My First iPod: A Compromise of Principle?

To say I'm not a "Mac person" wouldn't be truthful. In fact, my dad bought one of the original "Apple IIe" computers in 1984 -- a $2,500 beast that saved data on giant floppy disks, only displayed in green pixels, and drew admiring gasps even from my parents' "yuppie" friends.

Then, my grandpa passed a MacIntosh along to me. I perched the ponderous one-piece device on my desk. I was nine years old at the time, and the primitive version of "Paint" and the rudimentary day-planner software were the cat's meow -- even if the self-contained screen was no bigger than the monitor on an ATM machine.

But the winds of change blew -- and sometime just before iPod fever started catching on, I turned my fancy to PCs. Accordingly, I refused to get an iPod and instead purchased a Sansa MP3 player. It wasn't as sleek, but there were a number of clear advantages:

1. Powered by a single triple-A battery, I don't have to bother with an iPod charger that costs an arm and a leg if you lose it.


2. It has an FM radio -- something conspicuously absent with the iPod.


3. Everyone and their mom didn't own it, unlike the iPod.
   

But a few days ago, I became the unsuspecting owner of an iPod Shuffle when a friend who is planning on moving overseas gave it away. It's cute, made even cuter since my brother Matt named it Shuffy. Nevertheless, I'm still a bit skeptical. In my opinion, iTunes is kinda ugly -- about as aesthetic as an Excel spreadsheet, and I want Windows Media Player back.

I also feel like I'm compromising. Are Shuffy and I giving in to the torrent of iPod conformity? Am I being sucked into the Steve Jobs marketing vortex and limiting myself to astronomically priced iPod-compatible accessories? What has become of my principles!

Nevertheless, Shuffy and I are getting along swimmingly, and I am very grateful for the gift. Let's see if it converts me back to those Mac roots.