While the rumor mill is focused on Apple developing a larger-screen iPod touch, the blogosphere is churning with angry reports about frozen 30GB Microsoft Zunes.
Discussions board like ZuneUser.com, ZuneScene.com and Zune.net offer first-hand accounts of the problems with Microsoft’s music player. It seems the Zunes reboot, then freeze once the status bar reaches 100 percent.
Some are calling it the “Z2K” problem, playing off the infamous Y2K bug that many thought would throw the computing industry in chaos at the beginning of the century when dates changed from 1999 to 2000. That’s because the problem seems to have started at exactly midnight PST Wednesday — the first moments of the last day of 2008.
A Fix That Fails
Microsoft wasn’t immediately available for comment on what observers are calling the Zune 30 Midnight Meltdown. But the forums are ablaze with complaints and demands for updates from Microsoft.
“I had my Zune docked on its iHome ZN9, charging, and all the sudden I hear it start whirring as I’m sitting here at the laptop. I looked up just in time to see it restarting itself at exactly 12:00 midnight, watched the loading bar, and then the freeze. Great. WHAT is going on!?” VS Venom Shot wrote on the Zune.net forum.
Meanwhile, a Zune.net user named Dmodegirl claims to have solved the problem. She said the Zune needs a “hard reset” and suggested using a small screwdriver to pop off the plastic shielding where the Zune cable plugs in and remove the two screws on either side of the plug.
“Pop the cover off and locate the battery plug at the top left corner of the Zune. Using your screwdriver, pop the cable connection halfway off, and do this to the other plug on the right side,” she wrote. “Wait three seconds, then push down the right…