So if I am still using my Zune in four years, the same thing will happen on Dec 31, 2012?

*cough* free marketplace points *cough*

Mine went out at 10 pm mountain time last night, but is back on now as of 3 pm.

maybe everyone will calm down now?

I LOVE YOU GUYS! Such a fast response, better than Apple could do. Microsoft <3

So, because you aren't changing the software, we have to deal with again in four years?

Thanks for the info!  I got home today to find my ZUNE lit up with the start up screen.  I got scare when I couldn't reset it using the UP + BACK combo.  Looks like it will need a good charge tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Noooooooooo!!!!

We're doomed, Captain Mainwaring.

I would hope that the team is working on a patch to make sure this don't happen again in 4 years???

I like how they don't actually address fixing the problem so it doesn't happen again in 4 years' time.

Well that's a relief.  The iclones surely enjoyed today's fiasco... more ammo for their i-flatulence...

When is the zune touch coming out

Well, simple enough. Thanks!

What if a person went ahead and began a reformat process to fix the issue, but finds themselves stuck now in that process with the zune acting like it is frozen. What should I do?

The issue should resolve itself = LAME

Quote-"a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used)"-Endquote...in terms of phrasing, this seems to indicate a certain amount of suprise that a.) In this day and age people would still be using something from 2006 and b.) that they would be able to use something from 2006.  Kudos to Microsoft for not only making a product that can't handle the transition from one year to the next but also for hiring employees who are short sighted enough not to realize that sometimes people hold onto products for more than six months.  Thanks...hopefully this WILL all take care of itself.

Thank you for the update.  I still hear a lot of hesitation in the official response when it comes to the units automatically working just fine tonight at midnight.  Are you not 100% certain that the units will work just fine?  Will there be a patch to resolve this issue so we do not have to go through this again 4 years from now?

Great to know that no new firmware will have to be pushed out. (At least until 2012, right?) :)

So will this happen every leap year?

What should we do if it is not fixed by Midnight, and what is all this talk about fire wall and takeing the batter out and putting it back in

I think a free Zune pass is in order for anyone affected by this!

Thank the team for cracking the whip on this. Thanks for the info!

Word

If this doesnt fix the problem do rhey still have warranty on them?

Excellent! passing the news to my contacts. thanks!

Thank you! I kinda thought that was the problem. lol. But at least it will be solved and all the Zune 30 owners won't have to worry until 2012 lol.

What is Microsoft prepared to do if the Zunes do not fix themselves???

So the "official" word from the Zune team is "just wait for tomorrow, it’ll fix itself" and that you're not doing anything to fix the root problem (like fixing the internal clock driver to recognize leap year properly)?

So, we should expect the same problem to occur with our Zune 30's on EVERY Dec 31st in a leap year, right?

Sure, that's not for another 4 years, but isn't a bit arrogant to know about the bug and to not commit to fixing it, knowing it will only surface again in the future?

How about compensation for not being able to use our Zune's for the day?

- www.JoeLevi.com

Glad to hear my zune will come back to life

So you aren't going to fix it so we can use it today. Nice. Thanks.

If you look in the official Zune forum, there's is one last question and answer:

"Q: Will you update the firmware before the next leap year (2012)?

Yes."

Personally, I'm glad this will fix it self soon and for the prompt response.

If your stilling using a Zune 30 in 4 years Apple should give up an MS wins all.

Whew, I'm so glad to hear it wasn't something more serious then a driver issue.  I wasn't sure how I was going to live without my Zune.  If nothing else, Microsoft has learned just how passionate the Zune community is and how many people are still happily using the 30gb device (I just purchased a 120gb for myself for Christmas because I ran out of disk space on the old 30gb Zune).  Music is a wonderful thing.

Yes, it IS a surprise when electronics are not replaced every 6 months.  I actually have my first Creative Nomad that's about 6 years old now.  But then I'm not a teenager spemding Mom and Dad's money either.

Thanks Microsoft for keeping us updated.  And thanks to your techies for idendifying the glitch so quickly.

