I've had a bit of a roller coaster of emotions, between relations and family issues, but I'm not going to lie, this month has been a blast. So, my birthday occurred, had a nice dinner, got the deluxe treatment, and got a bunch of nice presents including a new watch, some new shoes, and a new computer for my bike. All very nice things, and to be honest, I was very excited as is. After my birthday and after vacation, I came home from school totally bummed to find a package with my name on it and an apple packing slip on it. My aunt was very generous this year and sent me a new iPod, and boy, do I love it. No longer do I have to deal with little battery life and a black and white screen (that didn't bother me so much.) And, I'm totally excited about the movie aspect of the iPod. I guess when you don't have something, you sort of dismiss it until you actually get your little mitts on it. When the iPod first came out, I said, what, why would anyone need a player for their music. Turns out, this machine has revolutionized my music library and the way I listen to music. Cd's, cassettes, 8 tracks and lp's have all gone the way of good things. But, it doesn't stop there my friends, it has a photo feature. Utterly useless on such a small screen if you want to use it for professional photography, but great for showing off slideshows. The true show stopper is the iPod's ability to play movies, which is great. I never thought I'd want to use it, but here I am loading Bourne Supremacy and Tomorrow Never Dies on so I can get my Matt Damon and Pierce Brosnan rush when I get bored.
That is such a great feature, and truly, it could have happened on the first iPod, had Apple realized what a gold mine they were sitting on. The processors inside of the iPods have not changed one bit, but the color screens and slight modifications have allowed the iPod to watch encoded movies. The best part? Put it in a dock and hook it up to a TV and eliminate the need for an Apple TV, which costs a similar price. I remember Andy Ihnatko saying when he first got to see one before anyone else. "Well, it sure sounds good, but what the hell does it do?"
It's a good 5 years later now, and my friends, these machines have popped up everywhere, at least where I live.
What a great invention. Thank you Steve Jobs and Daisy for bringing my digital life a little closer to my brain.