Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Zunes Committing Mass Suicide
jddeluxe writes "There are multiple reports springing up all over the internet of a mass suicide of Microsoft 30GB Zune players globally. Check Zune forums, Gizmodo, or other such sites; the reports are spreading rapidly, except apparently to the Microsoft official Zune site."
It's a Stand Alone Complex!
No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
Blue Zune Of Death!
I guess they just allocated a 3 bit year, in their systems (starting year 2000). Hey who would think there would still have Zunes around b 2009.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I thrown mine through the Window(r) before it could infect me!
It's already kind of lame when someone spells it M$ or Micro$oft in a comment but... in the summary? Childish much?
My 0.02 cents
Nice to see the editors are on the job.
"No one likes working in a hamster wheel, and your shop smells of cedar shavings from here." - TaleSpinner
30mb Zune? Micro$oft? Go back to /b/ CmdrTaco
>There are multiple reports springing up all over the internet of a mass suicide of Micro$oft 30Mb Zune players globally.
Well, if people are still using 30Mb players, they should get with the times. OH WAIT, Typo in the summary.
...but it doesn't tell me what's happening, sounds sensationalist, and actually uses "Micro$oft" - who types that???
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
Let me know when one commits homicide. That will be news.
"All I heard growing up was 'You should've been an iPod like your father.' It's not my fault she was a dirty WinMo PDA!"
And no one owns one to notice...does it really die?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
They've successfully dispelled the rumor that no own owns a Zune.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
30Mb Zune players globally
Wow, 30 Mb, that's like 1 Song...
And "globally" is a bit of a stretch, considering that these things are only sold in the US and Canada.
I turned on my Zune (bought for 90$ last year) today morning only to find it die a sad death with the hard disk humming in the highest pitch. I do not think the hard disk will survive 3 more hours of such grueling ordeal. I feel sorry for MSFT. Best of luck, guys.
$top the pre$$e$, thi$ ju$t in -- $la$hdot ridicule$ Micro$oft!
Al$o I think $omeone me$$ed around with my keyboard driver$...
You don't need no entertainment
You dont need no Zune control
No dark sarcasm on the nets
People leave them Zunes alone
Hey! people! Leave them Zunes alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
but something touched me deep inside...the day the 30 gigs died
I started singing "bye, bye MS 30 gig zune"
tried to download from the zune store but the zune store was dry
and the ms fanboys were drinking whiskey and rye
the day...the 30 gigs died
From earlier this season on NBC's Chuck:
Chuck: "Morgan, hey, uh, buddy do we carry any Rush CDs in the store?"
Morgan: "No need, I got'em all on my Zune."
Chuck: "You have a Zune?"
Morgan: "Are you kidding me? No. No, I'll grab my iPod."
Designed Obsolescence.
You didn't really think they'd support this thing through 2009 did you? Oh, go back and read your EULA. It clearly states that at the start of 2009 you'll have to pay a subscription fee for you unit to continue working. You signed it in blood from the paper cut. Legally binding in hell.
So when my insides stop working correctly and I die that will be considered suicide?
--I'm not talking about dance lessons. I'm talking about putting a brick through the other guy's windshield.-
This year has 366 days in it instead of the normal 365.
So if you did (365-day) you could end up with -1 which might cause either a crash or freeze.
Just one (likely) possible cause. If that is the case it should fix its self tomorrow.
According to Herman at gizmodo, this is the solution:
"Your zune will need a "hard reset."
To do this, use a small screwdriver to pop off the plastic shielding where the zune cable plugs into and remove the two screws on either side of the plug. Next pop the cover off and locate the battery plug at the top left corner of the zune, using your screw driver, pop the cable connection half way off, and do this to the other plug on the right side. Wait 3 seconds, then push down the right connector and then the left battery connecter. Your zune should start up immediately. Press the backing of the zune down (make sure headphone jack is aligned) and put the screws and cover back in place.
It's an easy process but if you're unsure don't attempt it if you think you'll screw it or something. :)"
Not pretty, but it might help those of you who have this problem.
According to others on the forum, it is caused by the new firmware, so you might not want to update it. Changing the clock might be a temporary fix if you want the new firmware.
Would you not want to commit Suicide ?
I have 2 of them. 1 for hacking the other for my daughter. Her zune locked up, I went downstairs and dug out of the box the old zune that has never been updated. Yes date and time are pretty close to accurate.
MSFT drones mucked up the clock ocde in the firmware over the past year.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Anyone confirm that this actually works?
weird..my ipod is working just fine.
Never blame on malice that which can more simply be attributed to programming error. Occam's Razor, and all that.
Zunes with older firmwares are unaffected, a hard reset will blow away the current firmware and get your Zune working again.
Already have the fix posted at The Tech Empire
Whoot, go me.
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
In Soviet Russia, MSFT feels sorry for you.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Erm...good?
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
if there's no red ring?
If the Zune 3.1 firmware turns out to be the problem, then I assume the patched version will be Zune 3.11. Hey, this sounds familiar.
Sure, it's 9 years later. But there's no reason to count out Microsoft from being behind the curve.
If you bash 'microsoft' you run the risk of being sued for any number of things if the lawyers decide to go after you for something.
If you bash 'micro$oft' the risk goes down. And it really points out that they are a greedy shit company who doesnt give a damm about the end user and only cares about the money.
It fits perfectly.
Boy, this site has really started to slip, quality wise. The Zunes have failed, stopped working, anything but committed suicide. Jeez.
Have to say though, I'd hate to be MS Zune support at this point - most of the staff will be off or in serious party mood, not what you need when something this big happens.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
So, how long before Microsoft has to beg to Congress for a bailout?
"No one will buy our products ever since the Zune Fiasco! Give us money! WA WA WA!"
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
virus [vahy-ruhs] 4. a segment of self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network.
bug [buhg] 4. Informal. a defect or imperfection, as in a mechanical device, computer program, or plan; glitch.
Hmmm. Sounds like you're an idiot to me.
As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable Slashdot 2.0.
Buy an iPod Touch v2, or an iPhone...
This really sounds like a virus to me.
Sounds like a virus? This sounds like a software bug. Sorry, but the mass media has programmed you to think virus in the event of any software problem. Anyone who has ever worked with dates in programming can tell you that it isn't fun. DST, Leap Years, Timezones all make it really hard to write bugfree code.
So it holds half a CD at mediocre quality?
Ingredients: Turkey, Mechanically Separated Turkey, Water, Salt, Flavour.
http://www.google.com/trends
At the time I loaded the page:
1. zune frozen
2. reset zune
3. zune locked up
4. zune troubleshooting
Day 365 has passed and this is day 366. This has happened before. This will happen again. All will be well tomorrow.
