Microsoft's Zune in Worldwide Meltdown?

Call it Microsoft's Z2K bug; reports are flooding across the Internet that Microsoft's Zune media player is inexplicably failing, en masse. The Web site Zune Forums is loaded with comments regarding the 30GB Zune freezing, running the gamut from annoyed users to those who seem about ready to burn Microsoft's headquarters down. The issue has affected Zunes across the globe.

It seems the Zune freezes after the status bar reaches 100 percent on the startup screen. Microsoft has so far not responded as to while the simultaneous freeze has occurred, though rumors are running rampant that the cause is a Y2K-like programming bug. That explanation first surfaced after several forums filled with complains that their Zunes had all frozen in exactly the same place, at exactly midnight PST.

According to posted reports on various Zune forums, the device freezes after the startup status bar reaches 100 percent. The problem at first seemed only to affect the 30GB model, although reports are now surfacing that the 80GB models are experiencing the same problem. Needless to say, the Zune owners who have been posting to various forums are confused and have been unable to get an explanation from Microsoft or anyone else. As one poster lamented: "It feels like it's 1999 again..."

Since the device's loudly trumpeted debute in November 2006, the would-be iPod killer has struggled to find a foothold in the market, while Apple's rival music player has continued to lead the MP3 player market. As of May 2008 slightly more than 2 million Zunes had been sold, according to Jason Reindorp, Zune's director of product marketing. In that same period, sales of Apple's iPod reached 76 million.