Zunes Everywhere Froze At 2am This Morning
If you're Steve Jobs, you probably dream of stories like this: Zunes all over the world froze up at around 2am this morning and won't reboot, and nobody knows why.
ArsTechnica says it seems to have affected all owners of the 30 gig model, and hit no matter what you were doing at the moment:
"i was on the computer my zune was hooked up charging all of the sudden it reset it self and froze on the zune loading logo screen !!!" said ISUZU RODEO on the Zune.net forums. "Same thing just happened to me!" replied momogirl. "Except mine wasn't hooked up to the computer, I was playing music and all of sudden the music stopped and it shut off. I turned the Zune back on and it loaded to 100% but then froze and none of the reset combinations are working."
Microsoft has been embarrassingly slow to respond to the story, but according to MSNBC they've now released the following statement:
“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!”
We assume by "your patience" they mean "your many, many class action lawsuits."
We were going to make some pointless Skynet jokes, but the funny has already been exhaustively covered on Gizmodo's board as well as Zune's own forums (which are now offline for "maintenance"—maybe they were hosted on a Zune). We have a feeling that Shatner Zune pic, courtesy of Gizmodo reader Bill Bradski, is going to stick around for a while, though.
(Photo: Bill Bradski or Brasky, Gizmodo isn't sure) [Update: I didn't get that "Brasky" was an SNL reference, my apologies. - CW]
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Comments:
Was that 2AM last night, or 2AM this morning?
And, what is this, the y2k8/9 bug? Weird.
My Zune has frozen as well. There's a huge discussion over on Gizmodo btw. The Zune may be flawed, but it's still a perfect diversion for someone who is uncomfortable with taking the Ipod plunge. It also helps that when I got it, it was last Black Friday for $90 :)
Um... Samsung makes some spiffy mp3 players too, and I've never had an issue with mine...
So by Zune's all over the world, you mean all 5 of them?
@weakdome: I should've read the linked story, apparently it's the "Z2k" bug.
But that still doesn't explain the conflicting lastnight/thismorning :)
I almost bought a zune...good thing I stuck with iAudio / Cowon.
Digging up my zune 30 now, and testing it as soon as it gets enough charge. I really like this thing, so I hope there isn't an issue. I have a Zune 80 and its losing the ability of the touch pad to click as a button to navigate right. If both of these crap out on me here within this same week I am going to freak out.
I'm guessing by the lack of comments that
a) most people feel the same way I do, which can be summed up in 2 words: "Ha Ha!"
b) everyone in posting in gawker.
Either way, I'm going to go listen to my totally generic mp3 player that has lasted for 2 years without incident even though I only paid $70 for it. Did I mention that I take it into the steam room with me?
wow, this sounds so weird that i'm kind of expecting david tennant to show up and say it's the beginning of an alien invasion and they are controlling zune owners but don't worry, he's the doctor and he'll fix it with his sonic screwdriver.....
hmmm...havent listened to my zune in a couple of months. wonder what will happen when I turn it on?!?!
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN!!!!!!!
awesome pic. :)
It's similar to IBM. Many IBM storage arrays auto-shutdown due to microcode errors on specific days (495, 4950 days since microcode)
That freeze up was the Zune's own hardware DRM taking effect as the Zune DRM server is down. Sorry, you all will have to re-purchase a new Zune as your old Zune license has expired.
Unsurprisingly, my 30 GB zune has been afflicted as well.
My Zune and my wife's Zune are both fine. Called my friend and his is fine to. All of them are 30GB models. Sounds like the statement that all 30GB Zune's broke might be more like some 30GB Zune's broke.
But then again, making grand assumptions based on a handful of forums posts generally works out. Right?
"Zunes all over the world foze up at around" What's a foze up?
J/K Chris
Y2K..IX
Must get to survival shelter!
@woogychuck: It's hardly a 'handful', as there have been hundreds of reports (a significant number when you consider the Zune market share).
that is weird. my wife has a 30 gig zune, hope it doesn't break. i really don't want to by another ipod now. *hugs ipod touch* thanks for not breaking little ipod
Sounds like a really bad M. Night Shyamalan movie.
@RTFA_SteveDave: It's a good thing I've already played through Fallout 3 so I know how to survive in a post-apocolyptic setting.
@Valerie Flame: No it isn't. 2 a.m. this morning is 2 a.m. on December 31st. 2 a.m. last night is 2 a.m. December 30th.
That isn't nearly as weird as my Creative. Ever since I dropped it a few weeks ago, it turns on and off when you touch the headphone jack. Even though the on-off switch is on the opposite side of the rather large mp3-movie player.
As for the Zunes, this is Microsoft we're talking about. Owners should consider themselves lucky they just stopped working, rather than say, exploded into flames.
Wow... nobody said that joke before. Here are some other gems you may not have heard:
The PS3 has no games!
The Wii is for kids only!
Apple products are for snobs and iClones!
Since when was being part of a bandwagon fun?
@TheTick:
Hundreds out of over 2 million is a handful. Maybe we will see more as the day progresses, but I would be surprised if this affected more than few percent of Zune users, which is significantly less than "Every 30GB Zune in the world".
But then again, it's an opportunity to bash Microsoft, so it will likely get blown way out of proportion.
@linkinkampf19: I've found the perfect diversion for somebody who doesn't buy the iPod hype and wants a quality mp3 player is actually a Creative Zen. They last forever, they're sturdy...I could go on for days about how much I love mine.
@James Skahan: or "Sounds like a M. Night Shymalan movie" more efficient way of saying the same thing
Oh my. I think someone with the control code to stop a tapeworm probably got laid off or fired. Or some similar disgruntled employee situation.
@woogychuck:
My understanding is you have to be on the latest firmware to see this bug.
Gizmodo is full of people who are experiencing this on models with the new firmware, but their non-updated ones are fine,
I have a 30GB Zune at home that I am curious to check on. It should have the latest firmware.
What a strange occurance. I'm really interested in hearing what caused this, although I'm not affected personally.
On a side note, after reading the Gizmodo comments, I am really thankful for the Comments Code here.
the end is near.
Good thing nobody bought Zunes otherwise Microsoft might have a real problem on their hands.
Sure sucks to be Khan right now. Hope he's well prepared for the Microsoft fanboys.
Hey, bub! That flame thing? Yeah, that a _feature_! You think Apple is gonna care about de-icing your car locks or your cold little tootsies this time of year? Hell no. Let's see you dance that happy little iPod dance with hypothermia.
Regards,
Micr$oft
Change the date/time back to let's say 2005 for now?
@Meiran: I always thought the phrase "Last night at X:XX AM" was an oxymoron, since technically anything past midnight *IS* morning.
Would you ever say "I woke up at 9:00AM last night" ?
@James Skahan: So what's the twist? That Bill Gates stole the design for the Zune from Apple in the late 90's, except Steve Jobs purposely put the plans out there for Bill to steal, and included this little hidden "design flaw" that will allow Apple to rise to World Domination by replacing people's defective Zune's with iPod's that contain subliminal messages to destroy all PC's?
I tell my wife all the time; I could totally write this crap.
lol.. i'm glad i read this article before i realized my zune is frozen. now i'm 90% amused and 10% annoyed instead of 100% angry.
This is due to a problem with the device and leap year. It's choking on day 366. There's directions on nearly all tech sites on how to perform a hard reset. Synch the device tomorrow and all should be well.
Chris, the accompanying photo is true brilliance.
Glad I got Mr. Crabby an iPod Touch for xmas! (They're the similar, right?)
This is completely false. It's a problem with how the device handles the extra day during a leap year.
And I thought the hardware was faulty from only a DRM perspective...