Walmart's Zunes, now with more porn?

It's not the first time, nor the last, that people will find porn on (supposedly) new or recycled consumer electronics. This time it happened to a family in Southside Chicago who purchased Microsoft's Zune from the local Walmart for their 12 year-old daughter. The daughter, who says the box looked like it had been opened (the charger was missing) discovered that her player contained porn. When confronted, the Walmart store manager initially blamed Microsoft for the pre-load. Later, a Walmart spokesman said they would investigate the matter and provide the couple with a full refund plus a $25 gift card -- presumably to pick up a copy of "My Two Daddies" to help the mother explain to her daughter why the "5 men were having sex with each other." Uh, "join the social" Microsoft?

[Thanks Justin, and everyone who sent this in]

Read (video link)

[JL @ Dec 20th 2006 11:06AM]

Yes engadget, thank you for this enlightening story. Very enlightening indeed, especially with regards to your readership. I see ignorance and bigotry are alive and well, even in the tech-geek community.

sad.

And the fact that your screenshot is from FOX news doesn't help either.

[SlyckStyx @ Dec 20th 2006 11:22AM]

The only ignorance is your's in regard to bigotry.

Drive back to your golf game in your Mercedes...

[Zapata @ Dec 20th 2006 11:10AM]

So how do you know the family is from the "ghetto"? I am curious what the responses would be if she had a different manicure...

[Jeramy @ Dec 20th 2006 6:07PM]

lol dude have you ever been to southside chi-town? pretty much narrows it down.

[Alcaron @ Dec 20th 2006 11:12AM]

Holy mother of horrible fingernails batman!

[ECM @ Dec 20th 2006 11:21AM]

JL: the irony in your post makes my head spin--thanks for the laugh!

[Rick Lyon @ Dec 20th 2006 11:34AM]

This proves the Zune and M$ are gay.

[muzzrphochr @ Dec 20th 2006 11:38AM]

The Count--- you seriously must be kidding! I think you missed the point entirely. It was a sad attempt at providing another perception, or an even sadder joke. The reset is or should be an included option with the product.

No go get your panties straightened out!

[cire @ Dec 20th 2006 11:40AM]

Did Bill Gates lose his Zune already?..lol

[cmsmail @ Dec 20th 2006 12:08PM]

Jean was right. I bet the video was on mom and dad's PC. Easier to return to wallyworld than admit being in the closet.

[sunz @ Dec 20th 2006 12:09PM]

wow this community is so offensive. The internet does allow us all to be who we are i guess. It is good to know that people who get their nails done are ghetto trash. read: black and poor. I'd have more respect if you all just called it a case of "nigger opportunism". At least back in the day the country used to tell us (black AMERICANS) that we are shit to our faces without stupid little insinuations. I hope something profound happens in all of your lives that help you to understand that we are all here and we all while not the same, have the same goals, aspirations and humanity.

-sun

[Brian @ Dec 20th 2006 12:33PM]

So uh, where I can I download this media for um, inspection? I am pissed that my Zune didn't come with gay porn.

[Matt @ Dec 20th 2006 12:42PM]

Finger in the bowl of chile.

I blame the parents too. South Side of Chicago isn't exactly the type of neighborhood where you have parents buying their children $250 media players and giving it to them prior to Christmas. I also don't know what 12 year old girl would want a Zune. At the end of the interview, the mother specifically suggested that $25 wasn't enough for the "trouble" of having to explain to her child what the five men were doing.

I am willing to bet Wal-Mart will just flip them some cash after they threaten to sue.

[Joseph @ Dec 20th 2006 1:16PM]

If someone is loading devices with gay porn and returning it as a joke, then they are gonna get caught.

but if they are legitimately using the device to view porn, it would be quite a scene if every time a device was returned, it was analyzed at the return counter.
"Look, we cant take this device back until you erase the gay porn"

[Joseph @ Dec 20th 2006 1:16PM]

Buying a used zune from wal-mart. What do you expect? I bet you every zune that is returned to wal mart has this crap on it.

[jack @ Dec 20th 2006 1:38PM]

Well, I guess this confirms what I have been thinking all along; most zune users are gay. Now if I see someone with a zune I am gonna look at him funny.

[Jan Kordylewski @ Dec 20th 2006 1:52PM]

I just think it's hilarious that walmart with its stringent decency policies sold someone some porn! HA Ha ha!

[matt @ Dec 20th 2006 2:59PM]

The porn was most likely already on the computer. As soon as you plug it in the Zune will attempt to cram every single piece of compatible media onto itself. I had to restrain mine when it thought it was a good idea to cram over 60 gigs of music and like 20 gigs of porn onto itself. Oh, Zune! :roll:

[rainking187 @ Dec 21st 2006 5:04PM]

"The porn was most likely already on the computer. As soon as you plug it in the Zune will attempt to cram every single piece of compatible media onto itself. I had to restrain mine when it thought it was a good idea to cram over 60 gigs of music and like 20 gigs of porn onto itself. Oh, Zune! :roll:"

Wow, like I needed another reason not to get a Zune.

