Scheduled Zune maintenance could last for up to 24 hours
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 24th 2010 4:20PM
posted January 24th 2010 4:20PM
Regular Zune users may have already noticed the alert warning of some impending downtime, but those that haven't should know that Microsoft is advising folks that some maintenance scheduled for tomorrow could last for as long as 24 hours. That will begin at 10PM PST on January 25th, and will affect all Zune services, including Zune Pass, Zune Marketplace, Zune.net streaming and Zune video on Xbox Live. Once the service is back up, users will also have to update their PC software, and users of Zunes other than the Zune HD will also have to update their device's firmware. This scheduled maintenance is also apparently just that, maintenance -- although Microsoft is promising that things like Smart DJ and other features announced at CES, as well some as "unannounced features," will be rolling out in another update sometime this Spring.
@Swagger look at this guy with the jokes...
@Brent1700 i thought jokes were funny...
@Swagger
Yes we are losers since as a consumer I do not cheer for corporation blindly as though they actually care about me other than trying to get highest possible amount of money I willing to pay for a product or service.
@Swagger
So what's your big problem with the Zune?
@Swagger
Well, you can still buy a Macintosh.
@Swagger you're not doing yourself any favors using the horribly cliche "all 10 zune users" joke.
It's not funny
It's never been funy
Don't pretend you didn't make that comment just to shit all over it
@Swagger "Look at all the 10 Zune users out there downranking anybody who doesn`t suck the Zune`s dick, bunch of losers."
"Anybody expresses anything negative about your device of your choice and you're ready to slaughter them, now that's what we call fanboys."
- Uh, by insinuating that there's only 10 (TEN!) Zune users in this entire world (which there very obviously are MORE), that feels like an insult and nobody wants to hear something like that. I don't know the real numbers, but I'd like to estimate in the hundred thousands range, if not, some millions. There are a lot of Zune users than you think, and not all of them are geeky or tech suave, but also just plain average joes that have decided to trying a different PMP.
"I don't give a damn about Zunes. What I have a problem with is Zune users downranking anyone who says anything negative about the Zune but then mocking other devices. A whole bunch of hypocrites."
Let's see, we have one side who mostly make comments saying how Product Z does not have many users and that it just sucks, while the other side puts strong and well known criticisms of Product I. I don't know about you Swagger, but I like the people who are for Product Z, then the people for Product I.
@Quikboy
I wonder what would happen if someone irrationally called the apple tablet silly on the comment section in the page that announces the apple tablet.
That comment would probably be down-ranked so fast that it would crash the servers.
Xbox Live Arcade
@JeremyBenthem
+1
or maybe my zune becomes a zune phone ;) hey its a weekend...
@JeremyBenthem
My guess is they are updating their services for OTA purchases via WM7 phones. Gotta get the infrastructure set up so they can launch later this year!
@JeremyBenthem:
Perhaps more apps, a few games? Maybe even a paid section of the 'store'?
When asked about Zune maintenance, Consuela the Mexican Maid from Family Guy says: "No, no... I no can cleeean."
WOO! i love me some Zune update!
Very happy Zune owner here as well. Now let's just get a Zune phone and some mac support so I can ditch my iPhone!
@Mach
I'm in the same boat as you.
Microsoft has an excellent MP3 player with the Zune, and Zune pass an excellent service. As a former-Zune-owner-gone-iPhone, I have to admit, I'm waiting to see how WinMo7 pans out. If it is fast, has a streamlined touch interface, and includes Zune support (the last of which has been basically confirmed), I may just get rid of my iPhone for a WinMo7 device. But it would need to be a VERY compelling OS. I have no doubt that Microsoft can do it, especially with some of the minds up there in Redmond.
Unless, of course, Apple has something up their sleeves on Wednesday for the iPhone. Something which will utterly destroy all other smartphones. But I'm pretty sure that new feature will be something along the lines of adding 3G to the iPhone... every other smartphone has it, but when Apple adds it, Apple fanboys make it seem like a "killer feature".
Something like... multitasking.
