So, I have become yet another proud iPod user. I'd been looking at them for some time, and in the last week or two began really seriously considering the purchase. I was at the point where I planned to worry over the matter for a month or two, and then buy one. But I was asking around about people's experiences, and a co-worker reminded me of Apple's educational discount, and that it applies to iPods (with their myriad educational uses). So with all other factors still the same, a $40 discount was enough incentive to go ahead and make the purchase immediately. I got the 20-gig version. I'm very happy with it so far (it did freeze up on me today, though it was easy enough to reset), and the FM transmitter I purchased for the car works reasonably well. It is strange that I will receive interference on the same frequency while driving the same roads where it played perfectly the day before. But having been made aware of the limitations in the technology, I actually expected much worse results than I have heretofor experienced. And so far, no real complains about the iPod. I've uploaded 750 songs or so, and have barely made a dent in the available space. I've only ripped a small portion of my CD library, but even after just moving a small number of CDs into storage, my remaining collection is beginning to look more managable. With skipping not an issue, it gives me a better choice of music at the gym than the NBA Jams CDs or whatever it is they play down there. I felt a bit unseemly sitting down and making a "work-out playlist," something very Yuppie about the situation (perhaps its a continuation of the emasculation I feel purching my favorite cereal, now packaged in a pink box with a huge picture of Courtney Thorne-Smith on the cover). But it does make running on the treadmill a lot more enjoyable, and I like to think mine is the first work-out playlist to include both Hanson's "MMMBop" and "Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the latter being an ideal song to run by. I thought I was Tuco.

So that's my new toy at the moment. I am ripping CDs at a decent clip. I've been watching season one of Gilmore Girls while I copy the songs, and was disturbed to see one of the discs was badly scratched in transit, apparently. Since I got it a few months ago, I don't think I can return it, but this screws up my intention of selling it on half.com when I was done watching it. Because while I find the show amusing enough, it isn't something I needed to own for all time. Perhaps I'll buy one of those scratch repair kits. But if you have never seen Gilmore Girls, you might want to give it a try sometime. It amuses me, though, watching the whole season in a short period of time, realizing just how many episodes involve one of the girls oversleeping something. You'd think they'd come up with some other device. Can't they miss a bus or have car troubles to cause some crisis? But I digress. The iPod's cool.