I'VE DISCOVERED THE SECRET OF THE iPOD!!!

It's PLAYLISTS!!! :D

I'm guessing any regular Mac user probably could have told me that... But you DIDN'T, you bastards.

I'm a pc user.

By default, in all honesty, not by choice. My writing heroes talk about the glory of the Mac, but you see... I'm NOT a rich man.

And I've inherrited all my computers. I haven't bought my own computer yet. I've purchased a PS2 and now a Video iPod, but I haven't yet bit the bullet and purchased my own computer.

(I will as soon as I can, though, because mine are dead now, and I'm using Brian's computers at the moment. Not purchasing your own computer means that you're accepting a computer that's too old for someone else, sadly.)

So anyway, as glorious and wonderful as the Video iPod is, it was also unspeakably vexing! The audiobooks I had transfered to mp3s from cds would play out of order because Apple programmers wouldn't let me make MY OWN FRIGGIN' FOLDERS!!!

I mean, the ZVUE (Mircrosoft's initial go at competing with the Video iPod) has an incredibly limited selection of compatible video available, BUT AT LEAST THEY LET ME MAKE MY OWN FOLDERS!!!

Ever since I got into computers I discovered a real knack for organization. I'm quite good at creating places to store things so that I can access them quickly and easily in the future.

The ZVUE encouraged me to do my own organizing.

The iPod simply wouldn't hear of it.

The iPod programmers apparently feel that I only need so many folders, and they'll name the folders for me, and when I drop content into Eddy What Travels w/Ray Jay (that's the name of my iPod... The iPod programmers WERE kind enough to let me name him, bless them :D ) it goes JUST WHERE EVER the iPod programmers decided it should go! Even if it's counter-intuitive -- like putting audiobook tracks in my Music folder!!!

And then... AND THEN...

...I'm listening to Allison DuBois's second book yesterday morning (ThurFri night, in my time) and it kept hoppin' around from chapter to chapter, disc to disc!!!

HOW FRUSTRATING IS THAT?!!

I'm having an emotional moment about a woman dealing with the loss of her child, and them I'm hearing about what happened and didn't happen ON THE TV SHOW!!!

I mean, the whole book is wonderful and spiritually uplifting... BUT IN ORDER!!!

And I can't rename the tracks so that they play in the correct order, because Eddy only knows what THE COMPUTER THAT CONVERTED THEM NAMED THEM!!! [I used to convert stuff in batches and rename it after it was converted to save time, but my ZVUE taught me to go ahead and take the time to work on the titles and tags as I was converting because apparently sometimes computers ignore humans and only listen to what OTHER COMPUTERS tell them.]

But that's not even the worst! HERE's the WORST...

I found the free movie trailers on iTunes -- which is brilliant, because movie trailers are (when they're done right) like 3-minute jumbled-up mini-movies -- and I happily downloaded them onto Eddy...

...AND MY FRIGGIN' iPOD COULDN'T FIND THEM!!!

Tonight at work I was gonna show My Genius Friend Dave the trailer for GHOST RIDER (because I know he doesn't get to the movies much and figured he probably hasn't seen it yet... and I was correct) AND MY iPOD COULDN'T FIND IT!!!

I've gotten in the habbit of, once a week since I got the beautiful iPod, sharing some short treasure with My Genius Friend Dave, because he works WAY too much, and needs more little treasures in his life, I feel.

(As he reads this, he's laughing, but he's also agreeing. ;P )

And tonight, I was unable to keep up the tradition.

LUCKILY, however, I CRACKED THE CODE!

It turns out that the iPod programmers weren't as narrow-minded as I first assessed. (Presumptuous and arrogant, yes. But not narrow-minded.) (Do I come across as bitter?) They built in a back door of sorts to compensate for their presumtion...

...THE PLAYLIST!

So hear me now, all non-Mac users who seek to own and manipultae an iPod...

It IS possible for a PC user to hear his/her audiobooks IN ORDER and WITHOUT having purchased them from iTunes, or to watch his/her free movie trailers...

You simply make a playlist in iTunes!

THEN... You select that playlist for syncronization!

Now, if it's an audiobook that you converted yourself, or free movie trailers, the playlist will be found in the Music section of your iPod syncronization interface... BUT YOU'LL GET TO HAVE THINGS YOUR WAY!!!

It's not the same as being allowed to create your own folders on YOUR portable media device... But it works.

And THAT'S the key: Subjugating Technology to serve Humanity's needs/desires/whims/organizational-preferences.

THAT is the Secret Of The iPod.

....

Btw: For all my bitching and moaning, I REALLY DO LOVE my Video iPod!!! I've watched, like, 7 or the current 9 episodes of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP on it so far. And lots of KIM POSSIBLE and JOHNNY BRAVO. PLUS... the only episode of HEROES I've seen, I watched it on my iPod, along with the pilot for SKYLAND and FRISKY DINGO. Ooh! AND Pink's video for "U + Ur Hand". (Friggin' HOT!!!)

And everytime I've shown someone my new toy, they comment on how crisp and clear the image is (something NEVER heard when I showed them video on my ZVUE).

So it really is a magnificent device! If you can afford one, go grab one! VERY cool! :D

I just add this last bit because I don't want to be unfair. Now that we know The Secret we can enjoy our new toy the way we want to! :D

Ooh! And did I mention the Slideshow option?!! I have a folder on my iPod of Gnomey pics, and I can view them as a slideshow, which is really nice! :D Particularly during my work-week when I don't get to see her as much.