Zune - Every 30GB Zune Frozen at the Exact Same Moment Last Night

My 120GB is working great, and sounds way better than my old 60GB iPod, so I think I'll stick with Zune.

 

It worked great and sounded good until today. I'm keeping it. Plugged my old Sony CDP-55 (from 1986; tray doesn't like to work all the time though) back into my rig as my main digital playback unit. Forgot how good it sounds. Maybe it'll hold out for a few more years.

 

Zune 30Gb issued in 2006 so to 2012 thats 6 years.

4-6 years for a Zune is pretty good. How many folks are on their 3 or 4th iPod by now? I dont see many with a Gen1/2/3 or even 4 nowadays. Where did they all go? I dont think there is a iPod version of the Donkey Sanctuary.

I like my Zune but if it lasts another 18 months thats 2.5 years of service. Thats 18 months more than I expect of any mass produced electronic device these days.

 

Not to sound like an iPod hater, but there's a surprisingly large amount of "broken" iPods on ebay. Just do a search and see how many say "broken," "as-is," "repair," or "parts" in the title description alone. I wonder how many broke from faulty manufacturing and how many broke from owner abuse. People still buy 'em broken too.

 

Jamie, you usually make sense. Please don't allow yourself to become part of the idiotic OS wars!

I have not had one OS problem in 20 years of Windows use.

 

This type of thing should actually worry all of us who depend so much on computer technology. They can remotely be disabled or altered if they are connected to a network or if they accept periodic updates of any sort. This goes for your beloved Apple products too.

 

Nah, just having some fun.

 

A friend of mine had to take her Mazda RX-8 in for a firmware update. She gets better gas mileage now.

 

Maybe crazy, but it's standard operating practice for Microsoft. They fully expect everyone to update to their next whiz-bang gizmo; I'm guessing there will be NO support from Microsoft for old Zunes in four more years. Look at the daylight savings patch a couple years ago. Microsoft did not provide a patch for the majority of W2000 users; we had to apply a third party patch...

The moral of the story? Don't make long term investments in Microsoft products, because they will leave you high and dry...

 

Well so far I've been given for FREE all the new features that the newer model Zunes have been given (except for storage) for two years now.

No sign of that changing. Name me any other top five selling player that gets that kind of support...and I dont mean Rockbox?

And whats wrong with MS potentially dropping tech support for a 6 year old device? Does Apple provide full feature updates for 6 year old (even two year old) iPods I'm curious to know? Do they?

In my experience Zens/Archos and Sansa's are unfortunately usually in the bin or long gone via Ebay by then.

 

Speaking as a Mac user, Apple is far worse when it comes to backward (or even forward) compatibility.

 

My point exactly... They think there's nothing wrong with it, so they WILL do it, forcing you to upgrade even when you don't otherwise want to. Judging from the amount of older audio gear and LPs/CDs SH forum members have, there are at least a few of us whio don't want to update with every whim of the industry.

 

Holy hell did you just jinx yourself. Better back up EVERYTHING tonight.

 

You mean like Edison did when he ended support for cylinder records?

They've been playing this game for 80 years, man. Nothing ever changes.

 

How does one update the firmware on a Zune if it won't boot up properly?

 

Wait until tomorrow... It should boot OK even without an update! Apparently it only fails on the 366th day of the year.

 

As long as the clock still functions, it should be okay. If it doesn't work tomorrow, I'll just crack it open again and unplug/replug the battery. But yes, if it won't boot up, the average consumer can't update the firmware.

 

Hmm... about 9:30 here... I'd bet right this moment somewhere there's a DJ setting up his gear who's about to freak out.

 

By why wouldnt I want to upgrade from a 6 year old 30Gb Zune that by 2012 is maybe too small, the battery will be holding about 2 mins of charge, lacking a lot of the new groovy features that media players may have in 2012 and maybe looking a little tired?

Your arguement doesnt really hold much water here. They wont be forcing me much to upgrade as I'll probably have done it by then. Chances are you'll have had three more iPods in that time.

Maybe if we were talking about houses, hot water boilers, swimming pools, wedding rings...it might.

We are talking about cheap plastic electronic consumables here, thats all.

 

Now working as promised.

Excellent.

 

As a Mac user for many years who's never had such problems I'm baffled by this, particularly in light of the many problems Vista seems to have had in this area.

 

Never heard of Zune until a few hours ago. But then, I don't really keep up with all this techno stuff these days. Sounds like someone didn't do their homework. Unless this is just some publicity stunt or something.

 

Exactly right, the "throw away" society which modern corporate philosophy encourages. They can sell us the same stuff over-and-over. Believe me, if they when they figure out how to do it with houses, they will. It would not be the first case of a durable good turning into a consumable...

 

bash!

 

How is that any different than any other mp3 manufacturer? I have a Creative Zen USB 2.0 that is still in service (purchased in 2002). I use it every day. Battery life is dimming, but it has been out of support for several years. My wife bought a Creative Micro Zen a few years ago and it now has a defective headphone jack. This thing was hardly used. Out of support also. I can send it back to Creative with $25, but that just provides the opportunity to find out how much more they will charge me to fix a $170 player that is no longer supported. That was the end for Creative in this household. Simple answer was to replace her Micro Zen with a new 8gb Sony Walkman. (Excellent sound from this little player)

Unfortunately, there are only 2 real choices for high storage capacity players. Apple and Microsoft. Yes, there are a few others, but where can I try out any of the others?