Zapping the Zune Display

In June 2007 my Apple iPod 5g died, displaying the infamous sad face of death. I decided it was time for a change and purchased the Microsoft Zune as its replacement, hoping its larger screen and lower price would make the switch a pleasant one. While the user interface of the Zune met my expectations, it lacked a few essential features, namely a clock or sleep timer. The fact that the onboard wireless card could only be used to send music to other Zunes was another cause of disappointment. My biggest gripe with the Zune is that the backlight cannot be turned off when listening to music & it’s plugged in (or it’s placed in the official Microsoft Dock).  Now, this usually isn’t an issue during the day, but for those of us that like to play music while we’re falling asleep, it lights up the room like a flashlight.

My first response was to search the Settings menu for a backlight option. Unfortunately changing the backlight setting to “Never” was useless. So my options were either to remove the Zune from the dock or try to cover up the display to reduce the light. Because Microsoft failed to include a sleep timer, the first option doesn’t make sense if you’d like to wake up to a charged mp3 player. So while I waited for months on end for Microsoft to release updated firmware that would remedy my dilemma, I found myself scavenging each night for a book or other dense objects that could block out the Zune’s display from lighting up my otherwise dark room.

As the weeks turned into months, my hope that Microsoft would fix this bug/feature diminished. Because physically blocking the screen wasn’t completely effective, I continued searching for workarounds. Using my programmer mentality I looked into writing my own software for the Zune that would cut off the display. This was another dead end as the Zune’s API doesn’t support that. My next move was to load a solid black image into the Zune photo gallery and display it fullscreen when going to sleep. That worked fairly well and was a great alternative to having the album art displayed.

Recently after trying to download an open source sleep timer to my Zune, I discovered the best workaround yet — the TV output mode. Apparently Microsoft thought it was necessary to have the Zune capable of being displayed on a TV using special cords or a dock. While I doubt I’d ever want to hook up my Zune to a TV, the TV output mode has an interesting property — it redirects the video from the Zune’s display to the TV. Luckily the Zune doesn’t check to see if it’s actually connected to a TV, and shuts off its display regardless. Finally a way to preserve the pitch black state of my room without sacrificing the Zune’s battery or my sanity. Now if Microsoft would only provide a sleep timer, I’d be set.