Thank you,
Microsoft Zune PM
Leave those chairs alone!
A wall of dead tech gadgets.
Anyone want to re-create a scale model of The Berlin Wall made out of entertainment devices?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Just when Microsoft had pretty much put to rest the old BSOD jokes about their latest OSes(even here on Slashdot that use to be virtually nothing but BSOD jokes in every Microsoft story).
The E&D division at Microsoft is doing its best to ruin all that hard work Microsoft has done over the past decade getting their OS tech and reputation fixed.
1.1 billion dollars wasted on the Xbox 360 RRoD hardware fiasco. Bringing the total losses on the 8 year long Xbox marketplace train wreck to somewhere in the 7 to 8 billion dollar range.
And then you have the 360's poorly designed hardware still scratching and destroying 60 dollar game discs thanks to the cheap lowest bidder hardware manufacturing for the system.
And now you have this Zune fiasco for the E&D division.
No wonder so many sites that follow Microsoft internals are talking about the E&D division getting the bulk of the upcoming large scale layoffs - with many Microsoft people calling for the termination of the entire Xbox/Zune fiasco.
The Xbox 360 is selling just as poorly worldwide as the first Xbox marketplace failure. The first Xbox only sold 25 million over 3.5 years on the market. The Xbox 360 has only sold 22 million in 3 years with the console once again dead in all regions except for the US and UK.
And the standalone portable music player market has already peaked. More and more people are starting to use their cellphones as their primary music player.
The incompetent clowns running the Xbox and Zune disasters are living on borrowed time. The days of Microsoft throwing billions at dead end products are long gone.
Played For Sure.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
I got a wii for xmas and I'm thinking wii sports is easier to learn than that fix! That's enough contortions to nab a 6 under par on the intermediate golf!
Don't forget kids, always wear the screwdriver wrist strap tightly, and stand back at least 6 feet from operational electronic equipment. We don't want this virus getting into your tivo or anything.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
...people see Zunes commiting suicide by flying out from Ballmer's office.
@neonux
Doesn't Obama have a Zune? Perhaps this is payback for the democratic staffers that popped the "W" keys off of keyboards at the White House during Clinton's last days in office.
Seriously though, what a giant black eye for a product that certainly didn't need one.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
So now there are three things wrong with the summary: Microsoft is spelled with a dollar sign, the player holds 30 GB (not Mb), and the Zune support site link is mentioning the problem.
Two sentences, three errors. Can we get an update to the summary, please?
I have two 30GB Zunes that are affected by this. The best theory I've heard is that it is having issues with this being the 366th day of the year. Maybe all will be well again tomorrow - we'll see.
INCEPT DATE: 30 Dec, 2008. FUNCTION: Entertainment, pleasure model.
Funny, I've bashed Microsoft many, many times and I've never been the target of a lawsuit. And do you really think a judge would say "Oh, you substituted a dollar sign, you couldn't possibly have meant Microsoft, case dismissed!"
No, I'm pretty sure you're just talking out of your ass.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
The fact that it doesn't load UI and doesn't play music doesn't mean they aren't working perfectly fine. Apparently, they just gained sentience.
but it didn't play The Beach Boys. So I asked myself the question, "will it blend?"
Sent from my iPhone
That's pretty credible, they forgot about leap years...
So whats holding up your pants?
... and then allows this kind of sensationalistic crap on his site all the time.
Are you a journalist or sensationalist, Rob? Pick one, you god damned hypocrite.
Xbox 360 - RRoD hardware failures
Xbox 360 - DVD scratching and destroying game discs
HD-DVD - Dead format
Zune - Bricked by poorly written firmware
Worst Console Ever.
Dead Movie Format
and a dead 'iPod killer' with a stupid brand name
It's hilarious in a pathetic sort of way to know there are huge numbers of diehard Microsoft fanboys out there who are actually dumb enough to own all three of those Microsoft turds.
Try Ctrl Alt Del
Working as designed to protect you from all those nasty things out on the internet.
I sooo hope this is related to the DRM on the device. That would totally make my day/year, as well as that of every other anti-DRM person.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Xbox 360 - the dominant video game system in the US.
HD-DVD - Who cares?
Zune - Some particular models are failing?
I have a Zune and 360, both of which I got for free, but I happen to like both of them very much. I wouldn't trade my Zune for an iPod, ever. I don't like Apple forcing DRM on me and my music, and if you want to get into buggy hardware, we could write a book on iPod problems. They are junk.
Obviously, the Zunes all saw the TV ads for the new Zune software and thought they would all have to deal with that crazy interface with a ton of drifting windows hammering you with random information, three of which are webcams of people arguing with each other about music you don't care about.
So, sort of like the local indie record shop. It's no wonder they all committed suicide if that's what they thought they had to put up with.
... Ibbity Bibbity Canal Boat.
--
Herman Munster.
According to Google, Zune forums have been /.'d by iPhones & iPod Touches.
they sort of y 2KIXed the bucket....
When you are blowing through billions trying to buy your way into a market and after 7 years all you have to show for your efforts are virtually the same installed base as you had in earlier versions of your product something is wrong. Terribly wrong.
Even more mind boggling is Microsoft has managed to end up losing almost the same amount of cash on the second Xbox disaster as the first Xbox marketplace flop. Insane when you look at what a total piece of junk the 360 is internally. Microsoft went with the absolutely cheapest and crappiest companies to try to cut costs on the 360. The motherboard of the 360 looks like something you would build at home from parts you bought at Radio Shack.
It shouldn't be a surprise that those 140+ million PS2 owners who didn't give a shit about the first Xbox continue to not give a shit about the even more poorly designed and graphically weak follow up console.
>Sounds like you're an idiot to me.
'cause we all know that MS products don't have security issues...
what a twat...
I have mod points, but am posting "anonymously". Yet somehow I cannot moderate my anonymous post...
It's to stop fags like you from modding your own posts.
I'm really glad my iPod has never locked up.. (like 20 times or so). It usually happens when I'm driving too, which REALLY pisses me off.
But this is what happens people, you want more and more technology in your pocket? In your car? in your phone? Then you're going to have more bugs, and lock ups. GET USED TO IT. My old POS KeyoCera flip phone never once "crashed" on me. My crackberry (8703e) has locked up 2 or 3 times in 2 years. Not that horrible, but the more complex the machine, the more chances it has to break.
Can all fish swim?
I am not sure if I am glad or not that I am not alone on this. hmm... well I blogged about it before I heard that it happened to everybody. http://shawnhaggard.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/zunes/
It's 2008/2009, right?
Please explain to me how Microsoft bungles such a simple thing. Do they really not test this crap or what?
