a little something for everyone
Somewhere back there in generation four, I lost interest in iPods. The click wheel never appealed to me - though, I always agreed it was a great feat of interface design. Now, iPods are either debilitated iPhones or portable servers for music, the latter I’m sure Adam appreciates.
My ideal iPod has a measurable mass, has an LED-backlit display with contrast controls, contains a small harddrive (flash or HDD, doesn’t matter), and has distinct buttons for play controls. You know you’re out of the technological loop when you desire to step back in time, not simply to reminisce but, in order to feel comfortable and in control. For working out, I want an iPod that is a lightweight tank; strangely enough, there has yet to be any iPod design that I have appreciated as much as the first generation iPod shuffle, which meets and exceeds the toughest, sweat-drenching demands of my gym workouts.
Frankly, I don’t listen to music that frequently outside of my place here in the house. Even the Apple TV rarely plays anything other than episodes of The Office. iPods have long been just another expense that I don’t feel like keeping pace with. They’re neat, yes. But not necessary.
My half-pound 2G iPod, my infrequently touched 3G, and my shuffle are a family that I am proud to have residing under my roof. A new, video-playing nano would only turn my comfortable community into a Green Acres catastrophe. I was simply thinking about iPods tonight.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:26 am
I agree with you about the iPods. I actually like my Nano a lot, but I definitely wouldn’t want it to be any smaller or to do anything other than what it does — just play music. I also wouldn’t mind if it were a little bigger and could hold more. My 8G are already almost full.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Here’s a question for you on the subject of i-Things: my Nano, which I got for Christmas and use moderately frequently (i.e. maybe two times a week since Baby came) has shown a marked decrease in battery life in the past two months or so. This is irksome for two reasons: first, because part of what was so appealing about the Nano was its long battery life to begin with, and second, because it’s not that old. If I had used it every day since Christmas I might understand, but I’ve used it really infrequently since parenthood took over. It was advertised to have 24 hours of playtime before charging, and now I’m lucky if I get 2-3 (without much use of other functions, like backlight, games, menus, etc.). What do you think of this, and do you have any advice?
September 21st, 2007 at 6:28 pm
I wouldn’t even bother trying to troubleshoot. Your iPod is still under the warranty, just contact Apple. It should be a quick, free fix.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
if you don’t want that 3G, i’ll take it off your hands for an undisclosed amount of US American dollars.