Why I Love my iPod (I'm not the only one)

I don't think I've written about my love affair with the iPod. At first, I didn't get it and thought it was a stupid idea. When I bought into it, I never thought it would be what it has become and when I finally got my own in May '03, I didn't see how I could fit into my life. The medical environment doesn't really lend itself to being left alone to listening to music.

For the past 8 months, though, I can't live without it. After setting up some Smart Playlists in iTunes, I have my own private radio station that plays whatever I want to listen to... it plucks songs that I've rated highly and haven't listened to recently and then plays them randomly. It does seem to prefer my favorites a bit more than I'd ever expect, though.

Tell me how does it feel, when your heart grows cold, grows cold?

I love having most of my music with me. The hardest part was getting all of my music onto iTunes... it helps to have a fast computer with a big drive. I love rediscovering music that had been tucked away and forgotten on my shelf and have it resurrected and brought to my ears unexpectedly. It also sparked a resurgent desire to buy more music. I never particularly participated in the Napster craze... and if I'm going to pay for music, I think I should be allowed to share it with friends. I don't support uncontrolled piracy but music is shared. That's how you grow up listening to music - mix tapes (now CDs) and letting people borrow your CDs. Don't get me started on this music rental thing Napster is pushing... Um, clearly, they never really loved their music. As a teenager, I spent hours reading (and re-reading) the CD inserts while listening to my newest purchase.

And why specifically an iPod? Um, because it really does work as advertised. I have a Mac and it always worked as soon as I plugged it in. Even on Windows, I've never had a problem getting it to work. I've played around with the others... the idea of hard drive and movement scared me at first. I'd long grown frustrated by Sony Discmans and their perpetual skipping with the slightest movement. But to paraphrase Steve Jobs, the non-iPods of the world simply suck. And now, millions will agree with me as the latest numbers (1/2005) report that almost everyone who buys these things loves the iPod as well. Try Google - there's a lot of happy iPod owners these days.