I got a Nano for Christmas.\u00c2\u00a0 A black one.<\/p>\n
But I’ve never used it.<\/p>\n
You see Apple went USB 2.0 with the new iPods.\u00c2\u00a0 And I don’t have a Mac with a USB 2.0 connection.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, I’ve got a PC, but that’s no solution.<\/p>\n
I was planning on buying a new Mac.\u00c2\u00a0 A G5 tower.\u00c2\u00a0 To compliment the 23" HD screen friends are going to buy me as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 But then that motherfucker Steve Jobs accelerated the Intel rollout, and now it makes no sense.<\/p>\n
I don’t want an iMac.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, it would probably be good enough.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s a dick thing.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got to have a hot-rodded rig.\u00c2\u00a0 And, have you seen that 23" screen??\u00c2\u00a0 Man, THAT’S some real estate!<\/p>\n
I debated it for a bit.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I’d buy the G5 anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 But then in "Newsweek" the aforementioned Mr. Jobs stated even HE couldn’t see why an individual would buy one.\u00c2\u00a0 If you didn’t need to do four hours of Photoshop a day INSTANTLY, any sane person would wait.<\/p>\n
So here I sit.\u00c2\u00a0 With the dough burning a hole in my wallet.\u00c2\u00a0 And a Nano I can’t use.<\/p>\n
Oh, you can connect it USB 1.1.\u00c2\u00a0 But, I had a friend who had a problem with that.\u00c2\u00a0 And I don’t want to go back to the horse and buggy days.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m living in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Ever since the very first iPod four years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Wow, that FireWire transfer eclipsed my Rio INSTANTLY!\u00c2\u00a0 I went from the twentieth century to the twenty first INSTANTLY!<\/p>\n
But one thing about that initial Rio.\u00c2\u00a0 It SOUNDED great.\u00c2\u00a0 Better than the iPod that replaced it.<\/p>\n
So I was flummoxed.\u00c2\u00a0 Until Amy lost her iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 And she had the same problem.\u00c2\u00a0 Amy had to buy a new iPod Video, and SHE didn’t have a USB 2.0 port either.\u00c2\u00a0 But, in a mad haze of research, after BUYING the new iPod and finding this out, Amy learned she could purchase a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card for her PowerBook.\u00c2\u00a0 Which she did.\u00c2\u00a0 But it didn’t work.<\/p>\n
But Blake…<\/p>\n
Blake, my nephew.\u00c2\u00a0 He walked into the Apple Store.\u00c2\u00a0 With a dead 40.\u00c2\u00a0 And, they gave him a new iPod Video 60 for $170.\u00c2\u00a0 But he had the same problem Amy and I had, no USB 2.0.\u00c2\u00a0 But, he bought a MacAlly PCMCIA card, and it WORKED!<\/p>\n
So I went to the store where Blake purchased his card and found…that they were sold out.\u00c2\u00a0 Which made me even MORE frustrated, since Blake said to buy one SOON, because he believed they were going to be discontinued, there was no longer a NEED for them.<\/p>\n
And then I got on the phone with Amy.\u00c2\u00a0 She said her SLOT was broken, but the card was FINE!\u00c2\u00a0 And she’d give it to me.<\/p>\n
Last night I got it.\u00c2\u00a0 And at midnight, I slid it into my PowerBook.<\/p>\n
According to the System Profiler, it worked.\u00c2\u00a0 It showed up.\u00c2\u00a0 But I didn’t know for real.\u00c2\u00a0 Was there a driver?\u00c2\u00a0 The card came with a CD and incomprehensible PC-only instructions.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d have to attach the Nano.\u00c2\u00a0 And I believe in charging up my iPods COMPLETELY before using them.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want ANY battery life sacrificed.\u00c2\u00a0 So I plugged in the Nano (with the charger from my 40, Nanos don’t COME with chargers) and went to sleep.<\/p>\n
Then, this afternoon, after returning from doing some podcasts at Rhino, I slid the Belkin USB 2.0 PCMCIA card into my PowerBook, booted it up and…got ready for the games to begin.<\/p>\n
I plugged in the Nano…\u00c2\u00a0 It showed up on the desktop pretty quickly.\u00c2\u00a0 But it took a bit for iTunes to boot up.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, the machine just hadn’t been sleeping, the program wasn’t in RAM, and the machine has a godawfully slow hard drive.\u00c2\u00a0 But then, iTunes was loaded.<\/p>\n
Then the magic began.<\/p>\n
AUTOMATICALLY the Nano was configured for a Mac.<\/p>\n
Then, I clicked to update the software.\u00c2\u00a0 A process that took a couple of minutes and went FLAWLESSLY.<\/p>\n
But then I got an error message.\u00c2\u00a0 You see there were more tracks in my iTunes library than there was room on the Nano.<\/p>\n
But NO BIGGIE!\u00c2\u00a0 Did I want the software to automatically create a playlist and fill it and ultimately the Nano with tracks?\u00c2\u00a0 SURE!<\/p>\n
And then, after clicking my assent, the tracks started to fly.\u00c2\u00a0 At about a second apiece.\u00c2\u00a0 The fucking USB 2.0 PCMCIA card WORKED!\u00c2\u00a0 And in five minutes, my Nano was filled.<\/p>\n
