Welcome (back) to the Social

Well, that was a wild way to end 2008, but Zune 30 users should be back in the saddle now that 2009 is here, as of about 7 am EST. In case you missed Microsoft's sage advice on the issue, you'll need to let the player completely drain its battery, then plug it back into a power source and all should be right as rain. Hopefully you didn't do anything drastic like removing the battery (voids the warranty) or use up all 10 of your free Zune Pass songs during those dark, dark hours of Zunelessness.

[Via Zunerama]

[Jamma @ Jan 1st 2009 9:27AM]

ARGH, come on Microsoft, i don't care if i can't use it on the last day of a leap year, just give us a worldwide release!!!

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 10:05AM]

@Paul Miller

But where's the fun in that?

...

Oh alright then.

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 10:06AM]

I love this comment system. No, really I do.

[VerbCat @ Jan 1st 2009 10:38PM]

@Mark
Your accidental comment actually made sense in that context.
At least you've got that going for you.

[Dead_Rebel @ Jan 2nd 2009 8:14AM]

I removed the battery (and don't care about no damn warranty breakin'!)

[axemt @ Jan 1st 2009 9:27AM]

At least now we know there are many many Zunes out there :)

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 9:33AM]

What is amazing is how self righteous some folks can get. A Microsoft product fails, almost universally, and Apple gets blasted in the posts yesterday. True genius!

That makes me wonder. How many PC people bought Zunes just to stick it to their imaginary enemy, Apple?

[TomTom2007 @ Jan 1st 2009 9:33AM]

Me

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 9:38AM]

I think it had something to do with your post advertising the iPod Touch in the Zune topic, Paul. And look, here you are again in another Zune post.

Today's word: hypocrite.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 9:46AM]

@Mark Anderson

Nah, I didn't come in to post until people started saying stuff like, "Yeah, my Zune is not working, but Apple still sucks. My Zune has dropped on the sidewalk fifteen times and it's still as solid as a brick... uh, and it's better than the iPod Touc.... uh, Classic. Suck it, Steve Jobs, I hate you and your family. Your wife. Your kids and hope you die of cancer and all your fans can blow me, because my Zune is better, even though it doesn't work today. Viva La Microsoft!"

Yeah, that stuff kind of annoyed me and I don't even own an iPod (anymore).

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 9:51AM]

@Paul Chapel

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/31/zune-30gb-brickification-acknowledged-microsoft-says-to-wait-it/#comments

Yours is the third post.

Seriously. Just quit it.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 9:55AM]

@Mark Anderson

Yes, but this

http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/31/30gb-zunes-mysteriously-begin-to-fail-at-12am-december-31st/

is actually the FIRST post about the Zunepocalypse yesterday, not the one you linked to. And my comment was a reply to someone's else's comment, not an original comment. Nice try though.

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 9:59AM]

Oh right, so that excuses your continued whining in the previous topic and then this one?

No, no it doesn't. Don't kid a kidder, son.

[Paul Miller @ Jan 1st 2009 10:01AM]

Can't we all just get along? It's a new year!

[Quix @ Jan 1st 2009 10:33AM]

@ Paul:

Blasting Apple is the Engadget commenters' hobby du jour. Where have you been?

[bill cant fart @ Jan 1st 2009 10:32AM]

@TomTom

You?

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 10:52AM]

@Quix, who said: "Blasting Apple is the Engadget commenters' hobby du jour. Where have you been?"

Dude, I get annoyed with the posers who come to Engadget to complain about Apple and I've been a Windows user since Junior High. It's freaking annoying. I come here to read news and all I hear is "I hate Apple because of this" or "Engadget is biased for Apple, blah, blah, blah."

Microsoft is not an underdog and neither is Apple. They're multi-national corporations that don't give a shite about you. So just STFU already!

[rock99rock @ Jan 1st 2009 10:59AM]

I vote ban-hammer. He's making my head hurt. You know, more-so.

[jakem @ Jan 1st 2009 11:38AM]

You are a hypocrite Paul.

Here you are claiming that you just want to read news and yet in every MS/Apple thread I find you bashing MS and banging on about Apple like the ultimate fanboy. Haven't you noticed the way you're almost always being low ranked?

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 11:45AM]

I don't even like Apple that much. I mock Zune people because they are hypocrites and I'm tired of hearing about "Engadget bias." We get it. You guys don't like Apple. You think iPods and iPhones are overpriced and nonfunctional pieces of trash, but you don't get the press Apple gets because you make trash. Hype can only get you so far.

But the thing that's got Apple to where it is now is its tenacious design system. The company finds a market that's been going for a while, figures out what people hate about it, and then engineers a solution that is beautiful, fixes all the major flaws, and has a far better user interface. That's it.

They're not doing anything magical. I have a desktop PC and a Macbook Pro. I like the PC for games and some other stuff, but I'm really starting to like OS X, for a variety of reasons that I won't get into here, but the MacBook Pro isn't trash. It's the best laptop I've used. The difference between me and most PC people is that I've used Macs. My judgment isn't colored by ignorance.

[Phoenix @ Jan 1st 2009 11:48AM]

Oh, I've used Macs. I'm FORCED to use macs by my school. It sucks. I prefers PCs by a massive margin.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 11:57AM]

I wasn't referring to you per se, just the majority of the idiots who hate Apple, but can't seem to talk about anything else but Apple, even in posts that have nothing to do with Apple, like the Zune posts yesterday.

[SKI @ Jan 1st 2009 12:34PM]

"I come here to read news and all I hear is "I hate Apple because of this" or "Engadget is biased for Apple, blah, blah, blah." "

You do know you don't have to read the comment section? Now GO AWAY.

[Decoy @ Jan 1st 2009 2:29PM]

Paul, the best way to show you aren't posting is not to post.

