Attack of the iPod People

Sing to me, O Muse!

Sing to me of idyllic design; of new-age craftsmanship and the beauty of plastic. Sing to me of a card-deck-sized music box, simple in function, gorgeous in intuition, and gleaming in glossy white.

Sing to me, O Muse, of my new 30 GB Apple iPod.

A mere two months after purchasing my iBook I made the plunge and bought the little machine that everyone adores.

Saturday I braved the freezing rain and made a pilgrimage to an Apple store at the Novi Twelve Oaks mall. I knew it was my kind of store when I saw a two-foot high round table set up with iMacs and kids’ video games. A family-friendly computer store, and the place literally buzzing with high-powered Apple products. This was heaven.

I hadn’t seen a new G5 iMac up close, or the new Power Macs (with brushed metal and solid, industrial design), so I played around and saw what the specs were on each machine. Then I played with the iPods – and fell in love.

Andrea called to find out when I’d be in Royal Oak for Shanita’s birthday shin-dig. “Right after I get done with my orgasm,” I think I told her.

My biggest quandary was video iPod vs. iPod Nano. Did I want the elegant, tiny Nano (with swell arm-band for my walks in the park), or the full-on, half-my-hard drive video version? I saw Cassandra’s video (for “Gold Digger,” no less) and was impressed. Videos looked darned sharp on a screen so small. And besides, I liked the idea of fitting 7,500 of my songs instead of 1,000 or so.

And white was a must-have. It can’t clash with my iBook.

But before I made the decision, I went accessories shopping. After all, half the fun of owning an iPod was getting all the cool stuff with it.

Arm bands, cases, leather pouches, stereo hook-ups, radio frequency adaptors – there was a lot to choose from. Not to get ahead of myself, I figured a hookup for my home stereo and a dock would be good enough.

I went up to the hip-looking Apple guy (this was Novi – everyone is either hip or beautiful) and asked him if my accessories were cool enough, and where I could buy my pretty iPod. He disappeared behind the counter, iPod in-hand, and rang me up on his little hand-held cash register. He even e-mailed me my receipt. This was twenty-first century shopping.

The iPod is a thing of beauty. The scroll wheel, the sharp color display, the signature white ear buds – it made me feel good to live in a capitalist country. This was the market at work: iPods control about 85 percent of the MP3-player market, and for good reason. Who wants a clunky, cheap piece of crap? No, if you’re going to carry something around to play your favorite songs (or videos, or photos, or whatever), there’s going to have to be a connection. You have to be on friendly terms. I could be friends with my iPod.

Plus you can download programs to make the darned thing a low-end Palm Pilot. Calendars, address book, reminders and alarm clocks. Like my iBook, this was one expensive personal organizer. But why not?

And all this was just the logical conclusion to my recent Mac obsession. I’ve “switched” mind, body and soul.

Now, with an iPod, it’s official.