December 2, 2007 - Sunday
My Testimony
So before you read this and think WHAT KIND OF A FREAK IS THIS GUY, realize that everything in this blog is blown completely out of proportion, and that the only sentences that are not widely exaggerated is the first two in the following paragraph. If you're not entertained by my ridiculous story, skip to the end and I'll talk about my iPod touch I recently ordered (which is not exaggerated. Lol).
Recently I switched religions. I've decided that Apple is superior to Microsoft. I don't know exactly how to say it, other than Apple slowly crept into my life like a cancer, silently infecting my perception, swiftly invading my mind, and, with roaring battle drums and blazing war horns, made a triumphant assault on the deep fortress of my soul.
I grew up around PCs. For the first 16 years of my life, I didn't even know what a Mac was. Life seemed good, and Microsoft defined what I thought of as a computer.
Twenty three months ago, on a cursed Christmas morning, I was overjoyed to find an MP3 player waiting for me under the tree. Little did I know that this innocent gadget, having no association with Macs or Apple, would be my first step to destruction.
My MP3 player, known as Zen Sleek (quite an advanced, intellectual sounding name), became my best friend. We went on walks together, had picnics with each other, and once even went on a 300 mile road trip. From the minute I laid eyes on it, I was sure that our relationship would last forever, and that we would grow old together. I knew it would always make me happy. And it did. For about three weeks.
Little did I know that this devious trinket had led me to dependency. MP3 had become my addiction. I had lost the ability to use CDs, CD players, and radios. Even walkmans had lost their appeal. Three weeks after the Christmas morning that seemed so glorious, calamity hit my world like soldiers hit the shores of Normandy on D-day. I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was a beautiful January evening. The fire was blazing, and my love and I were nestled beneath a warm blanket, listening to our favorite mix of serene music. Suddenly, the music stopped. I pressed the play button, and nothing happened. Frantically, I looked at the screen. It was frozen! Though I pushed the buttons frantically, nothing happened. I got a pin, and pressed the reset button. My precious Zen restarted, and began playing as usual. Unfortunately, it froze again and again, after only a few minutes of playing. Horrified, I tried to find a receipt to get an exchange from the store. However, since I had gotten dear Zen for Christmas, there was no receipt to be found. Soon, death crept over her beautiful face, and her life was lost.
I was lost in life. I had no idea what to fall back on. Radios, CDs, and even my walkman, who had accompanied me for years, had all lost its functions, and had become completely foreign to me. Quitting my MP3 addiction was not possible. I had no choice. I had to purchase another MP3 player.
I went out and looked around at the different MP3 players. I looked at many – all of them looked worthless. I didn't want to get another MP3 player only to have in break my heart yet again. Then, I met the 30 gig iPod video. When our eyes met, I knew it was love. I purchased it, even though I knew it was an apple product. To make a long story short, not only did it replace my song player, it gave me a new addiction: Video. I could now play videos on my iPod as well as store pictures of very large women to gross out my fellow classmates (which gave me such joy!). It fulfilled my expectations, and not once did it have a glitch in the year and a half that I owned it.
Obviously, the greatest benefit of having a job that pays well is the ability to spend money like the government. So, I decided to upgrade my iPod. 30 gigs of music way more than enough, because I buy all my music. My videos and photos don't take up that much space, so needing more memory was not a problem. I began to look into other iPods, when I saw the iPod touch, which is what I currently own.
iPod Touch
Pros (features)
The main difference between the Touch and the other iPods is that it comes with a touch screen. Rather than using the classic click wheel, you simply touch whichever option you want. To switch to the next picture in a slide show, simply flick it to the right or left. Zoom in on a picture by pinching your fingers together, touching the screen, and moving your fingers apart. The Touch screen is also roughly twice the size of the other iPods, which enables it to play widescreen videos. Totally awesome.
Ambient Light Sensor. This means that it detects the amount of light from the room you're in and adjusts the brightness of the screen. Thus, if you're watching a video in a dark room, the brightness will be toned down to save battery and not hurt your eyes. If this is not your preference, this feature can be disabled. It comes in quite handy.
