After months of painful work, my careful reconstruction of my failed iPod is coming to an end. I started with a-Ha, worked my way through the Beach Boys and Beatles, through Elton John and Veruca Salt and Yo-yo Ma, compiling dozens of different playlists along the way, and have finally hit Zuilli Bailey and ZZ Top. After that end-of-the-alphabet omega point, there are some random Japanese characters and numbers — .38 Special and the 5h Dimension figure prominently, for example — but we’re basically done with the project.
What does it all mean? I’m not sure, except for this: there are a ridiculous number of talented musicians out there, and an even more ridiculous number of great songs,, and I desperately want to have them all. What surprises me in my effort is that there is so much great music that I want to have on my iPod, just in case — and also how much fun it can be trying to organize it into playlists. My musical tastes are broad, and if someone tells me I’m going to need to choose among the Beatles, the Temptations, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, George Jones, John Coltrane, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, and countless other artists, I’m not going to be a happy camper.
Fortunately, the old iPod has sufficient storage capacity that I don’t have to make such choices. I can winnow things down without cutting crucial things out — and that is a great luxury of the modern world. We are lucky we live in times of such technological advances.
Webner House 