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September 25, 2005

I finally bought one

I've finally been broken down. I never thought that I would actually do this, but the time finally came.

I am ashamed.

I am a marketing whore.

I am an iPod owner. :D

Actually, I've been wanting an iPod for a while now. Since the nano came out a few weeks ago, my interest has increased significantly. I've been toying around with purchasing a nano, but the biggest problem is 1) it's price and 2) it's lack of availablity. As a result, I've been looking at the Shuffle instead.

Now, here has been my thinking on the Shuffle thus far:

Positives -
1. It's small and ultra compact, meaning it'll fit in my pocket.
2. It's an iPod.
3. It's inexpensive.

Cons -
1. No screen to navigate with.
2. Limited storage capacity (the 512MB model, at least).
3. It's small and ultra compact, meaning I can lose it.

I've been staying away from the iPod Shuffle mainly for the memory issue. I couldn't justify spending $130.00 plus tax on the 1GB model when for $70 more I could have a 4GB mini or a 2GB nano.

Yes, the $30.00 price difference between the 512MB and 1GB model DOES make that much difference to me.

Today, while at Wally World, I happened by the display case for digital audio players. There were some good deals in the case, but the one that stood out, as always, was the iPods. Amanda urged me to get the 512MB Shuffle because of it's price of $99, but I told her I didn't want it. I knew that if I got online I could find a better price on the 1GB model ... there HAD to be some place out there that was selling this thing for around $100.

So, when we got home, I immediately began searching. Sure enough, every web site that I hit had the same price. Some with shipping, others without. I knew I could save a bit of coin on the shipping portion, but I still couldn't find the 1GB Shuffle for $100.

Then I found it.

On the Apple Web site, I noticed a link ... kinda out of the way and not really visable on first glance, but it was there. It said: "Looking for a Great Deal?"

I said: "Yes" and clicked on the link.

Sure enough, on the refurb page of the Apple store site, there was exactly what I was looking for ... an iPod Shuffle, 1GB, for a mere $99.00. I told Amanda what I found and she immediately encouraged me to go for it. After all, it's not every day you find exactly what you're looking for ... and I knew that I wasn't going to find a 1GB Shuffle cheaper than this. I logged into my Mac store account and bought the Shuffle.

Now, what's nice about this whole arrangement is that I have a Belkin wireless FM transmitter. My car CD player isn't exactly the newest model, but does play burned CD's. Instead of burning a massive amount of CD's to keep in the car, instead I can bring along two very small items that fit in my pocket, tune in my radio to the frequency of the FM transmitter, hit play on the Shuffle and be on my merry little way.

Here's my two toys, the Shuffle and FM transmitter.

What's also nice is that I was planning on purchasing a 1GB USB thumb drive. Since the Shuffle is essentially a USB thumb drive on crack, I can use it to transfer files and shit as well as music. To me, it's a great win-win situation that saved me a ton of cash.

Yay me.

~out...

Posted by ed at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)