Someone Spiked The Punch at The Zune Social

Special Report by Ian Fawling

SEATTLE, WA - When I peeked in on the Zune social last night over at Zune Scene, I noticed that the party started to take an awkward turn with the first conversation; "Got my third Zune 80 last night- sure enough it had a crooked squircle (actually the metal trim was off), the back button was too recessed and got stuck and the metal piece on the very top was loose." said  Zune Freak, "WTF Microsoft?? My first Zune had a crooked squircle too but the buttons were fine, my second one had a perfect squircle but the left play button was too recessed and got stuck and the metal piece at the top was loose."  It's more like WTF Flextronics?? Flextronics is the same company which makes the Xbox.

According to the Zune jockey's in the forum, things at the social aren't going too well for Zune 80. It looks like the gang over at WIRED may have spoken too soon when they recommended the 80GB "Zune doggy dog" over the hearty iPod Classic. If the rumblings coming from the Zune social are any indicator of quality assurance, a whole lot of people are going to be wired for heartache when they unwrap their Zune 80 come December 25th.

There was no chance of the social recovering after a few others from the forum party started to chime in on what had turned into the Zune 80 confessional hour. It's quite possible that it may have been the spiked punch talking by now. "That's a shame, I cant believe alot of the Zunes are faulty in some way" one party goer said, quickly followed by; "Yeah, I've been noticing alot of posts about that.. I think its because their rushing them out." Rushing them out? There's a friggin' shortage that has gone on for weeks. Hello? Earth to planet Zune! Where's the rushing part?

"Microsoft opted to go with Toshiba's 30-gigabyte player last year because it needed to rush to market with its first product. This year, it decided to bring all the design in-house and selected Flextronics for the manufacturing." Source: Reuters UK

At this point I witnessed a social lurker from Australia suddenly chime in on the conversation; "If they ever come out to Australia I'll think twice about getting the Zune 80 if they're really badly put together." Badly put together? Don't tell the Aussies that about Zune! They will have their first Apple Store in Sydney next year for god sakes. Just dummy up kid! It's only a few partyers letting off some steam, it's not that big of a deal.

By now I was convinced that the punch was spiked when this final bit of truth-telling came spilling out of yet another Zunedroid in the mosh pit; "There have been a ton of complaints about the squircle being crooked, or the battery acting strangely, excessive hard drive noise, etc etc. I would say the problems are above acceptable levels. When somebody has to return a product 3 times that is beyond coincidence." That's it dammit! Stop the music! OK, please head to the exits fellas, the Zune social is officially over for tonight, thanks for coming, we'll re-boot and see you all again tomorrow. Please do not take your drinks outside. Ba-bye!

I overhead one Zune-a-phile on the way to the parking lot say; "Defects are defects. Whether cosmetic defects are 'better' than functional defects is up to the individual. All I can say is that when I drop $250 clams on a player, it better be physically perfect." I must say that I certainly can't argue with that point. So ends another brilliant Zune social that has gone up in flames. Nice job Zune Freak! You ruined the entire night for all of us. Hope you're happy now.

Zune Freak launched a solid parting Zune defect zinger by saying; "I gave up on the Zune 80 after 3 tries. I am not going to live with metal antenna parts rattling, buttons being uneven and sticking, and crooked trim around the squircle." Amen broseph! (I sense that the force is strong in this one. He may be ready to covert from the dark side.)

It takes amazing patience and blind dedication to a product to willingly make three purchases of bad stock before calling it quits. I would have given up right when the red vested boy wonder at Target asked; "Hi, can I help you with a Zune today?" Dude! Are you serious?

The night ended in a somber moment of reflection for Zune Freak as he walked off into the dreary night; "I think Microsoft has a legit QA problem with them," referring to the Zune 80GB model  "It is sad, because I have less than a gig left on my current Zune 30 and can really use the space." Yes, we can all use the space kid, more space on the shelf for the iPod Classic that is. Between the XBox 360 and Vista nightmares, Microsoft is up to it's ears in cow patties. Now this Zune 80 fiasco is bubbling under, surely it will not go away gracefully.

We all feel you're pain Zune Freak, reality is a harsh companion. It is sad my Zuner friend. Very sad indeed. See ya at the next social... if I'm still welcome.

Quotes Source: Zune Scene    Mac Daily News Lashes Out at WIRED (link)

Comments

[iPhone Savior]

It's always a huge hassle to return new product, but that Zune sounds like a turd and you should get yourself a new one sooner than later. Your comment is similar to others who've had the same experience. Welcome to the social!

Good luck with round two.

[Defective zune owner]

Ok i bought a zune from circuit city less than a week ago and the bottom right corner of the case right between where the case and screen meet there is a chip on the case and the Zune had a crooked squircle. Also i can hear the hard drive when it loads. Is that normal and is it worth sending back? It is working fine though so i dont think the crooked squircle is much of an issue.