[VaSteve]

For me, the ipod is about convenience. I no longer have the time to manage a huge collection of stuff like I used to. I used to search out cool stuff and spend a lot of time at the CD shop looking for stuff at bargain prices. I have like 400 CDs (only some which I have put on the ipod – I don’t even have the time to load them all) but rarely do I sit around the house by myself and listen to discs. I throw them all on the ipod and listen while I commute on the train or work.

Lately, I have been using itunes to find a song or two from a band to see if they are any good. I’d rather pay $.99 and get the tune I want and sample the others rather than end up with a $15.99 steaming pile of s***. What I don’t like is the issue of everything being sorted. I’m too lazy/busy to build playlists so I have to skip around between a buncha stuff where I have onesies of a band’s work. That’s a pain since I like to set the thing to roll and listen for a while.

I do like the liner notes and what not…at least I used to…..but at 33, what good is a poster to me? I have some discs I have played the “disc” exactly once… on the car ride home. They go right into the ipod.

Over the past week, I have been coding a bunch of old tapes into the ipod so I have something new/different to listen to. Stuff you can’t buy (legally) mostly. While the quality is somewhat sketchy on some, it’s fun to listen again (with convenience!) to something I haven’t listened to in years. That’s been rewarding.