Barack Obama: Zune User?

The President-Elect appears to be a fan of Microsoft's oft-ignored portable media player.

The Zune might be forever cursed to playing second-fiddle to Apple's astronomically popular line of iPods, but it's got a fan in President-Elect Barack Obama. Philadelphia City Paper blogger Neal Santos claims to have spotted Obama using a Zune while doing some cardio in a gym. While too awestruck by Obama as he "walked majestically across the gym floor in his track pants and sweat shirt", Santos got a good view of the soon-to-be-leader-of-the-free-world as he "hopped on the machine next to me and broke a mean sweat while reading a copy of USA Today and listening to his Zune".

Meeting widespread skepticism from readers who could not believe that Obama, a man known for his superlative discrimination, could use an inferior product like the Zune, Santos asserted that he saw what he saw. "I vividily remember Obama pulling out an MP3 player with his left hand while exercising on the machine," he wrote. "It had a dark case protecting it and from what I saw, he was using a Zune. I've seen a Zune in action. I know what it looks like."

With everything Obama touches turning to gold, could this be the beginning of a massive turnaround in popularity for Microsoft's portable media player?

[Via Maximum PC]