Somebody appears to have found the code that caused the problem:

http://olddougnewtricks.blogspot.com/2008/12/happy-new-year-and-welcome-back-zune.html

1/1/2009 12:04:44 PM

[Edited on January 1, 2009 at 12:56 PM. Reason : slash &ne dot

1/1/2009 12:55:54 PM

I don't understand Microsoft's fix. They didn't fix anything. They basically just told everyone to wait a day to turn on their Zune. That's not a fix. That's just ignoring the bug for a day.

1/1/2009 1:44:04 PM

well given the current state of the zune, that seems to be all they can realistically do

what did you expect, expedited service to a repair facility and service back in 24 hours?

i would expect that on the 2nd or 3rd, there will be an update

1/1/2009 2:28:16 PM

sounds like a good fix to me. why bother fixing something that's only temporarily broken for 2 days out of the lifetime of the device. This doesn't sound as bad as owning an older ipod where the screen breaks after a year.

[Edited on January 1, 2009 at 2:33 PM. Reason : or a 360 that overheats and dies.]

1/1/2009 2:32:27 PM

just sounds like a fucking copout to call it a "fix." just man up and admit it, MS - you fucked up

1/1/2009 4:02:03 PM

is a driver not software related? can it not be fixed with a firmware update?

i mean after all it seems that the latest firmware (3.x+) was in part to blame.

1/1/2009 4:02:25 PM

How do you propose they load a new firmware onto it when the thing hangs at the boot screen?

1/1/2009 4:04:21 PM

i'm sure they will fix it before it happens again on Dec 31, 2012, but there was no point in them rushing out an emergency release for people who were without their Zunes for a couple hours

1/1/2009 4:13:38 PM

now don't go and turn a somewhat hilarious and embarrassing minor bug into your next CRUCIFY MICRO$OFT THE EVIL CORPORATION rant

mine worked just fine when I turned it on today, and I wasn't really even inconvenienced since I had no use for my zune yesterday anyway, but if something so trivial as one day without your pmp really grinds your gears you might have too cushy a lifestyle anyway

[Edited on January 1, 2009 at 6:44 PM. Reason : not that many of you really are, I could just see the thread going down that road]

1/1/2009 6:43:10 PM

i agree. mine is fine today and i didn't need it or use it yesterday so it's not an inconvenience. but just because it doesn't affect you or me doesn't mean it was an insignificant or minor bug.

think how different it would be if it was your computer. it's unacceptable to just ignore it. i expect a firmware fix, that's what i expect.

1/1/2009 7:00:37 PM

There was no point in rushing out a bug fix yesterday since:

A) There was no way to get it on the product when it was dead
B) The issue will essentially resolve itself
C) The issue won't re-appear for another 4 years

It's going to undoubtedly be fixed, but whether they released it yesterday or 1,400+ days from now doesn't really make much of a difference.

1/1/2009 7:50:33 PM

Hi yes, thanks for the repeated repeat

1/1/2009 8:00:17 PM

Quote :

"There was no point in rushing out a bug fix yesterday"

a) a patch yesterday was pointless as it obviously wouldn't work with the Zune bricking everytime you tried to sync it.
b) it only takes 8-12 hours or less for the battery to drain (upon which you could charge/reboot it), they were not completely bricked

Quote :

"It's going to undoubtedly be fixed"

according to Microsoft's "official" response, there is no indication it will be

i'm just asking for a fix, it's unacceptable to just leave it. that was my point. i don't care as long as it's in the next 1460 days.

[Edited on January 1, 2009 at 8:53 PM. Reason : .]

1/1/2009 8:52:46 PM

Yeah, since they'll undoubtedly release patches for other reasons in the near future anyways (software upgrades, etc.) like they and Apple do regularly for there respective players, there is little excuse for not including a fix in one of those updates in the next 3 years.

1/1/2009 9:07:15 PM

they will
jesus, give it up with all this "it is unacceptable! bullshit. MS doesn't have to document with a press release everytime they add an = to their code base

1/1/2009 9:09:25 PM

it is possible that it is impossible to fix the problem. while its a software issue, it may be that firmware updates can't solve the issue.

even if it can be fixed, it wouldn't be worth the time/effort to make it a special release

1/1/2009 9:50:37 PM

^^i already told you, there's no indication of that. if they "will" fix it, why didn't they at least say in their official update that it will be fixed in later firmware updates? they didn't. their official response was that it will fix itself.

