Techno-Love Notes

Uh-oh, I think I've just fallen in love again. It's not my fault--well, I guess it really is. If I hadn't gotten that new water bottle from Starbucks because I was trying to reduce eco-waste from water bottles in the local landfill; if I hadn't put the water bottle in my bag instead of carrying it; if the thing hadn't spilled and put an inch of water in the bottom of my bag; if my iPod had not gotten wet and died . . . this would have never happened. Or at least it would not have happened for a while.

I was happy, or at least mostly happy with the iPod I've had for the last three years. It is a black 30 GB video iPod, and the only things that bothered me were that it could no longer store my entire iTunes library, and that I would get a little cross-eyed after watching a video TV show on it. Before this one got ruined, I was thinking about buying another one with more capacity and giving this one to my husband. I'd been looking at the 160 GB iPod Classic, but then I stumbled across the iPod Touch while perusing Amazon.com, and I thought, "Whoa Baby, you've come a long way since I last looked at you!"

I considered an iPod Touch when it first came out, since everyone was raving about it, but I dismissed it then because the capacity was so low that I couldn't see any point in investing in one. Now, however, you can buy one with 32 GB of capacity, and Internet access, and Wi-fi! That puts it in a different league entirely from the iPod I'm used to--not to mention the fact that it has a much larger screen, so I won't get cross-eyed anymore. I can preview songs and videos and download directly from the Internet. I can use it as a navigation device with the Maps feature. I can store my contacts, calendar, and update my files, check out the weather, do my E-mail. I can play the games on the touch screen too, instead of trying to fool around with the click wheel. Ever try to play Bejeweled with a click wheel?

I had an HP iPac Pocket PC that I thought was going to do it all, but it was a huge disappointment. I even bought the thumb and QWERTY keyboards and a gorgeous red leather case for it. I never could find a SAN-disc card that it "liked," so I was unable to use the removable data storage function, it left much to be desired as an MP3 player, and if the battery got too low (which it seemed to do regularly, despite roosting on its dock every night) it would re-format itself and all the files would have to be restored.

The iPod Touch promises to be all the iPac was and more. I still have the old iPac in my computer hardware boneyard, and I think of all the money I wasted on it. I can't use it at all now that I have Vista. Can I believe in the Touch to deliver the equivalent of technological Nirvana? I'd sure like to think so.