[Michael @ Dec 20th 2006 3:12PM]

Wow, thanks Engadget, I appreciate you bashing the Zune again right after saying the Zune update was awful. (being sarcastic)Although, for some reason, i doubt it can be MSFT's fault, if somebody else put them on there. If somebody left porn on the ipod, it would be Apple's fault? More likely it's walmart not checking their products properly. So lay off with the anti-zune news if you don't like it so much.

[sirfelix @ Dec 20th 2006 3:28PM]

This is not new for Walmart. They have a habit of shelving returned items without testing them. I've returned broken items to Walmart to see the exact item back on the shelf the next day, being sold as new. Buying what appears to be previously opened packaging is no different then buying used products off an auction site. If electronic, you may have a product already manufacturer registered to the previous owner. How does this effect your warranty? Walmart needs to get their act together.

[b @ Dec 20th 2006 3:43PM]

Wait, did Michael Richardson just find Engadget or something? The bigots are tripping over themselves to defend a couple of the biggest corporations on the planet. Maybe those of you should try applying Ockham's razor instead of coming up with racist speculation based on the mother's fingernails...

[ninjagamer32 @ Dec 20th 2006 4:10PM]

I doubt Microsoft had any thing to do with this.
Wal-Mart is infamous for taking returns and sticking them back on the shelf.
I lost count of how many computers I've had to return to Wal-Mart or Sam's club (Also does this) before deciding you can't trust their electronics to be "New and unused"

[LoveHertz @ Dec 20th 2006 5:43PM]

Had they just plugged it into the girl's computer, the Zune software would have immediately erased all of the content previously on the Zune and synched it up with her library, if the porn wasn't the girls' in the first place. "No mom, I didn't download that! It was already on there! Honest!"

[Jamesevans @ Dec 20th 2006 6:30PM]

Folks, any file that is added to the device has a stamp date, so even Walmart's least competent IT person should be able to decipher the date the file was added to the device. I am not Columbo here, but if added after purchase date, the family added it, otherwise it's Walmart's issue, not Microsoft's.

James here from the ghetto

[Nate @ Dec 20th 2006 6:37PM]

Well... who ever did it... I wonder if there reading about there own misadventure here on engadget.. ......

[t.p. @ Dec 20th 2006 6:47PM]

that reporter looks like 'robin' on how i met your mother.

[atrac @ Dec 21st 2006 2:25AM]

Besides, isn't it illegal to sell a product as "new" and charge the same price for it when it was a return?

[uNext @ Dec 22nd 2006 12:17AM]

The reason why i dont like wal-mart is because theres an excessive amount of women with nails like this ciruclating the wal-mart floors.

[nothing now @ Dec 22nd 2006 2:32AM]

the dads sensible, the moms over reacting, fer chrissakes what year is it 1480? the girl probably has a gay friend or two
this isn't as odd as it sounds

[jrk @ Dec 22nd 2006 6:08PM]

Can you say "international gay conspiracy"?

[Steven @ Dec 24th 2006 7:06PM]

Microsoft is not "obligated" to put in a "return to factory defaults" button.

To say that is utterly ridiculous and just a shameless way for a moron like yourself to bash Microsoft... oh I'm sorry, your pentuin toting ass had to say M$.

The unit comes with software that allows you to clear it's contents, Microsoft does not need to do anything more than that. It's Walmarts responsibility to deal with returned items that they plan to resell.

Adding a button like that would just lead to the same IDIOTS like you commenting negatively on Microsoft on articles talking about people who accidentally pressed the "return to factory defaults" button and erased all their stuff.

[Louis @ Dec 28th 2006 10:31AM]

I don't see what the big deal is -

When I was 5 years old, I was all about gay porn!

[Laurel Bergen @ Jan 13th 2007 6:19PM]

At Christmas I purchased a VCR/DVD unit at Walmart that was also previously owned. (The remote wasn't in plastic and the batteries were already installed. The remote was non functioning.) The kicker is that when I went to play a DVD a porn movie popped out of the DVD player. Fortunately none of my kids saw it. I was told by a Walmart lawyer that it is their policy to put items back on the shelf without checking for damage etc. as long as the customer returning the item says it is ok. It is time for Walmart to change their policy. I am beyond mad!

[Shagger @ Jan 2nd 2008 5:59PM]

This strikes me as a lot like that Reflectoporn craze that was going around a while back. People selling stuff that had a reflection of them nude in the image of the item. Go Purchase some digital device and then load it with your favorite "diversion" and then return it. People are prolly getting off to the fact that someone is viewing their favorites! When I was in Barnes and Nobles kids section WITH my kids, they have a reading table so you can read a book with your kids to see if they might like the book. On that table was a coffee table book of Robert Maplethorpe photos. I quickly removed it and flagged down an employee. I asked him if this was the type of book that should be in this section of the store. He instantly responded, "Good God NO!". My point is that someone put the book there and watched until they saw a reaction from someone and they got off on that reaction. This is the same thing probably...