An Affair to Remember

I've finally come to terms with the fact that, in the relationship with my iPod, we just come from different worlds.

The wreck of the day in this continuing love affair is the appearance this morning of the 'sad iPod' on my display. If you haven't seen the sad iPod yet, consider yourself lucky. It is kin to its precursor, the sad Mac. It is an iPod with x's for eyes and a frown. I think the visceral response that it evokes in me harkens back to my childhood when Mr. Yuck stared at me from every corner of the room with his green face and menacing tongue.

I have always been a bit leery of all things Apple. I come from the PC world. The world of clunky unattractive boxes. But it's a familiar place to me. However, I have also harbored a deep envy of the sleek, sexy design of Apple products. So when I embraced the iPod movement last year, I fell deeply in love. When my first iPod was stolen this year, I was inconsolable for days. A dark cloud hung over my life. I felt as though I had lost a loved one. I quickly forgot the bad memories, such as the days that it refused to listen to me. The days that it refused to mount my laptop or rise to the occasion at all with the battery dying after little use.

When I purchased my next iPod, the relationship was back on. However, the affair only lasted a month before the device started being temperamental. After a week of trying all the cajoling and tampering I could muster, it was sent back to Apple and promptly replaced in 2 days. That was a week ago. And then today, the sad iPod appeared.

One piece of criticism that has always been consistent about Windows and PC’s is that the error messages that they give you are cryptic and unintelligible, that they leave you scratching your head. However, I can say that, at the very least, the error message that you are given has some technical reference. If you are a savvy user or a technician, you can use this message to find the root of the problem. The only thing that I know about my iPod this morning is that it is sad. I have no clue why. Does it need therapy? Why won’t it open up to me?

What is it about these funny little pieces of machinery that keeps us coming back over and over and subjecting ourselves to the abuse? I have to consider whether the give and take is more give or take. I can say this. When the relationship is good, it’s great. But when it’s bad, it’s really bad. And something deep inside of me tells me that the love affair between my iPod and me is coming to a point of no return.