iLikeIt

I thought I'd might share with you my latest purchase. After at least two years of yearning, I broke down and bought an iPod. But you knowing me, cheap and all, I wasn't going to splurge on such an expensive item unless I got what I felt was a good deal.

Getting a good deal has a lot to do with timing. Last week, Apple released the fourth-generation iPod. I personally felt that it wasn't that great of a revision, as there wasn't many great new features. Except, perhaps, the greater battery life (12 hours versus 8 hours). The 15 Gigabyte iPod was dropped from the roster, and the 20 and 40 gigabyte models remained. The new iPods did see a bit of a price reduction, but it was still 450 bucks (CDN) for the 20 gigabyte model.

The other major factor in Apple dropping the 15-gigabyte iPod was the introduction of the iPod Mini to the rest of the world. Sadly, the price point difference between the 15-gigabyte iPod and the iPod Mini was a measly 25 dollars. I liked the idea of the mini-iPod, even a 4-gigabyte hard drive wasn't much of a concern, but I felt like 225 (or less) would have been a more desirable price point. 350 bucks for a 4-gigabyte drive / mp3 player sounded like a lot of markup to me.

Knowing that these new models would be hitting the shelves this week, I went comparison shopping, and I found a 15-gigabyte iPod discounted 50 dollars. The 15 gigabyte iPod was actually cheaper than what the iPod Mini was going to be. Given the situation, I could not say no to that cute little white bugger.

So here I am, much poorer, but taking my tunes wherever I go -- which is usually to work. How does it sound? Well, it sounds pretty incredible. You can crank the system up all the way -- and there is no distortion at all. Not like it would be a good idea to listen to music that loud, but at least we know Apple is using quality materials in their product. Now I just gotta get me a pair of in-ear monitors!

Now on to my link of the day. SmartPlaylists.com is a great site that was launched when iTunes was released to the PC platform. For all those who have large music collections on their computer, they know that the best way to manage those songs is with playlists. SmartPlaylists provides numerous tips for managing your collection. Take a browse, it may give you some ideas on how to listen to all those songs that do not receive the play they deserve.