Well look, I’m sorry I sounded snobbish. I’m surprised that people are being so hostile to what I wrote, but I guess I asked for it. Even you are admitting I have a point. I like to hear music from a portable CD player if I’m sitting on an airplane or waiting something out that’s very boring. I mean, I used to work a job where I would literally sit and do nothing for hours on end - my laptop and my Winamp playlist was my best friend at that job.
It’s seeing people all locked into their own private little world with iPods and ear-buds that bothers me. I find it important to be able to hear human traffic around me - I like to hear other peoples’ conversations, the sound of shoes against a tile floor, the wind rushing in as doors are opened, cars going by outside - I like to feel like I’m part of a world that’s alive. I like to feel the activity all around me. I simply can’t do this if I have earbuds in my ears and music blasting. Not only does it decrease the quality of my experience, it also cheapens the value of music.
When you have music playing ALL THE TIME, as I see it, the music becomes less special.
Remember the scene in 12 Monkeys where Bruce Willis feels the intense joy at hearing the music in the car radio after he escapes from the mental institution? It’s because it was the first music he’d heard in weeks. The less frequently you hear music, the more special it is. This still means you can listen to lots of music, every day. Just not all the time, every single second when you possibly can.
Lest you think I’m exaggerating, I know plenty of people who are jacked into their iPods at every possible opportinuty. I think this is a little excessive.
Just because you do not understand something does not make it idiocy.
The OP(me) got people to re-evaluate their stance on the iPod, either affirming or questioning, and gave people the context in which to articulate their own opinion on the matter.
What I dont understand is how two obviously intelligent and articulate people, Anastasaeon and Argent Towers, would apologize to Wolfian. Does he have pictures of you farting beethoven as children?
Things I like about my iPod: Ability to be locked in my own goddamn private little world thank you very much without interacting with the mass of Bostonians around me. Mmmm. Private world. Ability to hide said iPod in pocket so no-one spends too much of their precious commute time speculating about what my choice of music player says about me. (Well, at the moment I carry a shuffle, covered in decals of half-nekkid anime girly so it says I’m a big perv. Of course it stays in my pocket!)
Things I hate about my iPod: Those earbuds do suck. I tossed them and bought some nice sensible also conveniently not-white sony earbuds. Couldn’t wear the Apple earbuds after labor day, and yeah, they do bleed sound like a mofo.
I was giggling over this thread yesterday because Mr. Wild spent all his Christmas money on a shiny new Vader Black video iPod and we both know it’s because he did extensive consumer research to find the best match of price and quality… wait, no. It’s because it was a shiny toy, which I suspect is why a lot of people buy sundry electronics, based on the sample of geeky friends with whom I associate. Just like some people by excessively expensive handbags, shoes, cars, and all kinds of other bling. I find it hard to draw any conclusion from this other than “Ooh, shiny!” because I am easily distracted.
And perhaps I sounded crankier than I meant to. I really was more amused than anything else – you play your music on your Creative, I’ll play mine on my iPod. I seriously had trouble with the actual physical controls on my Jukebox and found it rather uncomfortable to use. I figured ‘This must be the perfect thing for SOMEONE, but it sure as heck ain’t me’. I was just amused that I’d found the person it was for.
Yeah, if that were actually true it would be pitworthy. But since it’s a figment of your overheated imagination, it’s not pitworthy, it’s just sad. Everyone is pointing at you and laughing right now, and not just the cool kids. Everyone.
I agree. However, since I am unlikely to encounter much silence riding the tube to work every, I choose to invest in some music of my own choosing to drown out the announcements/rattling/creaking/febrile coughing/inept busking/puerile nattering/crappy ringtones/tinny shitty tish-tish-fucking-tish wanky music leaking from the ratshit cheapass earphones of some pimply skidmark/other random racket which otherwise assails my ears every day. Since I have a set of Etymotic headphones which also double as earplugs, I don’t disturb anyone else and I shut all those fuckers out of my head.
Incidentally, for all those considering earbuds, they also have the little-known advantage of protecting your ears from sudden shockwaves. A colleague of mine who got blown up at Liverpool street was told by her doc that her eardrums would have been ruptured if not for her earphones. A pretty minor thing compared to all her other injuries, but every little helps when trying to survive the commute…
Little Plastic Ninja - Whoa! Thanks for the tip. I now want a minty MP3 player. If only Apple would make a limited edition DMB signature version…
I didnt say it WAS the case, rather the thin edge of the wedge, my exact words were:
“becoming dangerously close…” now obviously that may be a bit of an overstatment for effect, but the length of this thread in such a short period of time really proves that the iPod represents much more than simply some inconsequential device that people dont really care about. The ad’s for the iPod say it best, humans are a bunch of homogenic black silhouettes and thier iPods are all that matters.
As an affordable popular product that ties together our music and can be owned by rich and not quite so rich alike, by presidents and vagrants, the iPod represents much more than a well built, well designed mp3 player. Thats the scary part.
mark my words…Steve Jobs’s iPod is the thin edge of the wedge.
Actually, you’re making that a lot harder than it has to be. Just turn on “On CD insert import songs and eject CD” and you don’t even have to do Step 2.
I have some that I store all my music and movies in, it’s called my living room.
Old fogey who still listens to his 78, 45 & 33 1/3 records.
I almost had to ask, “what’s an ipod?” I surmise it’s one of those little white plastic thingees all the kids have.
