Microsoft’s Zune music player goes bust for Z2K9

December 31, 2008 – 9:11 pm – No Comment

Z2K9, it is a term you are aware of today if you are a 30 GB Zune owner or have been reading gadget or consumer issue news.

Today, all over the world, 30 GB Zunes, for no apparent reason went into “brick mode.” Meaning, they went to the load screen, froze, and have been there ever since. What does Microsoft have to say to its customers who are going without music this New Year’s Eve?

From Zune.net:

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.