Taking the iPod Plunge

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve introduced myself into the constantly growing world of iPod owners. I’ve been considering an iPod for years but I’ve never had an incentive that was strong enough to push me over the edge… or at least I never had until the newest iPods came out. With the larger screen and the addition of video playback capability I was smitten from the start.
I don’t have the kind of cash on hand to just go out and buy a $400 gadget usually, but I received money from several people for Christmas and ended up having enough that I could afford it. You know how it is though, as soon as you have the cash you think of a million other things that you would like to spend it on… I went on a shopping trip to Indy with my dad and my brother, our target being Best Buy. I had all but put the iPod out of my mind, deciding that I didn’t want to spend all of my money on one item. After spending an hour or longer looking around Best Buy and not really finding much that i wanted I decided it was time to bite the bullet. I asked my dad if we could go over to the Apple store, which was a few miles away and we were off (not before waiting in a huge day-after-Christmas-is-return-day line at Best Buy.
When we arrived at the Apple store, which is situated in an upscale shopping mall in northern Indy, and I headed in while dad and Austin tried to find a parking spot in the overly-crowded parking lot. Once I got into the store what I saw was complete chaos, the small store was filled to the gills with people all I wanted to find out was whether or not they had any black, iPods in stock so I could get one and leave. They have small areas setup for people looking to purchase an item with a credit card and have no discounts or coupons to claim, but I wanted to use my student discount so I couldn’t use those stations… I had to wait in the long line. I waited, and waited for around 15 minutes and finally got the front of the line. I felt like Ralphy and his Brother on A Christmas Story when they wait in line forever to see Santa and his evil elves, I was so excited. I stepped up “Do you have any black 60Gb iPods in stock? Okay, how much would that be with a student discount? Great!” The total for the purchase (with tax) ended up being around $391, about $30 cheaper than the full price with tax. I was happy.
The ride home I stared at the bright screen wishing that I already have some music on it so I could test out the headphones. When we finally arrived home it was time to begin ripping all of my cds and putting them onto the iPod (a process that took the better part of two days). Once I was done with my music I wanted to try some video, so I purchased an episode of Lost from the iTunes Music Store. Pure bliss. The image quality of the screen is even better than I hoped for with a resolution of 320×240.
I’ve been getting more use out of my iPod than I expected. Not only do I use it at the gym and in my car while I’m driving, but I’ve even consolidated all of my music from home and work and have therefore saved a total of around 15Gb of space between the two computers. Now I take my iPod to work everyday, plug it into my computer and play music directly off the iPod! It’s so great!