Music, culture, and the inside scoop from Cesar Menendez,
a Microsoft employee working on Zune - Microsoft's new music project.

December 14, 2007

Battery Life on Zune After Upgrading

Good news for Zune 30 users! Following the Nov 13 firmware upgrade, a lot of people are noting an improvement in battery life.  To achieve this, we improved the Zune 30 codecs so they are more power-efficient, hence the better battery life.

That said, we have seen some reports of a separate battery issue related to the upgrade. This problem occurs when users suspend their Zune hard drives by holding down the play/pause button – in some cases the battery continues to drain. It seems to be affecting only a small percentage of Zune users at this point, but we’re working on including it in our December update (similar to last year) – stay tuned for details and specifics.

 |  Friday, December 14, 2007 12:43 PM  |  57 Comments

Comments

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Mike

The battery does drain on my 80gb when I hold the play/pause button to turn it off. This doesn't happen all the time though which I find strange.  December is close ;)

Taylor

Great,im glad to hear your working on that problem. I went though about six zunes,all with the battery dying the next morning. Im glad yall are aware of this problem and are fixing it. Zune rocks!!!!

Brad

I've had 3 zune 80's, and only the first from launch day had the battery drain issue.  Could there be a hardware difference between the orig. shipment and the second set (my second and third zunes were a couple weeks after launch and I assume they're a different batch)?

bernard

oooh, December update...

yum yum!

Dan D

ooooo december update you say? hopefully it will be released on or before my birthday. dec 23rd. that would be a good 18th bday present.

DivingDancer

"December update".  Fascinating :-)

Jimmy

Any ETA on this December update? Will it be firmware and software, or just firmware?

Jaxim

December update? Cool. Hopefully the update will include much more than bug fixes but include new features (or features we used to have in the old firmware/software: i.e. edit meta data of multiple files.)

Keep up the great work! Here's to 2008 being the year that the Zune officially becomes the #2 mp3 device of choice and eventually becoming #1!

alpex

please please please bring back the 'maximum audio bitrate' settings. I can no longer fit all my music on my zune! without an on-the-fly transcode i'll have to create an entire second library....

Aden Fraser

Hey, i thought the new update was much more efficient, so thanks for confirming my beliefs.

By the way Cesar, your Zune Realm link in the sidebar is no longer valid (i guess the site is gone), i just though i would point that out for you.

Great work Cesar.

Aden (darkzune.com + thezune.net)

Mick

Glad I'm not the only one with the battery issue. I bought a refurb (great deal, btw) and thought maybe it was something wrong with my device.

Jonathan Broderick

Thats what i like to see... progression

Ricardo Dawkins

if you can add more battery life to our Zune with those fixes ....GO FOR IT!

Period.

timedrifter

I am confused, there was no firmware update in '06, with the exception of 1.2, but I believe that update only turned on the Wireless? Am I wrong? Will this update be fixes only? Also, it is the middle of december, when is this update?

Jaxim

p.s. make sure your servers can support an influx of new Zune users on Christmas day. I think it was last year that iTunes went down for a bit on Christmas day because so many people were given iPods as gifts.

AO

Nice to hear some confirmation of the battery drain issue and that there is work being done to correct it.  I'm among the small group of users and it really put a damper on the inital fun of all of the new goodies.

Ricardo Dawkins

Cesar, what is going on with the monthly Zune emails....???

I haven't got mine like in 2+ months. Apple is still sending me crap about buying iPods and iPhone. HELP!

JJ

Thank you!  I have had this problem too.  Great to hear a fix is coming!

Sri

Gr8 to see that your are listening to the Zune user community. And your mention of "December Update" ( what ever that might bring, will be more than happy to accept ) is real insider thingy ;).

Thx for all your effort

Sri

Jen

I noticed the improved battery life with my Zune 30!  It's great that these updates are doing more than just prettying up the device.  Thanks!

Kris

You mention this affecting devices with the "upgraded" firmware. Hopefully this fix isn't just for the Zune 30 but for all of the Zunes as my Zune 80 (and 30) are both affected by this bug.

