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I use my Zune 30GB daily, but not today, thus far. I was afraid to even try today, but decided it is important to, for you, readers. So, found my Zune also Dead this morning, though it was fine last night. It’s hung now, during boot-up, so doesn’t boot… As I learned on the Net this morning, some bug associated with Dec 31st caused all original 30Gb models to fail.

These devices are firmware upgradable, so lets see how fast can Microsoft not only identify the issue, but actually issue a tested patch for us, poor folks.

Another interesting thing is how fast they heard about it, via the Blogosphere. I am sure people called in Customer Service also, but those Reps on the phone are paid to “repeat the standard troubleshooting procedures”, and no more. As most CS centers go, they are actually encouraged to never escalate issues, so I would be surprised if they, even after hearing so many people call, managed to get the note out to Zune Dev Team that “something was Up”. I will update this post as things develop.

[via Zune Insider] [also via ars technica]

UPDATE: After I read earlier that Apple’s Macs are ready for special “leap-second” year, I thought — probably Zune is affected by that. Well, we now have confirmation from Zune team , and it looks like tomorrow my Zune should be back to normal! I’ll update this post again tomorrow.

UPDATE2: Welcome to 2009, Happy New Year! Quick update – Zune battery ran out yesterday, as planned. This morning I charged it from computer, and it’s back to Life! Working fine, as promised! Hope none of you rushed to break your Zune or do anything crazy to get to battery.

I’ve been reading all the live blogging just like the rest of us, all too excited about “what’s next” from the over-hyped Apple brand. Finally Starts at $199 now, finally has built-in GPS (pretty much standard nowadays), and seems to have improved 3rd party apps support. Also looking especially lucrative is the 7 hour battery time when playing video, that should be awesome on long flights and overall most impressive. Internet always was a great feature, and with 3G speeds, it’s finally very viable. Plus, more and more popular web-sites coming up with iPhone optimized edition.

But, looking at my own usage patterns, my current phone, though over 2 years old, is doing just fine for me. It provides occasional Internet via Opera Mini. It gives me full screen video via Mobile Divx Player, and of course Audio MP3’s are no-brainer. My Zune gives me full range of Podcasts access, and probably with miniscule 16GB on even the premium $299 model (what gives, flash memory is cheap nowadays!!!), it wouldn’t suffice for my needs there. I got my Bluetooth and my external Bluetooth GPS, if need be, on that phone also.

Big feature would be push email, especially my Yahoo! and Gmail, though meanwhile I get those on my work-issued blackberry, so no concerns there. Come to think of it, the email would probably be the biggest excuse I can find to switch phones, if my work decided to save some dough and take away our blackberries…

Meanwhile, the rest of you will charge forth and purchase this toy, I’m sure

PS: After I typed it up, I saw this little video, and looks like this one is a Solid reason to get an iPhone!

PPS: And here’s a shocker reason not to get the iPhone, somehow I felt this was coming…

True short story! A lady came up to me as I was coming off the airplane from a recent business trip and exclaimed: "Is This A Zune!?". She continued to explain that she never seen anyone with Zune and she actually has one herself. But, her biggest beef with it is that she can’t figure out how to get Videos onto it! She bought it for bigger screen, which isn’t much help without Video content!

Here is the tip for everyone out there! There is A Lot of Free and easily accessible Video (and Audio) content for your Zune! Start by simply navigating to Podcasts category in the Marketplace section of the new Zune client software! And the best part — all of it is Free! Your Zune clent software will auto-download the latest episodes from the Internet, whenever you dock your Zune or even when you sync wirelessly.

This is actually the biggest feature added in the new Zune software & firmware, and the main reason I finally splurged on a Zune. There is a huge library of Podcasts in the new category in Zune Marketplace, both Audio and Video, and all free, of course.  Each podcast includes short description and subscribing is as easy as clicking ‘Subscribe’, and there are some options hidden deeper if you prefer to manually control how many episodes of the Podcast show Zune keeps by default.

There are too many excellent podcasts that I subscribe to for me to list here, and even more excellent ones that I just don’t have time for. So, first step, check out My Subscriptions screen capture, to the right. I managed to reformat the screen to fit all the little pictures in, although reading their full name will be tough. So, here are some highlights, with brief description:

• EscapePod – I mentioned this one already, it’s awesome short science fiction stories
• Buzz Out Loud – Daily techno news, presented in fun manner
• CNN Now in the News – Brings you Video News daily, on the go
• NPR: Science Friday – Keeps you informed of latest scientific research, in easy to understand format. Actually, NPR has an Array of excellent podcasts, check it out!
• TWiT – This Week in Tech consists of insightful discussion around top week tech news, excellent show but usually at least an hour long. Leo has again an array of well produced podcasts, with Windows Weekly being another one I enjoy. Check them out!
• National Geographic Wild Chronicles – Short and sweet look at some of the most amazing wild creatures out there, keeps things interesting and diversified

These are just some highlights, there are tons more of them available in Marketplace or out there on the Internet, including almost any niche subject that may interest you. Anyone can download Zune Software, even without a Zune! You’ll simply have to watch the video shows, or listen to the audio podcasts right there on your computer. Actually, once your PC client downloads the podcast show files, you can manually copy them to any other type of audio or video mobile player, most will be compatible. Or, if you don’t have Zune and don’t want this software, check out Open Source Miro software, which is similar in many ways.

