Funny that you see this as shilling - you do realize the only reason CNN did the story at all was because the Microsoft PR machine asked them to do it. Who do you think gave them the Zune(s) to play with on launch day?

What this is, rather, is an example of what happens when hype comes up against a well-loved product. The CNN reporter loved her new shuffle, and it showed in the genuineness of her reaction.

Sometimes you can't even buy good publicity.

wow, it's as if they had a script written to bash zune (notice when the woman is waiting to chime in with "and it gets your email?") What portable music players get email?