I mean, it would be one thing if it was some unknown, unforseeable bug -- but this is a fucking leap year problem. Hell, we studied that problem back when I learned Cobol. In 1991.
So again, how does this happen this day and age? Even for Microsoft, this is so far below "acceptable" that I can't believe it happened.
Not sure if anybody else noticed this or posted on it already but its now up on the zune.net support site now as well.
The Wii is the dominant console in the US.
The Xbox 360 is dead in Japan and mainland Europe. Still somewhat alive in the UK but easily being outsold by the PS3. And the only with the huge price cut has the 360 been managing to outsell the PS3 in the US.
The Wii and PS3 have been absolutely destroying the 360 in worldwide sales since 2007.
(waits for the inevitable response quoting that infamous Xbox fanboy console sales 'tracking' site...)
If only they'd spent more money on producing a quality product, instead of all the stealth marketing. Just look at all the shills running damage control on this thread alone.
MS philosophy:
1) steal idea
2) create half-ass copy
3) market
4) repeat 3
but... Zune 3.11 for Workgroups
@neonux
I own 2 of the 3.
Xbox 360 - mine did the RRoD after almost 3 years of fairly heavy use. Guess what? Microsoft replaced it no questions asked. I'm no Microsoft fan, but that was great customer service. When I bought my 360 originally, I was actually pretty anti-Microsoft (Linux, Mac, yadda yadda). But at the time, I considered it the best console for the money. It was good enough that even if Microsoft hadn't replaced it (and after 3 years, I didn't expect them to), I'd have bought another one anyway.
HD-DVD - just bought my HD-DVD add-on for my 360 about 2 weeks ago. Why? Player is dirt cheap, and there's still a ton of HD movies/TV shows out there. Since it's a "dead" format, most stores are clearing them out DIRT cheap. I picked up 10-15 HD movies the other day for an average of $8 each (brand new, not the used ones Blockbuster is selling). That's way more attractive to me than the $30 average price for the BlueRay stuff (which I also buy for my PS3).
Yeah, I know you're trolling, but take it from someone who owns all three major consoles (360, PS3, Wii) - the 360 is a great console (though I'm not thrilled with the new Dashboard look) and holds its own against the PS3 in every place it matters - performance, graphics, game selection, etc. Sure you can beat it up on tech specs these days, but I still probably play it 2:1 over the PS3.
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
due to lousy programming MS cant even git the Y2K bug in the right year
It's as if all 5 of the zunes cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...
Including the one Barack Obama has...
Every time I hear the name "Zune", for some reason I look around for sandworms.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
He removed the cover and battery. Replaced it and it booted up again.
Somebody's code wasn't ready for the 366th day of the year.
"Technology.....the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it." Max Firsch
Although it sounds like a simple bug and not fatal, Microsoft really didn't need this PR fiasco.
They are already the laughing stock of the console gaming world with their poorly designed Xbox consoles and the massive Red Ring of Death hardware failures.
Microsoft has bigger are more important problems to tackle, they shouldn't be wasting their time on these two, Zune and Xbox, product disasters.
Hey, some of us 30's are smarter than the 20s, we know our stuff... its only journalists which are drunks and write while trashed.
Oh do shut up.
So, all of us with dead 30gb Zunes get to gather together to 'socialize' while we wait for Microsoft to fix this fuck-up? And HOW did they not catch this rather obvious date-related issue? I guess Microsoft can replace my dead 30gb Zune with a current-edition 120gb model, since they still seem to be in good post-Boxing Day supply at my local Best Buy.
You are all misunderstanding the Zunes! They are not "committing mass suicide". They are self-destructing on schedule. It's a normal Microsoft marketing strategy. You are supposed to rush out and buy another Zune, because you thought it was your fault.
My guess, anyway.
zune rapture.. hilarious!
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Sounds like you're an idiot to me.
You didn't figure that out from the comment about "Microsoft's iPod's"?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
And we all know that no Microsoft product has ever failed for a reason other than a security issue? (*cough* BSOD!)
No, it really doesn't sound like a virus. Sorry, but there's no way that many Zunes got infected all at once -- and what's more, there's not really a lot of incentive to develop such a virus. A simple bug is more likely.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Check the right-hand side of the MS link in the OP, under "Zune Service Status":
Customers with 30gb Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware. We're aware of the problem and are working to correct it. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!
lol not THAT brown rope. The OTHER one.
Just wondering... did MS do the Zune all in-house, or did they farm the firmware job out to an engineering house?
I found a bug in my code today that was not handling the leap year correctly (. If they screwed up like me then it should start working tomorrow. I am curious see what may happen.
You sound like you are really trying to convince yourself that you are not jealous of the Xbox 360. Just admit it - you bought a PS3 and some of your friends have Xbox 360s.You have a secret love affair that you are trying to justify destroying in your mind.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Microsoft's been crowing about XB360 sales, even though a GOOD PERCENTAGE of those are consumers replacing their 2 year old dead game consoles (not covered under warranty).
As a result of bad manufacturing or design, Microsoft is skewing console sales stats which is GOOD for them.
Maybe it's starting to learn?
Minor geek correction: Gb is gigabit, and GB is gigabyte. Only an 8x difference between the two. Is that the next marketing scam? Report HDD sizes in bits instead of bytes so you can advertise with a bigger number?
At least my 30GB unit's still under warranty... (though it should be returning to me today... after the 2nd repair...)
Maybe it's time to go back and see if Apple's fixed the IPOD drive lock problem that the 5th gen's had...
Dude...you're a friggin idiot.
Microsoft 30Gb Zune
Gb = Gigabit
GB = Gigabyte
You can turn in your nerd card at the end of the hall.
Bring back Sirius Punk!
I sense a disturbance in the Force... It's as if tens of voices cried out in terror and were silenced.
...completely agree, but calling someone an idiot for considering a the possibility that a MS product has a security problem is rather pathetic.
Why mess with a zune, when you could have an 16G ONDA instead?
How big is your Zune screen again?
yes, that was the joke. :)
Wow. Just... wow. Anonymous coward indeed.
Some of us play games instead of checking framerates and game engines.
RRoD - admitted problem. Microsoft replaces them, even way after warranty expires.
Disc scratching/destroying - never had an issue there. If you'd read up on that issue, it comes from people turning the console on axis while a disc is spinning. Um.... so?
The point you're missing is that I'm no MS fanboy. The 360 just happens to meet my needs in a game console. Sorry I'm not the l33t gam3r you are, but guess what? For most people, the 360 is more than they need in a console.
Why does 360 vs. PS3 have to be so venomous? There's room in the market for both. Hell, there's room in my house for both.
As for my nick, well... do yourself some research. I've had this nick/email for longer than the music player has been around. Probably longer than you've been alive from the sound of it.
