Comments on: New Year's hangover for Zune users

After countless 30GB Zunes froze up on New Year's Eve, users spent the first morning of 2009 trying to chip away at the problem, with mixed results.

[moonbeard]

While nothing is perfect, I just thought I would mention that my iPods and iPhone all appear to be functioning normally through this "difficult time" for Zune users. My sympathies are with you.

[timber2005]

In all fairness, the first 12-36 hours of the iPhone 3G (activation issues), and the first month of MobileMe were "difficult times" too.

[terminalblue]

while nothing is perfect, ipods sound like trash.

[arosania]

terminalblue: typical child reaction.

[Zamoreta]

yeah this is a typical microsoft problem. wouldn't happen on an apple product

[Penguinisto]

Heh - that's funny... seeing the embattled MSFT defenders try and compare complex issues that were resolved by Apple, with countless Zunes turning into bricks due to a stupid basic coding error...

[Vegaman_Dan]

Penguinisto:

The problem is self resolving with the date change. If you are going to attack a company for oversite, be sure to be fair and credit them when the issue is resolved using the advice they gave as well. It is unfair for you to attempt to blame the company for this issue when the issue is already being resolved and not acknowledging that fact.

In addition, my 3rd gen Nano is still bricked due to the unit crashing and Apple is unwilling to do anything about it other than tell me to buy a new one. I don't find that to be 'funny' at all, regardless how much you are laughing.

The Zune bricking issue is being fixed. My dead bricked Nano is not. That's the plain and simple truth of the matter. It does not matter how much spin you wish to put on it, it doesn't hide the truth.

[moonbeard]

"while nothing is perfect, ipods sound like trash."

You couldn't be more wrong Blu-meanie, it's the Apple ear buds that sound like trash (and they hurt my ears), however, iPods sound incredible when you use quality ear gear like my V-moda Vibes or Sony MDR-710s.

[Penguinisto]

Not all of them will be resolved, and honestly, this is one ginormous black eye for the Zune, and for Microsoft.

"It is unfair for you to attempt to blame the company for this issue when the issue is already being resolved and not acknowledging that fact."

The issue is not resolved - it was just put off. What's to acknowledge - that MSFT's big fix was to do not much of anything?

"In addition, my 3rd gen Nano is still bricked due to the unit crashing..."

You are one anomaly of how many millions of people whose last-gen 4GB iPod Nanos are working just fine? Meanwhile, the Zunes bricking-out are not an anomaly - they dropped like flies. Therein lies the rub - break-downs due to statistical anomalies vs. breakdowns due to statistical near-certainties. Which would you want to buy into?

[markdoiron]

I find the various comments of iPod owners puzzling. The iPod and other Apple products have had their own growing pains at various times. As for this being a simple coding problem, remember where this is occurring: In those 30-GB Zunes that have been updated with the latest firmware to give the latest user experience. Now, if this were an Apple product that would be a non-event: There is no "latest firmware to give the latest user experience" for legacy Apple products. The Apple answer is: Buy a new one.

Besides, where's the subscription service for Apple? That, by itself, makes all iPods a non-starter for me.

For the record: Two 30-GB Zunes, both now working. One reset itself after the battery died out. The other one would not, so we disconnected the battery, then reconnected and all is now fine. I think my son was a bit hasty trying to get his back up.

--mark d.

[Mark_Anderson]

Big black eye for MS but it'll fade away now the problem solved.

Incidentally, how's MobileMe these days?

[ducttape36]

mine came back this morning. i chose to wait it out like microsoft said. then charged it back up using my clock dock. everything is intact and back to normal. however, charging it through the computer usb may warrant different results since once it reaches a certain charge level it will power on and immediately try to sync with the computer. i suggest using an ac adapter or dock if you have it to charge. then, once it boots successfully, connect it to your computer. again, thats just what i did and im back to normal.

anyone out there with a zune successfully boot it while charging with a computer usb port?

