Tim Can’t Reid

For the next year, I packed my little 4th gen iPod all over hell’s half acre listening to my stunning and catchy playlists of trance, dance and epic one hit wonders from the eighties & nineties. I ripped most of my CD collection to my little iPod, and added most of my “acquired” songs from the good ol’ Napster days, too. I still had at least 10 gigabytes to spare. Amazing, considering everything I transcoded was at 256 kbps or higher. I’m somewhat of an audiophile, or so I thought at the time.

Roughly a year later, the whole podcasting phenomenon really took off. In no time at all, my cavernous 20 gig iPod seemed somewhat lacking in the storage department as my growing collection of podcasts started pushing my storage limits. In the mean time, Apple had released the iPod Photo with a color display. I was getting the itch for a bigger ‘Pod in a big way. But I waited.

In mid-January of 2006, along came the 5th generation iPod that played video. It came in both 30-gigabyte and 60-gigabyte flavors, along with your choice of standard white or the new black. Considering the Apple product line at the time was either white or some flavor of metallic, black iPods seemed strange to me. Mac “purists” like myself would be much less likely to own a black Apple branded product. I’m guessing the whole black thing was aimed at the Mac-hating Windows users, who had just been introduced to iTunes for Windows. “Real geeks use Pee Cee’s” ya know. And Apple was all about selling more iPods. To anyone. Even PC users.

I bit the bullet and dropped $400 on a new WHITE 60 gigabyte iPod. And let me tell you, it was (and still is) a thing of beauty. A glorious color screen for all my pictures and videos, and triple the storage of my beloved 4th generation iPod. Amazing battery life, too, except when I got carried away playing videos. The sticker on the box said something to the effect of “listen to 16 hours of music, or watch 2 hours of video on a single charge”. I guess the novelty of video playback on such a small device made up for that shortcoming. For awhile. I still use this iPod for at least 8 hours a day, and still love it. I’m amazed at the battery life it continues to give me.

In October of 2007 I became the proud owner of a 1st generation 16 gigabyte iPod Touch. It seems like Apple only makes the Touch better and more useful with every software and firmware update. At first, it could only run web apps (html, css & javascript stuff). Now it can run all kinds of awesome apps, games, and utilities and it’s nothing short of a very capable handheld computer. Almost more useful in some ways. While I’d love to get a new 3rd generation Touch, I really can’t justify spending the money when my 1st gen Touch still does everything I need it to, and then some. It’s a great little gadget. If I could afford to upgrade, the only reason would be to get more storage. 64 gigabytes would be nice. And maybe a camera, maybe.

Last Sunday, a couple days after Christmas, I added yet another iPod to my small collection — an incredibly sexy 5th generation iPod Nano. 8 gigabytes, Purple. I told myself awhile back that if I ever got a new Nano, it would be a Red 16 gig model. But being the impatient ass I am, last Sunday’s late afternoon trip to the Walmarts changed my mind. What can I say? The sheer tiny-ness of the thing sold me. But when you add the video camera, voice recorder, gorgeous color display and everything else, it becomes pretty overwhelming. A total impulse buy, granted, but I’m looking forward to playing with it and hopefully learning to enjoy it as much as I do my “Classic” and my Touch.

I’m not exactly sure what the attraction is to these shiny little audio playing gadgets, but there definitely IS an attraction. Maybe an obsession. I guess I’m officially a “hoarder” of iPods. 60 gig Classic for everyday use, but mostly in the car going to and from work (an hour each way). An iPod Touch for tweeting or killing time at Starbucks. And now, an awesome little purple Nano for listening to, posing with and, well, I haven’t figured the rest out yet. But I will. Maybe.