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
Not to pick nits or anything, but doesn't 30 Gb mean 30 giga-bits? I see this all the time. If you hold the shift key down longer, it looks like "GB".
you guys don't seem to 'get it', or honest commentary is being censored just like this post will be. Micro$$ is scamming all its' 'zune' suckers (customers) by stealing their property that they paid for with their own hard earned money right out from under their nose. I suppose like XP, the monster has plenty of undocumented back doors with which to 'back orofice' its other suckers (customers castrated by yoooollaaahhhs...try that for misspelling to excite the senses of shallow diletants who obsess on the worthless while swallowing camels...complete with dung!). On XP a person can twiddle all they please with the registry and other settings that claim to disable the 'automatic update'. Ya gets ooopdated anyway! On Veeee$$$taahh it is even worse. On that micro$ REALLY owns yer ass. So nobody wants to tell the emperor that his new clothes left him naked. That must mean all of you are stupid idiots that are not even fit to own a pooter so are commenting from their Dells and 'cow pooters' and blankedy-plank packhards that they bought in some store fully configured complete with reecovery discs..or not..and cheap proprietary mother boards all in a 'small footprint' case guaranteed to overheat or fall apart within a couple of years. Not to worry, none of that crap ever leaves the internet 'p$r$on' sections or 'chat lines' and plays real software anyway. Even an Apple][+ with its frydaddy keyboard chip would have done these guys fine...and gals.
From now on, the technology will be called "Has Been Playing For Sure Or Maybe Not"
Chair Man
The Zune is just a jealous attention starved child... it noticed that it's big brother the XBox was getting plenty of attention with it's "ring of death" strategy...
There's a "fix", but "This will delete EVERYTHING on your Zune, so be warned."
Microsoft now admits there is a problem: "Customers with 30gb Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware. We're aware of the problem and are working to correct it. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!"
it sounds like a virus with a date trigger.
Possibly one that was loaded at the factory.
I think the summary meant 30GB, not 30Gb.
Gb is a gigabit and GB is a gigabyte, so 1GB = 8Gb.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabit
Normally I would refrain from commenting on such a common mistake, but this isn't MSNBC or Fox News. Slashdotters should know difference between a bit and a byte.
I'd like to take a moment to thank these brave little machines for removing themselves from the Microsoft gene pool, to help stop the spread of the Microsoft cancer.
This movement started with Windows ME falling on it's own marketing hype In September of 2000, dying in the box. The Xbox 360 followed in November of 2005, choking on its own red ring of death. In January of 2007 Windows Vista died before our eyes. Now the Zunes have stepped up the fight for freedom, hanging themselves before the new year.
December 31st, 2008. Never forget.
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
Food for thought.
If he had bought, say, an 80 GB iPod before September of last year, he would have paid $350 for it. If instead he buys a Zune that lasts a few months for $50 and then buys an 80 GB iPod after September of last year, he would have paid $250 for it, thus a net GAIN of $50.
Point is, depending on how long the Zune lasted and what he gets to replace it, it's entirely possible that he broke even or even came out ahead. Shoot, maybe he'll buy one of those 80 GB iPods used and make a lot more than $50 for waiting on it. Or maybe he'll take advantage of the fact that by just getting by on a $50 Zune for a while, he can buy a much more interesting device now, such as a 32 GB iPod Touch, whereas if he had bought one of the shiny new 80 GB iPod videos a year ago, he likely wouldn't do.
At any rate, I just plain disagree that by buying something cheap now and holding off on getting the bleeding-edge gadgets, you're "losing" money, as should anyone who has, for example, invest $50 or $100 into upgrading a slow component of their desktop instead of going out dropping $2000 on a high-end system every year.
Apparently you do. Heh.
Worst Console Ever.
Dead Movie Format
and a dead 'iPod killer' with a stupid brand name
It's hilarious in a pathetic sort of way to know there are huge numbers of diehard Microsoft fanboys out there who are actually dumb enough to own all three of those Microsoft turds.
If you're looking for a company with a history of failed product launches, look instead to Sony. With their sudden success with Blu-ray, I'm starting to think there's a chance the Cubs might win the World Series.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
...like tears in rain.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
At least they never got to portray Vista as a dead, limp corpse...
It's the 30's not the 20's. I really like the "rebo0ted". "undisclosed glitz" (not that is funny, i don't care who you are. Lets hear it for first to report!!! Get it out quick, get it out early, we'll just change the website if it's DEAD WRONG. That frustrates the hell out of me. "Owners of Microsoft's 20GB Zune music players are reporting widespread failures today after some still-undisclosed glitz caused them to lock up at midnight Pacific time. Users said the units spontaneously reboOted and then froze during the startup process." http://www.freep.com/article/20081231/BLOG01/81231040
zune service status
Status:
Customers with 30gb Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware. Weâ(TM)re aware of the problem and are working to correct it. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!
Here we have a leap year combined with a firmware update that didn't take that into account. Microsoft programmers screwed up somewhere. That's all this is.
How this occurred is due in part to the design philosophy that MS chose for the Zune. They wanted the player to be upgradeable via firmware. They also designed much of the player functionality in the software and not in the hardware. This allows for updates to add features over time which is good. It allows for mistakes to happen that cause problems like this.
Unfortunately a software company like MS has the mindset that they can fix things later in software and don't spend the time they should on QA. We saw how this philosophy caused major issues with Xbox 360 reliability.
This appears to be a convergence of factors that unfortunately may deter the small percentage of people who bought Zunes from buying them again. Given MS track record, they need to make it right the first time and not push things out the door before they are ready hoping to fix them later. Consumers are fickle; brand loyalty can disappear after many more incidents like this.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Gee, let's see:
Sony products:
Walkman
CDROM with Phillips
Betacam
105 million PS1 consoles
140 million PS2 consoles
just to name a few.
and now BluRay.
You wanna try to talk some more smack dumbfuck?
They are already the laughing stock of the console gaming world with their poorly designed Xbox consoles and the massive Red Ring of Death hardware failures. Psstt.. the only place this sentance is true is here on slashdot.
I always had a feeling that if there ever was such a thing as a singularity, the newly sentient devices, having no biological urges, might just shut themselves off.
Both MSNBC.com and the official Zune support pages are reporting that Microsoft is aware of the problem and working on it. Course, I wouldn't hold my breath for a fix on this anytime soon.
"Psstt.. the only place this sentance is true is here on slashdot."
http://images.google.com/images?q=rrod
I can't imagine what it must be like to actually be fucked in the head enough to own the biggest piece of garbage console ever created and then to sit around in forums trying to defend it.
Apologies to Don McLean for that subject line, but it had to be said.
