IPOD is the Honda Accord of MP3 players.

I'm in the market for a digital music player and I don't want an ipod.

To some, uttering these words is blasphemy. Everyone who has an ipod loves them. I understand that. Part of me doesn't want one for that simple fact.

I'm not hating (well, maybe a little bit) but it seems like the IPOD has become the Honda Accord of MP3 players. Two of my best friends have honda accords. They are reliable, good quality, affordable cars. but I wouldn't buy one. That doesn't make it any less of a good car, it's just not the right car for me.

That's just me though. Yes, it has a lot to do with how I see architecture and the need to have buildings that are so very different that they upset the balance of the status quo. I think these sorts of things, these sorts of people are good for society.

mp3's and downloading used to be this big taboo thing..... wwwooooooo I'm a downloader... wwwoooooo I have Napster (the original) wwwooooo don't get caught with that on your computer or feds will bang down your door and confiscate your shit.

See I remember the days of prodigy fool!!! That's right I said Prodigy!!! where I had to infiltrate to become a part of a group of collectors who traded bootleg Prince concerts on casette tapes!! You'd mail your tapes all around the world and share your list of tapes with people that you wanted to trade with. there was this one cat with the handle MikeA7 that had EVERYTHING!! If you wanted something, you had to go to him. It was to the point where basically, he had everyhing you did, so out of the kindness of his heart, you would just send him like 5-6 blank tapes and you'd get back 2 with stuff on them. This became necessary because it was basically the only way to get this stuff!

Other than that you had to know of a few indy record stores around the country and know that they carried bootlegs, but had to wait to make sure some guy named Jerry was there and ask him in some coded way to show you the 'good stuff'. As in, "Hey, do you have anything ELSE by Prince?" Then you'd get taken to some back room where there would be a whole section of concerts on vinyl and/or CD by everyone from Metallica to Journey.

Some stores would place them out in the open with the rest of the CD's under the guise of an 'import CD', but the $35 price tag would que you to realize that it wasn't something that was regularly released. Now, downloading is in the open, offices have mp3 policies that allow you to have them, but you can't go get them on personal time. crazyness... So I still carry the have the stuff that noone else has yet mentality and runs through the core of my being. I see it in the shoes I buy, the music I listen to, the computer I bought, etc... so it has come to the mp3 player as well.

I basically want (read: need) an mp3 player no-one else has yet. So naturally, I've picked one out that isn't even released yet, then i consequently saw it on the napster commercial last night during the super bowl. which may make me reconsider... either it will blow up and lots of people will have it... OR, I could look at it like I was one of the first to have this IPOD alternative...

So let me know, what you think of this?? and should i get in silver or red ?? I like this one because it also has an FM tuner and has a color screen. I've also read that the Korean version can be programmed to play video, but why would I watch a video on a 1 1/2" screen? The only disadvantage I see thus far is that it has 5GB but you can get the photo version of the Ipod to hold 40GB!! Do you know how much space 5GB is though??? I mean really. I BARELY have 2GB of music and I've been downloading off and on for 5 years.

After years of searching, I did actually find the one single bootleg vinyl I had been searching for while I was in Germany. I bought it and left it with a friend in Germany to mail to me back in the states. I would've taken it, but I had about another 5 weeks of travelling to do, so it didn't make sense to carry it around and risk something happening to it... I never received that MFer....

I hear she still has it. So Stella, if you're reading this, it's not too late! You can still send it to me!!! I'm not mad!!!!

~C

CD of the moment: Verve Remixed