@cherryboom
Wow, the Apple fanboys sure are running rampant in the Zune post today...
@MastrCake i run multiple applications on my BlackBerry all the time and just about every time i do it i think how frustrating it would be to only be able to run one app at a time. i don't understand how the supposed end-all-be-all of smartphones, the iPhone, doesn't have that basic function. i'd put good money on that being their next big update.
@cherryboom Lolbeans. You need some Adderall or something?
@kojo87
Believe me, you have no clue how much I would LOVE to have Pandora playing music in the background as I compose a text with TomTom guiding me along the freeway.
@MastrCake
I was fine until I read driving on the freeway....O_O
Kids, Don't text and drive. Be Responsible.
lol no I do get what you mean
@googleadam
You know, I never text while I drive, and I shoulda noticed that I said that.
Disregard what I said, this is my revised statement:
I would REALLY like to have Pandora playing in the background, while I drive down the freeway with TomTom guiding me into the sunset. While I keep both hands on the wheel.
Stay safe, kids!
@Mach I really don't think Zune needs to waste time with Mac support. It is such a small market compared to Windows, why bother? Try BootCamp and Windows 7...
@jin and guice
I think it is worth it. Maybe there won't be 500 million users but there will be some and a lot of people I know who own Macs would love to get a Zune. Zune doesn't need Mac support like iPod needed Windows Support, but it would be good to have.
@WixosTrix
Agreed here. Jin and Juice is right that it doesn't *need* mac support as Windows already has the larger market share, but the fact is the iPod has next to no competition on the Mac platform (just talking about the Mac platform here), and that's because there is no ubiquitous Store/Media Player/Hardware one-stop platform on Mac, other than iPod/iTunes. If Zune made its way to Mac and really pushed itself as an alternative to iTunes as a media player and store, it would really have potential to give Apple a run for its money as far as dominating Music purchasing and playing on Macs goes.
@MastrCake
I'm in your boat as well. I love the iPhone, but am not a blind fanboy and it could really use multitasking. Palm has done it so incredibly well with the Pre and Pre Plus... The Pre Plus has twice the RAM of the 3GS though, which currently gives it the advantage. I'm really interested to see if on Wednesday Apple announces iPhone OS 4.0 with multitasking (and hopefully a few new unknown features) available for download, and to see if it will be supported on current-gen hardware (anything before the 3GS seems unlikely, though).
Just wanted to add that I'd probably prefer a Zune/Xbox ecosystem to the iTunes ecosystem—MS has great potential here.
Imagine downloading an XBL Arcade game to your Zune phone, syncing it and being able to play it on your Xbox and Zune, listening to music purchased from Zune on your Xbox, etc. Some of the pieces are in place, they just need to come together. If MS can really pull off an Xbox/Zune/WinMo7/ZunePhone integration I think they would be able to garner a TON of interest and new customers.
@MastrCake
Yeah Multitasking, brilliant, you can play two games at once! Amazing.
*yawn
@jin and guice It's funny, fanboys say that Microsoft should just drop the Zune because it has such low marketshare. In the US, the Zune had close to the same marketshare in the media player market as Apple had in the computer market. (I last saw the stats in November)
Using the fanboy logic, Apple should just drop the computer market since thye have such low marketshare.
I like MS products but I am grateful for what Apple does in the market so I guess I can't be classified as too much of a fanboy. I wouldn't want to see them fold, it would suck for everyone. Maybe if they were to be bought out (Bill Gates could have done it back in the 90s when he saved them) that would be cool, but, they have to exist to force everyone else to keep pushing to stay ahead of or at least keep up with them.
@Swagger
There are other PMP makers and no one ever says they should fold because they don't match iPods market share. If the Zune made by anyone other than Microsoft, no one would talk crap about it.
@hysonmb
There have been a couple of analysts who have also said that Microsoft should just drop the Zune because MS isn't making much money from it and supposedly it is a drag on revenue. MS hadn't really been doing much to market the Zune. Doesn't anyone think it's strange that Microsoft Windows rules 95% of desktop computing and that most Windows users are buying iPods. That has to indicate that something must be wrong with the Zune platform, doesn't it.