Ever heard of SyncToy? It’s yet another secret software from Microsoft (much like FolderShare) which is just so awesome that they never advertise it, anywhere. I have been using their 1.x version for about a year and it "simply works", which is the best compliment ever, in my book, especially for a little utility.

As the name implies, it is a simple Synchronization tool. You give it two file folders, either on your local computer, or, more often, on two computers on your home network. Next, it simply runs making sure that the two folders are completely synchronized. That is, all their files, sub-directories and their files, are all exactly identical. Here are some of the great uses I have for it in my home:

• Backup tool! My Photos and My Music Collection directories are Synchronized to a backup folder on another computer, providing simple and effective backup.
• My Videos, such as cartoons for kids, are backup up and synchronized to kids PCs, so they can all enjoy it on their local PC.
• Synching of e-Magazines (such as GamerZines, or Zinio) with Laptop on the Go.
• Synchronization of Online Game installations, such as World of Warcraft. This game frequently updates it’s client, and instead of re-downloading 300Mb patch to several PCs where we play this game, SyncToy simply Synchronizes only the modified files.

I am sure you can think of more uses! Read about this major release, or go forth directly to download this completely Free gem from Microsoft Download Center.

And Yes, it works on Windows Vista as well as XP!

PS: Writing about "Works as Advertised" made me think about Zune Client software. All its bugs keep messing up my music collection and my podcasts!!! Seriously why even develop a whole new media player!? Why not improve Windows Media Player and be done with it?!

This is an early report on the new Zune software, since it just came out this Tuesday (two days ago). It is a major overhaul of Zune Firmware as promised, but the Desktop software redesign seems less dramatic.

But, there is a Bug that exceeded my wildest expectation — my cherished Music Library is all messed up now! Seriously, there are some glitches people forgive, but probably not this one. Some artists and their albums are correct, yet others are all mixed up. Wrong Album Art appearing on albums, AND wrong songs appearing inside the albums (just some songs, from other albums, get mixed in with real album songs)!!!

Britney Spears should be most upset, however. It put some of her songs under No Artist category, and slapped Chumbawamba Album Art on them! It really has no excuse for messing up so badly! These Britney’s song are from my personal CD collection, and were ripped using Microsoft’s own Windows Media Player not too long ago! The songs located in proper folder and contain proper MP3 tag information embedded in them (check out the screen shot below).

But maybe, the new Zune software using some sort of advanced Artificial Intelligence to figure out the actual level of artistry behind some specific songs?! Maybe by analyzing the MP3 song itself (finally putting my powerful Quad Core PC to some fine use)?

Nah… It’s just a bug….

UPDATE: Bugs happen! So after posting this and finishing other daily activities, I set out to find a fix. And looks like Microsoft posted it on the day of software release, at 4:55pm on their Zune forums, just scroll down to post by Zmanaaa. I promptly followed their simple instructions and looks like it fixed all of my troubles! The only remaining issue is occasional Album Art confusion. However, I found how to fix that also! Simply navigate to relevant Album directory where the Art is wrong, and Delete album art file, called ZuneAlbumArt.jpg (May be Hidden, so make sure to select Show Hidden Files in Explorer options). Then, Zune promptly redownloads proper Art from it’s Online database, whenever you navigate to that album in Zune desktop software. Voila!

UPDATE2: After doing the database recovery fix above, you will need to Resubscribe to all your podcasts, even though most will appear in the list still. Another thing I had happen, only once though, when unplugging Zune from my Sleeping Vista machine, it didn’t “reactivate”. I had to switch the Key Lock On/Off, before it started responding to any key presses.

UPDATE3: Since at first I didn’t realize I had a problem with my music library, I naturally synched all the mess to Zune. Turns out even after you fix the library, Zune can still have mess “stored” within it. So, I fixed that also yesterday. To fix it, you will need to blow away everything from Zune and “reset” it essentially. Navigate to Settings in the upper right of Zune software, click on Device in the settings, and find Erase All button. Once done, disconnect and reconnect your Zune, and it will re-sync everything down to device (may take a while, but it’s worth it).

UPDATE 12.5 (Nov, 2008): WOW, This post is still as popular as ever, a full YEAR after it was posted. There was another update to Zune software since this post, and mostly everything is so much better now. These workarounds will still likely work for you, though I did not need to try them myself since then. I am still having some issues with Podcasts duplicating, but that is really minor, seriously!