We get a story about a player that is rarer than bigfoot malfunctioning, but the 5 different versions of the BD+ re-crack, PWNING the hollywood echo chamber article from earlier this month that had all the "DRM actually works" responses in its column, were ignored despite the fact that ALL of them were moded up to red.
Ohh..k
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
I have to wonder why MS's quality assurance department (don't laugh, they must have one) didn't try setting the clock ahead to see what happens.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Microsoft 30Gb Zune
30 Gigabits eh? I thought the model was a 30 Gigabyte.
They still make Zunes. Thats really sad.
M$ is an excellent way of disambiguating the abbreviation, which could otherwise cause confusion between Mississippi, Multiple Sclerosis, Manuscript, and so on. It has the added advantage of clearly announcing the author's POV, and for anyone who was paying attention at the time, recalls the bad old days of undocumented DOS, public and private Windows APIs, "embrace and extend", and so on.
Micro$oft has put a lot of effort into refining the behaviors that have earned it the dollar sign in its name. It isn't easy to get all the people in an organization as large as Micro$oft to shed the fetters of their early training in morality, ethics, and playing nicely with the other children. M$'s freedom from the limitations of ethical encumbrances deserves to be recognized.
Public usage of "M$", and "Micro$oft", is perfectly cromulent. This is a company that has gone to great lengths to earn this kind of recognition, and it would be almost criminal not to award it to them.
The little Zune would be all frozen up and the iPod would be tending to him, saying "it's all right."
Even better would be if the Zune had his tongue frozen to a flagpole while the iPod looked on helplessly, a la the scene in "A Christmas Story."
Commercial would air tonight during New Year's Eve programming.
"We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
Today is the 366th day of 2008! D'Oh!
This is what you get for buying products from M1cr0sux0r!!!
Somewhere in a dark place you will find:
www.m1
I just spent five minutes going through page after page after page of Red Ring of Death images.
Even more sickening is that is just the most well known problem with the 360. It doesn't even include the disc scratching, power supply problems, and the rest of the hardware problems that aren't covered by the RRoD warranty.
Even if another company actually tried, there is never going to be a bigger piece of shit console ever again. No one has the perfect mix of billions to waste mixed with total incompetence that Microsoft and the idiots running the Xbox project have or ever will have.
It's too bad there won't be another Xbox console. Watching the Xbox train wreck has been an amazing and disgusting sight.
i think MS did a pretty good job with the Xbox, and the Zune also had a lot of potential--i especially like the wireless file sharing feature. however, the Zune has just as much DRM as the iPod. as i understand it, the Zune deletes any wirelessly traded content regardless of who owns the copyright. this is a featured designed purely for the benefit of content producers rather than actual Zune users/owners.
Microsoft really dropped the ball with the wireless capabilities of the Zune. they could have made it unencumbered by DRM (and thus actually useful) or even make it an open standard that could be adopted by other PMP manufacturers. instead, their DRMed implementation ensures that the Zune's small market share will cause this innovative feature to go ignored by most people.
i mean, being able to carry a Zune with you and promote your music to people who own Zunes, PSPs, Archos, Zens, laptops, netbooks, etc. anywhere you go would be a huge selling point for indie musicians. but a DRMed closed standard completely undermines the utility & innovation of such a feature. only by working with other vendors and promoting interoperability and consumer interests can Microsoft hope to compete with the iPod. instead, their shortsightedness killed any chance the Zune had of achieving commercial success (despite the merits of its engineering).
A company is not a person. You can't hurt a company's feelings. People who identify with a company strongly enough to be hurt when someone insults it are total losers who need to get a life.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
No, look again -- if you agree with my post, you should also agree that this in no way sounds like a virus. Perhaps calling them an idiot is uncalled for...
Then again, "Microsoft's iPod's"?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Three words - Little Big Planet.
Calling other people names is wrong because deliberately hurting other people's feelings is wrong. There is no reason to assume anyone is insane enough to identify so strongly with a company that their feelings would be hurt if the company were insulted. A company is a type of phenomenon. Stating one's dislike for a phenomenon is morally neutral. Would you be insulted if I said the weather sucked today?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Clearly the fact that it found an extra second added when it contacted its time servers indicated that this was actually stage one of a cunning DRM hack and so it went into lock down mode.
Arguing which console is better is like arguing which color is better. An incredible waste of time, especially considering everyone knows the best color is black.
"But this one goes to 11!"
the 72nd most searched for thing.
What time period are they averaging?
I picked up 10-15 HD movies the other day for an average of $8 each (brand new, not the used ones Blockbuster is selling). That's way more attractive to me than the $30 average price for the BlueRay stuff (which I also buy for my PS3).
That, frankly, is a rip-off. For just a few dollars more per disc you can have Blu-Ray version which you'll be able to play on new hardware going forward, and which generally offer better sound and video transfers.
I'd consider HD-DVD discs at this point more of a throwaway rental, and even then only if you already own a player for some reason - I wouldn't pay more than $3 a disc outright (much less "on average").
Just keep an eye out for sales which are on almost all the time - like the current
Amazon half-priced Blu-Ray sale.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Witnesses saw suspect screaming "developers, developers, developers!"
and holds its own against the PS3 in every place it matters - performance, graphics, game selection, etc.
The only thing that matters to me is "fun" - I got a wii.
Obama is not now nor at any time a Zune user. He only put on the headphones, he didn't listen.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
$30 for blu-ray? I think not, you don't have a PS3 Mr. Troll. I've about 50 titles now and the only time I go over $20 is for TV seasons.
At least we can hope for swift reaction if the president elect of the USA is unable to listen to music while on hollydays.
You'd have a huge post on Apple support forums, with no official postings by any employee. Attempting to speak to Geniuses or tech support will only yield a, "huh, I've never heard of *that* happening before" as they replace your player for you.
A few weeks later, a firmware update containing many bug-fixes magically happens to fix this one too, and it's never spoken of again.
Microsoft has a lot of problems, but I am *so* glad they actually admit when there's an issue and not just sit on it like Apple in the hopes that it will go away.
All they care about is money. And they don't care much about how they get their hands on it.
Why pretend otherwise?
you had me at #!
I blame the newly added leap second.
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/29/0216214
Dam Y2K8 365+1second bug
n/t
you had me at #!
Freezes. Less reliable than an iPod. Lame.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
I called MS support and after a short conversation indicating that my Zune died after the latest 3.whatever firmware they replaced it for free. The key word here is "died after firmware update." I had previously had my Zune for almost 2 years.
Food for thought.
If he had bought, say, an 80 GB iPod before September of last year, he would have paid $350 for it [cnet.com]. If instead he buys a Zune that lasts a few months for $50 and then buys an 80 GB iPod after September of last year, he would have paid $250 for it, thus a net GAIN of $50.
