Obama Zune mystery solved?

Microsoft blogger Steve Clayton thinks he has the answer to the mystery of president-elect Barack Obama on a treadmill with--gasp--a Microsoft Zune instead of his usual iPod. Microsoft made a special-edition 4GB Zune for the Democratic National Convention. I can imagine Obama wanted to work out, realized he didn't have his iPod, and asked one of his many staffers to borrow their MP3 player.

The funniest part of this story isn't that Obama was using a Zune, but that everybody was so surprised to see one in public! Outside Microsoft, they're still relatively rare beasts.

(Tip courtesy of Todd Bishop at TechFlash.)

[fleminator]

I <3 my Zune!

That is all.

[MSSlayer]

Never seen one, never want to.

I hope I never have to meet anyone stupid enough to buy a Zune.

[fleminator]

Silly troll, the internets are for fanboys!

[George Gray]

Well, as the owner of a Zune, I hope I never meet anyone as stupid as you either.

[terminalblue]

enjoy buying your new ipod every year, loser

[ducttape36]

your right, diversity sucks! lets get rid of every mp3 player except for ipod. everyone knows competition is bad anyways.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Steve Jobs is about to patent the iCrapper...to replace the iPod.

[dk jones]

it's just as likely he wanted to just check it out--Mr. Obama's statements & actions lead me to believe he's open to different & believes in diversity. i have 3 iPods & have checked out Zune, Creative, iRiver & some more generic players, so when i'm asked what will work w/ friends' PCs i can give an honest "best bang for the $$" answer. i have in fact given a non-iPod player to a friend w/ a PC who doesn't use iTunes, 'cause it was the best choice for her. maybe i'm more pragmatic & open than most fangirls/fanboys, just sayin' everything isn't for everybody & sometimes you gotta go w/ what's available-you eat Burger King, if there's no Wendy's(you can insert your own fast foods where appropriate).

[George Gray]

That's nice. My household has both a Zune 30 and iPod classic. The iPod sees use by my kid, he likes Survivor and we bought several seasons worth from iTunes. That, and about a dozen songs are all the iPod is good for, at least, to him. I have a big problem with iTunes-the device itself is fine-which is that it is awful. It's terrible as a music manager, it's terrible interface is looking old and very dated and it is slow. Songbird is far better as is the Zune's software. Hell, ANYTHING is better than iTunes.
As for Mr. Obama...he obviously was checking out the superior product. :)

[therealbean]

My wife has a Zune and really likes it. It works well, the software is easier to use than iTunes, and it has FM radio. It's a good device. Why the pointed remarks about it?

[DoctorJest]

CNet's own comparison of the iPod Classic and the Zune 120 gave the nod to the Zune, just -- and critically, for me anyway, they rated the Zune's sound quality higher than the iPod. 99% of the time, my music player's in my pocket, and I'm listening to it -- so 99% of the time, the sound quality's the only thing I really care about. Of course, if I had a Mac, it'd be no go -- Microsoft don't do themselves any favors by cutting out a whole chunk of their possible market really.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4370-6490_7-706-102.html?tag=pf_feature_content;y_button

I've got an iPod classic right now, I like it, and I like the sound quality, which I always found to be surprisingly good. But I'll be checking out the Zune before I make my choice when I go looking for a replacement.

[clem_cowsie]

It doesn't matter.
I have an iPod Nano 3g. Gasp! Oh no, I must be just another fangirl who doesn't care about sound quality, bashes everyone who doesn't like iPods, has all her music encoded at 128kps, and so on and blah blah blah. No really. Just because someone happens to have an iPod and like it doesn't mean that they're fanboys/girls; in fact, it doesn't mean anything at all.
I personally have never seen a Zune before. Why, I don't know: I see Creatives, Samsungs, Sansas, etc. all the time. Yet I've never seen a Zune. I love all manner of mp3s; in fact, I'm usually begging my friends to let me try out their mp3, whatever they may have on their hands. Take note, though, that it doesn't mean that I dislike my iPod so much that I try out other peoples' mp3s just to ease my guilt after buying one; this is not the case. I love my iPod.
Look, both the iPod and the Zune are good products. There are lots of good mp3s out there as well. People choose the one that's best for them. We shouldn't bash them over their choice.