[axemt @ Jan 1st 2009 3:10PM]

@ Paul Chapel

That's a valid question. I wonder how many people keep buying dead-on-water-gadgets like AppleTV and other turds from Apple just to stick it to their real enemy, Microsoft. :D

[behonestwyourself @ Jan 2nd 2009 10:43AM]

Down rank me too, but Paul has a point. Imagine if all of a sudden all iPods of a specific model crashed. I don't think there would be as much patience for Apple as there seems to have been for MS. It's true.

[Ordeith @ Jan 2nd 2009 9:00PM]

@Paul:

There came a point when I stopped reading you comments altogether and just started low-ranking the posts whenever I see your name.

[Malaycobra @ Jan 1st 2009 9:28AM]

January First!

Zune is indeed working. Happy New Year All!

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 11:04AM]

Handbrake does the same thing for DVDs and iPods and it's way better.

http://handbrake.fr/

I don't have an iPod. Just saying.

[telepheedian @ Jan 1st 2009 11:15AM]

First, Handbrake also works for Zunes, I use it all the time, the Zune software will just retranscode if you have a 30. Second, you fail at relevance.

[ishism @ Jan 1st 2009 12:01PM]

Having to reconvert videos for the 30GB is the only thing I don't like about the 30GB zune. I wish they would make it possible to use ipod converted videos for viewing on the 30. It must be a hardware issue.

[roach @ Jan 1st 2009 1:03PM]

That's a better solution than Apples. "Don't even bother draining your battery cuz its ****ed... don't try removing it cuz we weld it in there. Just buy another to go with your 2 other dead ipods... we have a new one in purple!"

[TheAxMan @ Jan 1st 2009 10:46PM]

What the deal with this Paul Chapel dude? He's so annoying he makes me want to stay away from any product he trumpets..

[Fred @ Jan 1st 2009 9:32AM]

Zunes don't have removable batteries? Wow, I missed all the righteous indignation about that.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 9:36AM]

Another "innovation" that Microsoft copied from Apple. But yes, why does no one make snide remarks about Microsoft when it comes to issues like that?

Where's my Zune copy and paste, Microsoft? And SD slot? And movie rentals?


(Waits patiently for Fred to come up with an excuse)

[Kris120890 @ Jan 1st 2009 9:42AM]

Why would you want copy and past on a zune.

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 9:42AM]

Except the indignation is about the iPhone's non-removable battery, not the iPod's since the iPod has had a sealed battery since day one. The Zune also does as do Cowon's S9 and other PMPs. It's not an issue because they don't use 3G radio units which are pretty power hungry. Phones on the other hand do.

Facts. They're better when they're relevant.

[Dez @ Jan 1st 2009 9:49AM]

@ Mark Anderson

kind of a stretch, but are you located in Iowa, or at least go to the university of Iowa? Again, kind of a stretch, but just curious.

[Paul Chapel @ Jan 1st 2009 9:52AM]

@Kris120890, who said: "Why would you want copy and past on a zune."


Dude, I was being facetious. Look it up in the dictionary.


@Mark Anderson

Uh, people have been complaining about iPod batteries from day one.

"%u201CAlmost every portable electronic device from flashlights, to laptops, to cellphones have easy to access batteries. For many of these devices you simply flip a latch, screw off a cap, slide open a compartment and low and behold you can easily replace the battery of the device with a fresh one. Seeing as my 1G iPod warranty expired about 2 years ago, I just had to open it. Conveniently, I found that the battery is indeed the furtherest item from the front of the device (This is true in all generations of the iPod, as iLounge has exposed). Why Apple can not make the outer case of the battery more durable and allow you to slip the battery in and out from either the side or top/bottom of the iPod is beyond me.%u201D

---Dennis Lloyd, iLounge, January 23, 2004.






I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I couldn't find one complaint about the Zune on the internet about it's non-removable battery.

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 9:52AM]

Nope, I live in Scotland where it's bloody freezing at the moment.

[Mark Anderson @ Jan 1st 2009 9:57AM]

@Paul

No Paul, people have had minor issues with iPod batteries being sealed - which is why your article comes from an Apple fansite and not the mainstream press - because iPods are one off purchases which can be replaced from year to year. On the other hand the iPhone is tied to an 18 month to two year subscription based service and uses 3G radios which drain the battery pretty quickly resulting in more charging cycles and shorter battery life. Please try to understand the difference.

[finite_rings @ Jan 1st 2009 10:18AM]

@ Paul chapel and Mark Anderson

its the new years. grow up and stop fighting like six year olds on the internetz

[Kris120890 @ Jan 1st 2009 10:19AM]

I suggest you clean it out then. Why were you sleeping in a bed of sand?

[Kris120890 @ Jan 1st 2009 10:52AM]

You don't even know where I live. You've been beaten so you have to resort to being pathetic. Get over yourself.

[Phoenix @ Jan 1st 2009 11:26AM]

Umn... because the Your Mum joke was totally mature...

[Sora @ Jan 1st 2009 1:27PM]

Paul, quit being a tard.

[/thread]

[Bryant @ Jan 1st 2009 1:47PM]

Holy mother of God.

Everyone, please shut up.

[Deed @ Jan 1st 2009 2:13PM]

Oh great, ad hominem attacks.

I'm so sorry for you Fred (unless you turned off e-mail with replies).

[Metkis @ Jan 1st 2009 3:57PM]

I, for one, welcome our new troll.

[chispito @ Jan 1st 2009 4:14PM]

The replaceable battery is something I can forgive for the time being. Like with iPods, you actually can replace it with an ebayed battery, you just have to do so out of warranty (there's no way your warranty will outlast your battery anyway).

What bothers me about my Zune (80) is that you can only make one playlist on the fly. That's it, just one.