Fray Bentos gets updated
I had never heard of iPods until my younger son bought one a year or two ago. Even then I wasn't quite sure how they differed from those portable telephones so many people use nowadays. However, my dear wife bought me an iPod for Christmas. I then recognised it as one of the devices which some of my work colleagues produce from their pockets to display pornographic video clips. Indeed, I once witnessed the edifying spectacle of a group of our younger employees grouped around one of these things guffawing as they watched film of a man having his head sawn off by Islamic fundamentalists.
But now I understand that the iPod is basically a miniature gramophone ...and jolly entertaining little toys they are too. A month after being given mine I have finally worked out how to use it. For this I had to go out and buy a book. Those of you who own an iPod will know that they come with a little folded sheet of paper with pictures showing how to turn it on and off, and how to use the "click wheel". The manufacturer does not feel it incumbent upon himself to confide any more than this to the purchaser. It's all a racket I suppose. You have to go out and buy the book. The books could not be produced without the co-operation of the manufacturer, and such co-operation would not be forthcoming if the manufacturer did not get some kind of rake-off ...whether directly by the purchase of his goodwill and co-operation, or from a royalty on each book sold, or indirectly in the form of disguised advertising, I don't know. There's a certain wry amusement to be had when you read a teeny licenced criticism inserted by the author to let us know how independent-minded and objective he is.
So, I've spent much of the weekend pipelining the contents of my CDs into the iPod ...a task of many tedious repeated stages which involve filleting out all the stuff I've grown tired of, then, since most of the material I've tackled so far originated as mp3 downloads back in the great days of Limewire and Win MX, giving names to all the tracks so that I don't get umpteen Track 1s, 2s &c. What with all the beginner's mistakes and restorations to factory settings, it's occupied me all day for the best part of two days. I suppose I'm bound to get bored with it long before I've half finished the job, just as I did with the almighty project to convert all my vinyl records into CDs. Tell you what though ...I didn't realise how much Cliff Richard I had in my collection.
Fray Bentos gets updated
I had never heard of iPods until my younger son bought one a year or two ago. Even then I wasn't quite sure how they differed from those portable telephones so many people use nowadays. However, my dear wife bought me an iPod for Christmas. I then recognised it as one of the devices which some of my work colleagues produce from their pockets to display pornographic video clips. Indeed, I once witnessed the edifying spectacle of a group of our younger employees grouped around one of these things guffawing as they watched film of a man having his head sawn off by Islamic fundamentalists.
But now I understand that the iPod is basically a miniature gramophone ...and jolly entertaining little toys they are too. A month after being given mine I have finally worked out how to use it. For this I had to go out and buy a book. Those of you who own an iPod will know that they come with a little folded sheet of paper with pictures showing how to turn it on and off, and how to use the "click wheel". The manufacturer does not feel it incumbent upon himself to confide any more than this to the purchaser. It's all a racket I suppose. You have to go out and buy the book. The books could not be produced without the co-operation of the manufacturer, and such co-operation would not be forthcoming if the manufacturer did not get some kind of rake-off ...whether directly by the purchase of his goodwill and co-operation, or from a royalty on each book sold, or indirectly in the form of disguised advertising, I don't know. There's a certain wry amusement to be had when you read a teeny licenced criticism inserted by the author to let us know how independent-minded and objective he is.
So, I've spent much of the weekend pipelining the contents of my CDs into the iPod ...a task of many tedious repeated stages which involve filleting out all the stuff I've grown tired of, then, since most of the material I've tackled so far originated as mp3 downloads back in the great days of Limewire and Win MX, giving names to all the tracks so that I don't get umpteen Track 1s, 2s &c. What with all the beginner's mistakes and restorations to factory settings, it's occupied me all day for the best part of two days. I suppose I'm bound to get bored with it long before I've half finished the job, just as I did with the almighty project to convert all my vinyl records into CDs. Tell you what though ...I didn't realise how much Cliff Richard I had in my collection.