Andi’s new little addiction. By Andi.

I don’t know if I mentioned this but I have an iPod. An iPod classic, not a mini, not a shuffle (I don’t even know the differences..) This is NOT something I would have bought. I didn’t buy it. I won it. And almost didn’t know that I’d won it because it was a “second chance” drawing prize on a scratch card lottery ticket. I went and signed up for the drawing on the net and when the email came telling me that, holyshit, I’d won, well, everything labeled “lottery” tends to go into the trash in my email system. But, honestly? About twenty minutes before the email had arrived, I had rolled the office chair over something that turned out to have been the damn lottery scratch card. I ALMOST tossed it thinking “oh, that contest is over, right?” but read it and put it aside and poof. The lottery prize fairy heard me.

So I sent off the card – after getting wrong information from the 800 number listed – with “delivery notice” stuff attached and about a week or two later, here came the mail guy with an insured package. Ohmygod. I haven’t ever won anything worth THAT much money – these things list for like 300 bucks, though I’m sure you can buy ‘em for half that. I opened the box and stared at it and well, there it sat. For WEEKS. And weeks. For one thing, it required a Mac with OS X, and our iMac is still back at the steampower age, with 8.5.1 (even though yes, I have an upgrade disc but that’s ANOTHER story.) And I wasn’t sure about downloading speeds and and and….

This week, the Roscoe household went DSL. We still are steampowered on the main iMac which is getting dealt with, Real Soon Now, but the laptop, a gift from my friend the Laptop Fairy, has OS X and thanks to Bill at drizzle internet (I love Bill; I want to have his dust puppies), we’re hooked up and things are going ZOOM. There is still much I do not know how to do, but we have web browsers that work at lightning speed and I downloaded Eudora Light 6.2 which is fast and spiffy and I once again opened iTunes and opened the iPod box and….oh shit. There’s no cable. I don’t recall EVER seeing a cable but if I did have one, I managed to hide it. Grrrrrrr, snarf. I looked, and oh god was that nasty. But HEY I found some things that had been missing for weeks...

So Stu’s cousin Len and family were visiting Seattle this weekend and while they were out yesterday, buying Fabulous Action Figures (see previous blog entry) they went to the Mac Store and bought 2 different cables. We were in BUSINESS. Not only that, but it turns out we only needed one cable, so the other $19 thingy gets to go back. Meanwhile, I’ve been busy.

There are now (and this number will go up before the end of the day) 521 songs on my iPod. I’ve loaded about 40 cd’s onto it, deleting a few cuts here and there. It’s eclectic as shit, and I….Can’t….Stop. The iPod memory is so gigantic, there is no way to fill it up. And while at first everything about it was baffling, it’s beyond easy to use, it’s responsive and intuitive (after you realize that yes, really it IS that simple) and I’ve got several hundred more cd’s to go. AND download. AND audio books.

With the iPod I also got a $10 iTunes gift certificate. There are songs I want – either on vinyl albums or – well, I want THIS song by X and that one by Y – and this afternoon, got very smart and went and reserved most of the CDs at the library and will copy them, thus saving my gift certificate for um, I dunno, stuff. You know. I have said I didn’t like audio books but I suspect I will start liking them when I have days when I can’t use my hands/arms well. That’s happened recently – using crutches/canes has set off things like bursitis in my shoulders and my weenie hands are already so weak. Feh. Pooey.

So I’m trying DESperately not to get into the “cute little iPod” accessory market. And have already failed. I know that I want some form of carrying thingy, since it’s way too easy for me to drop the iPod; I don’t always wear things with pockets. And the accessory market is, of course, enormous and I do NOT need 98 percent of the damn things. You know, you get this tiny music playing device and they immediately create speakers for it. So I’ve tried not to look TOO much on line after googling “iPod accessories” but I admit it. I’m doomed. My iPod is white. Plain white. With a black and white screen (but they have BACKlighting, which is immensely useful.) I found a cover for an iPod that is so cute it is to die for and I want it. And it’s pink. Okay, technically “fuchsia” but it’s a terrycloth “hoodie” fo keep my iPod warm and snug. Am I in trouble? Do I want the arm band? Naw, I’m not a jogger. And somehow I can manage without the Gucci one for (gag) $195). Or leather (ok, it’s pretty classy with a belt clip for like $30 but still? See what I mean? It’s SO out of control that my one little twitch seems small. Or how about a nice one using a Japanese fabric? Or one that glows in the dark?

I mean I’d get the breast cancer fund raiser case for $30 but I so HATE Ralph Lauren – I’d rather go buy 30 wristbands and still get the hoodie. Or one of the fuzzy ones but those seem to be only for minis. Where’s the one with the Powerpuff Girls on it, darn it?

Oh lord, the color choices and the silliness SO appeal to me, I’m SO DOOMED. Does anyone know if there’s an iPod Anonymous group for me to join?