As you guys well know, there are zillions of Zunes out there stricken with a mysterious malady. According to a new statement from the devs, it is (as we all suspected) a bug having to do with the internal clock and how it deals with leap years.
The “fix” is less than elegant: let the Zune run out of battery and the clock bug will essentially fix itself as the date switches over to January 1. If you have a Zune Pass (and you should, because they’re a great deal), you may have to re-sync with your PC to ensure your subscription songs work. Unfortunately this means your Zunes may not be working in time for new years’ celebrations, so get an alternate jukebox up and going if you can.
Here’s the full statement:
Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. That being the case, the issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.