Arriving nine years late to the Y2K phenomenon is the Microsoft Zune. Reports are flowing wildly that, last night at around 2AM, every first-gen 30GB Zune abruptly crashed.

It's a bizarre problem that has generated hundreds of complaints on the Zune support forum. As I write this, Microsoft has not offered a suggestion on a fix (though I'm sure one will be forthcoming shortly).

The response from the web has largely been gentle mockery, but Zune owners are perturbed, and rightly so. I'll try to update this post when fix instructions are posted -- but given that it's New Year's Eve and people are vacationing, traveling, and partying (including myself), it may be a day or two before we hear about how to repair the flaw.

Hopefully Microsoft won't be crushed under the "legal ACTION" that at least one user is threatening before that occurs.

UPDATE: Microsoft explains what caused the problem (a bug!) and that it will resolve itself automatically.