Accelerometer. In essence, turn the screen 90 or 180 degrees, and the Touch adjusts itself so that the picture/display/webpage/etc is automatically upright. It pretty much blew my mind when I saw it.
Safari. If the Touch is near a wireless network, it has the ability to log on to the internet. Since my house already has a wireless router for my laptop, I can use that to connect to the internet whenever I am within 300 feet of my house. When I am at Simpson, I use the colleges router. Most of my friends have routers at their houses, so I can connect to the internet when I am there. Pretty much wherever there is a router without a password, I can connect and surf Safari. Also, there is no monthly charge for this feature. This makes checking my email from professors much more accessible, as well as checking my MySpace/facebook, etc. Because the Touch has access to the internet, I can buy songs online and wirelessly download them to my Touch. When I hook up the Touch to my laptop, these songs will automatically be copied to my library. It's accurate to say that I'm now on Safari just as much as Firefox, and that Internet Explorer has become obsolete.
Price: 8 gigs for $300 or 16 gigs for $400. After looking into it and reading some reviews, I was shocked by the price. With the beautiful touch screen, internet access I expected it to be at least $500. For many pirates, 16 gigs isn't enough to hold all their stolen booty. This is one huge reason people aren't as attracted to the Touch. I personally got the 8g. Yes, the 16g holds TWICE as much memory. But looking at it logically, its only another 8g. 8g isn't worth a hundred bucks to me. Also, it's unlikely that I'll ever need more than 8g because I delete songs when I get bored of them. Call me crazy, but logically it makes sense to clean out my iPod of stuff I'll never listen to anyways.
Cons
No buttons. This for the most part is great, but there is one problem. I can't skip to the next song by feel. Unlike with my 30gig, If I am driving in my car listening to my iPod, I have to glance down to look at the screen to find the skip button. This makes me nervous, and since I am finicky about driving hazards, I decided to simply choose a playlist or genre to listen to when I first start my car, and refrain changing songs after that. As far as not being able to adjust the iPod by feel when its in my pocket and I'm walking around campus or at the mall? I just love how easily the Touch catches peoples eyes and makes them drool all over themselves like a fat kid on thanksgiving. It's also easily mistaken for the iPhone 
On screen keyboard. Since the touch pad is only three and a half inches wide, that's the widest they could make the keypad. Typing actually isn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. With a bit of patience and a lot of practice, I was able to type almost flawlessly. I'm obviously not as fast as I am on a regular keyboard, but that's expected. Let's just say I wouldn't want to type up a paper using my Touch.
Differences between iPhone and iPod Touch:
iPhone is either 4g or 8g, compared to 8g or 16g
iPhone is $100 more
iPhone has completely unlimited internet access, and does not require a router
iPhone, like any phone, has a monthly bill, but…
iPhone makes calls, and can text if you way a little extra per month. Texting uses the onscreen keyboard, rather than T9 that comes standard with most phones (I would prefer the keypad personally)
iPhone, like any phone, requires that you sign up for a two year agreement (AT&T)
The Touch has a few basic gadgets, such as a World Clock, YouTube channel, calendar/planner, list of contacts, world clock, and calculator.
iPhone comes with all of the above, as well as a few internet related programs, such as a personal email program, weather, mapping, stock checking, etc.
Except for the reduced space, the iPhone is by far a better, more advanced product. The only reason I bought the touch instead of the iPhone is that I still live at home, and I think my parents forgot that they pay for my Sprint cell phone bill. So pretty much I'm hoping that lasts a couple more years, then they finally make me start paying for it, I'll prolly get an iPhone. If you can't afford an iPhone, or your parents pay for your cell phone bills still, I'd say the Touch is the way to go.
So back to my story. Sure Microsoft developed the Xbox 360, and it's great. But from my experience, Microsoft products are really glitchy (ie: my laptop and all desktop computers, along with many programs we bought with them, Vista, my 360, etc.). I haven't used many macs very much, but I have noticed they seem to be a bit nicer looking. Considering that pretty much all my friends are pro-mac, I'm sure it won't be hard to get familiar with one before I decide the epic question of whether macs or PCs are better.
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