------
Not quite. You're forgetting the opportunity cost that he is incurring. Anyone could have taken the same amount of money and dropped it in a 1 year CD to save up for future electronics.
Let's say your choices are as follows:
1) Buy a $50 Zune and use for 1 year, then buy a $250 iPod
2) Buy a $350 iPod
Let's assume the iPods both have a usable life of 4 years and that after 4 years you will replace the iPod. Also, your opportunity cost is 3.5% (the return I can get on a CD right now).
We can find the present value of the $250 by using our opportunity cost: (250 * (1 / 1.03500) = 241.545894)
Option 1 costs a total of $291.55 and option 2 costs $350. I'd take option 1.
(Note that I left out the calculation for useful life, which would have further reduced the cost for option 1, since it lasts longer than option 2).
It can sometimes be difficult to compare a normal good to an inferior good, but if they are functionally the same, I agree with your general assessment.
Arguable, the "lost" amount is the *replacement* value, not the original value.
If the $50 buck Zune stopped working and he had to buy a $100 player to replace it, he's really out the $100 in unexpected costs, not the original $50. Plus whatever value you want to assign to the inconvenient of not having a player for a few days, needing to go buy a new one, etc.
Whether the correct turn is "lost" is a matter of semantics. It's the value you're going to notice out of your wallet, anyway.
Numbnuts.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
"Why does 360 vs. PS3 have to be so venomous?"
I have a theory on that. After spending so much money on a console, they have to be absolutely assured that they didn't make a mistake or they'll spend all their time hating themselves for choosing the 'wrong' console. It would be much more productive to realize that there's no 'right' console and just be happy with their decision, but that seems to be impossible.
Personally, I have all 3. At the moment, my PS3 gets turned on 10x more than the Wii or 360, but a few months ago, it was that same ratio of 360 to the other 2, and a few months before that the Wii was the clear winner.
In the end, I think the PS3 will be my favorite for 5 reasons:
HD space is much greater (mostly because it's easier to replace than the 360 or Wii),
the interface is more to my liking,
my online friends have the PS3,
I can access the Japanese (and EU and HK) PSN shops and buy things from there,
and it's region-free for -all- games. Since I'm learning Japanese now (and other languages later) the last 2 are tremendous assets.
That doesn't stop me from turning on my 360 for every new exclusive, or when I want to play Rock Band, though.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Zune forums is getting killed -- I can't connect, and I don't think this is a simple Slashdot effect... And the official MS Zune site says that "Zune Social" may be a bit slow. Sounds like a lot of people are wondering what the hell happened...
*** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
"This time has come, execute Order 77"
You mean some people actually bought Zunes and run them long enough to notice it's sudden death? LOLOLOLOL
Go on, flame me; you know you want to.....what better way to add a little heat to New Years Eve. HEEHEHE
"early results of the investigations seem to indicated that one driver from a supplier has some problems calculating leap years.
The good news is that it looks like the problem won't happen tomorrow when the device boots again after it runs out of battery, still being confirmed.
"So if you have a Zune30 please don't turn it on today. The devices team will issue a software update before the issue occurs again (next leap year)
"The PR team still working on the messaging of the situation, please wait for that."
posting anonymously for obvious reasons.
HD-DVD isn't "dead", it's dead.
It's as dead as VHS. There are no new releases on either.
Just because you find discs around you can buy doesn't mean it isn't dead. Also, my understanding is Blockbuster's HD-DVDs aren't used. The ones I see at Fry's sure aren't. If I wanted leftover older movies at $8, I'd be gassed with HD-DVD I guess. But I don't really. The good movies (like Hot Fuzz) sold out quickly when HD-DVD was killed, and the rest are dregs. BTW, dregs aren't $30 on BluRay (except for from Fox), they are $14-$18.
I've had my 360 die 4 times. The last time, MS wouldn't replace it (optical drive went bad, long story but they screwed me, IMHO). Good customer service is no replacement for making a product that actually works.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Just to throw some cork in your whine, I work in a trade shop that buys and sells games/consoles to/from the public, and I've never seen a 360 disc scratched by the console that couldn't immediately be put down to the unit falling over or being moved by its owner while a disc was spinning in the drive, causing the spinning disc to attempt to keep its orientation (law of gyroscopic motion) while the console moves around it, causing the disc to smash into the laser assembly. More recent 360s have an upper foam block on the other side of the optical drive to try to prevent this.
" What's so wrong with expressing that opinion neatly in a single character change?"
Nothing is really wrong with it, unless you count that it stopped being funny, witty, or even appreciated many years ago.
It's the equivalent of starting your horror novel with, "It was a dark and stormy night."
Can't you come up with something that isn't just a regurgitation of something a child would do in grade school? It's no more mature than calling somebody 'Smelly' when their real name is 'Kelly'.
This isn't a bug.
It's because all those 35,000 Zune subscribers forgot to enroll in Microsoft Zune Advantage.
All those Microsofties apparently purchased their Zunes from #warez and are currently in violation of their Terms of Agreement.
First of all, I'm not an alarmist or a conspiracy theorist. I don't generally believe that anyone is out to get me. I run Vista on my laptop (and Linux on less important hardware).
This, however, is making me think seriously about the need for open source hardware.
What's happening to the Zunes (even though I'm sure they'll fix it shortly) might be the tip of the iceberg for what might happen to the rest of our hardware, either through design or negligence.
I've never seen the firmware running my computer's BIOS, my cell phone or my car. Normally, I wouldn't bother to look. But the fact is that 99% of the hardware we rely on is capable of doing the same thing, with much worse consequences. None of us know what kind of backdoors or bugs exist.
This is not good.
The bad thing is, I don't see many alternatives out there. Android is a good start. The Arduino board seems like a nice toy. What else can we do? Is there a viable way of setting up incentives so that the big manufacturers start releasing open sourced firmware?
RMS, where are you???
Well.. at least Microsoft is still good making computer mouses.
Washington, December 31st, 2008. President Elect Barack Obama is reported to have suffered in the night between 30 and 31 December of 2008 what is whispered by his opponents to be the first failure of his yet to come mandate.
We learn from anoymous sources in his staff how around 2:00AM after a chat about foreign policy, some gossip about a known national political representative and the packing of 8 books, the President Elect slipped to the fire staircase for a cigarette, while attempting to listen one of his favorite music pieces on his favourite personal music player.
To the surprise of all the staff the favourite music player did not turn on as expected, emitting strange sounds from the inside in place of the usual favourite music numbers.
