Zune 30GB brickification acknowledged, Microsoft says to wait it out

For all of you Zune 30 owners who woke up this morning to find your PMP frozen in despair at the thought of spending another year alone, Microsoft has finally acknowledged their boo-boo and explains it thusly: There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the device to choke on the last day of a leap year. Rest assured, however -- although they may not be releasing an update for the device any time soon, the issue should resolve itself whenever January 1, 2009 rolls around. So have a safe and happy New Year, and let's hope they do something about this by 2012.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[michael corsner @ Dec 31st 2008 7:04PM]

Why should we have to f-ing wait! What am i supposed to listen to on New Years.....the radio??? Are you nuts?

[Hey Ya @ Dec 31st 2008 7:05PM]

CDs.

You may have heard of them.

[max654000 @ Dec 31st 2008 7:10PM]

Or I find Pandora.com quite helpful when my player is down/ missing, that is, assuming u have a internet connection.

[DBrim @ Dec 31st 2008 7:11PM]

If you can't go a few hours without your zune, you might have a problem.

[Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Dec 31st 2008 7:24PM]

You are on your computer. I am assuming it is the same computer you use to sync with your Z2K'd Zune. You have music on your computer.


Haaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

[Juaquin @ Dec 31st 2008 7:25PM]

Even if they were to actively fix it, working round the clock, it probably wouldn't be fixed by midnight anyways. They've worked all day and only recently figured out the exact problem. Then add in the time to fix the code, recompile and package it, get it on the update servers, and push out the update - not happening faster than midnight. The clock will reset itself at midnight and work normally before the update is even close to ready.

Of course, they should address the issue before the next leap year, so they'll probably just throw it in with a firmware update sometime in a couple months.

[itsnotabigtruck @ Dec 31st 2008 8:41PM]

For the interested, here's exactly what happened: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/zune-news/38143-cause-zune-30-leapyear-problem-isolated.html

[Boards of Canada @ Dec 31st 2008 9:41PM]

www.Last.FM

[sotec_productions @ Jan 1st 2009 11:04AM]

I just booted my Zune up about 5 minutes ago. Works perfectly.

Everyone with a Zune, just boot it up now and enjoy your music/movies/pictures/podcasts/radio.

[JORDAN @ Jan 1st 2009 2:27PM]

I agree

[collegekid13 @ Dec 31st 2008 7:04PM]

in other words. oh well suckers we're on vacation!

[Flashpoint @ Dec 31st 2008 9:03PM]

Steve Jobs probably came in his pants when he heard this.

[GreezyG @ Dec 31st 2008 7:04PM]

^^ Douche

We wont have to worry about it in 2012 because we will all be dead or something according to John Cousack.

[Hey Ya @ Dec 31st 2008 7:05PM]

Good enough for me. I'll be too drunk to use my Zune tonight anyway.

[TomTom2007 @ Dec 31st 2008 7:07PM]

You sir, WIN.

[AVG @ Dec 31st 2008 7:40PM]

I wish this happened a few days ago. I WAS drunk using my Zune and dropped it.

Goodnight sweet prince...

[Dummy00001 @ Dec 31st 2008 8:26PM]

+1.

Actually reaction from MS was pretty fast I have to admit. And they did have investigated the problem confirming that players would come back to life on 01.01.2009 (or 01/01/2009 in US strftime).

[Christian Martin @ Dec 31st 2008 7:05PM]

O NOES BLASPHEMY FIRE VITRIOL RAR RAR RAR BUYING AN IPOD HULK SMASH

[Johan S @ Dec 31st 2008 7:06PM]

Ah, so I'll know it's the new year when Auld Lang Syne starts playing.

[CJ @ Jan 1st 2009 8:51AM]

Or when a random drunk chick starts making out with you...

But remember kids, if you reciprocate, it's statutory rape!

[Philster @ Dec 31st 2008 7:06PM]

Hilarious. Ha ha ha ha ha.

[Dakota @ Dec 31st 2008 7:08PM]

W...wait up here.

Microsoft, instead of pushing out a proper software patch, just says to hold off until tomorrow?
What's going to happen the next leap year?

Why can't they just come up with a patch? Or are they just being lazy because it's the new year?

[Sora @ Dec 31st 2008 7:12PM]

Or because most of their programmers are on holiday and they don't need an urgent patch for something which will fix itself before they get the patch done?

[Freakin Ijit @ Dec 31st 2008 7:13PM]

> ...What's going to happen the next leap year?...

Planned Obsolescence.

They don't expect you to have that Zune in 4 years.

[Jaimi @ Dec 31st 2008 7:14PM]

Are you an idiot? They should rush a patch through development, not do any QA on it at all, and then release it to millions of people in just a few hours. The vast majority of whom wouldn't be able to download and install it by the time the problem goes away anyway.

