Ipods and Music Geeks

i'm pleased to report that i'm no longer living without my ipod. 2 monthes ago our 40 g ipod, george, went haywire without warning or provocation. after trying several different trouble-shooting tips, i decided to restore george to factory settings, erasing all of his 6,9000 songs. oh, the horror and that prospect. it turns out that george was so fucked up, he couldn't be restored. after paying about 60 bucks to extend a warranty for 2 years, the good folks at apple sent us a new, 40 gig ipod, which we also named george. the bleak days of being ipod-less are over. life is sweet.

life without music technology is very hard on music geeks like myself. i couldn't count the hours i have spent dowloading, buying and listening to music. i love the new technology and the ways in which music is now acquired, exchanged and used. it's fabulous. i love the whole process of getting an entire cd for free, or dowloading one through i-tunes in a matter of minutes. i love making cds for myself and friends, putting music on my ipod and being moble with my entire music collections. in short, fooling around with popular music is, without a doubt, my greatest joy in life.

it's fascinating to note the differences in music format over the years. i have seen a lot of changes come and go - from the days of 8-tracks, albums, cds, cassettes and now the glorious wonders of digital music. in some ways the new digital ways in which we obtain and enjoy music is a bit superficial. there are so many options at our fingertips, and acquiring music is so easy that sometimes our listening and evaluative experiences are superficial. in the old days, the new album by so and so was a musical event. serious music enthusiasts would gather at someone's home to listen to the new artistic outpouring (now, the artistry has moved out of the experience a bit, and the latest recording by so and so is more or less considered a market product) usually with the intent and seriousness of watching a film or reading a book. now our experiences are so quick and more solitary because of the new technology. when i'm dowloading music i listen to snipets to determine if i like it or not, and if i do, i usually listen to it, alone, through my headphones or in my car on the way to work. of course the new technology also enables us to sample music before we buy - a much-desired advantage over buying 8-tracks, albums etc long ago. then people had to rely on critical reviews and word of mouth to determine whether a particular album or cd was something worth buying.

anyway, there are several new bands/Cds i have gotten lately that i would highly recommend to anyone interested:

my morning jacket - Z
death cab for cutie - transatlanticism or plans
the new pornographers - twin cinema
bright eyes - i'm wide awake, it's morning or digital ash in a digital urn
franz ferdinand - franz ferdinand (the first one) or you could have it so much better (the new one)
blackalicious - blazing arrow

and the new kate bush -ariel - came out yesterday. i have heard one song and it's fabulous. the entire cd is getting rave reviews. can't wait to hear it.

jb