Microsoft Zunes Committing Mass Suicide 785
jddeluxe writes "There are multiple reports springing up all over the internet of a mass suicide of Microsoft 30GB Zune players globally. Check Zune forums, Gizmodo, or other such sites; the reports are spreading rapidly, except apparently to the Microsoft official Zune site."
Value did get lost :( (Score:5, Interesting)
Leap Day... (Score:5, Interesting)
This year has 366 days in it instead of the normal 365.
So if you did (365-day) you could end up with -1 which might cause either a crash or freeze.
Just one (likely) possible cause. If that is the case it should fix its self tomorrow.
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries... (Score:3, Interesting)
...but it doesn't tell me what's happening, sounds sensationalist, and actually uses "Micro$oft" - who types that???
It also claims that the reports are spreading to everywhere except the official Zune site, but the forums on the official Zune site have these reports as well. Apparently the article submitter would expect Microsoft to put a massive panic-filled announcement on the front page: "OH NOES TEH ZUNE$ ARE ALL TEH SUX0RZ!!!11!ELEVEN"
Basically, a few people are having problems with one particular Zune. Some on the forum have fixed it themselves, and I couldn't help but notice that at least a few of them are refurbished models.
Cue the predictions of Microsoft's imminent demise, only here on SlashFUD.
Re:Suicide? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm the type who obsessively backs up all my data just in case of shit like this, so until I find a suitable replacement, I'll still have my laptop to play my favourite music on. 50 dollars = no big loss. Rest assured, though, it will be a cold day in hell before I purchase another consumer electronics device from Microsoft.
Re:3 bit years should be enough for anyone. (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess they just allocated a 3 bit year, in their systems (starting year 2000). Hey who would think there would still have Zunes around b 2009.
I think your issue may more likely be a leap year issue, with the Zune calculating the length of the year in seconds, but did not take into account that 2008 is one day longer because of 29 February.
Which would explain why they are failing before new year's, rather than after.
Checked Google Trends lately? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.google.com/trends [google.com]
At the time I loaded the page:
1. zune frozen
2. reset zune
3. zune locked up
4. zune troubleshooting
Re:I heard a song about this once... (Score:2, Interesting)
Thanks for earworming the entire Wall album. It's already going through my head now...
"Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb..."
Re:Leap Day... (Score:5, Interesting)
According to wiki, the first Zune was released on Nov of 2006.
Re:Suicide? Really? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, the cell apoptosis that leads to your insides not working in some cases IS called suicide. It's just in that case that it isn't you but your cells that commit the suicide (you are simply collateral damage).
140+ Million PS2s (Score:1, Interesting)
When you are blowing through billions trying to buy your way into a market and after 7 years all you have to show for your efforts are virtually the same installed base as you had in earlier versions of your product something is wrong. Terribly wrong.
Even more mind boggling is Microsoft has managed to end up losing almost the same amount of cash on the second Xbox disaster as the first Xbox marketplace flop. Insane when you look at what a total piece of junk the 360 is internally. Microsoft went with the absolutely cheapest and crappiest companies to try to cut costs on the 360. The motherboard of the 360 looks like something you would build at home from parts you bought at Radio Shack.
It shouldn't be a surprise that those 140+ million PS2 owners who didn't give a shit about the first Xbox continue to not give a shit about the even more poorly designed and graphically weak follow up console.
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X [google.com]
Those are today's top one hundred google searches. As of now, ten of the top forty searches are zune related. Something tells me this is a bit more that "a few people..." I agree that the article is sensationalist, but there's a hearty grain of truth in there.
Re:Suicide? (Score:3, Interesting)
He bought a $50 Zune which lasted (say) a year. During this time, he either spent the $300 he would have spent on the Zune on something else and gained use / enjoyment out of it, or he saved it. If he saved it, then the interest he earned on it is likely to cover around a third of the cost of the Zune (more if he bought the Zune over a year ago). He can now buy some other player, but since flash prices have almost halved in the last year will now get one with about double the capacity.
Re:Suicide? (Score:2, Interesting)
In addition, it loses value over time. So if he bought a zune for $50 dollars and it comes broken breaks right away, $50 lost(assuming for some reason it cannot be returned or exchanged). But if it works for 2 years and he expected about the same amount of usage, then nothing lost. His $50 was put into use.
WARNING! Car analogy: WARNING!
I buy a car for $1000 (so not a good car, shut up it is a car analogy). I use the car for a year and sell it for less than the original value, say I get $750. Did I lose $250 dollars or use $250 to have a working car for a year?
Maybe he MADE $50 (Score:5, Interesting)
Food for thought.
If he had bought, say, an 80 GB iPod before September of last year, he would have paid $350 for it [cnet.com]. If instead he buys a Zune that lasts a few months for $50 and then buys an 80 GB iPod after September of last year, he would have paid $250 for it, thus a net GAIN of $50.