This is the smart thing to do - the problem goes away in a few hours. Then they have time to properly fix the problem, test it to make sure it doesn't brick everyones boxes, and they can release it through the right channels. Avoiding the all-to-common "Quick hack that causes more trouble" syndrome that is common to hotheads and arrogant fools.

[WixosTrix @ Dec 31st 2008 7:15PM]

also it's hard to patch a device that won't be recognized by the computer if it wont boot genius.

[jaedekdee @ Dec 31st 2008 7:16PM]

come on, everybody has families as well.. we all wanna celebrate new year too ;)

[Noob @ Dec 31st 2008 7:29PM]

I completely agree with WixosTrix, it's akin to plugging something while off and hoping it lets you sync without needing to power on...

[Jason Wright @ Dec 31st 2008 7:39PM]

If you would have read the linked page, they are planning on releasing a patch so that the bug doesn't happen again but things like this take time.

[Jim Halpert DM @ Dec 31st 2008 8:03PM]

That's question asked by a person who obviously has never programmed a thing in his life. Things take time.

[carl @ Jan 1st 2009 12:07AM]

I count 8 folks who need to update their sarcasm drivers.

[TwhiT @ Dec 31st 2008 7:09PM]

Great the battery is going to run down now....

Just fix it ASAP Microsoft!!!!! I'm getting drunk in a couple hours and I want this fixed before you guys get drunk!!!!!!!

I'm looking at you BILL!!!!!!!!!!!

>-

[Jason @ Dec 31st 2008 7:18PM]

Why are you looking at Bill? He's not going to fix anything. If you're going to look at someone, look at Steve (if you can stand it - better get drunk first).

[WixosTrix @ Dec 31st 2008 7:48PM]

@ Jason

If I were the judge Steve would be one of People Magazine's sexiest men.

>_>

[Mike W @ Dec 31st 2008 8:09PM]

@WixosTrix I'm pretty certain you're thinking of a different Steve. Lol.

[WixosTrix @ Dec 31st 2008 8:12PM]

no steve ballmer, that actor/ceo

http://www.filmweb.no/bilder/multimedia/archive/00090/Steve_Carell_i_The_4_90482b.jpg

lol

[DeoWulf @ Jan 1st 2009 12:48AM]

Who are you kidding? As long as they don't get too drunk it's as good as done.
http://xkcd.com/323/

[Freakin Ijit @ Dec 31st 2008 7:12PM]

One would think having a problem handling a leap year (!!! Quality programming!) would cause...you know...problems with having the right date.

Not freezing a computer dead.

Unbelievable - on more than one level.

[Dummy00001 @ Dec 31st 2008 8:32PM]

I actually had this problem with Linux on quite silly setup under virtual machine. Due to my error in init scripts, OS thought that system clock was dead and refused to boot: local time to GMT back to local time conversion did broke.

[josh @ Dec 31st 2008 8:33PM]

The one second addition to this year is actually a headache to deal with. It is a special case that only affects this year.

[UTC @ Jan 1st 2009 11:02AM]

@josh: Yes, only this year. Oh, and 22 out of the last 37 years. A very rare event, indeed.

[Max @ Dec 31st 2008 7:13PM]

Microsoft said that they will release a firmware update to fix the bug before 2012 so all of these ridiculous comments can stop now

[Roman @ Dec 31st 2008 7:16PM]

LoL, I got a BSOD and a frozen Zune in the same day, thanks Microsoft.

[Tom Reinke @ Dec 31st 2008 8:20PM]

Somehow I really doubt that the BSOD is Microsoft's fault.. Shouldn't have downloaded that porn that came in an .exe

[WixosTrix @ Dec 31st 2008 7:17PM]

zune users asked for a clock so bad...not to good of an idea after all hahah

[Homeboy @ Dec 31st 2008 7:24PM]

PS: I just thought of something. If the Zune has a problem with leap years then where the hell is the calendar?? My Zune 80 wantz one.

O_o

[Stephan @ Dec 31st 2008 7:30PM]

I'm sure a clock has been in there all along. They had to keep track of DRM time limits some how.

[Sandy @ Dec 31st 2008 7:19PM]

Who wants earphones plugged into them during the countdown anyway?

[Phoenix @ Dec 31st 2008 7:21PM]

Hmm. Since the world is ending on 22nd December 2012, I'd say you won't have a problem anyway.

[Johan S @ Dec 31st 2008 7:24PM]

Before I was was even 10 years old, I wrote a calendar program .. it handled leap years.

That said, I can understand their difficulty though .. it can be complicated. It took me a while to figure out the required advanced programming concepts such as if-then-else constructs and while loops.