;c)

Does everyone really need to allow the "battery to fully run out of power"?  Will that just happen automatically once you try to boot into the Zune and have it hang?  Do people whose devices aren't frozen need to allow the battery to drain?  

Honestly...i WAS going to plug my zune in at a party tonight...but now i cant, you should have figured this out before the problem occured!

Thanks for the information Paul Davidson.  Please note however, the out of date, antique, or down right ancient 2006 30gb Zune I own, I hope, will work for at least 3 years or until the end of 2009.  Then I will get the HD 500gb unit.  Happy New Year    

Nice Work! I <3 my Zuney!

i dont like the idea of "sit and wait"...

I almost shat myself what would i do without my zuney wuney

my sisters zune works just fine

so a word of advice to anyone...

if this happens again in 4 years  make sure your zune is on all night playing music hooked up to your charger.

then in the morning just dont let it die.

that solves the issue however mine died last night and is still frozen 6.14 eastern time

Many Thanks for this!

Happy New Year.

So I guess we probably won't be using these things by 2012, but it would be nice to have a patch released just in case. Thanks!

cool! i was getting worried for a while there, i thought that this was their way of saying we needed to upgrade, since they are not making the 30g's anymore :(

Just fully charged overnight, how's it going to run the battery down if it won't turn on?

So if I hard reset my Zune, connect it to a PC with a date from earlier in the year, it'll work fine, presumably, until the Zune's internal clock hits today again.  But if I change the date on the PC to tomorrow, and connect a hard resetted Zune. it won't work, it resets and bricks.  From my testing, it's not gonna fix itself, but keep telling yourself it will...

Remember, at the same time it happens again in 2012, we'll all be dead as "the world will end in 2012"

Good to hear it will work again, but, honestly, why do I need a clock in my mp3 player in the first place? That is why I have a phone/watch. I have an mp3 player to listen to music, not plan my life.

This is like the movie "The Happening" except its for the 30GB. Just gotta ride it out dust off your cd's & hope the same thing happens  to ipod.

They will fix the problem with a firmware update, so that it will not happen again.  Go to the support page, and under service status, click the link.

Oh man, i thought i was going to have to buy a new zune.  I had my 30GB zune (which i did buy in 2006) plugged into my computer all last night.  Then when i wake up, i come to see it stuck on the loading screen.  Nothing would work, not even the reboot.  So i let the battery drain while i was at work thinking that would fix it.  Plugged it back in, let it charge a bit, and it went back to being stuck on the loading screen.  Thank goodness it's a bug that can be fixed and not my zune having a hardware problem

Leap year was the problem.What? how can that be the problem? Who has written that piece of code who does not even know how to handle leap years.

But I wanted to use it for a new year's party tonight.  I guess I will have to use an iPod instead.

ugh im hoping that this can be fixed.i was using my zune at 1 this morning and nothing happened. i didnt use it for the whole day and when i just went to charge it the loading screen came up and didnt g away. i think i should be comepensated for this! switch to ipod maybe? tech.yahoo.com/.../63809

Note to ZUNE TEAM - I'm actually hitting the exact same symptoms on my 20GB zune (same model year).  

Well, it's almost 3am 01/01/2009 here, as it should by on my zune. It ran out of power 6-7 hours ago. I've just charged it up, turned it on, it's started to load and... froze again.

So they are all working in Australia and New Zealand right?

yeah, they said they would like to thank us for our patients. Do you think they really ever will? I am interested in seeing if we get compensated for this. As a mobile DJ I depend on my Zune as a back up incase my Microsoft computer goes down. What am I supposed to do when my back up breaks down?! A Zune pass or free songs would be great, Thank you Microsoft.  The iPod touch is looking appitizing.  we will see what happens.

Didn't have time to clean up all the crap before I left! Sorry!

Thats it for my.. never buying another Microsoft product.  you guys suck

I just spent the last five hours looking for a replacement for my zune. I'm relieved now. I just hope it comes back to life tomorrow, if it does not this will be my first and last Zune ever.

So glad my Zune will be fixed soon.Thanks and Happy New Year!

