Warning If you are running a Zune 30 and have not upgraded the firmware on the device since before 2009, be forewarned that this coming Tuesday, December 31, 2024, will be a really bad day for you to listen to music and podcasts. Your device will freeze during the day and will stay locked up for 24 hours or so. You may have experienced the same problem in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. Those years, like 2024, have an extra day tacked on at the end of February.

Frozen Zune

Obviously I am being a little Tongue-in-cheek by issuing a warning for a device that was killed in 2012 (*) and a bug that was fixed shortly after it was discovered on the last day of 2008 (not all leap year bugs happen on Februart 29th!). I saw a reference to the bug yesterday and it brought back a flood of memories from that day. I was going to donate blood and was going to listen the my Zune while I waited for the process to complete.

It is also a chance to remind everyone that you should make sure all your firmware is up to date. I talked about the need to upgrade the firmware about 15 years ago and it is still good advice.

(*) In reading a few articles about the Zune leap year bug, I stumbled across an article about a group of Zune die hards who are keeping their devices alive and working. So it may have been killed, but that does not mean it is dead.