Warranty Schmarranty

Only 3 months after receiving my Zune the screen cracked for no apparent reason that I can fathom. I was listening to it in my car on my way home from work, and took it out and put it in my pocket when I got home. Then I took it out of my pocket when I got to my dresser and set it on top of that next to my keys and hat. I grabbed it a couple days later to take it to work with me when I noticed the crack in the screen. There is an area in the center about the diameter of a quarter with cracks radiating from it. It almost looks like someone put a quarter on the screen and smacked it with something.

Fortunately, my Zune is still under warranty so I just sent it in to Microsoft. They were sporting about it as they sent me a box and pre paid address label to ship it back to them. Unfortunately, I got my Zune back last Friday, I was at work so my fiancé opened it up and was shocked to see that the screen was still cracked, with a letter saying they do not cover damage to screens.

I decided to look into the issue further and as it turns out the battery is right behind the display screen of the Zune. When they are charged for extended periods of time the heat generated from charging can cause the battery to expand enough to crack the screen. So after reading this it reminded me of another issue Microsoft had with a piece of their hardware that they knew about before it was released on the teeming masses. Most of you are familiar with the red ring of death (RRoD) problem that Xbox 360's experience at a pretty steady rate. I’ve also fell prey to this gem as well. Microsoft was a little more understanding about this issue as they took care of it in about 2 weeks, under warranty. So, why would they not fix the Zune? I think the answer is fairly obvious.

They don’t want to dole out the bucks for ANOTHER recall on a faulty product. I can understand that, after all the economy is in a downward spiral. Maybe I just found my way out of this sink hole of an economy we’re in. I’ll start up a website and start repairing screens for people who have been turned away by the people pleasing entertainment gods over in Redmond, or Microsoft for the layperson.

I am preparing to go the DIY route to fix my Zune, if it works out maybe it's time to see if I can turn a profit. I’m afraid I may void my warranty, ok I can't even say that with a straight face. Warranty Schmarranty.