damn the ipod shuffle straight to hell

it all began back on dec. 5, 2003 when in an insane turn of events i lost over 300 CDs -- my entire collection. the pain was so great that i could not rebuild. i cursed the world of physical CDs, turned my back on it, and made the transition so many of us have -- the transition to digital.

my third generation ipod has served me quite well to this very day, and i humbly pray that it will continue on to do so. so why, you may ask, did i purchase the shuffle? firstly, because my ipod acts as my stereo, and i want to do everything in my power to keep it from crapping out on me so i don't have to get one of the big fancy new ipods, and that entails not subjecting it to the rigors of travel. secondly, because someone was selling a new one for cheaper than the store price. and thirdly, and most importantly, though i do love my ipod, i feel it has changed the way i listen to music for the worse.

how? why?

well, quite simple. having 3,000+ songs at your fingertips at all times makes you listen to albums all the way through a lot less. you feel there must be a better song for your mood or the moment, and you're constantly scrolling through trying to find it. the genius of the shuffle, or so i thought, was that it took the control out of your hands, forcing you to listen rather than choose. but though this seems like a brilliant solution to the problem digital music poses, there are MANY REASONS NOT TO GET THE SHUFFLE. and i will now outline them for you.

FIRST -
you cannot charge the shuffle without a computer UNLESS YOU PURCHASE A SPECIAL APPLE WALL CHARGER. even if you have a charger from previous ipods, those chargers only take firewire, and of course the wily little fuckers at apple built the shuffle with a USB plug. couldn't they have built it with a firewire AND a USB? of course they could have! but then they would've missed out on this little money making add-on.

SECOND -
to use the ipod shuffle, and any new apple products for that matter, YOU MUST DOWNLOAD ITUNES 7, which may cause you to go insane. i downloaded iTunes 7, stupidly, a few weeks ago, and then spent several hours searching online to find a way to uninstall it and revert back to iTunes 6 because it completely fucked up my access to the music store (although many, many other problems have been reported). i eventually found the solution here, only to then be forced to install iTunes 7 again once i purchased this godforsaken shuffle.

THIRD -
(and this comes straight from apple:)
"iPod shuffle is intended for use with a single computer. You cannot load music from multiple computers or iTunes libraries onto iPod shuffle like you can with other iPods."
the problems with trying to load the music from different computers onto your shuffle can be varied, but mine entails having to erase the entire thing every time and resync it with the current computer.

FOURTH -
this is the most personal reason, and perhaps you'll disagree, but the whole solving the digitally-unsatisifed-with-music-conundrum doesn't really work with the shuffle if you're someone who cares about what you're listening to throughout the day. there needs to be a certain level of musical agency. for example if you go to work, and then you go to the gym, you can't be expected to switch the music up on your shuffle between those two activities, or for example, remove music and replace it with a podcast, which is what you'd have to do if you had a shuffle (or scroll through the whole thing, which is horribly annoying). this is why i think the nano is the best solution, certainly a better one than the shuffle, as it forces you to downsize, but does provide some control. (and by the way the differences between the ipod, the nano, and the shuffle seem to prove that apple's marketing spin -- "which ipod are you?" -- is kind of profound.)

FIFTH -
however, the nano is NOT the best solution as it is an apple product, and we should really break up apple's monopoly on the digital music thing. holland is the most recent country to join the european chorus of anger with apple at their proprietary handling of music bought on the iTunes store. and they're totally right. the fact that this has barely been mentioned in the states is embarrassing. apple has so handily dominated the market, and everyone here has simply gone along with it while apple has done, and continues to do, uncool things. sheep!

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but, regardless of that, i think i'll probably still get the nano, because i am a sheep, and i just don't like the names zen or zune. anyone in the market for a gently used, reduce priced iPod shuffle with some Built to Spill on it?