Customers of Microsoft Corp.'s new MSN Direct service experienced a major service interruption on Thursday, as the service's Web site displayed error messages and many users' watches received no new data.

Users attempting to make changes to their personalization settings received error messages and were unable to synchronize their watch's calendar with their desktop.

Postings on the message boards of Web site SpotStop.com grumbled about day-old stock quotes and problems receiving news stories.

One user wrote, "All [my] stock quotes are from yesterday."

On the same message board, Microsoft's Lead Program Manager for MSN Direct, Joel Grossman, told customers that Microsoft's "operations team is actively investigating."

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed at 5:30 EST: "There was a temporary outage of the network but it seems to be back now with the exception of Outlook [synchronization]."

MSN Direct is the service that delivers content to SPOT (Smart Personal Object Technology) devices. The first of these devices are wristwatches from Fossil and Suunto. The MSN Direct system transmits data over FM-radio subcarriers in major U.S. and Canadian markets.

MSN Direct and the first SPOT watches were launched during this year's Consumer Electronics Show in January.

MSN Direct users can customize the content received by their SPOT device. Currently the service offers news, stock quotes, weather, as well as a calendar synchronized with Microsoft Outlook. Breaking news alerts are also available, and a sports scores feature is expected to be available shortly. SPOT users also can receive messages via the MSN Messenger Service.

The MSN Direct service is priced at $59.00 a year or $9.95 a month. That charge is on top of the cost of the watches, which range from $120 to $299.