuds. I was excited that I could pair them to my Sense. Only then did I learn that I cannot transfer my own MP3s or other sound files, nor can I download playlists from my authorized, connected Spotify account. The Spotify app is just a nifty remote control. I believe that a music app should actually play music.
I can track my outdoor activity with onboard GPS and connect my bluetooth earbuds, no phone required. However, no sound/music will come from the earbuds. I don't understand why I can connect earbuds at all; if not for audio entertainment, then what? I'd be better off pairing them to my phone which would be necessary anyway.
Poor anticipation of use-case scenario, Fitbit. I get that licensing issues may be complicated, but I should at least be able to use my own MP3s.
@AmyFitbit hi, almost a thousand likes on this based from unhappy customers or missed sales. Is this enough to get this feature fixed or are we wasting our our time ? Thanks much!
Really angry to find that music and podcast storage is removed. A huge backwards step on how people use these devices. You really should be listening to your customers. I and taking my versa 3 back unless an update is announced on this.
I have had numerous Fitbit wearables over the years. However, after the current team of creative geniuses decided to remove the music download feature on future models, I was forced to purchase a new Versa 2. Once this Versa 2 stops working, it will be time to put up the white flag and switch to an iPhone and Apple Watch. On a positive note, Fitbit should receive compensation from the streaming media companies. That should overcompensate for those who switch to other products.
Over the years I have gone Flex -> Charge HR -> Surge -> Ionic and finally now to the Sense after the gps on my Ionic started playing up. With each new unit, I’ve always been impressed with the ambition, but disappointed with the reality; the Ionic’s well-documented issues with Bluetooth range a great case in point (I even bought the Flyer earphones especially, but often suffered the same unreliable connection). This lack of on board music storage on the Sense though really does take the biscuit, completely undermining the value of the watch to anyone who likes to listen to music while running. Unfortunately for me, it never occurred to me that Fitbit would make such an absurdly stupid move as to remove this functionality until after my purchase. I’m back to carrying my phone with me now; wearing the Sense doesn’t really add any value over that anymore. A crushing blow for Fitbit’s market share in my view.
On the Twitter thread, the support bot (I guess it's a real person) said they were told that there is not enough storage space on the Versa 3/Sense to allow music downloads. If that is the case, what was left unsaid is that the company wanted to keep the price point at a certain level, so they had to abandon a feature they thought we wouldn't miss. Allowing for more storage might have made the watch a little more expensive, or horrors, slightly larger, and we they thought we just wouldn't stand for either. They could not have been more wrong.
I do not see this as a storage issue. My Versa 3 reports almost 3 GB of free space. If that is massively wrong, [sensored (sic)]. But, let's trust the watch and assume they have a massively inefficient OS that needs 2 of those GB for paging memory files. That still leaves 1 GB for me to use. Most of my music is compressed so a single track takes up about 5 MB. I should be able to store 100 - 200 tracks and a music player in that free space! I'd be perfectly happy with 50 - 100 tracks stored locally.
I AM LITERALLY just returning the watch right now, finding out I can't go running without my phone. HOW SMART can you be to not include music downloading in you flagship product? What's even more RIDICULOUS is that I am paying for Spotify - but you can only download on Deezer. How so so so stupid is that? That you make an exclusive deal with Spotify, but don't even have the capacity to write a simple piece of code for allowing downloads? Well, you're not getting my money, and its your greediness that caused it. Have a nice day.
I bought the Versa 3 recently. £200 worth of watch with music functionality... But, when I bought it I wasn't told that I'd have to spend an additional £156 per year (cheapest plan) just to be able to listen to music whilst I am out running without my phone. If I have to take my phone with me when I run then the watch is pointless.
I bought the Versa 3 specifically because of the music capabilities and GPS tracking. The idea was to be able to leave my phone at home for security and comfort so I didn't have to carry it when running and risk getting it stolen or lost/broken if I fell. But, I cant listen to music without paying nearly the cost of the watch again every single year. In addition, some of the audio that I want to listen to isn't even on Deezer or Spotify making it even more atrocious that we are forced to pay for these subscriptions.
My other gripe with the watch; it won't sync with MapMyRun, despite MMR being advertised on the website. £200 watch that is now a pointless accessory and a waste of my hard earned money without these features. Especially the music.
Over 1000 votes and over 600 comments on this one thread alone, just to get music on the watches as we were promised without extortionate subscription fees every year. Started in August last year, why has nothing been done yet, no update Fitbit? Does this mean nothing will be done? I can't imagine the amount of people that have read the thousands of reviews online about this trick and gone with another brand. I wish I had have now, but I was sucked in by Fitbit's false advertising. This surely goes against trading standards. I will be aiming to return the watch, although I don't think I can now as I still believed that it was possible after seeing people do it. I have now found out it was the previous model that was actually better... although no GPS.
Part of the reason I upgraded from the versa lite to the Versa 3 is because I wanted to have a built-in GPS for running and be able to load running playlists so I can ditch my phone while I run. I finally get around to loading music and find out that my only options are spotify, deezer, or pandora. I really don't think this is a space issue, I think Fitbit sold out to make more money by partnering with music streaming services. Unless this is fixed my next smartwatch won't be a FitBit.
I agree that Fitbit seems to have agreements with the 3 steaming services which means the previous store-own-music app will not return, but what cheeses me off is I pay $$ subscription to Spotify and my watch only acts as a controller...still need my mobile phone with me!!! Grrr bigtime FITBIT!!!!!!
I am so unhappy I bought this watch. Read about it and saw that music could be stored and now that I spent $$$ find out it is not possible. Will never buy another.
"Thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about allowing the Sense to storage your music with us. We rely on feedback like yours to help us develop products and features that we know our community wants to see. If this suggestion receives votes from other customers and gains popularity, it will be shared internally with various teams at Fitbit."
So here we are in April 2020
622 members of the community have supported the request with posts
With so much competition, great way to alienate all future and current customers Fitbit! It is completely asinine that a company would remove a major feature without polling current customers. There are too many other choices out there and as you can see, people are cancelling orders, returning devices, and trashing the new devices all over the Internet. I also think it is stupid to not be able to use your laptop/desktop to set up your Fitbit in the new models. Not everyone wants to deal with tedious, tiny, smart phone screens, when it is so much easier to use a larger screen and a mouse to get things done. Really poor market research and planning for customer retention. Eventually the old models with the good functionality will cease to be produced and everyone will go to another brand to get what they want. Guess you don't care now that your stock isn't tradeable anymore and you are under the Google umbrella. Hopefully the head of product design will lose their job when this all bites you in the a$$.
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