@Swagger
"But this is Microsoft, they lost billions on the Xbox but still kept making them."
Yes, they still kept making them because, guess what, they became profitable!
I think you forget that most new ventures (Xbox, for example) lose money during the first few years of existence. They eventually become profitable, or they eventually die. The obvious exception to this rule is the iPhone, which initially retailed for $500. Of course, it's kinda hard to lose money on a $500 phone that sells millions in its first year.
Now, I leave you guys with a few questions which everybody on Engadget wonders: Where do all these Apple fanboys come from when they see a Microsoft related post? How do we deviate so much from the original topic? Why can't we all just be friends?
Eat more cake guys, it'll make you happier.
@AppleRoxTheHouse that is mostly because Apple got there way before the Zune did and they bombarded every TV with catchy iPod ads. simple brand recognition. just because more people use it doesn't make it better or the other one junk. if you ask any Mac owner why more people have PCs they will tell you the exact same thing. it's like with cars or anything else. most people buy a certain of something but that doesn't mean that you should go blindly buy that brand without doing some research and see what the competitors have to offer.
@MastrCake Yes!!! Eat more cake is the answer!!!
"Regular Zune users..."
...Both of them. Wait, no, Mach posted before I could snark. All three of them, then.
instead of shutting down services for a day why not just do incremental maintenance so services can stay up. you tube does this
@saturnblackhole
its still better than *cough* fruit website going down for a quarter of a day for an update to one product :)
@saturnblackhole
As a software developer, I would like to respectfully remind you that there are some updates which can be done without taking down services and there are some which must be done during downtime. The last thing anyone who makes money through a service wants to do is shut down that service for 24 hours. However, some updates just can't happen without mandatory down-time. Look at World of Warcraft. They have over 10 million people using their service and still have to take it down every single week for several hours to do maintenance on it.
@saturnblackhole
Obviously, that's what major services like iTunes, Amazon, and Google do, because even the smallest amount of downtime will cost big, big dollars in lost revenue. Can you imagine the uproar among music publishers and app developers if iTunes was down for an entire day?
On the other hand, Microsoft feels they can shut down the Zune Marketplace for a whole 24 hours because few people will notice.
@DefPoet .. The main Apple website NEVER goes down for a quarter of a day and IIRC has never gone down at all. The Apple Online Store webapp goes down for a couple of hours NEVER for 6 hours just to update one product. I know this for a fact as my girlfriend works there.
There's several glaring errors in your post, the most obvious being the conjunction of the words "my" and "girlfriend".
Yea, more features. I can't wait to see them. I use the software and Zune every day.
@Smurf They still need to fix the damn wi-fi. :(
Zune Update please last for 8.7 million hours. We don't need your shitty MP2 players for another millennium.
@Comment
you mean how the world doesn't need you?
Zune Classics are getting a firmware update? I wonder what they're giving us..
@Rask
Apparently nothing, It will just make it work with whatever system they're upgrading. According to zuneinsider the Xvid update is coming later this spring. But rumors say facebook app for the zHD is coming very soon.
@swizz That's a shame. Since the ZuneHD isn't available for sale in Canada yet, I keep hoping that they make the old models cooler through upgrades.
Free updates rock! Especially when the avail hardware features like bluetooth (Ipod Touch OS3) or something similar. The Zune HD is actually very cool and despite my distaste for closed source microsoft jibber jabber, the did a really solid job on XP, Win 7, the X-Box 360 and Zune HD. So props to MS on their good work. Hopefully they will improve Bing, because it does not hold a candle to Google thus far, but it is getting ever better as the moments click by.... ^^
Saw the email last night.
I hope it's the xvid playback, and while they are at xvid might as throw in MKV playback!
That's all I want... if so I'll buy the hd dock!
Just a quick question to the people poo-pooing Microsoft and the Zune on here: When was the last time your preferred PMP retailer added features to your device, for free, regardless of age?