Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Song Remains The Same

I've always been proud of my ability to make stuff last, an ability that comes in handy on our family budget. The washer and dryer that we had when we were married lasted over a decade before needing a replacement. Said replacement has been in service now for nearly a decade as well.

The family car had a water pump that no longer worked and the cost to repair it was more than the used car had cost to buy in the first place. We drove it for 6 months that way while we tried to save money for a replacement, with the car literally stalling out in the parking lot of the car dealership on the day when we finally had decided to replace it.

And so we come to my CD/MP3 player, a device I bought to play my music after I spent ages converting my old record albums to mp3. As all music collectors know, there were many, many albums that either had tracks butchered to make it fit on one CD, or were never released in a digital format at all.

Anyway, I bought the player about 5 years ago and it's working fine, except the "reverse" button has become stuck, and no longer works. Not a big deal on a CD with at most 2 dozen tracks, but what happens if you want to go back 100 tracks? Anyway, I figured it might be worthwhile to check out the whole "ipod" thing. So my wife took me to a local store that carries such things to at least have a look.

I quickly learned that the actual ipod brand had a whole lot of restrictions on it's use in comparison to other digital mp3 players. It also had a more substantial price than it's fellows.

All the advantages I wanted from my CD/mp3 player would cost extra money to regain. Want to switch out music on the road? Forget bringing a bunch of discs. You need a 4 GB expansion card, and only the more expensive player can provide a slot. Plug into an outlet to save battery usage? Make your way over to get an A/C adapter. Speaking of batteries, they are indeed rechargeable, but no longer are the kind you can change with spares from the kitchen drawer. A special battery and probably someone to do the work without breaking the machine or voiding the warranty is needed.

At the end of all this, I described what I presently owned to the sales associate and he led us away from the flashy display in the middle of the store, to a lonely corner past the checkout stand, where I saw a newer version of what I had, with a much higher price than what I'd paid for the one I owned. We left the store empty-handed, with my wife saying, "we can get that at (STORE X) for a lot less".

Then, this very morning, I read an article on CNN.com about how for the past year or more, some of the ipods have been smoking, melting, or catching fire because of the same lithium ion battery problem that prompted a recall of portable computers--but NO recall of any ipods.

I think I might keep my current player a while longer. I'd rather not be able to go in reverse than go forward to the emergency room.

Mike