in which my worst impulses are thwarted

[lolaraincoat]

Why are all the other iPods so elegant and the stupid new full-size iPod so very, very hideous? Why?

I wanted to spend my tax refund on a shiny new iPod -- the 80-gig kind that would have room for all the music currently jammed onto my hard drive instead of only about a third of it at a time -- even though my beautiful 6-gig mini works just fine and is pretty. But the new, 5th-generation iPods are even uglier than the full-size iPods used to be. They've now in two shades of gray, black and white at a time, rather than just white-and-chrome, which was bad enough. And the grays are in diagonal blocks, too, in some kind of misguided tribute to that retro '80s aesthetic. Couldn't they just sell them with preloaded Bananarama and Scritti Politti?*

Fuck it, I'm just going to donate my damn refund to Amnesty International then. Bastards.



_________________________________
* Yes, I still love Scritti Politti. Shut up.

Comments

[jackoweskla.livejournal.com]

The grey's not actually in diagonal blocks -- that's just the light in the pictures. With the black iPods, the click wheel is a less shiny black than the shiny black of the covers, whereas with the white iPods, the clickwheel is a more grey color. But it's not as though the iPod is two-toned -- that's just a bad picture.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Really? Seriously? I don't have to donate the money to Amnesty after all? Wow! Yay! Thanks!

Er, now I feel kind of bad about it though. Maybe I'll just get the 30-gig iPod and donate the difference. Heh.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Of course you still love Scritti Politti!

It's because Wood Beez is the first musical example of netspeak, isn't it?

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Hah! that hadn't even occured to me, but it's true.

Nah, it's their love song to Jacques Derrida that's made me their fan forever. Well, that and the super-cheese synthesizers. Mmmm, cheese.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

You are surely not ignoring the entire Prince catalog. Surely not.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

No, but I may be mixing up my years. IIRC, Wood Beez was 1983 and I Would Die 4 U was 1984, but I may've not remembered Prince using alphanumerics before that.

Meep! Good catch!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Prince was using AN as early as 1980! Check out Dirty Mind.

Of course, that's not to say that someone else didn't use AN in a song title before 1980. Just, you know. I hate to see Prince go all unsung. :D

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oops! Sorry, I just got home and looked, and it was actually Controversy in 1981. Okay, I am done with the Prince.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I don't have an iPod so I can't explain my own practice in this regard, but I believe they are quite commonly carried in attractive cases so it doesn't really matter how ugly the underlying critter is. Hey! If you provide specs and aesthetic preferences, I can even needlepoint you one.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd thought of that -- well, not so much the needlepoint, though hmmm that's a thought. But I want to get the laser engraving on the back, you see (it's free!) and therefore don't want to cover the whole thing up. So ...

[elphaba-of-oz.livejournal.com]

Hey! Point me to the person who told you that you have to outgrow Scritti Politti. I will personally kick thier dried up, irrelevant ass on your behalf. I will even photodocument it for you.

Grrrr!

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Oh, that would be Matty O., sometime 'round about 1986. I'm still brooding, though.

snerk

[elphaba-of-oz.livejournal.com]

He was probably just jealous because you didn't have HIM on your walkman.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

Oh my dear, I have just given up the Silicon Flamingo 6Gb pink Mini as featured in my icon above and graduated to a shiny new full size 5th-Generation Video iPod. In a complicated deal, I got the recently discontinued 60Gb for just a wee bit more than than the 30Gb version, and I am all swoony. Also, I got a transparent plastic case for it so I can still see the all-important video screen. To decorate the back, I cut out a luscious stick-on BVM from the cover of a book of Christmas stamps and stuck her under the clear case. (No engraving on close-outs, but now it is personalized.

It's not only big enough for all, all, all my music, I am planning to load it up with a photo album and also use it as back-up drive. I can also use it to carry files between work and home without schlepping a laptop. It's divine.

This very moment, I am ripping the Goblet of Fire audiobook to it, thanks to a generous coworker. ¡Viva la 5th-Gen!

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Farewell, Pink Flamingo! Hail, Blessed Virgin iPod!

How much of a pain in the ass was it to synch up the new iPod with your old iTunes library?

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

No difficulty at all with synching it. It took a good bit of time to physically copy all the files over, but there was no fiddling. You just plug in, register the device, and tell it to synch. Then you can go about your business while the files transfer.

After that I reset it to manual update so I can drag things around between different computers.

It was much less hassle than it has been ripping the HP audiobooks, frankly, because GraceNote has inconsistent titles and listings for each disk and then I have to batch them all to the proper settings and structure the naming of the albums so they sequence properly. I feel like it's not too much work since I am getting them free from a friend, but it would be exactly the same work if I had paid for the disks, and then it would annoy me.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

Even *you* can't find a reason why anyone needs to *apologize* for Scritti Politti. Arty arty art art art!

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttttttt !!!

Actually I've been listening to them half the day, having just found Cupid & Psyche 85 at the used CD store, and the synthesizer is a tiny bit irritating after a while. I keep thinking of all those poor unemployed brass and woodwind players whom the synthesizer replaced, but not very well.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

I think the tiresomeness of the sound is all part of the Art. Did you listen to Anomie/Bonhomie? (their late 90s "comeback"). Smooooth sounds to the point of madness. My admiration was mostly intellectual.

It's weird- this is the 2nd conversation I've had about SP in as many days.

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

I did not hear one note of A/B, nor have I heard any of the new cd that came out last year.

Who else have you been talking SP with?

Also, just so you know, I sent you that key yesterday -- sorry for dawdling.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

s'okay! I was glad to see that you had successfully used it to lock the door.

Who else have you been talking SP with?

Must have been HDGF. Who else? I owned A/B- let me see if I still have it. I think I might have put some on a tape I remember making for you when you were in LA (not at Xian U, a later sojourn), but maybe it was a tape I made for my own driving enjoyment.

[femmequixotic]

You know you can get pretty, pretty, pretty skins for your iPod, yes?

http://www.gelaskins.com/

I have Boticelli's The Birth of Venus on mine...

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

I did get a skin for it, but WOW! I didn't know about those. I am agog. THANK you! whee! Did you see they have a deal going where they'll throw in a 4th if you get three?

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

And HOLY MOLY! They are not only made in my beloved city, but they're from MY VERY OWN NEIGHBORHOOD.

I am feeling such civic pride right now, I can't even tell you.