Ethelred Unraed's Journal: While we're caving on trendiness...

Since Short Circuit caved on MySpace (something which I have yet to do), I did cave yesterday on something else.

I finally own an iPod.

As it happens I have to make a trip to Karlsruhe tomorrow that I'm really not looking forward to (visiting a "potential" new client who's been "potential" for months and who is very shall we say old-fashioned, and who insists on meeting face-to-face before proceeding). The train ride is four and a half hours one-way (don't even ask about a car ride -- more like six hours through some of Germany's worst traffic), so I probably won't be home until midnight. So I decided it was time to finally ditch the old Sony CD player (which is now hooked up to our old stereo anyway) and get an iPod -- and to provide me with something to cheer me up at having to go on this trip.

I'll also have to wear a tie again. Yecch. I hate ties (comes from having been at a boarding school where they were mandatory, I suppose). Except for my cherished Bugs Bunny one. So I'm wearing it.

So I zoomed off to the store yesterday (ah, it's nice to live within five minutes of downtown by bike) and got one.

It's the smallest one (2 GB nano aluminum) save the Shuffle, though I did consider just getting the Shuffle. I ended up getting the nano instead because I figured it is nice to at least be able to choose songs if I'm in the mood for something, but the nano's still small enough that I can clip it to my clothing (OK, so I have to buy the clip or armband). And it's relatively cheap, at a "mere" €149.

2 GB also happens to be just big enough for my Top Rated library.

Besides, the things are practically throwaways. They last two years, the battery dies and you get a new one. So why buy the bigger ones? :-P

First complaint: Jesus, do the headphones suck. I expected a lot more out of them. (I do have others that I can use, though, and I suppose it's better using them than the "HEY YOU, MUG ME" white iPod ones.) But the display is very nice, and I (surprise) really like the scroll wheel. It's also striking how tiny it is compared to the older iPods...

But hey, I am finally an iPod owner. Yay me. Or I suck. Not sure which. (Probably the latter.)

Ties are not all bad...

[(H)elix1]

Usually it implies the client has more money than they should have, and are willing to give it to techies who are willing to play the part. My Bride still smirks when she sees me heading out to a coding gig wearing a suit - I'm old fashion when it comes to bill rates. Folks can keep the foozball table. (grin)

That other gig ever pay out - the one where they did a site redesign behind your back?

Aboot bloddy time!

[arb]

Congrats for joining the cult^W family. I currently own two 60GB iPods (an iPod Photo and a black iPod Video - I keep meaning to off-load the iPod photo but I just haven't got 'round to it) and a new tiny, shiny, Shuffle. The shuffle is fantastic for my morning/evening commute where I tend to listen to podcasts and/or audiobooks, but the iPod Video is much better when I want to choose what music I want to listen to. I think the Nano would be a good compromise between size and capacity/screen but 2GB is too

Re:

[Ethelred Unraed]

Ya, the 2 GB is indeed pretty small...but OTOH I wasn't willing to fork over another €50 for another 2 GB. Yes, I am a tightwad.

For my purposes it's "big enough". Somehow it seemed particularly daft to spend more on something I'll probably throw away in two years or so.

Thanks for the EarJams tip. I think I'll try that. For now I'm using my existing (non-in-ear) Philips headphones, which have decent sound quality (I use them when gaming, e.g. Neverwinter Nights, listening to iTunes and video confere

Holding out

[Josh Lindenmuth]

I'm still an iPod holdout myself, although everytime I read a story like yours, I tend to move a step closer to buying one.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

PODCASTS!

[FortKnox]

Join le revolution and get in on some good free podcasts!

I'm a holdout

[IamBMETammy]

I prefer the products put out by Creative Labs for various reason.

yay!

[btlzu2]

and, i commend you with a hearty pat on the back for recognizing how the default ear phones STINK. tin-city. don't allow this to completely taint your impression of the audio quality of the ipod. if you get some other decent earphones/headphones, you'll see that that little guy produces quite the aural feast. :D

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[arb]

Or alternatively grab a pair of Griffin EarJams [griffintechnology.com] and enjoy the aural feast on the cheap! ;^)

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[TechnoLust]

Yeah, I hook my iPod up to my powered surround speakers when home and it sounds just as good as my $500 component CD changer. (And takes up about 1/100th the space.)

Ties

[jawtheshark]

I own this one... [thinkgeek.com] It's really nice, but I try to avoid ties. I used to be a t-shirt 'n jeans guy, but I have migrated to jeans and sweater. Why? Because, I own quite a lot of thinkgeek t-shirts and my wife hates them and at work they usually aren't appreciated by management. Yeah, I'm dull now... (Okay, I was even dull before...)

I can't buy at Thinkgeek anyway anymore. The 33% import tax makes it a big no-no. Too bad there is no European equivalent.

Ipod

[Tet]

But hey, I am finally an iPod owner. Yay me. Or I suck. Not sure which.

You suck. Steve sucks. Apple suck. And in particular, ipods suck. That is all.

Re:

[Ethelred Unraed]

Hah! You're just jealous because I suck and the iPod sucks, thus I suck as much as the iPod, therefore I am actually immensely cool.

If that made any sense whatsoever, please be sure to let me know so that I can really take advantage of you.

Cheers,

Ethelred

MySpace

[Alioth]

I, for one, will NEVER cave on Myspace. That site is just so eye-wrenchingly horrible looking - not to mention, it's now Murdochvision.

cold day in hell

[bechthros]

when apple gets one dollar of my money, ever.

I am speachless.

[Timex]

I never had you pegged for being a lemming. A trend setter, maybe. A lemming? Never.

The closest I have to an iPod is a Rio 600. It's got a whopping 32MB of space. When I got it, it was already EOL'd. (It's the main reason I don't trust WallyWorld for anything useful. They have this knack for selling stuff cheap, but apparently they can do that because some of their stuff is no longer supported by their respective manufacturers.)

Other than that, I have an Apple IIgs in my cellar (in storage) and a Mac

Re:

[Timex]

a Mac LC (also in the cellar, and it's looking for a home. It has Mac OS System 7.3.x installed. Comes with mouse, keyboard, and Ethernet NIC)....

Oh. It has a monitor, too. Can't forget the monitor.