# Growing Up The iPod Way



## kg4fxg (May 24, 2009)

I ran accross an interesting article, what if someone borrowed your iPod and listened to your music - what would they think? 

September 21, 2009 - The treadmill and the iPod are for my generation what the hammer and the sickle were for the early Bolsheviks — articles of faith. I've been running my miles and listening to my music for a year, and if I could write while in motion I'd have a memoir by now.

Each song comes with a memory; I must have chosen them attempting to recapitulate episodes in my life that they were the soundtrack for. I used to think that life would be a lot more interesting if it had a soundtrack like the movies: eating breakfast would come with Mozart, giving the frying egg an aura. Well, life does come with a soundtrack, but it's a delayed soundtrack that comes long after you've lived the life the songs went with. The treadmill and the iPod give you back your life as memories with a soundtrack.

Imagine my shock when my iPod died. It was like my memory died. And then Laura, my wife, said, "Use mine!" So I put her music in my ears and started running. Man. Not only did I have no memories to go with some of her music, but I didn't even know what some of it was. She has pretty eclectic tastes, from bluegrass to gospel to R&B and classical, so I found myself like Dante in an obscure forest. My musical passions stopped being systematic at the end of the '70s, and have advanced since strictly along the lines of New Orleans live music when I took out-of-town friends to clubs. This is not negligible, but not exactly knowledgeable either.

Laura's music was richer and more diverse, and as I ran, I started to have feelings and see scenes that I hadn't lived through. At first I thought that I was learning younger and smarter music, but as I gave myself to it, I had the sensation that I was actually remembering her life.

By Andrei Codrescu


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

My Zune goes with me everywhere. It has ALL of my music on it - everything I ever owned on CD was placed on this thing (from Megadeth to Mozart, Tool to Tchaikovsky). I would be lost without it.


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## Padawan (Aug 27, 2009)

Being a baby boomer, my iPod would present a fairly accurate barometer of my musical tastes to-date but not a complete portrayal. Missing are the items on vinyl from my youth that I did not re-purchase. Also missing is the music my parents and relatives played, lots of Motown. None of the music my spouse has on vinyl -over 600 LPs, mostly jazz - which I have came to appreciate, is present. But my collection is 34% classical, which is cool, considering I just became a fan 3 months ago!

*edit:* _typing slower than I think, as usual!_


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

My iPod is an ancient (almost 2 years!) 2 gig nano. It wouldn't hold all my music. I just use it to listen to spoken word podcasts.

_The Piano Puzzler _[highly recommended!]
NPR's _Science Friday_
The SETI Institute's _Are We Alone?_
Jim Harrold's _The Paranormal Podcast_
and whatever audio book I'm currently listening to, probably science fiction, fantasy, or classic literature.

If it contained music it would be about 2/3 classical (all genre's and time periods), about 1/4 progressive rock (think experimental classical music but using electric instruments and a drum kit) and a smattering of classic rock, jazz fusion, hard rock, metal, celtic folk, and electronica.

I think I need to purchase a newer one dedicated to music. The problem is, the darn things are just too hard to control. The idea of one or two buttons doing it all depending on how you contort your body is just obnoxious to me. I have trouble even turning mine off. It keeps wanting to pop back on. We need a device designed for humans to use and large enough for middle-aged users to see.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I am definitely part of the iPod generation .


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