April/May music & my iPod journey

After a couple really good months of getting new (or at least 'new to my collection') music, April and May were mostly a big bust.

I've only downloaded three songs since my last music post and none of them are real winners.  The last one I just added a few days ago and is likely going to be a spring fling... loved and then forgotten by the time summer rolls around.

Since I don't have much to share, I'm also going to talk about iPods, speakers, and music while traveling.

First up is the iPod.  I decided upon this title graphic because I purchased another iPod this past week.   I believe a quick history is in order to understand where I'm coming from and why I continue to pay Apple so much money for music and technology.  I started using MP3s as my main music system (overtaking tapes and CDs) sometime around 1996.  I was already heavily invested in my computer and the more time I spent at it, the more I liked having my music available there.  For the longest time I used WinAmp as my music player of choice.  It was... limiting.  When I started playing with MP3s it was easily the best option out there (I think there were two other choices), but when 2003 rolled around it was getting a little long in the tooth.  It just didn't have the options I wanted.


I tried several programs and finally settled on iTunes.  October 19, 2013 to be exact.  It had only recently become available for the PC and I honestly love Apple for their design philosophy.  The thing that really hooked me was that I could sort my music easily and efficiently by many different categories.  Song Title, Artist Name, Date Added, Date Last Played, Time, Play Count, Album... these all held value for me and almost none of them were available in WinAmp at the time.

After using iTunes for several weeks, I decided to drop WinAmp all together.  I had my new player and figured I'd re-evaluate when something 'new' came out or after several years.  It turns out that Apple had other plans and soon had me firmly clutched in their claws.

November 24, 2003.  My music life changed that day.  I made my first purchase of digital music on iTunes.  These are the songs I bought that day:

U2 - In A Little While

Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom

Vivaldi - Adagio (from Guitar Concerto in D)

Not the exact version I have, but close enough)

I have no idea what made me pay $3 for these songs.  Maybe I couldn't find them using napster (or whatever other program I was using at the time to get MP3s), maybe I was just testing the iTunes store and the quality of their music.  Maybe I was drunk.  I don't know.. but to this day that U2 song is one of my absolute favorites.  I listened to it.  A LOT.  Most of my songs have between one and three hundred 'listens'.  That song has just under 700.  I rarely skip past it, no matter what mood I'm in.

iPod 3rd Generation

I guess I enjoyed it enough that by the end of 2003 I had purchased eight songs (remember, I started buying at the end of November).  By the end of 2004 that number had grown to 94.  That number today is 808.  Early in 2004 I decided that I was sick and tired of CDs in the car and made my first iPod purchase.  It was a 3rd Generation iPod, and I loved that little thing.

The touch sensitive 'wheel' and buttons, the red back light, that huge (for the time) screen that displayed all the information.  Those were all nice features but the mere fact that it could hold ALL of my music on it (I had the 15 Gig version) was what really sold me and kept me happy.

What I didn't know at the time was that I was locking myself into Apple and iTunes.  You see at that time all music purchased in the iTunes store was DRM protected.  They could only be played on iTunes and only when you were logged in.  The only device supported by iTunes was/is the iPod.  The reverse of that is true... the only DRM songs I could play in iTunes was ones purchased from iTunes and the iPod could only play songs purchased there (or any non DRM protected files).

Since 2004 there have been plenty of new music apps and digital music distribution channels... but

iPod Nano 4th Generation

because I'd have to repurchase some of my music and a new player, I put that as too steep a price to pay.  And in all honesty, iPod had the market cornered.  Yeah, there was the Microsoft Zune, but it sucked... and it was the 'best' alternative.

So I stayed.  iTunes has changed so much that I no longer really 'love' it.  I would rather use something else, but I'm still more or less in that boat.  I just looked through my purchased music collection and see that I have 444 'protected' songs.  Why not 808?  Because after a while Apple started selling songs that didn't have the DRM protection.  They still offer older songs as protected only but any music added to their collection now is free to transfer and move around.  So for me to move out of the Apple sphere of influence I'd have to do one of these things:

• Write all of my protected files to a CD (in CD format, not just files on a data CD), then rip them back into the computer as an MP3 (or whatever file format I wanted). 
• Buy a program that could rip the protection out of the files.  I've seen them and they generally go for about $40. 
• Re-purchase all of the music at about a buck a song. 

