smokerblog

Joining the iPod Nation

Yes, it's true. I am right now wearing the white-wired earphones that signal to the world my membership in the über-cool club of iPodsters.

Now, before that snort of derision makes its way through your nostrils, let me explain myself: My company this put on a silent auction of various donated items to raise money for our local United Way. Of course, the most coveted item (so I thought) was a 512MB iPod Shuffle. I had already been contemplating getting exactly this model, so I scribbled down a bid that I thought reasonable, but was certainly five or ten dollars too low to actually win. No such luck.

So but anyway, I got the iPod at what turned out to be about a fifteen percent discount, so I'm happy. And I have to say, it is pretty cool. The unit itself is tiny, almost too small to believe. It truy almost looks tasty.

Aesthetics aside, the functionality is pretty nifty as well. A small set of button allow you to control the volume, pause, play and move forward and back in the track listing. The only (major) drawback is the lack of display screen. Which according to Apple, is the whole point.

So following Apple's guidance, I've created a huge playlist of everything in my library that is not classical or jazz and loading it to the iPod in random autofill mode (classical shouldn't be listened to at random and I'm making a separate jazz list). It's like having your own private dj in your pocket.

Oh yeah, and the money went to a good cause. That's really why I got it. Yeah, that's the ticket.