When I moved to my apartment in the Boystown area of Lakeview, I visited the Intelligensia coffee house across the street just about every weekend. I also walked by the Argo Tea on my way to the then-cheap Japanese place to pick up my take-out. (I still do that, except now I pay more money.) What I noticed was how the people who choose to go to Intelligensia are different from the people who choose to go to Argo Tea. And the people who go to Argo Tea are different from the people who go to Starbucks.
Namely (and of course generally), the people who go to Starbucks with their computers use PCs. Those at Argo Tea are usually staring into Macbooks. (This is a photo on Flickr of the store by my house. How many Macs do you see?) And the folks at Intelligensia are bookworms and newspaper readers. (This is the one across the street. What are the guys by the window doing?) If I walk left out of my apartment building instead of right, I'll pass a Caribou Coffee, where the interior looks like a ski chalet and the coffee tables double as chess sets. Fan-see.
So I used to be a PC person. I used to have a clunky no-name laptop with no soul. In January 2007, it died and then I bought a Macbook. The mourning period was very brief for the PC. As was the decision buying process for the Macbook. I've had the Macbook for around 18 months now. It's the most expensive thing I've ever bought for myself.
I also have a 512MB MP3 player. The brand is "Creative MuVo". I bought it three years ago for about NT3,500 or around US$100. I could have picked an iPod but I purposely didn't. And I decided on 512MB because I couldn't see the point of walking around with a jukebox in my pants pocket. I still don't. That's too much choice for a morning commute.
The thing is, the MuVo player runs on AAA batteries. It's the only thing I own that needs a regular battery change. My current home phone, which cost $10 from Target and has a cord, uses two AA batteries but I haven't needed to change them yet. The MuVo battery thing bugs me because I'm pretty sure they don't last as long as they used to. And batteries in themselves are so 1988. Nothing in 2008 should require batteries.
So what's the point of saying all this? Well, I've decided to buy an iPod. OMG.
I'm getting an iPod because I want to download (and pay for) TV shows and movies from the iTunes store and watch them while I'm in airports and on planes. And I'm getting the 8GB iPod Nano instead of the 4GB because the 4GB only comes in silver and I want to get a black one and be matchy-matchy with my Macbook. Being matchy-matchy is crucial.
Best of all, replacing the battery-suck MP3 player with the iPod will be more sustainable because I won't need batteries. (I'm ashamed to say I've never brought my used batteries to the office to be recycled.) Other than that, this is an important move because when I buy something for myself or my living space here in Chicago I feel like it's permanent because I don't want to accumulate lots of stuff. So I think hard. I change my mind a lot. I write lengthy blog posts.
Bottom line: I'll soon be an iPod person instead of the other kind of person. I wish I didn't have to be an iPod person, but it doesn't really matter. No one cares because it's all about iPhone people now.
-----
Okay, now we talk money. Getting an iPod nano here in Chicago will cost me $199 plus $14.43 in taxes for a total of $213.43.
Based on today's currency exchange rates, doing the same will cost $226.10 in Taipei, $225.84 in Sydney and $250.99 in the UK.
Not bad, Chicago.
-----
Argh, I just talked to Jonathan at the lunch table and he told me Apple is likely to release new products in September. Including new iPods. Also he suggested I get an iPod Touch instead of a Nano because it can get online and the screen is much bigger than the Nano. The screen size thing sounds good, but do I need to get online? I don't know. Also the Touch is $299, though that might change if a new one comes out. I'm confused. Too much choice.
-----
Two hours later: Caught the train home with Ry and Zack and Katie. I asked them about iPods because that all that everyone's talking about these days. Ry says he's actually selling his iPod Touch cause he got a new phone. It's 16GB and he'll bring it in tomorrow to show me. Oh, interesting.
(Are you on the freaking edge of your seat?! This is a total nail-biter!
-----
Okie dokes. I'm buying Ry's 16GB iPod Touch! I tested it out over the weekend and it's great. Yay! Clap clap! Yay!
Ahh, this is a much better -- and cheaper -- solution to buying a new iPod, especially before I go back to Taipei at the end of the month. And I've kept my last dead battery on my desk to recycle. What a happy ending.
Recent Comments