iPods and me
I first got an iPod in the spring of 2006, spending $199 for a gizmo without Internet access or video playback, featuring a 1.5" screen and 2 GB of storage space.
It is not hyperbole to say it was a life-changing purchase.
I started to get really into music when I was in high school. I became a big Dead Kennedys and Smashing Pumpkins fan early on, before getting into Radiohead, DJ Shadow and other less-popular music.
But for the first time in my life I didn't have to carry around a portable CD player, constantly feeding it batteries and carrying obnoxious, breakable plastic with me. I went through a CD player per year, on average, besides, between thefts and breakage. Suddenly, I had many, many hours of music in a tiny gadget.
My first iPod did not last long.
It suffered a tragic fate known to so many college students: death by drunken mishandling. Specifically, I was being taxied in California, and we stopped for micturition. I had the iPod when I left, but not when I returned. Alas. I blame a particular redhead whom I shall not name.
Later that year, however, my generous mother replaced that dinky 2 GB thing with a 30 GB, traditional iPod (now called "Classic," which signifies a certain telescoping timeframe -- it's only an eight-year-old design).
And so I soldiered on with that iPod, throwing it in a slightly East German-looking padded aluminum case.
It served me well for three years, or well enough. I used it regularly when preparing thematic radio shows, for the Man Date with Marcus Kellis on KUOI. It came with me to Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, Chicago and Portland.
Last summer, the headphone jack started to tweak, and I replaced it with a part shipped from an eBay seller in Hong Kong. When the problem cropped up again earlier this month, I decided to take advantage of the new lineup and get the 160 GB iPod Classic.
It's a beast. It feels less responsive in the scroll wheel and I can't effectively use that aluminum case with it.
But, I'm also in the enviable position of not having to delete anything from it for a long time. I have enough music that I could fill it twice over, but for the first time in my life with iPods, I have a legitimate surplus of space -- still about 80 GB free, even with tons of podcasts and several movies and every Pavement album and so forth.
Just as space is cheaper, and I'm more able to afford it, I find that I cannot dedicate time to my music player as I used to. Netflix, work, class, girlfriend -- more things compete for my time now than ever before (especially work).
Such is the drag of modern life. I become more sympathetic to the view that all people can really stand is farming and a little bit of religion, maybe. But then I like my iPod too much to become a Mennonite.