[Update: Microsoft says the problem will resolve itself as son as the calendar flips over to 2009 later tonight. Details in this follow-up post.]

If you own a 30GB Zune player (the original hard drive model, released in November 2006), you got an unpleasant surprise this morning when you tried to turn it on. As many users have reported on the Zune forums, the player starts up normally, the status bar goes to 100%, and then it freezes. At that point the device is completely inoperable.

The problem appears to be date-related, and Microsoft as of 7:00AM Pacific time has a note on its Zune service status page noting that they are aware of the issue and are working to correct it.

I can confirm that the issue does not affect other Zune models, only the Zune 30 with upgraded firmware. My Zune 80GB player works just fine, and the Zune service and software are unaffected as well.

One post on the Zune forums claims that the issue can be resolved by removing the battery and doing a hard reset. That’s a tricky process that involves some risk of breaking the plastic piece that covers the Zune cable connector. In addition, it’s unclear that it actually solves anything, as other forum participants report that the problem returns as soon as the supposedly repaired device is reconnected to the PC.

And as an aside, I think the customers who are outraged and threatening class action lawsuits need to relax. Yes, it’s an embarrassing issue, but it appeared to start around midnight Pacific time during a holiday week. Microsoft responded publicly with a statement less than seven hours later. That’s not an unreasonable initial response time. Now we’ll see how long it takes for a fix to arrive.

I’ll update this post when Microsoft releases more information or if I learn anything more.

Update: On Twitter, ZuneInsider says: “We really are trying to get to the botton [sic] this ASAP. thanks for the patience.”

Another Twitter update, from around noon Pacific time: “hey folks. we are making progress and close to being able to ID the issue for you all – just running thru additional checks and testing“

America’s Finest News Source does not disappoint:

Microsoft announced it will be releasing a new edition of its operating software, called Windows 7, while Apple is working on its new OS X Snow Leopard. How will they stack up against each other?

Hilarious.

(via)

I’m getting ready for a series of posts on Windows 7, and one area I plan to look at closely is how Microsoft has responded to annoyances in Windows Vista.

You can help me out by leaving a comment with some of the annoyances you’re hoping will be fixed. Please be specific; simply saying “It’s too slow” or “I don’t like Explorer” aren’t useful.

Here are a couple of entries from my list to get the conversation started:

• The system sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and then doesn’t go back to sleep.
• The file-based backup program is too inflexible and doesn’t allow me enough control over the types of files or locations I want to back up.
• Showing or hiding the Preview pane in Windows Explorer takes too many clicks.

OK, your turn.

Microsoft came so close to keeping the lid on Windows 7 Beta 1, but the security was breached yesterday. According to numerous online sources, the BitTorrent channels are burning with Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 7000, making its way from China and Russia to the West.

Australia’s ITWire has some details about one DVD image, which supposedly includes the familiar multiple editions of Windows 7: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate.

Neowin’s Tom Warren has a few more tidbits and some screen shots.

Over the past few months, I’ve looked at a lot of Vista Sidebar gadgets. I listed some of my favorites here in April, and published an updated list of favorite gadgets last month at ZDNet.

During the past year, I’ve looked at several third-party gadgets that tried to put a front end on the excellent (and free) Pandora music service. Every one of them had at least one crippling flaw.

So I was delighted to see last week that Pandora has designed its own Vista Sidebar gadget. Here it is in operation on this notebook:

It’s the very model of a good citizen: clean, efficient, fun to have around. It doesn’t use much in the way of resources (roughly 30MB of memory on this 3GB system).

Update: As Jim King points out in the comments, the gadget is Flash based, as is Pandora’s web-based interface. And of course, Adobe still hasn’t released a 64-bit version of Flash. That’s not a killer, though. If you want to use this gadget in Vista x64, you’ll need to run the x86 Sidebar.exe. Shut down the x64 Sidebar.exe application and start the version located in the Program Files (x86) folder. Voila!

If you’re a Pandora user, I highly recommend it.

I confess I had completely forgotten about the Yule Log visualization for Windows Media Player, which originally appeared as part of the Windows Media Bonus Pack for XP back in 2002. Like most visualizations, it hadn’t been updated in years and didn’t work with newer Media Player versions.

Until a few days ago, that is, when Sean Alexander, who commissioned the original Yule Log viz way back when, posted an updated Yule Log Visualization for Windows Media Player 11/Vista/XP.

And shhh, don’t tell anyone, but it works under Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7 as well:

Get a playlist going, switch to Now Playing mode, right-click the center pane and choose the Yule Log visualization from the menu.

And to really make the effect complete, click the View Full Screen button in the lower right corner of the Media Player window. That takes away the menu bar, play controls, and album information, leaving only the graphic.

(And if the fake flaming log thing is just too corny, try the Psychedelia Viz Pack instead.)

Your important photos and files are all backed up on CDs and DVDs, so you’re safe. Right?

Think again.

Well, it’s about time. Nvidia has announced that it is now providing drivers for graphics processing units in notebook PCs, independent of the OEMs that designed and sold the notebook. This is a long-awaited development that solves a big problem for notebook owners who are sometimes stuck with ancient drivers because the hardware manufacturer doesn’t provide updates.

The current download offering is a beta release of GeForce version 179.28, covering Windows XP and Windows Vista (x86 and x64) on the following GPUs:

GeForce 9800M GTX/GTS/GT/GS
GeForce 9700M GTS/GT
GeForce 9600M or 9650M GT/GS
GeForce 9300M or 9500M GS/G
GeForce 9200M GS/GE
GeForce 8800M GTX/GTS/GS
GeForce 8700M GT
GeForce 8600M GT/GS
GeForce 8400M G/GS
GeForce 8200M G

I installed the driver successfully on my Dell XPS M1330 without problems, after first updating the system BIOS per Nvidia’s recommendation. (If you have a Dell Inspiron 1420, Dell XPS M1330, or Dell XPS M1530, be sure to read this note first.)

And now the bad news. Some fairly large players in the notebook market have chosen not to support this release. If you own a Dell Vostro, a Lenovo ThinkPad, or a Sony VAIO with an integrated Nvidia GPU, you’ll have to get an updated driver from the OEM.

Also, if you have a hybrid SLI notebook (the Nvidia download page has a detailed list), you’ll need to wait a little longer. That configuration isn’t supported on the current beta drivers.

ATI/AMD? The ball’s in your court.

Update 10-January-2009: If you’re looking for information about the Windows 7 Beta download, here are the release notes and download links.

Neowin’s Tom Warren is reporting that Microsoft’s Windows 7 homepage has been updated with a download link for the beta release. Here’s what it looks like:

Currently, the link goes nowhere.

I’m still highly doubtful that the public (or anyone outside of a few carefully selected beta testers) will see this build before Steve Ballmer’s Windows 7 keynote on January 7 at CES. I suspect that the page will be filled out shortly with details about how to prepare for the beta, perhaps even including a registration page.

We’ll see…

Internet Explorer 8 has a new feature called Suggested Sites. Its function is to examine the current page and, if you click the link, recommend up to five other sites that it thinks you will like.

Good idea. But in practice, the algorithm might need some fine-tuning. Here’s what it suggests when I visit my Windows Live home page:

I’m not sure where it got the idea that I’m in Mexico or that I speak Spanish. (Although I learned a fair amount of Spanish years ago and pick up enough to get by fairly quickly each time I visit Mexico.)