Zune to be hit with 48-hour outage

Microsoft has warned Zune owners to prepare for an extended service outage starting Monday.

In an email sent at 17:30(PDT) Friday, Microsoft warned that the outage could last for "up to 48 hours". The email said the outage, which begins at 00:01(PDT) on Monday, is for "scheduled maintenance".

A Microsoft representative would not offer more specifics or say why the outage was for such a long period of time. During the outage, the Zune Social, the Zune.Net forums as well as the Zune Marketplace online store will all be offline, Microsoft said. While the Zune devices themselves won't stop working, many of its features are heavily tied to the service, including its Zune Pass subscription service, new channels feature as well as the ability to stream music over the internet at certain wi-fi hotspots.

Microsoft said: "We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause you. Please check back soon. We look forward to sharing our picks, plays and recommendations with you."

A Microsoft representative confirmed Friday evening that the "downtime is not related to any security concerns or issues. The company did not immediately say whether it planned to offer any type of credit to Zune Pass subscribers because of the outage.

The outage comes less than two weeks after Microsoft launched the latest version of its player, service and online store.

Original article: Long Zune outage coming Monday from CNET News.com