You may have seen us. Walking across campus, waiting for coffee at Jazzman’s. We have arrived on campus and our numbers are steadily increasing. We see you stare, but we are oblivious. We are the few, the proud, the musically obsessive. We are the ‘Pod people.We come not to harm you, but to show you the way to true musical enlightenment.
Many of you have noticed that I usually end my weekly “He Said- She Said” commentary with a reference to my iPod, and many have stopped me on campus to ask about my new toy. To save some time, let me answer a few questions to clear up any confusion. No, it is not a phone; no, you can’t check your e-mail on it; and finally; NO, you can’t play with it.
For those who have been living under a rock for the last couple of years, allow me to inform you. The iPod is a portable digital music player that can, depending on the hard drive size, hold between 1,000 to 10,000 songs in MP3, AAC, MP3 VBR, Audible, AIDD or WAV formats.
The thing that sets the iPod apart from other MP3 players on the market is its ability to set a play list “on-the-go.” In other words, if I wake up in the morning and the weather is foul, using the interface I can spend about 2 minutes creating a play list of songs pertaining to the weather. That way, by the time I make it to Dr. Bergiel’s marketing class, Missy Elliot will be finished with “SupaDupa Fly,” and I will be on to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.”
The big news this month is the addition of a new “mini iPod,” the size of a business card but with the capacity to hold 1,000 songs. Priced at $249, it may seem like a good deal at first, but the savvy student shopper knows that Apple has a “Store For Education” that offers a discount on Apple products to college students. For an additional 20 bucks, you could buy a 15GB iPod that holds up to 3,500 songs. I find it similar to the whole Hummer / H-2 argument. If you are going to spend that kind of money, you might as well buy the real thing.
I have to be honest, the one thing I like about my iPod the most is the fact that hardly anyone else has one, and as soon as the chicks in trucker hats start carrying them, mine will be headed the way of eBay. In my travels on this campus, I have noticed only one other student bopping to the beat of a white and silver box. We both looked up from our displays long enough to give each other a knowing nod; words aren’t necessary. We are the ‘Pod people.
