According to Microsoft, all the Zunes that stopped working yesterday were supposed to start working again sometime today since the problem was with the device's internal clock. While some users are having success, apparently, it's not quite that simple for everyone. Some Zune's are permanently shutting down.

A leap-year issue with Microsoft's Zune music player is still leaving many users cold, despite the company's reassurance that all would be well by sometime on New Year's Day.

Postings on Zune message boards Thursday morning, as people tried out Microsoft's recommendations and fellow Zune users' suggestions, ranged from the hopeful...

"The wipe process should only take a minute or two. If it is hanging on this screen, disconnect it from power, let the battery drain, and then reconnect it to start the device again," user Raw Deluxe wrote on Zune Forums.

...to the melancholy:

"Mine never made it back. The battery drained ok, but it tried to start one time and is now good and dead. I talked to support and they agreed - its a brick," wrote brotherdiesel.

Bummer, dude.

If your Zune is still frozen, you can find out how to (maybe) fix it at zune.com.

My iPod is still working fine, despite the leap year and the leap second and y2k and whatever. I'm listening to Matt & Kim, in fact. And now it has started playing Beyoncé. I'm a sucker for that "Ring the Alarm" song. Sigh. I know... I know...