[mcnevich]

Yeah, I booted mine with the USB cable connected to the computer. I had drained the battery completely last night, then around noon today I plugged it into the computer. It took a few minutes to get enough of a charge to boot up, then I heard the "ding" that you hear when the computer recognizes the Zune. I did some quick tests--played some music, downloaded a few new songs to make sure they would sync--running like a champ so far...

[Goodbye Helicopter]

tsk tsk tsk.
thank goodness they don't design NASA tools.

[nicmart]

I doubt if even Microsoft could design tools worse than NASA does. Perhaps you haven't read the new report on the Columbia tragedy.

"NASA has released new information about the shuttle Columbia disaster nearly six years ago. All seven astronauts were killed when Columbia broke apart upon re-entry over Texas in 2003. in a 400-page report, NASA says the seat restraints, suits and helmets did not work well...."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28436908/

The good news? NASA was able to compile a report and release it within a mere 6 years.

[myles taylor]

NASA's stuff is built by the lowest bidder. That alone is scary. :)

[Hep Cat]

Nicmart: Conclusions based on the barest knowledge. Congratulations! Out of the most complex machine on earth, immersed in the most difficult conditions experienced by any system, you can blame an entire federal agency! You are the man!

Don't dare start blaming the DoD, who insisted upon certain design decisions along with Rockwell and other firms. Obviously, it must all be completely NASA's fault.

[zenwaves]

Incorrect protocol!

The sequence events *should* read:

1. Disconnect Zune from USB and AC power sources.
2. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black.
3. Purchase iPod or other media player not manufactured by Microsoft.
4. Recycle Zune in ecologically responsible manner.

Hope this helps.

[dude7895]

Was that supposed to be funny?

[Dleon84]

That was AWESOME!

[cnetbioch]

Haaaaa Haaaaa Haaaaaa

Whoooooaaa Haaaaa Haaaaaa

Heeeee Heeeeee (cough cough)

Repeat

[myles taylor]

:P Funny.

[Buttercup841]

Got a giggle out of me. :)

[johnrf]

It was funny, if you have an iPod.

[terminalblue]

no you still got it wrong.

you left out the part where you return ipod for a zune because of the ipods inferior sound quality.

[arosania]

terminalblue: says who? again, typical child response. grow up.

[DeclinedDoomed]

Made me laugh!

@ terminalblue

I've listened to a Zune and an iPod side by side, and I can tell you they're just about the same. I love my Nano for it's sleek design, great sound quality, and the ground breaking innovation of actually turning on when I want to listen to music.

[Vegaman_Dan]

What advice do you have for me? I have a third gen Nano that is bricked and dead. It's more than a year old and Apple will not help me. They suggested I should buy a new iPod instead.

Granted, I did go out and buy a Touch, so they did get $500 (July prices) out of me instead of repairing the existing unit, but I still have the Nano and would like to get it working again.

[mrobmsu]

I thought it *was* funny!

[Pishkado]

What do you expect from a company that actually made MP3 players in brown? (They got rid of a lot of those on woot.com a while back.)

[ducttape36]

dude, brown is my fav color! seriously! i have a brown one. part of the reason i wont get a new one is because they stopped making brown. the brown with the green tint is very earthy feeling. like trees. i find black and white colors boring. everyone has those. i like to be different i guess.

[JoeF2]

@ducttape36:
Think different, think sh*t-brown ;-)

[ducttape36]

you, sir, are hilarious. how long did it take for you to come up with that? pure genius. i mean, i like brown! and its the color of ****! hahahaha my god you are the greatest comedian ever. ever!

[SeizeCTRL]

Not everyone is fond of colors that looks like a rainbow vomited all over a bunch of Chinese plastic.

[NPGMBR]

Yeah for some reason everyone digs on the brown but I too love the brown. Then again, its matches my skin color!

[drhamad]

Good thing the Nano's aren't made of plastic then, eh SeizeCTRL?

[brett_cgb]

My wife and I are both comfortable opening up gear for various reasons. She opened up her Zune to disconnect the battery - this worked for her Zune.

My Zune was a different story. It had apparently been running through the night, and the battery was already mostly depleted. The battery disconnect did not work, nor would the battery charge. She swapped her Zune battery in place of mine just long enough to allow my Zune to restart, then put the original battery back in. My zune is working again. This may be the way to "unbrick" a Zune.

