President-Elect Obama A Zune User?

[Adam Krebs]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2008/12/02/cardio-with-obama/' target='_blank'>http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog...dio-with-obama/</a><br /><br /></div><p>"<em>Barack Obama is a Zune user. He was spotted in Philadelphia yesterday, working out week with his Zune player. Obama was in Philadephia [sic] to speak to a gathering of governors from 49 states. (Bill Richardson of New Mexico - soon to be Obama&rsquo;s Commerce Secretary - did not attend.) A <a href="http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2008/12/02/cardio-with-obama/">witness</a> from the gym reports: &ldquo;[He] walked majestically across the gym floor in his track pants and sweat shirt. I did a double take, and soon after that, looked around the gym to see if anyone else knew he was here. Nobody seemed to notice. 'But he hopped on the machine next to me and broke a mean sweat while reading a copy of </em><em>USA Today and listening to his Zune.'</em>"</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1228365755.usr495.jpg" width="350" /></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Probably should be a Zune within a Presidential Seal, but my Photoshop abilities aren't that strong.</span>)</p><p>We knew the DNC <a href="http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f302/dnc-powered-microsoft-88820.html">gave out Zunes</a> back at the convention in August, but who knew the candidate kept one for himself? According to Neal Santos at Philadelphia's City Paper, the US president-elect worked out at the gym a short distance from our intrepid reporter, brandishing a USA Today and a Zune. Of course, as Santos points out in a <a href="http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2008/12/03/zunegate/" target="_blank">follow-up</a>, given that Obama's been spotted with a Mac laptop before (the Zune desktop software doesn't yet run on Mac), the Zune in question could be an aide's. But hey, for now we're claiming the president-elect one of our own.</p>

[Izzard]

I really want to know what kind of music on first Zune.

[Alber1690]

I was a staunch Hillary supporter, but this is awesome! I'm excited for the future of this country...

[Adam Krebs]

Here's hoping for a POTUS Zune Card. I'd love to friend the President :D

[David Tucker]

I wonder if his Zune's name is Zune One :D

Even if he is a Mac user I would suspect he also is a PC user just due to the demands of his job. Between his wife and 2 kids I'm sure they have more than one computer in the house. Since the DNC gave them out I wouldn't be surprised if it were his.

[Mookoo]

Not only would he have a PC David, but I would also like to point out a little thing called 'Bootcamp'. You can boot Windows right up on an Apple, and basically have all of your problems solved. 'Bootcamp' is just one example, there are a few really good Virtual programs that could allow this type of thing to happen.

[David Tucker]

Bootcamp solves no problems for me...I have no problems that would require it ;) But yes, that is a possibility as well.

[Janak Parekh]

Good news: you guys were mentioned in a WSJ blog post (http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/12/04/obama-zunegate-day-two/).

Bad news: it appears that the Zune theory was debunked.

Win, loss, both? ;)

--janak

[David Tucker]

Hey, the only way it was ever going to get confirmed or denied was by people making some noise about it so at least that much came of it. As a Mac user it makes sense he's not the Zune user but obviously someone around him uses it and lent him one for the gym that day. I'd guess its more likely one of the secret service guys.

[Macguy59]

Zune users cling to any shred of propagation :p

[inteller]

my god can you imagine the kind of free advertising Microsoft would get if this was proven to be true?

I guess what needs to happen is get him on Jay Leno and have Jay pop the question, so Zune or iPod? I have a feeling he would spin it into something about "change" and say Zune.

[Adam Krebs]

I think America is barely ready for an iPod president, let alone a Zune president

[inteller]

i think Apple would be kicking themselves though if they didn't send iPods to the DNC and then obama ended up becoming a Zune user.

[doogald]

I think America is barely ready for an iPod president, let alone a Zune president

We just had an iPod President (I believe that he owned a few, including a Shuffle for biking). Cheney had one, too (famously, a bunch or reporters groused when on a trip coming back from the Middle East with the VP the only outlet on board was being used to charge his iPod.) For what's that worth . . .

If you want to know what is on Obama's MP3 player - whichever one he uses - Rolling Stone got some details (http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/06/25/barack-obama-the-stevie-wonder-geek-returns-to-the-cover-of-rolling-stone/?loc=interstitialskip) a few months ago.