iPods

Submitted by reeses on Mon, 2003-12-15 04:16.

We were in BestBuy yesterday, and I decided on a whim that we needed iPods. So, I got a 20GB model for Kat, and a 40GB for myself. Now that I have a device capable of holding possibly all, but definitely most, of my CD collection, I've been ripping the stuff that I almost never listen to, or haven't listened to in years, just because it'll fit.

I'm using mine with my PowerBook, and it's good, and it works well. The firewire port is powered, so I don't need to get fancy with cables. iTunes is (obviously) integrated very well with the OS and the iPod, and it's very speedy with its Altivec optimisations to encode the CD to MP3/AAC.

On Kat's PC, it's less lovely. The firewire card for her T40 is not powered, so the iPod needs to be plugged into the wallwart to get juice. I guess the iPod will only be plugged into the laptop for short durations to transfer songs, so it's not as if there will be a lot of cable juggling anyway. It's just less clean. Coupled with the less elegant integration, in which it takes iTunes longer to rip and encode, longer to recognise the iPod, longer to transfer the songs across firewire, and it's not as nice an experience.

Also, had I thought about it at all, I probably would have bought the 20GB iPod for myself, as well. I don't _need_ all of those songs with me, because, honestly, I will never, ever listen to the bulk of them. I'm the poster boy for "hear a song on the radio, buy the CD, listen to none of the other songs more than once," but that could possibly be because most CDs have one or two good songs and lots of contract-driven filler. I've been using ITMS more anyway, and just buying singles as I'm interested.

Anyway, the 40 is a little big and heavy (no, I'm not joking -- it's right at the "I'm not going to carry it with me, because it's too bulky" cutoff point that my phone and other electronics are at) and I probably would have been better off with the 20. The 40 gives me the ability to use it as an external drive, which, of course, means that, instead of costing me $500, it really only costs about $380, since it'll be deductible.

The funny thing is, in the 36 hours I've had the iPod, I've listened to it for all of about forty-five seconds, just to verify that yes, I transferred songs to this little box, and yes, it can transfer them out over the audio port.

I also figured out how to shoot video with my elph, so I'm stoked on that front, too. When I'm in Mexico next week, I'll try to get nekkid video of Kat.

You may begin sending me $$ via PayPal at your convenience.

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