Pop Music Notes

…and it’s Calvin. But I’m skipping too far ahead.

I have compiled my music in one place as long as I’ve been able to possess music. From filing my 45s in order to recording a lot of music off the radio onto cassette tapes, it’s been a bit of an obsession. So when the 80GB and 160 GB iPods came on the scene, I HAD to have one. Why I bought the 80 instead of the larger model still boggles my mind (it wasn’t THAT much different in price), but that’s what I went with. It was my second iPod…the first just didn’t have enough space for me to carry ALL the music everywhere I went.

Calvin was purchased from Apple in 2006, and I took advantage of the free engraving. Feeling a tad subversive, I chose “This iPod’s mine, BETCH!” because the profanity filter at that factory in China wouldn’t catch it, plus I was trapped in a Kelly/”Shoes” phase that wouldn’t let go for quite a while. (Side note: “Shoes” holds up much better than it should) As I prepared to drive across the Midwest and move to Michigan the following year, first and foremost in preparations was creating playlists to power the cross-country drive, and now I didn’t have to worry about creating tapes or burning discs. I just had to figure out how to play the thing in a truck (thank you FM transmitter).

I’ve gone through three or four sport bands that hold Calvin when we go to the gym or for a run, and I’ve been through a LOT of headphones. Currently I have a pair of Yurbuds that won’t slip out when I’m drenched in sweat, and the plastic covers do a nice job of blocking outside noise. Sometimes when I’m on a plane, I’ll wear the headphones just to get peace and quiet without the iPod on.

A lot of the writeups about iPod Classic’s demise (a totally appropriate name, given the ground it broke back in 2001) have stated “sales of the iPod Classic have dropped in recent years,” and that is a true statement. However, it’s not a fair statement to make in this day and age where Apple regularly updates its products every 12-24 months to improve technology and drive sales. Calvin hasn’t received a software update in years, and between his amazing battery life and solid package, he hasn’t really needed it. This should be a testament to great engineering and how long-lasting technology can still exist. Sadly, that long-lasting technology most likely contributed to its demise. There is no money these days in quality, just quantity.

Man, this is reading like an obituary, isn’t it? And it shouldn’t. Calvin is alive and well and hopefully will be doing so for quite a while. The little spider cracks in the upper right corner of his screen are more like crows’ feet to me. Neither of us are as shiny as we were when we first appeared, but we’re both still kicking. I’ve already compressed the quality of my music on Calvin to fit more on his limited memory and he’s handling it like a champ. But I may have to find a backup, just in case.

And the name? “Calvin and Hobbes,” of course!