Comments on: How I Came to Own an iPod Nano for 55 Minutes (Or “Why Everything You Own Will Eventually Suck”): An Essay on Technology

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:13:48 +0000

Me…Ta..Da…Ta…? Haha. It’s the same with my car. It’s completely falling apart (at least the windows are slowly ripping apart since they’re plastic) but I’m afraid to get something newer because at least with this one I know I can fix/change everything myself. There’s the starter. There’s the oil filter. It’s nice when you can talk directly to something you use everyday rather than having some crappy computer decipher it for you.

By: Mike2D2

Mike2D2 — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:56:35 +0000

Can’t wait till they’re projecting movies on the moon.
Love the thought of a camera as paintbrush.
I’m way behind the curve on ipods; just got a used 8gb one recently. Was using a Sandisk 1gb media player for the longest time. I’d put it on random and it would play the songs in the same order every time (almost became poignant).
Technology is overrated. I had to dust off my old, virus infested laptop just to rip some cds; my new computer is now incapable of retrieving metadata. Maybe people don’t do that anymore.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 05:54:54 +0000

Hey Paul,

First of all, I forgot to say sorry your iPod broke. That should have been implied, since it’s a bummer. I liked your iPod, too.

I actually still have my iPod from about 7 or 8 years ago. Angela’s using it now, but you’re right that it’s sad that such a short period of time can be considered “long” for anything, really. Well, anything like electronics or entertainment. I suppose an 8-year dental surgery procedure could legitimately be considered “long.”

I’m glad it worked out in terms of iPods, but we’ll just have to see if your culture can stop grasping for the next, newest shiny things that come out.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:24:57 +0000

The thing that really pisses me off about it is the planned obsolescence. Shouldn’t a company be proud that they can create a product that will be relevant for more than 4 years?

But regarding movies, it’s moving even faster than that. Every 6 months there’s something new which blows everyone’s mind and is all of a sudden the only thing that movies can be shot on, yet there’s still analog equipment from the 70s and 80s which holds its value and still sounds great. With the exponential gains in technological advancement, things come and go even faster. I mean, even if you look at the content: They announced the Batman reboot before the last trilogy was even finished! For some reason, everyone finds it necessary to have new things ALL the FREAKING TIME! Or at least it’s the media’s job to make us think that we do.

Anyways, I took the iPod back. Then, coincidentally, later that night one of my friends came over and said that he had an old broken one sitting in his car. It still worked, but the screen was cracked. So he gave it to me.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:19:54 +0000

Interesting take on technology, Paul, and I like the points you make. I guess everything becomes obsolete, especially technology, so we should pay more attention to the substance of what it’s giving us, as opposed to the machine we’re getting it from? Maybe?

So what did you do with the iPod? How’d you solve everything?