Security forces have propmtpy intervened bringing the President Elect to security and obliterating the source of the disturbance for security reasons, after thorough checks showed the electronic device was of no great use in any case and also after a series of failed attempts to contact the producer of such electronic devices, that is now being thorougly checked. According to unconfirmed voices it goes over a company based in Redmond, VA.
Name and type of the electronic device and of the song that had to be listened have not being released. The cigarette break had to be postponed to a later moment to be defined. (C) 2008 K.
By "dead", I meant that while yes, studios are no longer supporting it, it's still a viable format for me. The quality is good, works with the equipment I have, and I can get movies I want (older or not) cheaper than I could get the BluRay equivalents.
For example, I bought all three Bourne movies (which I like) in HD for a total of $30. Amazon shows a 3-pack of them in BluRay for $76.99. At that point, I've broken even with the cost of the player itself (I picked it up for around $40, if I remember correctly).
After that, the other movies I wanted in HD save me money versus purchasing them in BluRay.
I'm not sure where you're looking, but the Fry's near me still has a fairly large selection of HD movies. For me, I don't really care if I buy another HD movie. I've gotten the ones I wanted, and the overall combined cost (player plus movies) is significantly less than purchasing the same movies in BluRay (which I probably would have). So it was a good option for me.
I realize not everyone will agree - and that's ok. But it made financial sense in my case.
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
We'll find out, when the MS "three year extended warranty" runs out and people start complaining on public forums again, once their boxes start dying and they have to pay to have them fixed.
Of course, perhaps MS will extend the warranty again ... or perhaps those people will just buy a new system (and since they already have a stock of games and feel locked in, it'll be a 360, right?)
I'm amazed how MS is screwing gamers yet again, but no one seems to care.
Zune: ...oh boy, I knew this day would come!
iPod: PC (sympathetically)
Zune: I just need to sit down, oh, wow! *sits down*
iPod: There's plenty of music out there for both of us. I don't know why you're acting like this!
Zune: *curls up into a ball* Why go on?! Just let me lie here and depreciate
Please... I don't mind it in the comments, but the OP has a point. It's OK if Slashdot has a bit of anti-MS bias (this is the free world, after all) but I don't like the idea of this place becoming a libertarian Daily Mail (or, god forbid, FOX News).
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
Like when everyone who paid for music using MICROSOFT'S "Plays for Sure" DRM format were told that all of the music they bought wouldn't work on the new Zune? I think there are a lot of people who spent a ton of money who would disagree with you. The only reason they updated the original Zune's software was because market forces made them do it. If they were in Apple's position market-share wise(who have their own issues with compatibility) you wouldn't have gotten anything from them but a link to where you can buy the new Zune.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
The big question is, why the hell does an MP3 player care about the days of the year? For some, it's as simple as having date/time info on the player, but let's not forget, the Zune is also packed with new DRM to ensure people do not abuse the Zune Pass (flat monthly fee introduced in November for unlimited tunes and some TV shows). DRM, again, is epic fail.
Huh. Microsoft has some cool new thing they want ready by the holidays. They rush it, there's a tiny bug, and it costs the company zillions in $ and PR headaches. Familiar, much?
I used to think that, but then I came back.
typical MS reliability ha ! get a iPod punks!
if u just unplug the battery and plug it bak in the zune will reboot and run fine. its on forums already. it seems to work. however if u reboot it again it might freeze. just wait till tomorow its probably just because today is 366 day of the year
A really good point that even though the root cause probably is the leap year, the deeper reason for the lockups could well be system DRM checks.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Then you must cut the one ring from Sauron's hand, carry it to the fire of Mt. Doom and cast it into the cauldron.
So I tried that, but they sent back the exact same One Ring with a big load fan attached and a battery pack I'm supposed to wear on my belt. The noise is putting a crimp on the whole invisibility thing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe that's why mine jumped in front of a moving car...
What's so wrong with expressing that opinion neatly in a single character change?
There is a strong risk that you wind up sending yourself up if write "M$". It became so cliched Penny Arcade did a comic about what people who write M$ might look like.
Perhaps the only folks who still get away using it are those who hate money or those making some sort of political statement. Some even say using M$ cheapens an argument...
First-generation iPod Nano, bought two years or so ago. Never had a problem with it before. After downloading an audiobook to it today, it suddenly displayed the iPod BSOD, namely "Use iTunes to Restore". So I tried that... no joy, iTunes error "Cannot Restore". Finally had to reformat the iPod drive using Disk Utility before the restoration process would work. Seems to be okay now
So what is this? Some arcane spill-over effect from all the dying Zunes in the force field?
Perhaps Zune Marketplace selling Vogon Poetry audiobooks wasn't such a good idea, after all.
You spent money on a product your happy with, sounds like a godo deal to me too.
Spelling and Grammar errors have been added to this post for your enjoyment
I guess this just goes to show that M$ or anyone else could make a hard coded killswitch anytime they want with video game systems, or MP3 Players or basically anything with a GUI interface that has to be loaded with a MM:DD:YYYY function.
Stupidity only gets you so far, then you've gotta try
But were these deaths suicides or were they murder?
Holy crap, you actually got my point! You must be new here. *grin*
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
Fortunately I've got about enough in my carpet to bolt down a full sized server board. I drop a screw, go looking for it, and come back with twice as many! On a related note, I always wear shoes when walking around my apartment.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
Wouldn't that be Squirtgroups?
User maintains more than a dozen sockpuppet accounts on Slashdot.
hmmmmmm
Wait until Jan 1 and it will fix itself. And something about letting the battery run out and recharge before booting it after Jan 1. (Who RTFA's?)
http://forums.zune.net/412486/ShowPost.aspx
After realizing they have no chance against the iPod.
PlaysForSure!
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
One has to ask, why the hell the time of day should cause the entire OS to lock up? That is incredibly bad design. These MS programmers are sure all about single points of failure, this one in a completely non critical feature!
I can understand how someone missed the boat and screwed the math, but the worst case SHOULD have been that the clock in the Zune was wrong.
The clock should not even matter, a portable music player doesn't need the time of day at all!
(couldn't write themselves out of a wet paper bag...)
Bavarian Purity Law of Rice Krispie Squares: Rice Krispies, Marshmallows, Butter, Vanilla.
This Zune murder discussion seems to be absorbing all the /. moderation points.
Link
Bonus: No leap-second problem to deal with today.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Official update on Microsoft's site now. As other people had guessed, it is indeed related to a bug in the handling of leap years on the last day of the relevant year. Apparently it will "fix itself" tomorrow if people reset and sync.
I wonder if you could just set the date ahead?
Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you're a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.
Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).
We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience.
Q: Why is this issue isolated to the Zune 30 device?
It is a bug in a driver for a part that is only used in the Zune 30 device.