I've got two of these units. One purchased new in December '06 and the other purchased new in December '07. Both have locked up but the one from '07 works after a reset but the one from '06 is nothing but a blank screen. It has been sitting for hours with a dead battery and when I finally charged it up (with the AC charger, not the PC), it's still hosed. NO WAY is waiting for January 1st, 2009 going to fix mine.

This "wait and see" attitude will cost Microsoft dearly in customer loyalty.  

think that is bad I spent the same amount of money as the 120gig on the 30 gig not knowing the 120 would be available the following month.

AGHHHHHHHHH....i only have 1 and i can't listen to just it until tomorrow at noon...and what about all my videos that i will like to watch before the 2008 is over. And all those pictures i was planning on flipping through with my zune sideways, to welcome in the new year. Damn it! Microsoft...you suck. I'm off to buy an iPod.

Dear Zune buyers: Our "solution" is for you to just wait. Then, instead of being able to use your device (you know, the one you paid us good money for), you need to sit around for hours and drain the battery. After that, your subscriptions might or not work. Other than that, everything is fine. Thanks again for your money.

Sincerely,

Micro$oft

I really don't understand why so many people are freaking out and angry/worried that the solution is to wait until the clock error is fixed by TIME because that's how clocks work. For Microsoft to have rushed out some sort of software update in under 24 hours, with no bugs, calling in coders on NEW YEAR'S EVE would be ridiculous. This solution (if it works, which I believe it will) makes far more sense than anything else. Also, how and why are people assuming that this clock issue won't be addressed in the next update (which will obviously be before the next leap year)? Get ahold of yourselves.

I really don't understand why so many people are freaking out and angry/worried that the solution is to wait until the clock error is fixed by TIME because that's how clocks work. For Microsoft to have rushed out some sort of software update in under 24 hours, with no bugs, calling in coders on NEW YEAR'S EVE would be ridiculous. This solution (if it works, which I believe it will) makes far more sense than anything else. Also, how and why are people assuming that this clock issue won't be addressed in the next update (which will obviously be before the next leap year)? Get ahold of yourselves.

This sucks!  I sure hope it comes back to life tomorrow!

I have to say those that can't live without their Zune for 24 hours needs to...ah what do kids say...get a life, yea that's it.

But if this was Apple, no one would be working on it since about 6:00 AM in the morning.

Wow, that should teach the people that cracked their Zunes open to have a little patience. Take a breath. oooommmm

Guess I'm gonna have to wait till next year to use my new years eve playlist... oh wait.

its 830pm here. do i have to wait till midnight my timezone? sounds stupid i know but i have been reseting my zune all night with no success.

I have a 30GB I Bought new December 2007 and it froze up early this morning. It wont reset or do anything. I let the battery die and then tried to charge and it froze again. I thought the bug was only messing up the 2006 models. What should I do???!!!

My Zune just died, stuck on the boot screen and i was sure it had crashed...i was about to re-format or even buy a new Zune 30 off of ebay when i stumbled across this....im so relieved. was about 1 minute away from rebooting and formatting

im so glad that this promblem is going to be fixed i just love my 30GB zune i dont know what i would do with otu it. i do agree that a everyone who was faced with this problem should get a free zune pass!!!

I hope it doesent happen again

"a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices" I purchased my Zune brand new in Jan 2008. So you are telling me it was leftover inventory from 2006?!

Are you people serious?!? Talking about 2012 as if it's next month. As slow as you might think Microsoft has been with device updates, I'd be shocked if there weren't at least 5-6 firmware updates between now and 2012! And even though I still love my Z30, are you guys really sticking with it for another 4 years? Surely the 6th or 7th generation Zunes will eventually lure us away!

If I load Vista on my Zune - will they both fix each other?

Jack wrote: "So they are all working in Australia and New Zealand right?"

Nope. Jan 1 2009 3:30pm here in Auckland and my Zune is still stuck on the startup screen, running the battery flat. Fingers crossed. Black mark, Microsoft. Very elementary. Who was checking this drongo's code?

thanx so much!! love the fast response! i was getting so freaked out!!!

free zune pass, free zune pass, free zune pass - it's te least you could do since I couldn't use my zune while stuck in stopped traffic for 2 hours due to a traffic accident.

