TheBanyanTree: Kaput

[Margaret R. Kramer]

The sizzle on our sidewalks was slammed by a cold front yesterday and it was
replaced by a chill which got me to wear my sweatpants and sweatshirt when I
walked Axel this morning.  I can’t hear the birds singing as our windows are
shut tight to keep out the cold air.  However, it’s a nice break from the
recent summer heat.  I don’t feel any pressure to be outside today.  I’ll
get the crockpot fired up and bake some bread.  I’ll cut the grass and water
the garden.  I think I might go for a bike ride.  And then I’ll burrow
myself in my cocoon and play indoors.

If I decide to spend time on my computer, then I’ll continue to copy CDs to
my new ipod nano.  Yes, my big hard drive ipod (It was 40 gigs with 11 days
of music stored on it – my entire CD collection) died a violent death; it’s
hard drive rattling and hissing and spinning aimlessly for hours until the
battery wore down.  I tried to stop it.  I tried the click wheel
combinations, retrying, restoring, and then I finally gave up.  I was going
to send it back to Apple and for $249, I would get another hard drive ipod,
which again, would probably die within 1.5 years.

My big ipod started acting goofy a few weeks ago.  It would lock up, skip
songs, and fade out as I was using it.  I made sure the software was
upgraded.  I flipped the toggle switch back and forth a few times.  I tried
defragging it.  It didn’t occur to me that the hard drive was shot until it
stopped working entirely.  Good-bye CD collection.  All that work for
nothing.

I learned the hard way that hard drive ipods are not good exercise partners.
They’re full of moving parts which don’t like to be jarred and bumped.  I
kept my ipod in my pocket while weightlifting and then would place it on the
cardio machine, so it didn’t get shaken too much.  But then I threw it in my
bag, which got thrown in the car, which got bumped and thumped, and then I
would get it out of my bag when I got home to charge up the battery.  Hard
drives don’t like to be moved too much.

I used the $249 and bought a 4 gig nano, which holds about 1,000 songs.  It
uses a flash drive and doesn’t have the moving parts like the big ipod.  It’
s much better for exercising and it’s much smaller, so it easily tucks into
my shorts pocket and it isn’t clunking me in the leg like the big ipod.

So yet again I began the process of moving my CD music to an ipod.  This
time I’m copying only “exercise” music since I have such limited space.  But
that’s why I use my ipod – to listen to music I like while working out.

I still have the big boy in my desk drawer.  When I can find a magnifying
glass and can get the serial number off of it, I might send it back to
Apple.  I’m not sure what to do with it.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.
~Bern Williams