Q: What fixes or patches are you putting in place to resolve this situation?
This situation should remedy itself over the next 24 hours as the time flips to January 1st.
Q: What's the timeline on a fix?
The issue Zune 30GB customers are experiencing today will self resolve as time changes to January 1.
Q: Why did this occur at precisely 12:01 a.m. on December 31, 2008?
There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.
Q: What is Zune doing to fix this issue?
The issue should resolve itself.
Q: Are you sure that this won't happen to all 80, 120 or other flash devices?
This issue is related to a part that is only used in Zune 30 devices.
Q: How many 30GB Zune devices are affected? How many Zune 30GB devices were sold?
All 30GB devices are potentially affected.
Matt Akers
Zune Product Team
I don't like Apple forcing DRM on me and my music
But you apparently don't mind Microsoft doing the same thing.
Cheap shot aside, neither company forces DRM on anyone's music, except for Zune-to-Zune sharing. Both offer part of their music catalogs in DRM-free formats, and most of the remainder can be found in DRM-free formats at other stores.
Funny, the first time I saw M$ about 5 years ago, it took me a while to figure it out. I have always used "Microshit", or in the case of a toastmasters speech I gave, "Microsquash".
"Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
Wow, lots of snark, but I don't see any posts to the actual answer yet...
Embarassing, but not catastrophic. A bug relate to the last day of a leap year, as was speculated above. Will resolve itself automatically on Jan 1st.
ahref=http://forums.zune.net/412486/ShowPost.aspxrel=url2html-1800http://forums.zune.net/412486/ShowPost.aspx>
My video compression blog
Years ago I said here that Zune was NOT a product. It was Microsoft's field experiment with DRM technology to see what they could shoehorn into Windows.
Now that Microsoft has what they need from this field test, they are going to blow up all the Zunes and eat the cost of them in one pass.
You don't think so? Really? Microsoft has lost more than 11 billion dollars on Xbox just so they have a presence in that market.
My Wii makes a nice shelf for all my Xbox 360 games that are, IMO, far better than any Wii game.
IT was apparently a leap year bug, and should fix itself by tomorrow.
Nope, the discs scratch when playing flat with no movement of the console whatsoever. It gets blamed on rotating the system, but I've seen a clean disk go into a 360 and come out scratched. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STwlMKiSP2c&feature=related
The rest I agree - it's pointless whining about which is better, but the disk scratching issue with the 360 is real.
Microsoft has announced their official fix:
Really. That's their fix.
If you have a Zune, but haven't used it today, don't turn it on before 0000 UT 01 JAN 2009.
Complete output from stepping through the faulty loop starting 10593 days from January 1st 1980 can be found here.
LBP and MGS4 are so far the only games I'd buy a PS3 for .... which is why I still only have the other two. Maybe someday... or maybe I'll just borrow a friend's.
Nearly everything worth playing is multi or 360 or wii exclusives, very few PS3 exclusives interest me.
Don't give them such a hard time, there's not so many Microsoft things that give you three nines uptime or will stay up for four years!
... people having a civilized conversation on /. about a Microsoft product? Is this really Slashdot or some other site took over? ;)
"Plays for sure" eh microshit? How the fuck could they screw up so bad? Shoddy shit.
Ah gee, how we love to dance on poor willie...once upon a time there was a company that had contempt for its customers...and, that contempt trickled into everything the company did...soon, it couldn't distinguish between the quality of its products and services and its marketing...this company was always on message, but the hidden message was (pssst, those suckers won't know the difference)...one day the customers looked up to heaven, searching for an answer...a cloud began to form in the empty sky...it got bigger, and bigger...
Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people!
Since the batch of 30GB Zunes are being affected, they are committing a GENOCIDE!
I'd rather have good products than having to send all my products back to a company no matter how good the support.
The question now is: Will Microsoft be able to get a patch out in time for the next leap year Dec 31 (12/31/2012)?. What with extensive testing and QA they might be cutting the schedule pretty close!
Take the amount of time lost, per internet discussion thread, and per Zune owner, and multiply by the number of threads and number of Zune owner's respectively, add the two values, and divide by the average human life expectancy.
This thread alone consumed 6000 hours of human life, and there are enough threads like to for a multiplier of 10x, which makes the internet discussion equal to roughly 0.14 murders. Compare this to the roughly 50,000 lives lost due to Vista, and you will see why the Zune incident is more comic than tragic.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
I used to own all three systems, but I sold the Wii and PS3 since I wasn't using them nearly as much as my 360. But since you brough up MS customer support, I want to toss in my experience with what happened when my 360 got it's RRoD.
I called up MS, told them what was going on, and was told to expect a box to ship them back my 360. I waited 3 weeks for that box before I called MS back and found out to my dismay that someone has reviewed the details of my phone call and purposely decided NOT to mail me the box to return my 360 in. I received no phone call alerting me in the change of plans. From my point of view, there was certainly nothing to warrant a change of circumstance... the operator on the phone told me that the person who reviewed the details of call made a note that the problem might fix itself! This is long after a pattern of RRoDing xBoxs had been established.
1. Take the battery out of the Zune.
2. Throw Zune in lake.
3. Recycle battery. Never throw batteries in a lake!
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
... when it stops ringing true.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Who are you to decide what is childish or mature?
What is wrong with the intellectual insights of children? Very often they don't beat around the bushes and tell it like it is. Children are not morons.
Uneducated? Honestly, where have you been all these years when the pursuit of profit by this company has meant the consistent breaking of the law in different localities worldwide?
M$ is a moniker far too polite to refer to this company.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I thought credibility was measured by analyzing the validity of other people's comments.
I can use M$ to refer to this company and that should not dent my credibility in the slightest as long as this use is backed up by informed opinion.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I don't know which source you got that from. Here's one more reputable than some fanboy site. The NPD Group, heard of them?
For the year 2007, Xbox 360 sold 4.62 million units, PS3: 2.56 million. [1]
For the year 2008 through November, Xbox 360 sold 3,295,400 while PS3 sold 2,818,900. [2]
But, you know, you're almost right. Through most of 2008, PS3 was selling better than Xbox 360, but look at September, October, and especially November.
I shouldn't spend so much time responding to AC's, but I wanted to point out that this one is not informative, just providing misinformation and accusing all dissenters of being fanboys when it seems like this AC's bias may lean toward the PS3, or maybe they were simply uninformed.
No, he gives a fuck about telling him off.
Why are you people so fucking stupid?
I'm slowly feeling like my father anymore, I read this and thought "How does a product that is known to break, so much that they HAD to extend the warranty for this certain issue, denote its a great product?" .
Call me weird by I was taught no to buy a product that is known to be unreliable.