 |
| Just a small smattering of my CD collection that contains some CDs never opened. |
I'm not the kind of guy who likes being
chained to his computer. Despite the fact I put a roof over my head
by writing – much of it requiring Web-intensive research – I
don't spend one second more at my keyboard than is absolutely
necessary.
And, other than sending out half a
dozen Instagrams/tweets each week, I refuse to be one of those people
bent over my smart phone clicking away every waking moment of every day. I don't
suffer separation anxiety if I can't get online for a couple of
hours. I still don't feel the need to be connected 24/7.
However, I've been spending more time
than I like in front of my computer this week because I have endured
a technological crisis: My iPod Nano went belly up.
I am sure there are some of you out
there slapping his or her thigh, laughing hysterically that I still
utilize an iPod rather than using my smart phone to stash my
playlists. Laugh away. There are times, like at the gym, when I don't
want the interruptions carrying my smart phone would include. Like I
said, I don't need to be connected 24/7.
So, I have spent an inordinate amount
of time this past week stocking music on my replacement iPod.
Here's what happened....
On my recent drive to and from South
Florida, the Lexus CT 200h I piloted had iPod interface. Using the
iPod's USB cord, I was able to connect directly to the car's audio
system, controlling it through the head unit. Somehow this froze up
my 10-year-old iPod. It would connect to and operate through the
car's system just fine, but refused to work when disconnected from
the car.
This happened once before a few years
ago. Apple has instructions for unfreezing an iPod that worked just
fine the last time around. However, nothing Apple recommended worked
this time. In the process of trying to unfreeze it, I managed to wipe
its memory clean.
A gift from a Jaguar – I know because
it has Jag's “Leaping Cat” logo etched on its back – at the
media launch of some vehicle more than a decade ago, this First
Generation iPod only had 2GB of memory. I maxed out its capacity years
ago and could only add a new song by deleting an older one. Even so,
I was satisfied to do this rather than fork over $150 for a new Nano
or $250 for an iPod touch or an iPod of some other stripe.
 |
| Yes, my children, this is what a steam-powered First Gen iPod Nano looked like. |
I refuse to keep paying more and more
for evermore sophisticated devices that do all manner of things I don't want nor need like
storing and playing movies. All I want is a device to store and play
music. $250, my ass!
I got on eBay and purchased a
reconditioned Fourth Gen iPod with lots of memory. In my
tech-challenged opinion, it was a steal at $35.99. It arrived in
three days: free shipping! Works brilliantly. Yes, I am a genius!
I had my Jag Nano a year or so before I
actually began uploading music and using it. At that time, I ripped
music from my CD collection – I know, laugh your ass off, old Uncle
Russ has a CD collection – to create playlists. I didn't begin
buying songs from iTunes until five or six years ago.
All of the songs I ripped from CDs were
backed up on a PC that died and was buried seven or eight years ago.
All of the ripped files were buried with it. I was able to retrieve
all of the music I purchased from iTunes, but everything else was
lost.
So, this week I have been ripping songs
from CDs. It's easier now than it was a decade ago because I can
utilize iTunes to do the work, speeding things up a bit. But, it's
still a mind-numbing slog. I am nearly through my 200-plus CD
collection, grabbing a song from this CD and two or three from that
one. So far I have about 20 hours of music stored.
I'm sure there is a quicker,
more-reliable, better way to do this, but I'm an old-fashioned guy
doing this the old-fashioned way. It's just really boring.
But on a positive note, I'm
refamiliarizing myself with my music collection. I have CDs that I
never unwrapped. What?
And the beat goes on.....
No comments:
Post a Comment