So any content thats already on the zune won't be erased right? Cuz i have a ton of stuff on my zune and I dont want it to be erased. Also does anyone know how to edit the playlists on the zune?

most computer hardware clocks use the number of seconds since 1/1/1970, Grenwixh Mean Time...GMT....

I find the comments praising Microsoft for their fast response and bashing Apple for not having the ability to react so quickly massively entertaining. All Microsoft did was to identify an obvious issue (calendar, leap year, duh) and reset the clock on a test Zune to confirm that the next day would see the Zunes revive. That must have been harder than brain surgery and rocket science combined! They offered no fix beyond simply "wait until tomorrow," and promised a software fix within four years. Yeah, right--NO ONE could have acted as fast as THAT! And it took them about 12-14 hours from the onset of the problem to do only that much. If this is what you consider fast and superlative action, then your expectations a a wee bit low. I myself would be rather miffed that the Zune team allowed such an obvious bug to slip by them at all (I mean, really, what programmer doesn't handle *leap years* correctly? Can you saw "newb"?), not to mention that it would have so dramatic effect as to shut down the device for a whole day. YEAH, ZUNE, MICROSOFT, YOU GUYS *ROCK*!!! APPLE SUCKS!!! Um, yeah. My iPhone is working right now. How about your Zune?

Funny that I got an email today, 12/31/08 from Zune titled "New & Necessary" and it failed to mention anything about the 30gb crapping out due to Leap Year.  I just stumbled across the answer surfing the web looking for a reason why my Zune was locked up.  Nice job communicating such a major incident?!?

Guess they should have partnered with Casio.  Why does my Z30 need to know what day it is anyway?  Count three days and disable the song... who gives a s**t WHICH three days?

Question - my Zune is parked in an A/V dock... do I need to run the battery down as well?

Thanks for the fast response

But it sucks that I won't be able to use our Zune for music at the party tonight =(

my zune still isnt working.

and the master reset wont work.

im not sure what to do.

uhmm yeahh we should get somthin for this cuz i really needed my zune today!!

For anyone who said something like "I needed my Zune for a party tonight":

You use a Zune, you don't have friends--therefore no party.

Stop lying to yourselves.

You guys are such WHINY little kids. Just wait and see, one day without your music player isn't going to kill you.

And with Apple, you WOULD still get the problem next year because they can't be bothered fixing it.

You'll just have to wait till tomorrow, at noon to reset it. I'm just still wondering if this 'fix' will actually keep everything thats already on the zune intact. I just dont want it to be formatted. I have near 3000 songs, buncha pics and videos, i cant get back. If what microsoft suggests to do, doesnt work then i'll unplug and plug in the battery. heard that works, and also heard that doesnt work. ehh.

Happy Zune Year!

still not working =[

This is pathetic. You guys are lucky the Zune wasn't invented before Y2K. You forgot one important question on the FAQ section: what happens if I want to listen to music on my Zune TODAY?

You'll just have to wait till tomorrow at noon to drain the battery and reset it. I have nearly 3000 songs,buncha pics and videos, i cant get back. Microsoft doesnt know if this 'fix' is gonna format the zune hard drive or not. I dont want to lose any of my content thats already on the zune. Some people have taken apart their zunes and unplugged the battery and for some people its worked, and for others it hasnt. but i dont want to do this and it not work, and wait till tomorrow and boot up my zune and found out that ive accidently erased my hard drive. If microsofts solutions doesnt work then ill unplug the battery.

People who are trying to reset before midday GMT will not have any luck.

Trying to reset it before then will do nothing.

A leap year bug went two years without being noticed? and it took microsoft how long to figure this out? What sort of scrub programmers do they have working on this thing? Seriously, no programmer could possibly get a degree without knowing how to take care of leap years.

It's 12:31 am EST and my Zune still won't boot.

I don't believe all the people trash talking MS...

