DRINKING THE CUPERTINO KOOL-AID

Well, I finally did it. After months (hell, years) of procrastination, foot-dragging, hesitation, I finally got fed up with lugging CDs around; finally had memorized UAL's XM radio menu and was sick of it; finally was sufficiently motivated by Craig Ball's speech that I owed it to my readers to use the tech that all our sons/daughters/nieces/nephews/parents have been using for decades now, and finally succumbed to the sneers of my beloved staff... OK, OK, OK. I finally bit the bullet. Yes, Mon -- the last hold out in the modern universe -- finally got an iPod (actually, it was a belated Xmas present from my mom). I My face is smeared with Kool-Aid. OK, OK, OK!

During LTNY, Craig suggested that I go for the 80 GB Classic -- and yes, of course I love it, and yes, it does make flying better, yeah, yeah, yeah, yer all right. And yes, I  WILL spend the 23,531 hours to import my CD collection.

BUT -- I have to whine JUST a little. I LOVE good design. In my next life, I truly want to be a designer. I recognize good design. I preach design. But jeeeez, does Apple have to be SO precious about design??? It took me 15 minutes to find the instructions in the box! (The sheet is hidden in a sleek black wrapper that looks like padding for the iPod. And come on -- how about an on/off switch that you can find without having to read the instructions?

Shane DeLeers, LTN's amazing design director, says it's kinda a right-handed/left-handed thing: I'm fundamentally a PC gal -- even tho I use both Mac and PC computers. I'm sure that within a few days, the "wheel" will feel intuitive and I've already found the trivia quiz, but if you've never used an iPod, it's NOT INTUITIVE!!!! (Don't bother to send me letters, it's my experience and I'm standing by it.)

Oh well, it is .... well designed. It's very pretty. I have 200 songs downloaded, and after one trip, I'm already sick of 167 of them. Time to import more CDs.

Image courtesy of Apple.