Private to 5 Known Zune Owners
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 29, 2008 at 6:21 AM PT
A “regularly scheduled maintenance” outage will take Microsoft’s Zune platform offline for up to 48 hours beginning today. So if you’re among the five Zune owners who comprise the “Social” and you’ve actually noticed that it’s suddenly gone missing–along with Zune Marketplace and the Zune Net forums–and you’re bothered by their absence, this is why. Microsoft (MSFT) offered no explanation for the outage, just a brief apology: “We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you. Please check back soon. We look forward to sharing our picks, plays and recommendations with you.”
Apparently, a Zune outage can exist without being perceived. …
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Comments
48 hours?!!!!!
That’s the most ridiculous “service outage” I’ve ever heard of.
Does this involve reels of magnetic tape being transported in U-Haul trailers in some way?
Are they outsourcing the back-en operation to IBM who will run it on vintage 360 mainframes?
Must be something like that.
Posted by Mac Beach at September 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pmPerhaps they’re adding 8-Track support?
Posted by John Paczkowski at September 29th, 2008 at 3:43 pmHaha, sure no bias here. As those who are in the loop, it primarily involves the XBox backend which involves the Zune ones too. And I think there’s more than just 5 Zune owners. I think I can bring over a few of my friends to show that even though we’re not as many as ipod users, we do have a social.
Posted by Jeremy McAlpin at September 30th, 2008 at 1:44 am1. There are more then 5 zune users. Having forums where they have 60,000+ members proves that.
2. Get updated graphics that image is from like 2006. If your going to post about something do it correctly.
3. The outage is to put future updates into place. Things like xBox to zune integration.
Basically if you are going to write a blog post. Do it in a professional manner by doing something called research.
Posted by Josh Sorenson at September 30th, 2008 at 6:44 amA couple of million is different than 5. We can put that in perspective: Let’s say iPod sells 25 million to Zune’s 1 million (all apporximate) annual sales. If there are 5 Zune users, there are only 125 iPod users.
It’s funny that mac fans cite Zune sales numbers to knock the device yet would never draw the same conclusion in the PC market. Or did I miss the article about the 5 mac user’s out there?
> From Mac Beach
>48 hours?!!!!! That’s the most
> ridiculous “service outage”
> I’ve ever heard of.
You’ve never heard of the MobileMe fiasco? Perhaps Apple can learn a thing or two and have some planned interuption instead of just screwing its customers. Maybe some day they will even provide real 3G service for their 3G phone.
> Perhaps they’re adding
> 8-Track support?
It is nice to have support for many formats. Most other MP3 players natively support not only MP3 but wmv, protected wmv, and unprotected aac. If someone wants to write an application for an android or windows mobile phone that simulates and 8-track player, they can and you could load it up. Apple would never let such an ap on its “sacred” phone. It knows what’s best for you. (I think it could be a fun ap, actually, kind of like impromptu mixing as you switch between the tracks midway.)
Zune has taken great strides in encouraging music discovery and sharing as well as cross platform integration. If they need to shut down things for a day or two to make sure xBox live, Zune marketplace, and other mobile devices play well together, it’s worth the effort as long as it is done right.
Posted by Pinkerton Waters at September 30th, 2008 at 6:47 amIt was a joke, folks.
And it’s not like Microsoft hasn’t taken its share of potshots at Apple over the years. I seem to recall Gates referring to the company as “super-small-market share guy” on occasion.
Finally, as far as I can tell, Microsoft offered no explanation whatsoever for the outage.
Posted by John Paczkowski at September 30th, 2008 at 9:19 amYeah they offered no explanation at all thats why they sent a message to my xbox live account and my zune account. Honestly. Do your research you ifanboy
Posted by nick coolman at September 30th, 2008 at 2:01 pm“We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you” isn’t exactly an explanation.
Posted by John Paczkowski at September 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pmDoing alittle googling:
“Xbox Live Service Maintenance
On Monday, 9/29/2008 from 12:01 AM PST for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, Xbox LIVE and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.) The remainder of Xbox.com will be available with limited interruptions.
This service maintenance is in preparation for the new Xbox experience which will be available later this fall.
Let me reiterate: When the service returns, you will not have any new features and you will not have the new Xbox experience update. That will happen later this Fall.”
Posted by Jeremy McAlpin at October 1st, 2008 at 7:35 am