My OperaiPod Shuffle or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Music
Sunday, December 20, 2009 10:43:29 AM
I bought my first iPod in 2002 and they have given me years of faithful service. Around when I made the switch from CD's to digital music I noticed my music collection swell. Of course this was the era of music downloads, Napster and BitTorrents so it was bound to happen. The second iPod I owned turned out to be too small to hold all my music, which made life very difficult for me.. I would spend hours picking which songs, albums and artists to include. Then I would find myself wanting to listen to the songs not included. I realise of course that this was just a mindset but this was when I vowed to never buy an MP3 player which couldn't hold my entire collection.
A couple of weeks ago my iPod broke, it was still under warranty so a week later I got a replacement, two days after that the replacement broke. During this three week down period of not having an MP3 player I had a lot of traveling to do, and since I had some cash to spare, I decided to shell out £45 for an 2gb iPod Shuffle. I sat down at my computer fearful of the prospect of having to choose from thousands of songs to just a select handful. I worked my way through my collection, taking a song here and here, a few artists were even lucky enough to get a handful of tracks on there. I was quite please with myself when I had finished, I was certain that this iPod would be enough to sustain me while I waited for my 'real' one to return. It was only when I started listen did I realise how wrong I was.
I love the shuffle, love it. I realise now that I was spoiled by choice before, I would spend more time thinking about what to listen to next than actually enjoying the song which was playing. The iPod shuffle reminded me that its about the music. Its the perfect mix of size and simplicity for me, it holds so few songs that I love every single one of them. Additionally having only three controls (volume, next and previous) removes all necessity for thought, making it perfect for me.
Of course, I doubt it would be suited for everyone, i'm just surprised about how long I dismissed the shuffle though. I always assumed not having control over the music and not being able to see which song is playing would be a deal breaker for me. Turns out I was wrong. I kept my other iPod though, they both have their uses!
A couple of weeks ago my iPod broke, it was still under warranty so a week later I got a replacement, two days after that the replacement broke. During this three week down period of not having an MP3 player I had a lot of traveling to do, and since I had some cash to spare, I decided to shell out £45 for an 2gb iPod Shuffle. I sat down at my computer fearful of the prospect of having to choose from thousands of songs to just a select handful. I worked my way through my collection, taking a song here and here, a few artists were even lucky enough to get a handful of tracks on there. I was quite please with myself when I had finished, I was certain that this iPod would be enough to sustain me while I waited for my 'real' one to return. It was only when I started listen did I realise how wrong I was.
I love the shuffle, love it. I realise now that I was spoiled by choice before, I would spend more time thinking about what to listen to next than actually enjoying the song which was playing. The iPod shuffle reminded me that its about the music. Its the perfect mix of size and simplicity for me, it holds so few songs that I love every single one of them. Additionally having only three controls (volume, next and previous) removes all necessity for thought, making it perfect for me.
Of course, I doubt it would be suited for everyone, i'm just surprised about how long I dismissed the shuffle though. I always assumed not having control over the music and not being able to see which song is playing would be a deal breaker for me. Turns out I was wrong. I kept my other iPod though, they both have their uses!
