Editorial: A Week Without an iPod

I love my iPod Touch. I’m one of those guys you see going about his daily business that never takes his earbuds out. Since picking up my Touch late last year, it’s become my go to device for mobile media, messaging, gaming and more. It’s become an integral part of my daily routine. Heck — it’s practically a cybernetic implant. So you can imagine how I felt when I woke up the other morning to find that an audio issue had somehow crept inside of my little life extension.

The audio on my apps, music and video were still working fine — but my podcasts? They were a garbled mess. There really seemed to be no rhyme or reason behind it. One day they were working, the next day they weren’t. At first I tried resetting the Touch. When that didn’t work I deleted and re-added all of my podcasts. Step by step, it eventually got to the point where I erased all of my data and settings to get the little guy back to factory fresh. It was useless. My podcasts were pooched.

Having dealt with Apple’s online repair service before, I knew it would be a simple process to get this fixed. Still, I’d have to go a few days without my precious. How was I going to cope? What was I going to stick in my ears? How was I going to check my mail? What was I going to play on my lunch breaks? I’d been unplugged from the Matrix, and I didn’t like it one bit.

But then again, maybe I did. Maybe a week’s vacation from being tethered to my pocket device wasn’t such a bad idea. I learned to start substituting one thing for another. I rediscovered local talk radio and got in touch with my community. I starting eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. I’d turn on the FM radio in the car and discover new music that my self-imposed iPod seclusion had sealed me off from — I’d then make a mental note to go home and buy it from iTunes. I had even set up Google Reader on my mobile phone to make up for my lack of Byline. Yes sir, it was a Brave New World, and I was living in it — iPod free.

Now my Touch is back, and I’m happy to have everything I’d been missing. But I think I’ve learned a valuable lesson. When you put all your eggs in the basket of limitless choice, you’ll often miss out on some of the sweeter things in life.

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