I have a problem with my zune and i wonder if this is related. At my gym, there are heartrate monitors on the handlebars of the treadmill that i'm sure many of you are aware of. Many of you are aware that this works by transfering a small amount of charge from one hand to the next. but most treadmills will often shock the heck out of you when you touch them. I don't know whether my zune is problematic because of the constant jostling of the device or if its more something to do with all of the static that builds up on the treadmills (from the heart things or just the fact that its moving and generating it from that). Any help?

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oh yea...the damn thing shuts off all the time and needs to reboot. that's the problem

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what do you expect from call centers?

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What are all these problems people always mention? i've had mine since Christmas and have never had any problems i and i kill the battery every day and charge it every night. Only once did it lock up and that was because of my stupid dog pulling it out while it was syncing.

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I've experienced this problem as well... happens even when I plug in a cable attached to the charger. Have had it happen with headphones. Frequency of about 2-3 times per month, sometimes less.

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the same s**t been happening to me, i thought there was just something wrong with my zune. now i know

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Yeah... I've had the same thing happen to me with the static electricity... from what I've been researching though there are ways of minimizing the static shocks... one is to increase the humidity, which is easy to do indoors... another is to moisturize, because the static is usually caused by dry skin rubbing against something(i.e. clothes)...

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Ohhh man...I just sent in my Zune for fix. My Zune started to restart on me about three weeks ago. It's gotten so bad that I decided to send it out for repair. Obviously if customer support do not recognize the problem to be static, there is no way they will be able to detect what's wrong with it. I'm pretty sure they grownd themselves before operating on the device, too. Ouch...here goes two weeks without my zune...and only to get it back without a fix.

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I have had 3 new Zunes in the past 3 weeks (exchanging at store). I now realize it is a design defect, not manufacturing defect, because all 3 shut down the same. Static electricity shuts it right down..boom! Also, it shuts down even when there "appears" to be no static charge. I live in the dry, cold North-East (NJ). Only at home does it play without many crashes (I have no carpeting to create static). What is really weird is that no store that sells them around hear has heard of this complaint. None of the almost 500 reviews on Amazon mentions it...and after talking to customer support MANY times, I finally found ONLY ONE tech who even heard of this problem, BUT he said Microsoft understands the problem and is working on a patch that will be downloaded to your device through the internet software in the next few months. BUT until i read these posts, I thought i was one of the few who encountered this problem. I thought my body was highly charged with electrictity like few others (LOL) or posssibly my earbuds were more of a conductor then other earbuds...I ordered two new earbuds (Sennheiser cx-300 and Sony MDR-EX51LP) and will post if that affects the problem.

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I'm in the NY area, where it's been really cold and dry lately.
I got mine Thursday and it happened twice to me on Friday. I almost freaked out, thinking I trashed it in one day.

It happened while it was in my leather jacket pocket as I walked up[first time] then down[2nd time] a flight of stairs, thus rubbing against the inside of my pocket.
All I heard was a crackle and then the music stopped.
I tried to power it back up and it didn't... for about 15secs, while it rebooted.
I spent half a day researching for a new pair of earbuds, thinking my Sennheiser MX55's were shorting out. Till I came across this site!
What a relief.
I'll be following this issue for sure.

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Read my post above...I was using JVC Gumy HA-F120 (inexpensive but loud and stays in your ears)...then I just received my Sony MDR-EX51LP a few days ago...the crashing has been reduced by over 90%...so now I know why not many others around here have been returning their Zune: because they have headphones better suited to resist static electricity then the JVC's i was using...so far i am lucky as the Sony's sound far better (noise cancelling and extemely comfortable..about $25 delivered from Amazon) then the JVC's...now I am waiting for the Sennheiser's I ordered for $65...according to the many review's, they are supposed to be awesome...after I get check them out, i will post to let you know how they do with the static and how they sound...However, judging from the fact that few people are returning their Zune's around here, it seems the JVC's must be the exception rather than the rule....but just keep this is mind: I had 2 other MP3 players before the Zune which i used the JVC Gumy's with, and neither player ever crashed...so their is a definite issue that Microsoft needs to fix even if you can minimize the symptoms by changing your ear buds.

