My small thank you to Steve Jobs and Apple

I admit to being stunned when I heard the news about Steve Jobs's death yesterday. I knew he was not well, but considering it had only been six weeks since he'd retired, well...I was simply taken aback. I've read abundant tributes, many of which simply quoted Jobs's own eloquent sentiments. I never followed him that closely, nor do I know a great deal about him, but I can grasp, at least a little, what a visionary the world has lost.

I'm not an Apple person, per se. I don't run out and buy every single product they put out. I'm typing this on a PC, which in and of itself is proof that I've never been an Apple purist. Actually, Apple desktops and laptops have always been tempting, but I've never quite had the money for them. This is more about the one Apple product I've owned and loved.

Every audiobook I mention on this blog, I've listened to on an iPod. I've owned four of them in the last decade. My first one was a turquoise iPod Mini. Remember the mini? It's funny now to think that's what it was called, because subsequent generations of the ipod were so much slimmer and compact. Even so, I still think it's pretty cute. My next one was the 4th generation Nano, in red. Both of these, I ordered directly from Apple, and they had (and still do, I believe) that great feature where you could get the back of the iPod engraved. My mini bears a quote from T.S. Eliot: "You are the music while the music lasts." The red nano has one from John Milton: "Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie." They are lovely words and I wish I'd known them by heart, but in truth, I simply googled "quotes about music" and found them that way.

Since the nano, I've owned two generations of the iPod Touch. This is probably my favorite, simply because I love the ease of it, and all the apps, and the display, and...everything about it. It's comical, really, to look at the ipod touch and remember how the first iPods had no color or pictures, and had a tiny display screen. I admit, though, that while I love the Touch, I do kind of miss that quiet noise the click wheel made.

The fact that I've owned four of these may make it sound like they don't have any longevity. There may be mp3 players which last longer, but when I say I use the iPod, I don't mean casually. I use the hell out of it. I listen to music, podcasts, and audiobooks for nearly 40 hours a week. This only varies when it's KU basketball season and I have my little radio on for two hours during game nights. The iPod has been a faithful and true companion for me at work for nearly a decade, keeping me conscious (always a plus) and well-entertained on days when the hours seem to drag by. So while I may not be an Apple girl on all fronts, I'm an iPod girl through and through. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for making a product so fine.