Michael

Hey, I have a question, though not battery-related.

I currently have a black 30GB Zune, and even though its lasted a whole year already, I'm interested in buying a Zune 80, mainly for the looks and to show off to my friends.

So I would like to know, if you can migrate whatever data you have with your current Zune, to your new Zune. Like I have the username and account "quikboy" currently, can I take all that stuff and transition it to my new Zune? Will it work?

Please answer. Thanks.

Sudhir Kadkade

Yoo hoo!

Will the update involve functionality for the Zune program on the PC? Hopefully, the meta-data edit (from the browse (not list) view) and find album info (while ripping CDs) are back. Also, the bugs with sorting by track number and weird grouping of songs into albums will be fixed.

I don't have many problems with the firmware on the Zune device.

Regrads,

Sudhir

Luvn-da-zune

Wow. Zune team's been very active lately! Great job guys! (you too Cesar ;)

Walter

I'd love to have extended (or normal) battery life for my Zune 30 GB.  How the heck do I get the V2 firmware update?

I connected the Zune and clicked on "Check for Updates" but I don't think it did anything.

What version number should my Zune be at and how do I check for the version number?

Thanks!

Walter

Slides

This fix will also work for flash zunes right?

wetworker

Click on settings, then about,then zune,you should see our zune's name then the version.

version2.2 (1040) bootloader 425

FordGTGuy

Holding the Play/Pause button puts the Zune in sleep mode.  In order to turn the Zune off you must hold down on the d-pad while holding the back button.

Memo

Hi Cesar,

Do you know what other updates are there in this December update? For example, there are a lot of problems with the syncing (multiple songs over and over again).  Will this be fixed as well?

Anonymous Boy.

Will the new update add the search as you type function back?  I miss it!

4ED

Hey I thought I noticed better battery but since I'm not OCC about it I didn't time it. lol

Bout the firmware, I'm glad it'll here so soon. Hopefully the Flag option will be back. It's kind of hard for me now since I often dl songs from blogs(often from New Music Friday :)) and then transfer them straight to my Zune. But then I end up not liking one or two or five and I have to try and memorize the artist or song and remember to remove it.

Also will there be an equalizer for the new 80GB? I'm not asking for me but for my friend. I kind of feel responsible for him being a bit disappointed since I had convinced him to get one monthes before it was released lol

J London

Have Zune 80 (Model NO.1126) that is totaly dead after initial charge/load/sofware upgrade and left overnight switched off. Support admit serious battery problems with this model and are allegedly going to replacing mine.

I am glad they are waking up as an Ipod is only Amazon away.

Mike

Finally, this problem was first posted not to long after the update went live. I've had to completely turn off my zune by pressing the arrow and down button all the time in order to avoid it draining.

I can't wait for this update so that I won't have to worry about this anymore...

RCX

PLEASE please please when you do the december update, throw a few EAST ASIAN LANGUAGE font packs into the file! I'm so tired of half of my library being squares.

katie

So THAT's what's going on with my battery.  Whew, I thought the battery was just dying and I'd have to buy a new Zune.  Can't wait for the update!

Scott

Awesome news.  Glad to see that I'm not the only one and something is being addressed to fix the issue.

Jared

Man i thought the battery inside my zune was just going bad. Glad to know its a software issue. Looking forward to the fix.

Darron

glad to see the battery issue isn't just me either.  I've had the drain issue on my gen1 30GB device since the update.

MIke

Any word on the random restarts? I mean even a peep from the devs would at least give us some hope.

Many people having the same problem.

http://forums.zune.net/52924/ShowPost.aspx

Zune Insider

Zune will be issuing a firmware update today. There are no new features in this update, but it does address

Zune.AdamEntity.Com

Cesar Menendez recently posted this Dec 18th regarding the new Firmware Update 2.3 expectations:Zune will be issuing a firmware update today. There are no new features in this update, but it does address some issues we’re reading about in the forums.

Ian

I have a Zune 30 that had an issue with 2.2 firmware.