[lupinlion]

I don't think it was "supposed to be funny," I think it IS funny. Well, not so much his comment, as the willingness of a few.....and I do mean few...people, to cling to the Zune, which has once again been shown to be complete rubbish. I mean, far be it from me to mock Microsoft's portable media player, and its mighty 2% market share....but this is like clinging to Betamax, or HD-DVD....though I'm sure some Crapbox 360 owners are doing just that.

[johnrf]

Actually there was nothing wrong with the betamax it just lost too much market share. The zune is much different.... Their problems have nothing to do with market share.

[protagonistic]

I happen to have a Betamax that still works. And I expect it to still be working long after your VHS format VCR gives up the ghost. Superior technology has a way of lasting a lot longer. Something MS has yet to figure out.

[ithomas94]

After a year of owning my iPod Classic, I am very disappointed.
1. The click wheel is having issues with recognition.
2. The menu screen lags.
3. The lack of customization.
And, I don't know about you, but I certainly don't go around saying this:
**** The Dark Knight would have been sooooo much better if only it had a couple of more pixel's to make it look sharper!!!
And buying a product shouldn't be about whether it has 2% or 98% of the market share; it should be about quality.
This is something that sadly, many people have lost sight of. Including you.

[Fire Balls]

I have the 120 GB zune.. and no problems!! It looks like the only ones having the problem are the older 30GB devices. Still this should have been fixed.

[seven7dust]

How awesome !
This is the world's largest software company !

[rublo360]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but, mm, nothing happen ......

[crsteele]

Pretty much par for the course... Let the Redmond Retards loose on something, they will render it completely inoperable within a update or two.

Microsoft able to turn your 2009 speed demon quad core server into a PDA with one software installation.

Microsoft is to software like KFC is to chicken

[celticbrewer]

finger lickin' good?

> FINGER -l chicken @kfc.com

[fshepinc]

Total Apple Fanboy here, but in this case I think you need to give Microsoft a break. I have no doubt whatsoever that if they had foreseen this problem, they would have issued a fix. Clearly they were caught of guard -It happens. As long as Microsoft makes good on the Zunes that were bricked, then people should just chalk it up to experience and move on.

[protagonistic]

The real problem here is that MS does not seem to have competent programmers on staff anymore. As far as products go the Zune is a decent player. It is just hampered by people who don't seem to be able to understand the code they write.

[celticbrewer]

I'll agree with both of you on that one. Especially in a big company, there'll be at least one slacker who rather half-arse their way through a task so they can get back to reading cnet.com all day (hmmm... sounds familiar).

If it weren't for all the software bugs my company deals with (homegrown apps, vendor apps, microsoft, and apple), I wouldn't have a job.

[n8anderson]

@protagonistic

Have you taken a look at the .NET framework? If you don't know what it is, you are not qualified to make a statement that bold. Microsoft has its problems, but employing competent programmers is not one of them.

[ducttape36]

i agree. especially considering the error effected the zune 30, the first generation zune that wasnt inititally designed for these features. i guess its easy to overlook something like that over the course of all the firmware updates and ensuring compatibility with the whole zune universe. what im trying to say is id rather have a hiccup one day than to skip out on all the great features these firmware updates provide. beats buying a new ipod every few years.

[myzuneisdead]

so does this work if your zune was previously dead like for a month because you can't find the charger? Also i sort of customized my zune and i never updated it past the 1st update, got it in 2007 christmas season. Is mine still affected?

[daghst]

its fine i just found my sync cable and it works perfectly

[imxxboredxx]

Honestly, I love my zune but I've been having so many problems with it. I've had a zune since christmas 2007, but i had to return it for a new one this october. It's getting kind of ridiculous, every month or so a new major problem arises. (There's also the little things like sometimes refusing to charge or sync properly.) I'm just so sick of this, I wish I would have asked for an Ipod.

[8301]

I don't understand why people are gloating over this. You all act like you won a prize because someone else's mp3 player had a problem and yours didn't.

