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 If you've been having intermittent issues with Zune Marketplace, or trouble logging in over the past 2 weeks, there are details surfacing as to why. More after the jump...
As early as December 22, 2007, there were known issues with the Windows Live system that both the Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live systems are linked to. Heavy traffic and too many system technicians on holiday vacation seem to be at the heart of the issues. Zune Marketplace saw periodic outages whereas Xbox Live was down nearly 11 days straight.
 Lary Hyrb, Xbox Live's Insider and goes by Major Nelson, much like our own Zune Insider - Cesar Menendez (who was on holiday vacation), updated his Major Nelson blog as well as his Twitter blog several times noting the issues.
December 22nd: "I just wanted to let you guys know that LIVE has been having some issues over the past few hours, specifically when trying to connect to the service. The Operations team is tracking the issue and is working on resolving it as quickly as possible. When I get more details I will let you know."
 The issue seemed to be resolved later that day, but December 28th saw them return: "Problems have resurfaced. The engineers are fully engaged and actively working on this. Again, we appreciate your patience. I am providing more frequent updates"
 December 29th: "As you may have noticed, over the last few days we have experienced record numbers of new members signing up for Xbox Live and record numbers of players online. This has contributed to some Xbox Live consumers experiencing difficulties signing onto the service. Our engineering teams have been working as quickly as possible to remedy the situation and have already made a number of improvements to the service. We are continuing to monitor service levels around the clock to insure optimal performance."
While this only gives us a glimpse into the Xbox Live side, it's safe to say Zune Marketplace's issues are tied into them in one form or another. It's obvious Microsoft did not account for the added demand this holiday season would place on their system as we've already seen Zune.net got record number of visits during the holiday season. Let's hope Microsoft is diligently working to minimize issues such as these for the future, but one thing is for certain: the Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live platforms are seeing an unprecedented activity and that looks very good for future expansion.
[Source Major Nelson via InternetNews.com]
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