^and as i mentioned before, there were MANY Zune's with <3.x firmware were fine, so if was broken by firmware you'd think it could be fixed with firmware, and like i said, as long as they do it in the next 1460 days, that's fine. just say "it's coming in a future firmware release" or something!

Quote :

"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: What is Zune doing to fix this issue? The issue should resolve itself."

my Zune's fine, so i'm gonna leave it now, just wishing for a fix, sometime

[Edited on January 2, 2009 at 11:45 AM. Reason : .]

1/2/2009 11:38:30 AM

got my answer. not official, but it's something

from: http://twitter.com/ZuneInsider/status/1088971239

Quote :

"we will update the firmware before 2012 3:22 PM Dec 31st, 2008 from web"

[Edited on January 2, 2009 at 12:49 PM. Reason : .]

1/2/2009 12:49:03 PM

Who the fuck would buy a Zune?

1/2/2009 12:52:37 PM

i would, because i got it for $40
(well actually $80, but i bought two and sold one on ebay for $120, making mine $40)

1/2/2009 12:56:29 PM

DEAR SIR,

YOU SHOULD HAVE SOLD BOTH OF THOSE PIECES OF SHIT AND BOUGHT AN IPOD. DO YOU THINK APPLE HAS THESE KINDS OF PROBLEMS?

I DIDN'T THINK SO.

1/2/2009 12:57:27 PM

I don't even have an MP3 player. All my electronics work just fine

This classic example of Schadenfreude has been brought to you by the letters Z, M, and S.

1/2/2009 12:58:43 PM

Quote :

"DO YOU THINK APPLE HAS THESE KINDS OF PROBLEMS FEATURES?"

fixed it for ya.

1/2/2009 1:52:47 PM

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE SON

1/2/2009 1:56:07 PM

Quote :

"DO YOU THINK APPLE HAS THESE KINDS OF PROBLEMS?"

I have an iPod. It feezes all the time. I THOUGHT APPLE DIDN'T HAVE THESE KINDS OF PROBLEMS.

1/2/2009 2:06:10 PM

Except I have an Ipod. I just like the Zune better. Granted I don't have an Ipod touch, but that's like 8x the cost of what I got my Zune for.

Besides, I'm not sure I could live without my wireless sync, radio and 3" screen vs. the ipod classic.

[Edited on January 2, 2009 at 3:00 PM. Reason : .]

1/2/2009 2:58:23 PM

My 30 gig zune is working fine.. I have the latest firmware.. I guess I got lucky

1/2/2009 3:07:51 PM

They're all fine numb nuts, just a temporary problem

1/2/2009 3:15:35 PM

was anyone seriously surprised to learn of yet another widespread Microsoft product failure ?

MS is late with half-ass innovation in every market they touch -- game consoles that brick randomly; mobile phones that crash like Windows desktops; Windows desktops that crash like, err, Windows desktops; and now media devices that are victim to one of the most elementary date/time programming corner cases imaginable. I don't think there's actually a "testing" phase in their development cycle, it seems more like they rapid prototype and then deliver to market for testing

1/2/2009 6:10:04 PM

y'all must have missed the big BETA etched into the back of those things

1/2/2009 6:14:27 PM

Quote :

"was anyone seriously surprised to learn of yet another widespread Microsoft product failure ? MS is late with half-ass innovation in every market they touch -- game consoles that brick randomly; mobile phones that crash like Windows desktops; Windows desktops that crash like, err, Windows desktops; and now media devices that are victim to one of the most elementary date/time programming corner cases imaginable. I don't think there's actually a "testing" phase in their development cycle, it seems more like they rapid prototype and then deliver to market for testing"

While I agree with most all of your knocks against M$, I'm not sure I would consider the 30GB Zune not working for a period of 24 hours a "product failure"

1/2/2009 8:29:42 PM

i dunno, seems like a leap year issue is one of those things you, you know, TEST for. How exactly do you not test something that simple? How do you let something that bloody simple happen

1/2/2009 10:35:26 PM

yeah. we were tested for that shit in fucking java 1 class when we had to create a calendar..that ya know..made space for fucking leap year dates.

just sayin.