Point is, depending on how long the Zune lasted and what he gets to replace it, it's entirely possible that he broke even or even came out ahead. Shoot, maybe he'll buy one of those 80 GB iPods used and make a lot more than $50 for waiting on it. Or maybe he'll take advantage of the fact that by just getting by on a $50 Zune for a while, he can buy a much more interesting device now, such as a 32 GB iPod Touch, whereas if he had bought one of the shiny new 80 GB iPod videos a year ago, he likely wouldn't do.
At any rate, I just plain disagree that by buying something cheap now and holding off on getting the bleeding-edge gadgets, you're "losing" money, as should anyone who has, for example, invest $50 or $100 into upgrading a slow component of their desktop instead of going out dropping $2000 on a high-end system every year.
Re:Real mature (Score:3, Interesting)
I call BS. It had nothing to do with "In-joke". I've known about the "Micro$oft" for years and years and coded in BASIC well before that. It's always been about the money, always has been, probably always will.
Re:Article summary (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, it's quite amazing really, even more so when the Firehose had 4-5 different submissions all based upon this story, and they chose the worst (poorly worded, factual errors, "Micro$oft", inflammatory headline) of them all!
I do like a good MS bash every so often (stress relief from dealing with their products) but I do prefer it to be at least semi-intellectual, rather than just throwing around silly insults...
Oh yeah, and my cheap Chinese £20 Ipod knockoff is still functioning well... plays .ogg too..
M$ seen as perfectly cromulent (Score:3, Interesting)
M$ is an excellent way of disambiguating the abbreviation, which could otherwise cause confusion between Mississippi, Multiple Sclerosis, Manuscript, and so on. It has the added advantage of clearly announcing the author's POV, and for anyone who was paying attention at the time, recalls the bad old days of undocumented DOS, public and private Windows APIs, "embrace and extend", and so on.
Micro$oft has put a lot of effort into refining the behaviors that have earned it the dollar sign in its name. It isn't easy to get all the people in an organization as large as Micro$oft to shed the fetters of their early training in morality, ethics, and playing nicely with the other children. M$'s freedom from the limitations of ethical encumbrances deserves to be recognized.
Public usage of "M$", and "Micro$oft", is perfectly cromulent. This is a company that has gone to great lengths to earn this kind of recognition, and it would be almost criminal not to award it to them.
DRM (Score:3, Interesting)
Not the only thing crashing (Score:3, Interesting)
Zune forums is getting killed -- I can't connect, and I don't think this is a simple Slashdot effect... And the official MS Zune site says that "Zune Social" may be a bit slow. Sounds like a lot of people are wondering what the hell happened...
Re:Suicide? (Score:3, Interesting)
Indeed, shame I'm lacking in mod points.
If you buy two $50 Zunes and one breaks you are left off with one player and $100 less in the bank.
If you buy a $300 iPod you are left with one player and $300 less in the bank.
Without taking into account the subjective benefits of owning anything with an apple logo on it, the two Zunes are the best option.
Re:Idiot Owns Himself (Score:5, Interesting)
Betamax, DAT, MMCD, MiniDisc, ATRAC, ATRAC-3, SDDS, NetMD, Hi-MD, Memory Stick (Duo/Micro), UMD, HDV, SACD, HiFD, MicroMV, BBeB, ECP, ARccOS....
Sony's problem is that it wants standards to be proprietary to them. Some of the above still exist solely because of Sony's bullheadedness, typically only usable with Sony hardware, especially when it is to the exclusion of support for the open standards. Some were/may be superior technology, but keeping a stranglehold on the technology is the undoing of their efforts time and time again. My god, the cabling requirements for SACD players to stereo receivers were unreasonable, even with players that had HDMI ports (though granted DVD-Audio also failed to catch on).
Sony's formats and media succeed when partnerships with other companies (like Philips) force them to be more open. Sony's success is often in spite of their best efforts.
At least with Blu-ray and gaming the competition in the market was/is straightforward and not like their ATRAC-3 players refusing to play the established MP3 format.
(I own several Sony products, including a PS3 and a 400-disc DVD changer that also plays SACDs. I only own two SACD titles. I'm still buying HD DVD titles on the cheap. I may yet find myself buying a Sony HD video camera as Sony seems to be successfully dominating that market.)
We get it's a 366 days issue. Begs the question. (Score:4, Interesting)
The big question is, why the hell does an MP3 player care about the days of the year? For some, it's as simple as having date/time info on the player, but let's not forget, the Zune is also packed with new DRM to ensure people do not abuse the Zune Pass (flat monthly fee introduced in November for unlimited tunes and some TV shows). DRM, again, is epic fail.
Huh. Microsoft has some cool new thing they want ready by the holidays. They rush it, there's a tiny bug, and it costs the company zillions in $ and PR headaches. Familiar, much?
Re:Suicide? (Score:2, Interesting)
The only time that doesn't work is if you own shares in a company that may not exist much longer. In which case you can sell and take a loss, or if they go under, you lose 100% of your money invested.