The day after I installed the 2.2 update, it was playing just fine and suddenly started playing DTMF tones while the music was on.  Then the music quit but the DTMF continued. Then the unit died.  Completely Black.

Plugged it into my M604's ; no power.

Plugged it into the house charger; no power.

Plugged it into the car charger; no power

Plugged it into the USB cable; No power on the zune but the Zuneware went crazy, popped up, recognized it as connected and started scrolling zeros across my screem.  

I unplugged it and opened an RMA.  which by the way, the RMA process sucks.  it took 3 hours and 2 escalations before they decided it really was off-script and a bad Zune.

On a fluke, the very next day, I tried to turn it on and Lo it's been working fine ever since, so I never went thru with the return.  

So Far, So Good.  I've just purchased another on the black-friday blowouts.

Luke

i got my zune after the 2.3 update and the battery still drains a lot after i turn it off

ron lee

first off, the new look on software and firmware are cool. however, editing the id tags on the songs became an issue. i know the  last couple of versions allowed it and had fields to enter the info by right clicking and "edit". is there a way to do this on the current version?

shackman

Well I'm not sure about the new firmware...today my Zune 80 was dead...and would not take a charge.  Not sure if it's the firmware, but thought you'd like to know.

When I press the >|| button the display shows the battery icon VERY faintly...then when I plugin the device...the lightning bult "charge" icon is displayed (also faintly)...the dies away...and NEVER charges.  (even after several hours).

End up taking the thing back.

jade

ZUNE IZ AWZOME AND THATZ ALL THAT MATTERZ RIGHT!!!!!=)

jade

ZUNE IZ AWZOME AND THATZ ALL THAT MATTERZ RIGHT!!!!!=)

caps

My Zune 30 battery life is awful. I just update from 1.2 which i never had any battery issues. my battery would last for weeks when i didn't use my zune. after upgrading to this 2.3 firmware i can leave me device off for 1 day the next day its dead. this never happen on the previous firmware. What the heck happened to the battery life?

FiOS-Dave

I have what I believe to be a great enhancement for the Zune. Where should product suggestions/enhancements be submitted?

Thanks,

Dave

Microsoft Zune

Hey Cesar.

Just wondering if you know why there is so much variation between users battery life, even with same settings. I know guys who may be lucky to get 5hours of battery life with the same volume, same brightness etc which i may be able to get 9hours from.

Its strange. Is it just Hardware related or is there other stuff involved, eg how much is stored on the Zune etc?

Would like to here back.

Thanks

jeremy cichowski

my original 30 gig zune has some songs it duplicates every time i hook it up 2 usb i have erased the songs from my zune and library and it does not put them on anymore but it did not remove the 100's of copies of the same 3 songs how do i remove these songs?

harold

I can not get the update link to work. I see many other people are having the same problem ?

  Thanks

Strongstacey

I cannot update either, its starts the update then at the end says failed to complete update cant figure it out

Michael

When are we going to get an EDITOR that works so we can change messed up MP3 tags that DID get into our Zunes. It seems to me that the word REFRESH is missing from your vocabulary. Please CHANGE THIS, and I will stop YELLING about my frustration.

Thanks so much.

Lalo

You prob had Zune or other programs on while it was trying to update it. Ive had my Zune for about a year and still looks new and work good.. i want Zune to make a touch screen to punk Apple.. And they should let you put more video formatts on your zune the only ones that owrk on mine are WMV.

e-mail me with ?'s  Lalito_Velasquez@yahoo.com

Lalo

oh. my Zune lasts me about 8 good hours and i browse alot through my music and have it a volume20 all the time...

becca

i got a zune 80 for christmas and by janurary it had stopped working

ive googled it and it seems to be the same 'try to charge it but just get the faint charging symbol' that a lot of people have had but i cant find a solution anywhere....

so microsoft....lots of people with the same problem...any solutions perhaps?

anyone know of any please let me know because another problem is im in th UK and bought it (new) off eBay so im not sure if they will accept it on the warranty.... :S

any advice, please let me know!!!

skary_faerie@hotmail.co.uk

thanks!

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