It just sounds cool to say “iPod” sometimes.
It is probably the most ridiculous name for a product not intended for a toddler to chew on, but sometimes I just find myself saying, “Yeah, I got that song on my iPod” or “I’m just listening to music on my iPod” just because I can.
Normally when people refer to something they own by its product name it’s just flat out creepy, as well as arrogant. If a friend told me he was watching “The Boondocks” specifically on his plasma TV, I’d think he was subliminally poking fun at my sweet 20″ flat screen with built-in VCR.
But that’s the thing with iPods: everyone has one so no one gets offended. To be seen with anything other than one is like buying a box of Cocoa Crispy Rice instead of the much, much more expensive Cocoa Crispies.
Basically, they’re so popular now that they’ve achieved Rollerblade and Band-Aid status, which is every new product’s dream accomplishment. It’s when a product becomes so widespread that all things resembling it are referred to as the same product.
People don’t go inline skating by the beach, oh no, they go Rollerblading. When someone gets a cut in the kitchen, that person doesn’t ask for a bandage, but instead for a Band-Aid. And people don’t take their MP3 players to the gym anymore, oh heavens no, they take their iPods.
But the more I hear about iPod-alternatives that actually may be better than the almighty iPod, I can’t help but ask myself, “Why the hell did I buy one of these things?”
I think most people would have a hard time explaining exactly why they purchased an iPod if required to give a reason other than its aesthetically appealing design and trendiness. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t invest in any electronic device that doesn’t first appeal to my superficial demands. The iPod, however, spends most of its time in my pocket so I would be willing to part with some of its irresistible good looks -just a little bit- if it meant I could get some more features.
Now, I admit when I first bought it, I overlooked its noticeable drawbacks because it seemed foolish to return such a sleek, stylish thing of beauty over stuff that seemed trivial. It would be like dumping a girl way out of my league because she snores every once and a while. Well, she’s not just snoring anymore; she’s eating my food now and texting me too much.
My growing discontent with my iPod is mainly because of four reasons.
The insanely arduous task of converting regular movie files on my computer to iPod-compatible movie files has gotten so annoying that I barely even use the video player anymore.
Although I would probably only use an FM tuner sparingly, it would be nice to have one, as well as a built-in voice recorder.
Also, would it be too much to ask that the iPod be designed so that I don’t need to buy hard plastic armor just to protect it from scratches that seem to appear out of nowhere?
Keep in mind that these features are standard on most other MP3 players.
Lastly, and most importantly, the fact that iPod is tied in exclusively to iTunes is pretty pathetic, considering Napster offers a music subscription service that costs $9.99 per month and includes unlimited song downloads while iTunes charges that same price per album. But because I don’t have just any MP3 player, I have an iPod, I continue to get ripped off on iTunes.
Getting ripped off seems to be the new trend with the iPod nowadays, although much less desirable. Apple recently launched a new line of iPods, the iPod Touch, that are even sexier than the old iPods, helping to disguise its reduced storage capacity and increased price.
How Apple gets away with continually bombarding its customers with new features they do not need instead of updating the iPods with more practical updates is really quite amazing.
The new iPod Shuffle is designed so tiny that Apple actually felt obligated to include, “Do not eat the iPod Shuffle,” in the owner’s manual. The iPod Nano is a tad bigger than the Shuffle, though it is small enough to fit inside of the average palm, and now features video playback on a screen that can’t be much larger than a toenail.
At first, I saw all the anti-iPod people as non-conformists trying too hard to be different, but after my little epiphany here, it is very understandable why someone would go out and purchase an MP3 player like the feature-rich Toshiba Gigabit ($199) or the acclaimed Creative Zen Vision ($230) among other iPod-alternatives.
Even though the iPod is the pioneer of portable MP3 devices, enough time has passed so that its competitors can offer a variety of digital audio players that may just be superior to Apple’s revolutionary product.
More iPod owners just need to just ask themselves why the hell they bought one. They may be surprised at the results.