Have you held a Nano?<\/p>\n
Oh, I did, months ago.\u00c2\u00a0 And it was mighty impressive.\u00c2\u00a0 But having my OWN!\u00c2\u00a0 Gave me a high just shy of orgasm.<\/p>\n
Oh, I unplugged the Nano.\u00c2\u00a0 Shut down the PowerBook.\u00c2\u00a0 And removed the PCMCIA card.\u00c2\u00a0 (Which is a bit complicated.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to push this button, a couple of times, and then not only the card, but the BUTTON ejects from the PowerBook.\u00c2\u00a0 But, no harm was done, I just pushed the button back in…)\u00c2\u00a0 Then I went into the other room and got a pair of headphones, plugged them into the bottom of the Nano and VOILA!<\/p>\n
Fuck the sound is so GOOD!\u00c2\u00a0 Much better than my other iPods.\u00c2\u00a0 Superior to that original Rio.<\/p>\n
Now I feel like one of those idiots who say that there’s software in the iPod that chooses the exact songs you want to hear.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got about 8,000 songs in my iTunes library on my PowerBook, not all favorites, but EVERY track on my Nano is a WINNER!\u00c2\u00a0 Stuff like Stevie Wonder’s "Big Brother", the BoDeans’ "True Devotion", Mike Doughty’s "Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well" and Steve Winwood’s "Night Train".<\/p>\n
Oh, the pleasure.<\/p>\n
I’m here to tell you all the naysayers are full of shit.\u00c2\u00a0 The iPod has no competition.\u00c2\u00a0 First and foremost because it just WORKS!<\/p>\n
This is ridiculous.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not on the payroll, I own no stock, but I’m extolling the greatness of Apple with a religious fervor.<\/p>\n
I ask you, how much of the shit you own works?\u00c2\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n
All those buttons on your TV remote…<\/p>\n
Do you know how to navigate the menus on your cable system?<\/p>\n
Do you know how to fix your PC?<\/p>\n
And, the fact that they superseded the Mini with the almost unfathomable Nano.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like something from the FUTURE!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s so impossibly small.\u00c2\u00a0 But every bit as loud as a thick, regular iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 How did they COME UP with this?<\/p>\n
You can’t get everybody to agree on ANYTHING in this world.\u00c2\u00a0 But you should ignore the anti-iPod assholes.\u00c2\u00a0 They just don’t want to play on a winning team.\u00c2\u00a0 They want to feel superior by being isolated, or using a product only THEY can figure out how to use.<\/p>\n
Fuck the iTMS.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not how I fill my iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about buying copy protected tracks for a buck, rather the JOY of taking ALL your favorite music WITH YOU!\u00c2\u00a0 The Nano is a TOOL!\u00c2\u00a0 To make my life better.\u00c2\u00a0 Are the labels interested in making my life better??<\/p>\n
Fuck, I just pushed the forward button on the Nano and James Taylor’s "One Morning In May" came up.\u00c2\u00a0 But what’s BETTER is there’s a PICTURE OF THE ALBUM COVER!\u00c2\u00a0 How does it KNOW??\u00c2\u00a0 Rendered so PERFECTLY!\u00c2\u00a0 Shouldn’t a tiny screen be FUZZY?<\/p>\n
Now the reason I won’t buy a G5 tower is I know how it works.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple will come out with a new product that only works with the latest gear.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want to START OFF one generation behind.\u00c2\u00a0 Steve Jobs thinks everybody can afford a new computer every year.\u00c2\u00a0 But, if you’re paying for them out of your own pocket…<\/p>\n
I’m interested in greatness.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m a believer.\u00c2\u00a0 "Finding Nemo" was the best picture of 2004.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if it was a cartoon.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it had heart, and personality!\u00c2\u00a0 It wasn’t focus-grouped, it wasn’t made for a lowest common denominator, it was made to be as good as it could possibly be.\u00c2\u00a0 And it resonated.\u00c2\u00a0 If only the labels took a clue from Apple.\u00c2\u00a0 And concentrated on greatness.\u00c2\u00a0 Stopped testing the records.\u00c2\u00a0 Stopped signing only beautiful people.\u00c2\u00a0 Just made shit that RESONATED!\u00c2\u00a0 Then they’d have no complaints.\u00c2\u00a0 LiveNation would be able to fill is amphitheatres.<\/p>\n
My Nano is so SMALL.\u00c2\u00a0 And it WORKS!<\/p>\n
I TREASURE it!<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I got a Nano for Christmas.\u00c2\u00a0 A black one. But I’ve never used it. You see Apple went USB 2.0 with the new iPods.\u00c2\u00a0 And I don’t have a Mac with a USB 2.0 connection.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, I’ve got a PC, but that’s no solution. I was planning on buying a new Mac.\u00c2\u00a0 A G5 tower.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-4V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}