introducing the windows 8 workout companion

can i use my nokia lumia 1520 to workout?

probably not. dude, that's a really big phone. when i first made the switch to the @microsoft ecosystem, one of my biggest concerns was would there be an alternative for zune. the zune player, which was discontinued with the introduction of the windows phone in 2010, and the zune software which was discontinued with the introduction of windows 8 and @xbox music in 2012 (iirc), were the tools that i used to manage and sync my rather large music library between my phone and computer. i am a huge music fan so i had to think through options for purchasing and syncing music to my various devices. by this time i was on my second windows phone, the samsung focus s, which was running windows phone 7.x. and the short of it is, i no longer had zune.

 

you're waiting for your music to sync, seriously?

i began my search for alternatives as there was no pandora app for the windows phone yet nor was there last.fm. i decided to give xbox music a try. by my calculation, i would spend around $100/yr on music anyway (although it was usually not in an even monthly distribution), and besides, there was a free trial of some sorts. within the first week, i was sold. first off, most songs from my existing library were available. second, and most importantly, i didn't have to sync between my desktop and my phone. omg, this is better than sliced bread. imagine, all of my music without the need to download, sync, nor mothereffin back-up! everything that you say after this sounds a bit like... blah blah blah blah.

 

but wait. can it get better?

so the dilemma with the music had been resolved. i now had access to all of the music that i could imagine, even oldies but goodies that i may not have been able to find otherwise. this ecosystem was really starting to come together and worked well through the samsung focus s and the nokia lumia 920. enter the @nokia lumia 1520. all of the magic still exists, however, how can i workout with such a large phone. even the lumia 920 could be a challenge at times due to its weight. but wait, the holiday season came around and the microsoft store brings about a deal too good to pass up, a no contract nokia lumia 520 for $59.

the unlikely workout companion

call it whatever you like, the xbox music player, the ms media player device thingy or the windows phone workout companion, it works. i know, i know, but it's a phone. yes, one of its functions is to make and receive calls, but you can do so many other things with it if you just think outside of the box. and guess what, you won't buy a brand new i-anything for that price.

 

while this plan seemed plausible, i was still apprehensive because i had no intention to buy carrier service and so what if this great idea of a solution, simply didn't work. well, here goes. i purchased the phone without a sim, connected to wifi and launched xbox music, it didn't work, crap! i went to the carrier and purchased a sim, added it to the phone, tried to connect to xbox music at the carrier's store...it didn't work. crap! crap!

 

finally i went home thinking that i may have just wasted $60. then sitting at my desk, i realized that i may have to clear my old xbox music devices. so i logged in to xbox music, removed the lumia 920 which i had just replaced with the lumia 1520 and voila, we're in business. i now was the proud owner of a portable xbox music player that i can take out on runs and use when working out. it connects to xbox music using wifi and by expanding the storage with a 32gb micro sd, i am able to download a decent collection for playing when wifi is not available such as on trail runs and 5k's.