Photos: Zune Originals unboxing

You could fit about eight Zunes in the box Microsoft uses for its custom Zune Originals packaging. Product design nerds will appreciate the foil-embossed logo (upper left corner) and the use of clear aqueous coating for the oversize "originals" lettering that lines the vertical right edge of the box.

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The inside of the Zune Originals box is hilariously garish, but very fun. The pink interior imitates the look of a velvet lining, and the golden envelope makes you feel like Charlie in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Up top, Microsoft throws in a small rolled-up poster of the image engraved on your Zune.

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Within the shipping box is a pouch, and within the pouch is the actual Zune product box. Unlike the in-store retail packaging, the box used on the Zune Originals site uses a white box printed with the same foil-embossed logo and aqueous-coated letters used on the larger shipping box.

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If you take away all the packaging theatrics, the real value of Zune Originals is the artwork etched on the metal backing of the player. As an electronic music geek, I felt compelled to get this Kraftwerk-esque design. All those dangling cables and speakers just feel like home.

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The golden envelope included in the Zune Originals box didn't have a pass to a magical chocolate factory, but it did have a thank you card, a description of the the design studio that conceived of the image, and the image itself on a separate golden card.

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