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Since Christmas of 2006, my sweetie and I have owned a Zune. Although she won it at a Christmas party, Lisa has never had the slightest interest in using it. At the time, I was still happy with my second generation iPod (it had the wheel, but no pictures, let alone moving ones) and second generation James Bond style iPod shuffle.

Fast forward to 2008, and it occurs to me that I could download bloggingheads.tv on an MP3 player that can play videos - I’ve never claimed I was the sharpest knife in the drawer – and that Zune gathering dust in a closet suddenly starts to look more attractive.

I wasn’t wild about the chocolate color when I saw the Zune for the first time, but I’ve learned to appreciate it, especially the little lime green highlight around the edges. Chalk another one up for Rocky: thanks to him I’m not as afraid of fashion forward design as I used to be.

Now that I’ve bid a fond adieu to the Jobstown cult, I can enjoy watching Mickey Kaus and Matt Welch do their thing on my morning commute, thanks to my honey-pie and Mr. Gates. It does have a tendency to freeze up when you turn it off, but otherwise it works fine. I have mixed feelings about the Zune store. On the one hand it is cheaper than iTunes, but on the other hand you have to purchase “points” which can be redeemed at the store like tokens at a Chuk E Cheese restaurant.

I’ve heard that the Zune has gotten smaller and slimmer since 2006. If I ever need another MP3 player, I’d consider upgrading to another Zune, rather than an iPod in the future.