1/2/2009 10:37:55 PM

they probably delegated the calendar code to some coop or intern since it was so 'simple'

that just feels like a bug a new guy would bump into, but everyone has bad days coding where they do moronic stuff

but what bothers me the most about it is the apparent lack of testing after it was coded, the bug is one thing, but not thoroughly testing for the odd circumstances like leap years is pretty terrible

that being said, it didn't bother me too much, and I'm sure they'll have that bug patched before 2012, but really, who the hell is still going to be using their 30 GB block of a Zune in frigging 2012 anyway, everyone will have upgraded to bigger, longer-lasting, higher resolution, etc etc pmps by then

1/2/2009 11:09:59 PM

Quote :

"I'm sure they'll have that bug patched before 2012"

I personally wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the patch was put off until 2010-2011 and then, not even to avoid patching something so elementary, but as a part of their "roadmap" of planned obsolescence, software support is EOL'd for this particular model without it having ever been released.

1/3/2009 6:57:16 AM

The clock driver was written by Freescale and is distributed as part of a library supporting their processors. Anyone using whatever Freescale processor the Zune uses was probably affected as well.

For any software developers out there: how often do you take a vendor's software library for granted; i.e., how often do you assume that it works correctly?

1/3/2009 10:04:03 AM

Quote :

"who the hell is still going to be using their 30 GB block of a Zune in frigging 2012 anyway,"

1/3/2009 10:35:56 AM

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?p=314980

Quote :

"From IRC today, 15:50] that zune bug is actually a freescale bug, its effecting all players with the MC13783 processor [15:51] which other players EnzoTen? [15:51] toshiba s30 [15:52] someone posted about a toshiba screwup in the forums yesterday, afaik [15:52] so it's probably the same fix"

1/3/2009 12:10:13 PM

Quote :

"who the hell is still going to be using their 30 GB block of a Zune in frigging 2012 2009 anyway"

1/3/2009 1:58:56 PM

^inorite

1/3/2009 2:06:51 PM

omfginorite

i just pointed out a couple things the latest greatest ipod doesn't even have on this 2yo pos

1/3/2009 3:59:13 PM

wireless sync: who the fuck needs this? i have pandora and simplify on my iphone
3" screen: look at my iphone
radio: i have access to every internet radio station (which includes a bunch of terrestrial FM stations)

what were you saying?

1/3/2009 4:28:27 PM

and you can get all of that on many other smartphones running windows mobile.

1/3/2009 4:46:41 PM

simplify doesn't run on windows mobile

also, i have never had a WM phone i was happy with, they were always slow and crashed a lot
i had a treo 750, a cingular 8525, and an at&t tilt

1/3/2009 4:51:14 PM

what the hell is wrong with you? ipod /= iphone. RTFP.

you can't compare a $30 Zune mp3 player to a $400 iPhone smart phone, not only that but i clearly was comparing the 2yo Zune to the ipod classic. you know... apples to apples... mp3 player to mp3 player. i can play music, check my email on my cell phone too, in fact i think 80% of cell phones have these features nowadays.

1/3/2009 5:13:22 PM

ipod touch = iphone - phone

Quote :

"i just pointed out a couple things the latest greatest ipod doesn't even have on this 2yo pos"

the "latest greatest" ipod is the ipod touch, which has all of the features i identified above

also, you can get a refurbished iphone 3g for $99

1/3/2009 5:17:07 PM

you can sync with many PDAs using a bluetooth connection and no additional software. I use a HTC PPC-6800 and have no problems with it crashing, although the battery doesn't last much past a day.

1/3/2009 5:18:41 PM

^^not without a data plan, still comparing apples to oranges, ipod touch is flash based, the ipod classic is the latest greatest comparable mp3 player apple has to offer, and AFAIK a comparable sized 32GB ipod touch is $300+

[Edited on January 3, 2009 at 7:18 PM. Reason : .]

1/3/2009 7:16:15 PM

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1/3/2009 7:36:26 PM