Procrastinet

Curse You, Apple, CURSE YOU!!!

filed under: The Weekly WANT IT

As I mentioned in a comment on a recent post, I have so far avoided iPod mania, which seems to be reaching pandemic levels among my friends. Mostly, I have done this through the time honored method of being a cheap bastard. To wit: "$300 for a walkman? No way."

Yes, yes, I know it's the world's coolest walkman. Still. If I'm going to drop three hunnies on something it better do at LEAST three different things. So I've waited for the inevitable day when one hand-held gadget will be a cell phone, an mp3 player, a photo/video viewer, and a decent digital camera. That day is coming - oh yes, it is coming.

But cursed Apple has found a new way to spread their infection: the iPod Shuffle:

It's got no screen, so you can't see the name of the track you're playing. The only controls are volume up/down and track forward/back. It's ugly as sin (Gizmodo, hilariously, calls it the "iPod Pregnancy Test"). It's tiny and weighs next to nothing, which means it lacks that nice, solid gadgety heft that lets you know you've really bought something. It holds only a couple more albums than a CD-R full of mp3s.

But damn them, damn them, it costs $99.

In the mad land of gadget lust, there's a strange equation: psychologically, if the gadget is cool enough, a price of under $100 equals FREE.

Of course, I'd never actually buy the 512MB model when for $50 more you can get the 1GB model. Which means, were I to actually buy one, I'd be spending $149. 'Cause I'm a sucka. But that's all part of the madness - the base price of the gadget is what sticks in your brain no matter how many googaws you add on. So I would talk myself into buying this iPod Shuffle, which after all is so cheap it might as well be FREE, and I would then be startled when my bank account was down a buck fitty and I couldn't cover my bills.

Anyway, I'm not going to buy one. And why? Some deep reserve of self-control? An admirably grown-up resolve not to spend frivolously when I have a family to support?

No, no, nothing like that. It's just that, after Xmas, I broke down entirely and bought the home theatre system I'd spent a full month compulsively researching (Denon AVR-1905 7.1 receiver, Klipsch SB1 bookshelf speakers, JBL SCS160SI surrounds/center/sub, for those keeping score at home, and I truly hope you are because otherwise why the HELL do I need this much home theatre?!).

And now I'm flat broke, yo.

Thank god.

Posted by rjt at January 11, 2005 04:19 PM