If you hate them so much why did you buy a Zune, and if you didn't buy a Zune, why are you posting trash talk about the fix...

Obviously they are going to fix the issue before 2012, that is the stupidist question one could possibly ask...

Will they work on an alternate fix (now, not within 4 years) if this doesn't "fix itself"?

Are all of you people daft?  Microsoft saying to wait it out is not a fix at all, it's as if your heart stopped and the doctor says, "let's wait and see what happens in 24 hours hopefully it will start up again without doing anything to it, then if he makes it, we'll try and solve the problem within four years"

i cant believe how insanely stupid 90% of the commenters here are. The official FAQ above clearly states that MS intends to have a fix for the next leap year, so to all of you who keep crying about that, stfu. And to all of the apple-fanboy dbags who keep loling and trolling about how MS is slow to the punch and how zunes are bricked lawl, seriously, go play with yur ishits and get off of the MS/Zune forums. srs bsns only. Also, people, CHILL OUT. Your zunes are toast for 1 freakin day. Im certain that your lives will not end. It speaks NOTHING to MS's customer service that their fix is to wait. Think clearly and logicaly please, instead of whining: if your sh!t is bricked, it wont boot properly, and thus, releasing a patch while the patch cannot be uploaded is a waste of time. And ALL devices nowadays have internal clocks, because a) they're all digital devices, and b) most of the stuff requires it.

So it isnt a matter of a 'fast' or 'slow' response: its a matter of an appropriate response. And remember when the y2k scare happened, and everyone whined then? "OMFG, how could you coders and computer manufacturers not see this coming? OMG!", and yet, nothing major happened. The world didnt end, etc. And this is the first post-y2k leap year. Its far far easier to release a faulty product, make the money, and patch it later. Look at Pc games, even some console games, firmware updates, etc. Even new iterations of hardware will occasionally only be to fix bugs or issues with the old version of the hardware. everyone here needs to just chill out, realize that its the new year, and chill out.

PS i dont even own a zune, or an ipod. i just saw this from Penny arcade, lol'd, and then lol'd more at the nubs commenting.

@PY:

There is no such thing as a 20 GB Zune.  Unless you opened it up and replaced the HD with a smaller one, which would be pointless.

It's the end of the world as we know it!!!  

This bricks, still a brick. Nice. What i always wanted. An expensive brick. Its 1:03 am EST. Still not working

Give the guys a break they worked on the issue & hopefully all will be resolved as promised. Whatever did we do before our Zunes if indeed it has thrown us into a tizzy not having one for a day? Most New Years parties have their own music & in this time with all else going on it is so very trivial to think a single day without music will be so horrid. Remember people are sick, dying, & losing their jobs & homes! If you need music tonight get together & sing a song - who knows it might be good for a barrel of laughs & the best New Years you ever had! Let’s get this into perspective here too. It is a glitch period - my Zune never gave me a bit of problem before this nor did the other % I bought last Christmas! If you really think IPod has not had their own issues look into it - I am sure there are many unhappy users there too! Microsoft support DOES try to get to the bottom of every single problem & correct it - so be grateful you bought a Zune to begin with. We will all be up and running again soon & if not I am sure they will deal with that as well. I for one will always stick with Microsoft because it has proved to have more great products than bad in my book & I CAN TRUST THEM! You can't fix a problem before you even know it exists can you? There is NOT ONE company or person that I know of that makes everything 100% perfect every time. If you know of anyone who is 100% perfect I would honestly consider changing my mind & getting married again - if he can put up with my imperfections that is! ;-) THANK YOU MS & THE TECH STAFF FOR YOU HARD WORK & KEEPING US INFORMED THROUGHOUT! BRAVO TO YOU ALL!!!

Wow I mean WOW!!!   What a lousy response. Has any testing been done to prove this theory or is it just an educated guess.  

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE ZUNE NOT YET WORKING, Didn't Microsoft say in the official response,

WAIT UNTIL:

Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that's 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).

So where I am, in Chicago, I will have to wait until 6am.

People in New Zealand would have to wait until something like 12am Jan 2 or 1am Jan 2.

