Music options on Fitbit Sense

[Bagrzeg]

I have a Fitbit ionic and have been pretty happy with it. I am starting to look at upgrading to the sense, but the fact that it cannot store music other than Pandora and Deezer might be a deal breaker for me if I am actually to consider this an "Upgrade". if I could choose the stations or playlists downloaded from Pandora this would not be an issue for me. I understand that I could do that with a premium subscription to Deezer, but I will not subscribe to them since Spotify is similar and my Fiancee prefers that. I prefer Pandora and I see no reason to have all 3 and I would certainly not consider it a reason just to be able to purchase Fitbit since there are other options available. I feel as though there would be 3 options that would resolve my concern. 1: be able to store music on the sense, 2: be able to choose my stations from Pandora instead of the top stations, or 3: allow downloads from Spotify. I have already voted for all of these ideas in the feature suggestion area. I understand that there is probably an issue in option 3 if there is no partnership with Spotify, but I am curious what are the actual limitations stopping option 1 or 2 from happening? for example, in option 2 is it a limitation on the Pandora side, and I should be asking them? or maybe a limitation of the agreement reached between Fitbit and Pandora? any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Rich_Laue]

Insight into what, @Bagrzeg the sense has not been setup to store personal music. We don't know what the reason is. 

[Bagrzeg]

Insight into why. I understand that it is not offered nor is it planned to be offered. I was just posting this in the hope that there would be someone in the community or someone from Fitbit who knows a little behind the reasoning. Even if it is as vague as saying it is due to agreements or technical limitations. That would be at least a minimum amount of information around reasoning. If no one knows why, that is fine. 

[hswolfmaniac]

I also had an Ionic, but it crapped out on me, and Fitbit was no longer supporting it so I had to get an upgrade.  I selected the Sense, but today I just discovered I could not download any music to the watch unless I paid a subscription to either Spotify, Pandora, or Deezer -- which I have no plans to do.  If the Sense is so upgradeable, why doesn't it have the capability to download music?  It seems whenever there is a so-called "upgrade" on a product, what was good previously is for some reason outdated on the next.  Fitbit needs to incorporate music into the Sense.

[BITFITBART]

The most likely answer in my mind is that they've monetized their relationships with the limited music platforms they support, e.g., Pandora music can be stored locally on your device, however, can only be downloaded from a paid subscription, Google/Fitbit likely take a small backend of subscription money.  

This new product (Sense) is a total piece of trash for this and so many other reasons.  

[Rich_Laue]

@BITFITBART Pandora has always required a paid subscription to store music locally. This is a requirement of Pandora, not Fitbit and Fitbit seems none of the money. We can rule out the money aspect for fitbit. 

[BITFITBART]

You've missed my point.

My point isn't that Pandora isn't free, my point is that local storage exists, but that there is no free means to place music files on it, only paid means.  Whereas there used to be, which is to say its feasible.  Why do away with a function that's free and useful to your customers and replace it with a walled garden other than to make money, Rich?

So, while I'm glad you can rule financial motivation out definitively as a factor, I'll just the same not take your assertion on faith.  

[Rich_Laue]

My point @BITFITBART*** is that we are simply fellow fitbit users, we do not know why for it has made the decisions they have made.

I was simply responding to your, Fitbit is greedy comment. 

We know as much as you do, since their has been no response from fitbit as to why. 

So why did fitbit make this decision? Like you, we don't know. What is your point? 

*** notice a proper tag of a user. 

[Bagrzeg]

I do also believe it should be feasible, and I think it is a feature that Fitbit should look into adding back (Hence voting for the suggestion), but we really do not know their reasons. I posted this specifically because I was curious as to why a couple of things that I think could be there are not in terms of music. I thought I might not be the only one curious. I could be wrong.

Maybe there is just not enough storage anymore for Deezer, Pandora, and a decent amount of personal music. Or maybe it is partially monetarily motivated somehow. Maybe it was required to keep partnerships with Pandora and Deezer. By not having personal music there is enough room for subscription paid storage of both Pandora and Deezer? I don't know.

Selfishly I don't really mind if there is no personal music (Although, again, I think it would be very helpful to many users). I am not really ever away from my phone and want to listen to music except to go running, and in those cases, Pandora may be able to work fine. But it has to have at least SOME flexibility. Restraining users to 3 stations that they have little direct control of is not great. @Rich_Laue Maybe you made a good point by mentioning the Pandora subscription. Maybe that piece of this issue is really on their side, since it is their subscription, and I should be talking to them. But I do not know, and that brings me back to why I posted this. I am looking to be pointed in the right direction, or have some closure as to why these things are not available.