The first two options are time and labor intensive.  It would take me a good long while do do either.  The third option is expensive just to move to a new a program and/or hardware vendor.  And at the end of the day, iPods are still the most easily identified and used portable music player.  I mean I can say 'iPod' into my Ford radio and it recognizes that I'm talking about the music player hooked up to the USB.  I can't say 'Nexus' and get it to recognize my phone.  iPods are just part of the scenery now and are still one of the best hardware player options. 

So after many years of loving use, the iPod's battery finally started to die.  On cold days it would sometimes be unavailable in the car until the charging warmed it up for several minutes.  I was so hooked on having it available all the time that this inconvenience was unacceptable.   Times had moved on in the iPod universe and the 'classic' versions the iPod was only available with a color screen and 80 Gigs of storage.  I was fine with my black and white screen and 15 Gigs, so I opted for the recently released iPod Nano 4th Generation.  Up until this past week, that has sat in my car and been my mobile music player.   I still have the iPod 3rd Gen, but it's sitting in a drawer all but dead.  I COULD hook it up to the computer, but it's so old that it has a firewire connection... and my computer doesn't.  

iPod Touch 4th Generation

My next iPod purchase came just a couple years ago.   I had recieved an iPod powered alarm clock for Christmas with every intent to hook up my old iPod 3rd gen... but it just didn't work out.   The battery was too dead to hook up and play.  So to get the most out of the alarm clock I went out and bought an iPod Touch 4th generation.   The iPod touch is more or less an iPhone without the cellular radio.

This was before I got my nursing job, so money wasn't exactly flowing like a river (more like a dried up river bed!).  I really wanted to get a 16 Gig version so it would match up with my other iPods, but I couldn't justify the extra $70 or so.  That left me with an 8 Gig version.   8 Gigs was fine so long as it was mainly going to be used for a glorified alarm clock.  

I did play around with it as this was the fist iOS device I had my hands on for more than a few seconds.  EWWW.  Being an Android user, I really can't stand iOS.  It's buttery smooth and very pretty, but it just doesn't hold a candle to the customization of Android.  Of course, an Android cant' play my 400+ protected songs or work with iTunes so this iPod Touch was going to work just fine.  

That iPod Touch is sitting in the same drawer as the iPod classic as when I got my huge Nexus phone I stopped using an alarm clock all together.  

I should have been happy with my iPod solutions.  The Nano still worked like a champ in the car and I have no need to carry around another device.  My phone carries all of my songs outside of the protected ones.  The one issue was syncing my new music to the iPod.  I have to pull the iPod out of the car, hook it up to the computer, sync it, and then put it back into the car.  I know, I know... first world problems and all.  But it's enough of a hassle that I won't sync my iPod for months at a time.  And sometimes that really gets under my skin as I want to hear my newest purchases before I have them synced.  

When I got back from my recent vacation, I noticed my computer speakers had finally died.  Well... one of them at least.  I've told you that whenever I'm sitting at the computer I have music playing in the background.  iTunes is the first program I launch and is the last thing running before I shut down the computer.  Outside of games or videos (where I need sound), I have music playing ALL the time.  So being down one speaker was pretty bad.  

The speakers I had were Bose Companion 2.  Just a simple set of stereo speakers designed for computer use.  No sub-woofer, but for me that wasn't a problem as I only very rarely want to listen to anything loudly.  Plus being Bose they provide a LOT of bass considering their size.  The quality of sound is near ideal.  Most companies making computer speakers focus their quality on their sets with either 5 (or 6, or 7...) speakers or at the minimum 3 (two plus a sub).  Bose was the only one I could find that makes a good set of stereo speakers, but even that wasn't quite simple enough.  They make both the Companion 2 series 3, and the Companion 20 sets.  The C2s3's go for $100, while the C20s go for $250.  

I went to the local best buy so I could hear them and see if the C20s sounded $150 better.  In short...

iPod Nano 7th Generation

no.  No they don't.  So I grabbed the C2s3s and realized that I had been willing to spend $250, which gave me 150 guilt free dollars to spend (yeah... I'm getting to be bad with money).  And what display was right across from the Bose?  iPods. 

For $150 I could get the newest iPod Nano 7th generation.  It has a bigger better screen, still has 16 Gigs, and bragged about it's connectivity.  I immediately thought of my car dilemma... if this iPod Nano had Wifi, I could sync it FROM the car (and yes, I've seen that my WiFi signal extends out to where I park my car!).  I asked one of the Best Buy sales guys and he confirmed that it does have WiFi.  So I walked out of Best Buy with a new pair of speakers and an iPod nano 7th generation. 

