Epic Zune Fail

[Lemur]

Owners of 30 gig Zunes are reporting that their devices are freezing as of December 31st. All of them. I expect that this is a side-effect of poorly coded DRM, meant to shut the device down if some switch or another isn't thrown by the licensing server. I can't imagine any other technical flaw that would cause every 30 gig model to freeze on the same day. Details.

The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Z2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country. According to tipster Michael, the Zune users experienced something like this:

Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and... freezes with a full loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them

This report is consistently corroborated by literally hundreds of others across the various Zune support and fan forums. [...]

Here's Microsoft's official response for the time being (it's clear they just woke up and probably haven't even flipped on their coffee pots yet):

We are aware that customers with the Zune 30GB are experiencing issues with their Zune device. We are actively working now to isolate the issue and develop a solution to address it. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune.net

[Ramses II CP]

Hilarity ensues. I'm no Apple apologist, but the sheer scale of this MS flub cracks me up. The Zune is flat out bad hardware. If I had one I'd be expecting my money back right about now.

[Lemur]

Hmm, seems I was wrong about the fail being DRM-related. Maybe. Microsoft claims it's all because of those darn leap years.

Microsoft has issued its official statement and an FAQ on the Zune.net forums. After "the technical team jumped on the problem immediately," there appears to be a bug in the 30GB Zune's internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. Microsoft recommends allowing affected Zunes to run down their batteries, and come noon, GMT on January 1, 2009, it will be safe to plug in, restart, and once again rock out with the Zune.

'Cause seriously, who saw those leap years coming?

[drone]

This report is consistently corroborated by literally hundreds of others across the various Zune support and fan forums. [...]

So, over a hundred Zunes were bought by the public? And there are "fans"?

[Reverend Joe]

I don't care if my Zune fails as well at a later date. At least it isn't Mac.

Plus all my best music is also on vinyl.

[Husar]

Well, my iPhone also crashed when I tried to take a picture of a contact so uhm, it's nice but not perfect either, I mean who could expect that I might want to take a pcture of my contact, eh?
The picture of another contact I cannot edit as it only shows a graphical error on the edit screen.
I like my iPhone a lot but perfect software is hard to find anywhere.