[Rich_Laue]

I prefer audio books and fitbit has never had a good podcast player. 

[Soyerski123]

Do you really think that there may be any other reason for excluding option to store personal music on device than money FitBit earns from music providers? 

I have no doubts. Shame of Fitbit for false marketing. You can find hundreds of posts about their decision on this forum and reedit. I hope that at least part of these people will not purchase a Fitbit device again. 

[Bagrzeg]

Money does make the world go around. I guess I cannot fault them too much. They are still not nearly as bad as Apple, but it definitely is a mark down for Fitbit on their morality record in my opinion. Again, that is assuming this is all around money. 

It seems like it might not end up being the best long run business decision though. I mean, if it has me considering Garmin or Samsung more seriously, there must be others that are seeing things that way as well.

I really think the focus should be making the best health tracking smartwatch available to keep and gain market share. I feel like that is the way to the money in the long run. I also think (At least from the specifications I see) the Sense is fairly close to being that, but I know many might disagree.

[Bagrzeg]

Okay, forgive me if I am not used to this whole community post thing, but who marked this as the best answer, or an answer at all, and how can I change it? In my opinion this has not been answered. I thought since I started this thread only I could mark something as answered. I could be completely wrong as, again, I am not one to post much in these communities (Or online at all really).

What is marked as an answer here is actually the opposite of an answer it literally says "We (I) don't know".  That, to me, would leave this unanswered. @Rich_Laue I do not mean to be rude. your comment is perfectly legitimate. It is just not what I would call an answer. To me it would be like going to a question on the community that asks how to turn on your Fitbit, I reply that I do not know, and that becomes the best answer. In that case, wouldn't it make more sense to wait until someone does have the answer? or leave it open as no one knows?

[Rich_Laue]

If toy started the thread you have the power to un-mark a solution. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Bagrzeg  - I marked an answer as Best. You offered three options that would satisfy you. As @Rich_Laue said we, as other Fitbit users, do NOT have the ability to find the answer or to make one of your options available. You already voted for the ideas in the Feature Suggestion forum. This is all anyone can do in this thread. What would you want to see as a Best Answer? 

[Bagrzeg]

I guess I would prefer that this thread stay open since the answer is that we don't know the answer. Is that something that causes issues? Again, I not used to posting in communities, so I can understand if there are some statistics or functionalities that are bogged down if every single thread does not get marked as answered at some point.

That being the case, and since it is insisted that something is marked as the answer right away, I have marked a reply as an answer. The post I chose actually poses an answer in what I think is not too overly critical of a way (As opposed to simply stating we do not know). Even if that answer is just one possibility.

[SunsetRunner]

@Bagrzeg - I realize you are unhappy. Instead of marking/unmarking Best Answers ... please answer my question. Given the restrictions of the members of the community forum, what do you expect from us for a Best Answer? I really want to know. I’ve asked a moderator to set in. S/he will probably not be able to answer your questions either. Reasoning behind decisions like the one regarding the change in music are made at much higher levels and not normally shared. 

And @Soyerski123 - the change is disappointing but not false marketing. The details on music for the Sense were clearly mentioned in the Sense specs page. As mentioned, many people are disappointed in the change. But all we can do at this point is vote to bring it back. If enough users vote, it could help. 

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you for replying, @Bagrzeg. Can we agree to just keep the thread open? I unmarked the post you selected as Best because it included false information. I will not be marking or unmarking any more posts. I wish we could have helped you. 

[Bagrzeg · Accepted solution]

@SunsetRunner I can definitely just keep the thread open. I agree that there was no false marketing and looked over that comment when I selected it as the best answer. I was just looking for something that had a suggestion and did not seem too argumentative.

I also do not mean to be overly impolite. I was more frustrated that something got marked as an answer without me actually marking it that way (Obviously I disagree that it was an answer at all, but that is neither here nor there anymore). It gave me the impression that this question was just being brushed off. I do appreciate the time everyone took to evaluate and at least respond to my inquiry.

[Rich_Laue]

At best we may be help a user when things are not working as designed. 

We will not be able to help when the user wants a feature that is but supported by fitbit. Sorry but as your fellow fitbit user, we have no authority to reprogram a users tracker. We also know as much about the selection process of what features to add, as you do. 

I know it is frustrating but this is beyond the help of your fellow community members.