neurological dryer lint

not much new. back to school today - im taking operations management (again) and IS430, also called systems analysis and design.

i've been thinking about what to do if my ipod dies.

i've come to the conclusion that the one thing i really would suffer to be without is my music. say what you will about my attention span or my terrible american spoiledness or my affinity for gadgets. i got my ipod because i wanted the best MP3 player i could buy and i wanted to be able to carry around a significant chunk of my music collection. having a bunch of stuff (5320 songs at last count) from dozens of genres comforts me. i take a few of my more expensive passions seriously, and while i could let video games or movies go, i pretty much need some portable music for the walk to class or the hours and hours in the car during the week.

no, i'm not rationalizing. i'm explaining it. honestly, i probably don't need to - if you're reading this you know i like my music, but yeah, it's just something i like.

so if (when, really) the battery goes completely south in the next 3-6 months, i could do the following:

A: replace the battery. either drop $50 at ipodbattery.com or $100 at apple.
B: get a new one. i figured the baby ipod's that were rumored to be sub-$100 would work, but now it looks like they're gonna be $250 and be 4GB. i could drop an extra $50 and get a 15GB model. i don't know why you wouldn't. if you need 4GB, you probably need 15GB. and if you're up to spending $250 already, go in another 20% and triple your storage space. and get solitaire.
C: get a different MP3 player - the iRiver, the cool little Rio Karma, or the Zen from Creative Labs. Renee's got the 20GB previous model Zen, and while it's a nice device i never really dug on the interface or the software. battery life is good, though.

oh BTW - if you dig jimmy eat world's stuff grab clarity (their last full album, before bleed american, from '99). these guys have been that good for that long. bleed american is in my top five albums of the last few years, easily in my top ten of all time - like always, cuz i can listen to it on repeat and still love it. oddly enough the only song i've begun to dislike is the middle, their best-known track. anyway. great vocals and harmonies, great drums, interesting songs, good lyrics. good stuff.