Fucking Fuckers.  No, the iPod Nano (any generation) does NOT have WiFi.  It has Bluetooth and an FM receiver, but it does NOT have WiFi.  With all of ti's new bells and whistles, it had no feature that my current iPod Nano 4th generation couldn't do and that I wanted it to do.  So my option SHOULD have been to just return it.  It's Best Buy after all... they'll take back anything for practically any reason during their 14 day return period.  And I had only 'owned' this device for an hour.  

But I had already psyched up myself for that beautiful WiFi syncing, so instead I took it back and traded it in for a 16 Gig iPod Touch 5th generation for $50 more.  If only I had ponied up the $70 back when I got my iPod Touch 5th generation.  

At least I could be satisfied with this purchase.   At 16 Gigs it could easily fit my nearly 12 Gigs of music, and it would WiFi sync and stay up to date.  And if I ever needed to, I could play with the WiFi and app features while out and about.  

Fucking Fucker Fucks.  Why the flying fuck does a 16 Gig device only have 11.5 Gigs of storage?  I can accept that devices never have ALL of their storage, but 4.5 Gigs!!??  That's over 25% of the space!!  

My initial reaction was to just take it back and pony up another $50 for the 32 Gig version.  At this rate it should have about 27 Gigs available and plenty of room for my future needs.  But I took the moment to sit back and consider it.  I hadn't bought another iPod out of the blue because I didn't think WiFi syncing was worth $150.  The only reason I did it now is that I had already mentally spent the money so it was guilt free to get one for that price.  I had let my initial reaction drive me up by $50.  If I did that again I would be spending $250 for WiFi syncing.  

No.

No, that's just to far even with the 'guilt free' $150.  So I did a few things to pare down my music collection.  The first thing was to eliminate about a gig worth of duplicates.  At one point a couple years ago iTunes had a 'burp' and duplicated a couple hundred songs.   I really didn't care as hundreds of Gigs in free Hard Drives pace what did I care?  And they all fit easily on my old iPod.  Eliminating those extra songs got me just under the limit.  After listening to the Touch for the past few days in the car, I realize that I can eliminate another few hundred songs by simply not having it Sync a select group of songs.  These are songs that go 'unchecked' in iTunes.  Most of them are spoken word or comedy riffs.  A few are songs purchased for other people.  All of them are songs/files that I don't want to listen to in my car.  

So that's where I"m at now.  I brought in my iPod to play a bit more with the settings and eliminate those songs.

One final thought... it may be over a period of 12 years, but Apple has wrestled almost $1500 from me in music and iPods.  Ouch. 

(Damn... reading all of this makes me realize just how wordy I am.  I intended to give a couple hundred words on why I have a new iPod... not a 2500+ word essay on my iPod history!)

Anywho, the original reason I started this post was just to share my new music.  As I said a long time ago, I got three new songs since I last posted:

The Guess Who - No Sugar Tonight

I still haven't looked it up, but I don't believe 'The Guess Who' have anything to do with 'Who'.  So this is my first 'The Guess Who' purchase.  It's not a song that will be played all that often, but it's a damned good jam!

If You Leave - Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark

I think my recent purchase of "Don't You Want Me" inspired this as it's another classic 80s anthem that just deserves to be part of my collection.  No, I don't LOVE it, but I do like it and it's still in the current rotation.  I always just assumed this was from one of those 80s bands that I would recognize the name of... but OMD?  This is either a one hit wonder or a band whose name I never ever committed to memory!

Shut Up and Dance - WALK THE MOON

This is pure bubble gum pop.  Certainly not my normal cup of tea.  But at work I've switched up and started listening to 'Alt Nation' or some other 'station' like that.  This song is on a pretty heavy rotation there and I found myself kind of bopping my head and tapping my feet at one point to it.  At that point no matter how much cotton candy it's made out of, I realize that on some level I like it.  So I got it.  I've listened to it quite a bit and still find myself with a goofy smile when it's playing.  I can't imagine that it will last long.  I've had song flings like this before (Mmm Bop by Hanson comes to mind), and they always end with me being kind of embarassed to admit that I paid music for it... but for now....

SHUT UP AND DANCE!!!!