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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."

15 of 785 comments (clear)

  1. Article summary by phasm42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Micro$oft 30Mb Zune

    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
    1. Re:Article summary by d3ac0n · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed.

      How does crap like this make it to the front page?

      Can we get an edit on the summary? Not only are there spelling mistakes, but the summary is just flat wrong about how Microsoft is reacting to the problem.

      Look, I have issues with Microsoft as much as the next geek, but this summary is just moronic and childish. Can we get a fix please?

      --
      Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
    2. Re:Article summary by ari_j · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The summary also doesn't explain what "committing suicide" means in the context of a Zune, and the headline has an exclamation point. The fix we need is moderation of front-page stories so that crap like this goes away.

  2. I don't usually complain about summaries... by Enoxice · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...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?
  3. Re:Suicide? by Poltras · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except that, if it had been a Creative Zen or an iPod, you'd still have it to play your favorite music. No big loss? Come on... You now HAVE to buy a new one.

    And here's to Microsoft recognizing the problem (they didn't yet) and fixing it.

  4. Re:Value did get lost :( by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I feel sorry for MSFT.

    Really? You have a broken player and they have your money, but you feel bad for them?

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  5. 'Committed Suicide?' by clickclickdrone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
  6. Re:Real mature by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The original reason for M$ was because Microsoft BASIC allowed for one or two letter variable names, and a dollar on the end made it a string variable, so it was a kind of geeky in-joke. Unfortunately, Micro$oft is of the childish "all they care about is money" variety, and I suspect most people using M$ use it as an abbreviation for Micro$oft, rather than "MS as a variable name. For my next trick, there are only 10 types of people in the world, those who get binary and those who..." {etc}

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  7. Re:Suicide? by tzot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyway, you didn't just lose $50 - you lost $50 plus the cost of eventual replacement, which you shouldn't have needed. The only way you've only lost $50 is if you never replace your broken Zune.

    Um. You seem to lack a basic grasp of economics, goods and their values. For example, do you believe that anytime you get a paycheck, say $200, these are money your employer lost? If yes, please let him know of this fact.

    Think the following scenarios about the GP:

    • He bought a working $300 player, no Zune. Money lost: $0 (his $300 are being put into use).
    • He bought a $50 Zune that stopped working. Money lost: $50
    • Adding the above: He bought a $50 Zune; it stopped working. He buys a new $400 player. While that new player is working, money lost: $50.
    • And finally a way to prove you right: he bought a $50 Zune; it stopped working. He orders online for a $350 player, but the merchant is a scammer and never sends the new player. Money lost: $400
    --
    I speak England very best
  8. Re:Leap Day... by omkhar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    then why didn't this happen in 2004 - there were Zunes then (weren't there?)

  9. Re:Designed Obsolescence by manekineko2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You joke about this, but Microsoft actually has the best track record for non-designed obsolescence among all the digital audio player manufacturers out there. When they came out with new generation Zunes, they rolled out all the updates to older generation owners as well.

    These updates were also free, unlike the updates for the iPod Touch (interesting how some companies supposedly have to charge for updates with new features under accounting rules, and others don't).

    I don't approve of a lot of things Microsoft does, but I have to say that objectively, they've been a real class act as far as supporting older Zunes goes.

  10. Re:Value did get lost :( by AdamInParadise · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This kind of things can happen to every company, true. However, this seems to happen to Microsoft a lot... And in many of those cases, it was proven that Microsoft knew about the issue but decided to release the product anyway: the bugs in Windows Vista, the Red Ring of Death of the Xbox... Please note that is not a criticism of the Microsoft employees but of the corporate cultural at the executive level that lead them to those issues.

    --
    Nobox: Only simple products.
  11. How does this happen???? by tacokill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  12. Re:Xbox,HD-DVD,Zune...Anyone Admit To Owning All 3 by Amarok.Org · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?"
  13. Re:Suicide? by eigenstates · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "... may experience issues ..."

    Is 2009 going to finally be the end of all bogus customer facing 'care' that people (not just MS) pass off good?

    Like the poor saps on the phone who are given a script and parrot out "First, sir let me apologize...". I always ask if they were responsible in some way directly for my 'issue'. Obviously they never are and I give back a "You didn't do it, so please don't apologize for it. If you want to give me to someone that actually made such and such a rule or designed the Xbox 360 to overheat and have them apologize to me- then we've go something. Till then tell your supervisor I am insulted by you being forced to apologize."

    --
    quis custodiet ipsos custodes