Wow I mean WOW!!!   What a lousy response. Has any testing been done to prove this theory or is it just an educated guess.  

People quit asking for stuff, this isn't something that Microsoft screwed up, it was the hardware manufacturer with a faulty driver. If anyone actually took the time to read the post, you would know that this will be fixed by tomorrow by itself as well as fixed so it doesn't happen again in 2012 through one of the firmware updates between now and then. Quit acting like it's the end of the world and Microsoft owes you because you couldn't use your device for 36 hours.

@Renuz apparently you don't know how drivers work, as they aren't created by Microsoft they are created by the hardware manufacturer and and errors in them is not Microsoft's fault. Since you obviously don't own a Zune you don't realize that Microsoft can't update a device firmware today that a computer doesn't recognize because it isn't turned on. Plug your iPhone into your computer, make sure it is off and stays off and sync music to it, if you can I'll stop supporting Microsoft and switch to Apple.

By the way how is Copy and Paste going in your iPhone, yup speedy delivery that is Apple.

Its 12:19 of January 1 2009

And it doesnt work!

Its frezzed up

The progress bar doesnt even move

Help

My zune is still broke and its january 1st 2009 this is bull ***

I am getting same problem, it did hang simply at logo screen. I discharged and charged no use. Here India time is 11:51am Jan-01. (US 1am jan-01). still getting same problem.

I made blunder mistake by choosing Microsoft Product. I supprised that just to copy files we need windows updates, zune updates, what's this non-sense.

earlier I was using just 20$ small media player(not branded). I was simply connecting through USB and new drive will come in my my comuter, and then simply copy paste.

Microsoft Zune is just 250$ FM Radio. and even this FM is not good, if channel is broadcasting 100% clear then only it is catching properly, other wise lot of distrubencens.

I should seriously think to for Apple Ipod or Iphone.

can microsoft will pay back the money if any chance.

My Zune still isnt working!

Ist 12:26am Of January 1 2009

Wath to do?

Please technics Help Us

I think we'll have bigger problems to worry about come next leap year... 2012? Anyone? 2012?

Its 1:30am, January 1, 2009 and my Zune is still dead, this is not the only problem I had with my two day old device! When I downloaded songs from the market place it had the wrong song titles and the wrong pics! I'm gonna upgrade to an I touch. I like surfing the web for free. To much time and effort for a device that was supposed to be a bargain. I guess you get what you pay for. I hope they extend my pass, for the 24+ hours I lost, as well as give something for all our inconvenience!

Learn to read.

"Q:  Will you update the firmware before the next leap year (2012)?

Yes."

THEY WILL FIX IT BY NEXT LEAP YEAR.

Did we learn nothing from Y2K?? They still can't figure out how to program a clock??

done with working iPhone stupid Microsoft users

To all you people who are mad that ms didn't forsee this problem, grow up. If 1st gen zune was bug free there'd be no reason to have an update. And the people who are mad they have to sit and wait, last I checked you can't update a brick. So stop whining and be happy that ms dealt with such a huge problem on a holiday. Posted from my iPhone. That works. On new years.

My zune still has not fixed itself and it is past midnight so what am i suppost to do?

Noon GMT...  6am Central Time Zone... Resolved as time moves to Jan.1, 2009...  Huh?  When does the next day start in Redmond, anyway?  (It starts at midnight around here.)

This is Microsoft not some 3rd rate company.  Microsoft owes some satisfaction guarantee, seeing as this product was neither cheap nor flexible with a competitive selection of accessories.  My husband is looking at purchasing a new Mp3, based on Microsoft Zune response, I am less than pleased.  Just for the simple inconvenience of not having access to my Zune and having to research solutions/ information has thoroughly distressed me.  I will inform all I come in contact with of my situation.  MICROSOFT, you better fix this fast! Or the Zune will be the product of last year.

For what it's worth, mine has resumed working now, so it looks like they did in fact know what they were talking about.  Which is good, since I'll be spending 24 hours at airports and on planes in a couple days, and I really didn't want to not have anything to listen to for that time