[random truth]

Thats because I told you my corn chip was better...

[loose_screw]

Nice one, Microsoft.

[lupinlion]

Fair point (although vhs developed slightly better sound fidelity later in the game). But my general point was that people are straddling a dinosaur by cheerleading the Zune, its market share is only going to decrease towards obsolesence.

[lupinlion]

Says who? Says the five Zune users who exist on this planet, that's who....well, sorry.....I meant four. The Zune holds no advantage over the iPod in terms of sound fidelity. Neither does is it have a larger, brighter screen than the iPod; a longer battery life than the iPod; more extensive format compatibility than the iPod; nor is it made of higher quality components than the iPod (for hell's sake, it looks and feels like a cheap prepaid mobile).

[ywkhgqo]

umm, hate to tell you but the zune definitely does have a bigger screen than the current ipod classic. you can't compare it to the touch because they are entirely different all together. more extensive format compatibility? The ipod can play mp3's, aac's, mp4's so basically all of apple's format's except mp3. Don't talk about format compatibility with the pod. IT looks and feels like a cheap prepaid mobile? THE IPOD SCREEN IS MADE OF PLASTIC. The zune has a much more resilient glass screen. I've also seen a zune take much more abuse than an ipod. I don't know anyone that as older ipods because they just don't last. I know a lot of people with older zunes though. Take a look at cnet's last prize fight between the ipod and zune. The zune won. So shove it.

and no i don't own a zune. I'm an ipod owner.

[SVEarl47]

"I don't know anyone that as older ipods because they just don't last."

iPods can and do last - my friend, after five years, just replaced her iPod mini.

[kilplostand]

Im a Zune Owner and i love the zune, Well for one i got mine for 400$ cheaper than the Ipooed. For another the sound quality on it is amazing considering it is in MP3 format or WMA with converter. I personally think that the best sound for a MP3 Player is that X-FI MP3 Player that creative makes. But IPooed's Just suck, they keep getting outdated and then when it comes time to purchace music from their dumb store they cheat you out of your money faster than a cheap hooker. IPooed music store makes less sense than george bush being in office, cause if you reformat your pc or move to a different PC there is 0 songs on your purchase history. So next time you think about your Ipooed just remember that it is a pile of hot steaming POO.

[random truth]

Kilpostand,
How can you get a zune for $400 cheaper than the ipod when the most expensive ipod costs $399 (btw thats the ipod touch 32) Did microsoft give you a zune then pay you to use it?

[Sporlo]

All 8 of my families iPods still work great (it's a lot, but it's nice to have up to date hardware), and 6 of them are 1 year or older, including a Mini from who knows when that was used probably more than any of the other ones.

random truth: He could have gotten it before the Touch's price was brought down.

[celticbrewer]

I'm not sure why people buy either of them. You want something to play MP3s... there are a LOT of options out there and most are cheaper than the ipod or zune and perform the same function. If you have a halfway decent cell phone, even those will play MP3s so you don't need to tote around an extra device.

Apple has always been very restrictive with what you can do with their products which is why I'd never own one. I've tried itunes and I surely wouldn't want that POS on my computer. I'm happy to copy mp3s right to my device how I want to, not how I'm forced to.

[imotionsrt4]

"iPods can and do last - my friend, after five years, just replaced her iPod mini"

Ohhh the ironing

[ithomas94]

by SVEarl47 January 1, 2009 4:55 PM PST
"I don't know anyone that as older ipods because they just don't last."

iPods can and do last - my friend, after five years, just replaced her iPod mini.
sadly, my iPod Classic is having functionality issues only a year after I bought it.

[mikehill33]

so glad I junked my Zine months ago. Poor engineering re-affirms the **** poor experience of the Zune.

[xxenclavexx]

engineering, or a source code error? Nothing is physically wrong with the product

[mbenedict]

@xxenclavexx:

It was a source code error... not even Microsoft's error but an error in the driver code supplied by the real-time clock's manufacturer (Freescale, which I believe was still owned by Motorola at the time the code was written years ago.)