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static is a problem for all mp3 players that I've had. It is bad during the dry winter months. Charge builds up when the cord rubs against your jacket. If you can keep the cord from rubbing, then you can reduce the problem. One solution is to put the cord inside your jacket rather than outside.

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i work in an electrostatic paint booth and my zune shuts down before i can get through one song.... i tried different headphones and that helped some but its still an irritating issue, now only shutting off 5 or so times per 8 hour shift...

i bought some of those rubberized earbud style plugs and they helped some, i returned those and purchased earmuff style headphones and they seem to work the best so far, but this is still a problem.

i'll post if i find anything that works 100%

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I'm so sad.I live in vietnam and I just bought my zune player from a friend so i dont have any warranty and whenever i use it at home or when i walk there s no problem. But when i use it on my motorbike it always shutdown when i start my bike. The problem is that i only bought it to listen on my motorbike. CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME

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I have 2 posts above...I have had my Zune a few months now. Changing ear buds helped the static/shutdown issue dramatically. I now use mostly Sennheiser cx300, sometimes Shure e2. Both are 1000% better then my original (cheap) JVC Gumy. Only shuts down from static once every few days. BUT then Microsoft installs Version 1.3 to "improve and fix issues." Well, now I am shutting down 2, 3, even 4 times a day...Thanks guys! It also occasionally shuts down when unplugging your earbuds (if i want to change ear buds while listening to music). I HOPE you Microsoft guys are READING this: Version 1.3 worsens the static issue.

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I dont know if the static is any worse since 1.3 for me, but it is not any better. I was kind of hoping it would be, I like to move and listen to music, but thats just me.

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There are 2 ways I fixed my shut down problem. I live in nyc so te static electricity thing is real so to resolve the problem do this: 1) get new earbuds. sony makes some for 20- 25 dollars and they sound extremely better. They also cut down on the static.
2) leave your display light on always. It kills the battery faster but you can get a good 5-6 straight hrs out of it without recharging. Ever since I did these 2 things, i have'nt shut down in about 5 mths and i got this for xmas. Overall I like this better than the i pod.

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I bought my Zune last week to shove it in apples face for making a player that only has a year and a half of battery. Of course I would rather buy a new Ipod every year and a half than deal with what this Zune is doing to me. I have really nice BOSE headphones and didn't think they would cause my Zune to shut down. I was wrong though, every 2 songs it shuts down and I have to reboot it. Microsoft really needs to do something about this, or at least stop showing the commercial on TV so more people don't have to deal with this.

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I too am a zune owner and as much I love it, I'm starting to think it's not worth the hassle. I am on my replacement zune due to the fact that the first one completely died and would not turn on. Now this one has audio problems with static intermittenly but only with MP3's. Very strange. It's not my MP3'S either because they work half the time and sound great. I can't seem to find any pattern for this. I can only hope maybe a firmware update will come out to fix this or else I'll have to get

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My Microsoft Zune 30g malfunctioned and sent a static discharge or electrical shock through the earbuds to my ears. At the same time, the Zune reset and emitted a very loud noise through the earbuds.

I suffered a temporary threshold shift, meaning my hearing was impaired for some time, and I still deal with incessant pain and ringing in my ears.

Has anyone suffered similar injuries? If so, please elaborate. Did you report the incident to Microsoft? Did you see a doctor? Please share your experience by commenting below or at http://microsoftzunereviews.blogspot.com/

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my son was sliding down a slide and the same electricity shot through his head phones shorting out his zune. this is the first time he has had any problems with it turning off. we thought it was toast. am i right by thinking that recharging it for four hours may solve the problem? that will make a very happy teenager and a very happy mom because of a very happy teenager. thank you all for your comments!!!

bird

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