Could the yet to be announced next generation Zune media player be facing production issues? The folks at Zune Scene are reporting that Microsoft is having a small design problem with their next generation Zune media player code named “Draco”. The design snag has caused a delay in production – pushing the production run from August 31st to September. Here’s a quote from the report:

According to our source (from inside Microsoft) Draco production began July 23 as scheduled. Scorpio ran into trouble and production was delayed. A significant percentage of the hard drive based Scorpio units were experiencing continuity problems between the flex cable and pcb. In other words, a wire was coming loose. Our source went on to explain how there were emergency meetings and a new flex cable design will be implemented. The new cable will have a “S” shape (not a folded accordion shape). It should prevent tension build up during assembly and solve the problem.

With production pushed back to September, the next gen Zune appears destined to come out in late October or early November. Although that would miss the back to school holiday shopping season, a November release would mark the one year anniversary of the first Zune player.  

Finally, for those interested in the flash Zune rumors, Wired.com is reporting that the flash player went into production on July 23rd which means you might be seeing the new media player as early as September.

[Check out the Zune Scene article]

[Check out the Wired.com article]

Via ZuneSphere

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