The iPod Project, or, Too much of a good thing?

At the library where I work, a patron who came in regularly would chat with me about my iPod. At the time, I had a small iPod (that they don't even make anymore) and my husband had the larger one that held up to 20,000 songs. My patron couldn't wrap his head around this.

"How will he ever listen to 20,000 songs?" he'd ask.

Now, neither my nor my husband's iPod was full (even though he had a lot more than I did on his), but it was an interesting question- how will I ever listen to all the music I have on my iPod? So I decided to find out. I will listen to every song I have - just songs, mind you, not podcasts or tracks of audiobooks - in alphabetical order. I guessed it would take maybe a few months.

It's been 8, so far, and I'm only on the Ss.

I only listen to my iPod while walking by myself or doing yardwork. I walk 2-3 hours a week and yardwork is seasonal, but that gives an idea of how long this is taking me. Folks who listen in their cars on long commutes or other places would take much less time to pull this off. But it's been an enlightening exercise for me.

I have songs I forgot I had. Stuff I got free from iTunes and never deleted. Things I can't imagine why I put on there. Old albums I didn't even remember having on CD. Audiobooks I forgot to delete when I finished listening to them that come up in rotation.

Mind you, my new iPod is nowhere near full- and I have pictures eating up memory, too.

This project has been a lot of fun- it makes for some great segues. I have a CD of Yo-Y0 Ma's cello performances that are titled with the composer's name- Bach. After listening to a whole CD's worth of lyrical music, the next song alphabetically was AC-DC's Back in Black. Sometimes Gorillaz finishes and a Sandra Boynton song comes on. Gotta love it.

So my patron is right about one thing- it's difficult to remember what's there. But I can't say it's too much of a good thing to have that much memory; after all, I can still add more pictures, and I've been building up podcasts I haven't listened to yet. In theory I could add movies, if I wanted to watch on a tiny little screen. The capacity of the device may not be used up, but I'm having a lot of fun with it anyway.

It's warm out today. Maybe I'll take the dogs for a walk, and see if I can get to the letter T.

(Originally posted on my Info Tech class blog)