ZUNE users had a nasty New Year shock. This Wednesday on New Year’s Eve, some owners booted up their Microsoft Zune music player and found their device frozen.
It seems that the Zune’s internal clock had trouble with the 366 days in 2008 – a leap year. The Zune froze in its own rigid logic where there can only be 365 days in a year.
If the Zune were in an old-fashioned sci-fi flick, it would keep bleating “Does not compute”.
Party animals who did not touch their Zune on New Year’s Eve – the 366th day – were spared. Folks who needed a continual feed of music for every waking moment weren’t so fortunate.
But all went well. The cure was simple. Drain the battery and then fully recharge the Zune.
Fortunately, The problem hit only the 30GB model which would not fully boot up. There are more than more than three million Zune sold since Nov 2006 when it was first launched according to an Associated Press report. Capacities range from four to 120GB. In Singapore, not many Zunes are sold here.
You would expect devices like MP3 players, smart phones, home wireless networking and even laptops to just work. Like a TV – switch it on and everything works.
Most consumers are not geeks who are creatures that get their kicks tweaking their gear for the last gram of performance or making one-of-a-kind creations.
But, honestly, even partial geeks – like tech writers – tire of having to get devices to work as they are supposed to do. Never mind doing undocumented tricks.
This is not something monumental like the unbelievably silly Y2K fiasco. But – come on – surely the lesson should already have been learnt!
You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll? Sorry, Twisted Sister - Microsoft just did – fortunately only for a day.