Subscription Center
Dec 31, 2008 02:38 PM | 3
It wasn't exactly the day the Earth stood still, but for some Microsoft Zune users, it might as well have been when their mp3 players (specifically, the 30 gigabyte models) all crashed at the same time earlier today, rendering them useless. You see, once the Zune freezes, it can't be reset.
"It seems the issue started to happen as devices passed midnight locally across the world, though times don't seem to be exactly synchronized," according to Huliq.com, a blog owned by Hareyan Publishing LLC, in Hickory, N.C.
Conspiracy theories explaining why this happened hit the Web early Wednesday. A Huliq.com blogger known only as "Iria" mused that the "Z2K9" problem began as the Zune devices prepared to flip over to the new year, the first leap year since the 30GB Zune was introduced. (By the way, Iria suggests waiting for Microsoft to weigh in on the problem before turning your Zune into an expensive paperweight.)
Gizmodo.com dismisses this, pointing out that " it's unlikely that the switching of years in the Zune's internal calendar has anything to do with the failures (besides, it hasn't even happened yet)." More likely, the problem is a glitch in the software Microsoft downloaded to Zune customers.
In a message posted today on Zune.net, Microsoft apologizes to 30GB Zune customers and thanks them for their "patience," noting that it's aware of and "working to correct" the problem.
Not exactly the way Microsoft would have liked its mp3 offering to end the year, particularly as it struggles to compete with Apple's potent iPod franchise. Apple plans to get its iPod brand off to a quick start in 2009, with a new and smaller version of the iPod Shuffle, possibly shipping before April, according to financial service firm Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc.
Image courtesy of Microsoft
Tags:
Zune,
iPod,
Microsoft,
Apple
More News Blog:
Next: Using virtual worlds and video games to teach the lessons of reality
Previous: NASA releases details on deaths of Columbia crew
See what we're tweeting about
DrJudyStone And thank you for kind words and RTs on Lieberman post: @medskep @Claresy_Bear @LeighGTurner @kbellbarnett @scopedbylarry DrJudyStone Thank yous for the kind words and RTs on my Lieberman post (cont): @drjustincoleman @deevybee @MickConnellyASD @jaypsyd @fiamh @markgbaxter DrJudyStone So many thank yous for the kind words and RTs on my Lieberman post: @lindy2350 @HealthCulture @nigelcameron @PJRAllen @beyondmeds
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Deadline: Jun 30 2013
Reward: $1,000,000 USD
This is a Reduction-to-Practice Challenge that requires written documentation and&
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
3 Comments
Add CommentPresumably after running down the battery, there would have to be just enough reserve power to keep the Real Time Clock chip running so it can get past midnight Dec 31 before the Zune is powered back up, otherwise there's going to be a lot of "bricked" units out there!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLast night there was a Leap Second, so a compliant clock,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/1976.pdf page 27 , would tick from 23:59:59
to 23:59:60, then to 00:00:00.
A proper POSIX clock would have two 23:59:59 ticks at a Leap Second,
as POSIX does not, by decree of the design committee support
Leap Seconds.
Time keeping is far more complicated than most realize...
What platform was that on, again?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh! Well, nevermind. None of my iPods are Microsoft.
But, what did you expect from Dancing Monkey Boy?
Google it.