“Time to mix things up. Meet iPod shuffle, the unpredictable new iPod. What will it play next? Can it read your mind? Can it read your moods? Load it up. Put it on. See where it takes you. 240 Songs…. Million Different ways….”
Isn’t that well written! Those are the words printed on the Pack of Apple iPod 1GB Shuffle. I purchased my iPod on October 12th, 2005 and from then on I am trying to discover whether it is really intelligent and read moods. Though modesty forbids me to tell you I have to acknowledge that there is some mechanism which keeps track of the songs you play full and those that you tend to skip in 5 or 10 secs.
Whatever it is, I am having fun with it. It has become a vital part of my life. I went to the shop to buy an Mp3 player in the range of 2500-3000 rs. I had a look at those tiny gadgets, heard their sound quality. I knew that something called as iPod exists and I had done considerable research on it before. But I thought its not for me. But then the bloody shop owner made the mistake of showing me this iPod shuffle. I heard it, and it struck the right chord in my brain. I was taken away by this tiny gadget. Though logically it was not needed since both the players did the same job of playing and storing 1GB data, but then, when have I given value to Logic more than intution? The answer is always the same - Never ;
So, I purchased it anyway. I thought its OK to spend 8K and I can manage somehow. But you know nothing comes to me very easily in life. I will have all possible opportunities to explore the other face of it. I have to do some struggle, learn its value, understand what is the bargain and then I will get it.
Similarly with my iPod too. I was all happy and excited to get it. I even made sure that he connected to his machine and put some old english songs in it. It was playing good music, absolutely no problems at all. So, I came back (by the way, I purchased it in Nehru place, Delhi and I live in NOIDA), all excited about it and in some corner of my mind I had this pride and the initial high value we tend to give to any new stuff that comes in our life. The next day I went to CSC and tried in my computer. It did not work, fine… I tried in my friends comp, it did not even recognize Hell! I tried in all the computers in the damn training room and it did not WORK!! OMG, I was shocked. I somehow got out of the training room, went to another trng room which had all WinXP’s, tried in all of them, God it did not work. I had done everything possible to my iPod, my efforts comparable to an apple service engineer…. Now it developed another problem. The status light never went off. It was always on and no blinking too!
I was worried, more than that I wanted to solve that problem first. Or else I knew that I cannot do anything else. So I borrowed my friends bike, went to Delhi again, gave it back and asked for a replacement. But that bastard told me this was the last piece which he had, so no replacement. All he could do was send it to Apple Customer Care centres or he would give me the addresses and I were to roam in the Unknown delhi with my iPod. I gave it to him, he gave me a time frame of 1 week at max. Till then it was all fine!
When I came out, my friend started opening his mouth! God these people are so unpredictable. He told me “There were scratches on that piece and I noticed it yesterday itself. Probably you shud not have purchased it!!”, Thats when I was unhappy. It posed a question on my decision, on my convictions and beliefs. Thats what hurts a person most, more than a physical damage. But I was releived now and trusted the shop guy to get my iPod back. However, I got it the next day.
From then on, I developed considerable expertise in handling and troubleshooting it. It is now, as I told you has become a part of life. Its there when I jog, when I sleep, when I dream, when I think…. when I dance… practically all the time. But you know, now that I know the other side of it, I know its right value and the bargain it comes for. So, Neither am I too attached and obsessed with it, nor am I very careless about it.
It gives me a feeling of pure exhilaration and joy that I dance like a drunkard, like a kid unaware of my surroundings, which otherwise is impossible. Music is definitely magic!
iBlog…