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About Obama's Zune...

Forget the financial crisis, let's get to real issues. The general public wants to know what dog the Obama family will pick, and the tech world was amazed when the President-elect used a Microsoft Zune music player while he worked out. Can we believe this report? Yes, we can. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that Obama is giving up on his Apple products.

It all started with a post from a Philadelphia blogger who unexpectedly shared a workout with the President-elect. He happened to mention that Obama was "reading a copy of USA Today and listening to his Zune." Later, he backed off and said that he was pretty sure sure it was a Zune, but of course didn't know if it was Obama's Zune. By then, however, the blogosphere was already abuzz about the Obama-Zune connection.

There's no doubt that Obama's our first tech-savvy commander-in-chief. He's been seen using a MacBook, Blackberry, iPod, and iPhone at various times during the campaign. Because of security and public records issues, he may have to give up his Blackberry and iPhone. Being the leader of the free world may have its benefits, but Internet connectivity won't be one of them.

Microsoft blogger Mark Clayton thinks he may know the source of the mystery Zune. Microsoft made a special Zune model for the attendees of both the Democratic and Republican conventions this year. Yeah, it's a freebie. Even at that, it's still unlikely that the Zune is Obama's primary music player, since the Zune software won't run on his MacBook.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Obama Zune story is the fact that it's so newsworthy when anyone of note uses a Zune. It's not that Zune is a poor product; a recent head-to-head comparison shows that the Zune can hold its own against an iPod. Even a company like Microsoft finds it hard to compete with a company like Apple that owns three-quarters of the music player market.

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