Boy with iPod

Unveil the story of “Boy with iPod”

...an article on “my device”

Adding new electronics gadgets to my E-Gallery was always fascinating for me. But all the time it was driven by my financial state. When company decided that I have to travel to Texas, US, I was very happy. US have been always a place for buying latest E-gadgets. Even before reaching there I had short listed some of the items to buy for me and friends.

As everyone gets, I also wanted to get a camera. As I have interest in Photography from my college days, I though I would go for a Digital zoom camera. One of my friends in US helped me in choosing the camera and I was finally set to go for 12x optical, 4x digital i.e. combined 48x Zoom, with 5mega pixel Canon S2IS. Predecessor of Canon S2IS was a big market grabber in camera world. I paid 487$ just for the camera

On second weekend of my stay in US, one of my colleagues took me to FRY’S (one of the US biggest E-Gadgets shop) and showed me Apple iPod nano with 2 and 4 GB capacity. At first site, I thought I should buy this. But after looking at its price, I just postponed for a while. It was 199$. Till then I never knew that such a device exists. Only I knew was USB memory with MP3 player from Creative. iPod nano with 4 GB has a capacity to store around 1000 songs.

The iPod nano, with its tiny size, sleek look, undeniable cool factor, unsurpassed interface, excellent sound quality and responsive controls was just amazing. From that day onwards http://www.apple.com/ipod/ became my favorite URL. I read lot about its Apple iPod products, accessories, reviews etc. For me it was very tempting to buy one iPod nano. But every time when I converted its price to Indian rupees, it was very expensive.

Starting of October, 2005, there were ads floated across about the 5th generation iPod. This was supposed to be the next generation of iPod nano. It played a video along with the audio. There were 30 and 60 GB capacity iPod released to the market. This model was named as iPod new. I visited Circuit City (one more US biggest E-Gadgets shop) to get the demo of this. It was just a masterpiece, state of art in its kind. Its touch key pad, video quality and the Photo gallery options were very impressive. This time I was clean bowled for duck!! I couldn’t give any reason, why this should not be added to my e-Library. I calculated my US dollar balance. Calculation resulted again in to disappointment. I was all ready over run by my spending limit. I came back to room with empty hand. Video that was played during demo just remained in my cherished memory.

Mid of October, I came to know from my team that my stay is getting extended by two more weeks, so as my per diem. This time my calculation perfectly fitted to go for iPod new. I had four choices now. iPod shuffle which didn’t had any visual display, just a MP3 player, iPod Photo which had visual display, provision to see the photo gallery, iPod nano the sleekest and sexiest one with visual display but only audio capability and finally iPod new which was union of all. It was 30 GB, Audio, Video and Photo gallery capability. I think it was my good decision not to buy iPod nano when I saw it for the first time.

This is how Apple showed up their ads on iPod new.

Witness the evolution of the revolution. First it played songs. Then photos. Then podcasts. Now iPod plays video, changing the way you experience your music and more. Again. In lighter, thinner 30GB and 60GB models starting at $299, the new iPod is music to your eyes.

Now I made up a mind to go for iPod new with 30 GB. It was coasting 299$ plus 8.25%tax plus the accessories. Actually Apple had a good marketing strategy. Just to make sure that prices are within 300$, they removed all the accessories with this model. One had to buy least accessories like USB Power Adapter (29$) to charge the iPod with any main Power line, Apple AV cable (19$) to view the videos in TV. This model initially released with only white color and then black.

4th November 2005 5.30pm, the day when I shopped nearly worth 1500$ which included Cameras, sound card, DVD player to my Colleagues and my new dream iPod new. I wanted only black color which I didn’t get in Comp USA, so again went to Circuit city to full fill my requirement. I also got a USB Power Adapter and Apple AV cable. Every thing including taxes coasted me 375$.

I came back to my room, connected to lap top after down loading iTune software. For the first time Lap top hanged for few minutes. Latter it recognized as USB device with Apple name. I could successfully download some songs and photos but video still remained as grey area. This model supports only certain formats like .m4v, .mp4 and .mov which I didn’t had in my Lap top. I was eager to see a video in my iPod. So what was the next step? I just goggled to get some codecs which converts from any format to iPod format. I got the one from net and downloaded. I was helped with one of my friends staying in the same hotel. Now the video was in my iPod. I was at top of the world. It was playing so superbly. My friend gave me “Love story”, an English movie which was one of the big hit during 1970’s.I watched that too in “my Device...The iPod new”.

The next experiment was to test with the TV. Unfortunately TV in my room dint had any Av cable connection port but I believed in Apple. By this time Apple had became one of my favorite brands just because of their simplistic, compact, well thought, bug free, user friendly design.

My Device helped me in killing the time during my travel. I am back to mother land. I am giving the iPod demo to every one I meet. Some people commented on over spending but every one praised its figure and design. I tested iPod with my LG TV. Now it acts as a DVD player too.

Now my iPod is laying in my e-Gallery which is now connected to Mercury compact speaker with woofer. Every day morning I listen to instrumental music and in the evening just by random play some music and enjoy. This has become a must item during my all travel. I am very happy with its battery back up, sound quality and its look.

Daily routine of “Boy with iPod” starts with iPod instrumental music and ends with filmy music.