Microsoft blames leap year for Zune glitch

A malfunction of some Microsoft Corp Zune music players was caused by an error in the way the device accounts for leap years, Microsoft said.

In a statement on the Zune website posted late on Wednesday, the company blamed 8220;a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year,8221; adding: 8220;The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009.8221;

The year 2008 had 366 days instead of the usual 365.

Early on Wednesday, thousands of users found they could not use the 30-gigabyte Zune model, made in 2006. Microsoft called the issue 8220;widespread,8221; but said users could reconnect their players after 7 a.m. EST on Thursday.