An iPod Review

At the October BSSD in-service in Unalakleet, I received an iPod nano as a thank you gift for presenting a session. I was pretty excited about it and for a little icing on the cake, I got a purple one.

I never really considered buying any sort of iPod device for a few reasons,
A) I rarely have the opportunity to listen to one
B) I never thought it was worth the money and
C) I don' t like having thingies, ear phones, stuck in my ear.

But now that I'm the proud owner of a purple iPod nano (fourth generation) I decided to give it a fair chance. I forced myself to listen to it on the walk to school every morning for a week. This is really the only feasible time to listen to it since I am interacting with humans for the rest of my waking hours.

At first I didn't really like it, I wasn't comfortable not being able to hear the world around me. When I have ear phones jammed in my ears I can't hear the snow crunch under my feet, the dogs howling or ATVs in the distance. I have some issues with shutting myself off from the world around me. It's also kind of weird since my walk to work is only 3 - 4 minutes long, barely long enough for one song.

Some aspects of listening to the iPod did start to grow on me, however. A groovy Phish song came on one morning and made me feel like there was a sound track for my life. Music in general is moving because it can transport you to another time, bring back memories, make one forget the cares of the moment. There's something nice about that every now and again.

So how do I feel about my iPod over all? I'm not exactly sure. Now that I'm not "forcing" myself into listening every morning, I most often forget to use it. But every now and again the mood strikes me and I let the music set the tone for my morning walk. So I guess I'm not a convert, I still wouldn't buy one myself but since I have one, it's a nice option to have.

--AnnMarie