iPod, iMac, iWant!

Any statement hailing technological advances as incredible would stating the glaring and the obvious. In any case, that realization would not stop me from raving about some Apple products. Apple, of course, is not a fruit but Apple Computer, the company formed by the two trailblazing Steves - Jobs and Wozniak, the makers of the first personal computer Apple II. It is again incredible that these two are very much alive and very young at present (unlike Thomas Edison when I first read about him), enjoying their millionaire lives. This fact highlights how recent the world has been ushered into the computer age. And life changing was the introduction of this technology, indeed. For now, it is unimaginable how a student, a teacher, or an employee of a company can work in what he has been accustomed to as efficient without the help of computers. All these technological advances definitely make life easier for humans, no doubt. But sometimes I feel these are making us lazy, less patient and less hardworking as the previous generations. Just a thought. And oh, technology has blurred our needs and wants, especially with regard to entertainment in particular.

Okay, I admit. There may still be some sectors of society who believes that entertainment is a want and not a need but let us just suppose it is a need for purposes of this rumination. I guess some might say that some forms of entertainment are more wants than needs, as shown by the fact that we have previously survived without it. Take the case of digital music players , iPods in particular. I am sure there were those who had vinyl, long playing albums collections, or cassete tape collections for that matter. Few would probably have a thousand compact discs, containing, say, 15 songs each. Let us just say that the average number of CDs per person is 500 so that makes 7,500 songs. But since an average song let's say is 4 minutes, it would take 30,000 minutes or 500 hours or 21 days to be listen to all 7,500 songs, and that is continiuosly at that. But let's say an average person listens to his music player for 15 hours max, he would then be able to listen to 225 4-minute songs. In short, having an iTunes which can store 7,500 songs is like carrying along with you a radio station which will play songs at your whim. Of course, I personally prefer listening to the radio if only to experience the element of surprise not having any idea what will play next but I guess having such a large collection would give that same "element of surprise".. but I don't have that much collection... Nah. I'm digressing.


Of course, the 30 gigabyte capacity iPod video is not the model with the largest capacity. There are the 60GB and the incredible 80GB iPod video, able to store 15,000 and 20,000 songs, respectively. Whoa! Of course, the iPod video can store not only songs but also iPod compatible pictures and videos. While I'm not much interested with its photo storage capacity, I am amazed with iPod's video capabilities. This is actually the reason why I want my own iPod. For several months now, I have been putting off buying an iPod for myself, hoping they will come up with a new and improved version, thus driving down the prices for the older but still very good model. I knew the wait was worth it as not only did the price for the 30GB dropped, it was also improved along with the launch of the 80GB iPod video. This afternoon, I went to the Apple Store in Megamall to get the latest price list of iPods. True enough, the cost of the 60GB iPod video a year a go is not the proce tag of the 80GB iPod. While there was no change in the shuffle and nano prices, both are now upgraded and better than the previous models. I checked out the Apple Store Online, both the Hong Kong and Singapore pages and was thrilled to see that they sell iPods at a considerable lower price, some for 5,000 less than the Manila price! Hmn...


Apart from the music storage capabilities of the iPod video, I am most thrilled with the fact that it would now allow me to watch video podcasts which I download for free. Yes, podcasts of good quality are available and abound in the internet. Wonderful, wonderful. I get to watch news podcasts of ABC News and listen to CNN, MSNBC and a host of other reputable news companies. I also get to download podcasts of language lessons which are really helpful. All of these makes a content-maniac out of me.


And while I was lurking around the Apple Store in Megamall, I had the occasion to take a second look at imacs which I have previously conceived as very expensive, impractical and not high in the utility aspect. Lo and behold, taking a closer look at its specs, it seems like reasonably must-have gadget after all. Especially since it comes with lots of original Apple software, pre-loaded into the Mac Book plus it also has Microsoft Office 2004. Add to that, it is faster than most other laptops and it has Airport Express or what is commonly known as wi-fi capabilities. Of course, the Apple Store Megamall price is way, way costlier than the Apple Store Online Hong Kong and Singapore prices.


Darn! Now I have to resist buying not just the iPod but the iMac as well! And it would definitely take a lot of control to resist these eye candies.

Sigh.

Must not.

They're just wants, not needs.


Note: In the interest of those who are planning to grab the Mac Book, my computer genius techie friend said that there is a difference between Intel Core Duo and Intel Code 2 Duo. These terms refer to processors, the improved version of Pentium. Core 2 Duo is faster than Core Duo and it also is more energy efficient specially if you are running your laptop on batteries. The Mac Book has Intel Core Duo only but I do not have info which laptops have Core 2 Duo and whether they are as affordable. Still, while I am not too particular about speed, battery longevity is very important to me considering that my Compaq Presario 700's batt didn't last longer than 1.5 hours and has now retired itself, fully drained and dead.

[Updated: October 16,2006]