Was Obama really using a Zune?

What does it say about Microsoft's Zune initiative that people would find it so hard to believe Barack Obama would use one?

In case you missed it, Philadelphia City Paper's Neal Santos caused a big stir Tuesday with a blog post in which he reported that the president-elect was using one of the Microsoft music devices at the gym. Not an iPod, but a Zune. The big gadget blogs were skeptical, noting that Obama uses a Mac, which is incompatible with the Zune. But Santos followed up yesterday to assure people that he knows what he saw Obama using on that treadmill next to him.

"I've seen a Zune in action," Santos wrote. "I know what it looks like."

Santos clarified that he didn't actually know whether the Zune belonged to Obama. Perhaps it was one he was borrowing. But the CIty Paper writer is standing by what he saw. So we'll have go with that until we hear differently. I left a phone message for Santos to find out if it was a flash-based player or one of the larger hard-drive based Zunes, and I'll update this post if I get a response.

For the record, Microsoft doesn't appear to be jumping at the change to capitalize on this from a marketing or public relations perspective. At least not yet. A Zune spokesman said via e-mail that the company doesn't have any details on the situation beyond what it's reading along with everyone else.

Update, Friday morning: Theory: Obama's Zune was giveaway

Update, Thursday Dec. 11: A reader points out something I inadvertently overlooked. The Wall Street Journal last week quoted an Obama spokesman saying that the president-elect uses an iPod. So either the City Paper's Santos was mistaken, or Obama uses both.