Jon22: The Website of Jonathan Dobres

The inevitable has finally come to pass: I purchased an iPod this past weekend. As far as trendsetting goes, this puts me just days ahead of the Pope. You’d think I would have gotten one years ago, given my secret shrine to Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive, but there were always obstacles. At first it was that I was a college student and iPods weren’t affordable (free). By the time I had enough cash to afford one I worried about looking like a conformist.

It was this fear of conformity that caused me to use, and love, Winamp since I was in high school, back when mp3s were a shadow technology employed solely by hardened cyber criminals and pallid fourteen year-olds. Winamp’s unprecedented seven year run on my computer was dethroned when Dave got me an iTunes gift certificate. I opened iTunes to buy some songs and never touched Winamp again, uninstalling it a few weeks ago.

Then there were the life factors. A forty-five minute commute each way, and the maddening isolation of examining medical records on a regular basis. I needed a soundtrack, and I was intent on getting one through Apple hardware. I don’t understand why Apple pays to plaster the T with advertisements when the advertising is already all around you. On any given train at any given time you can count at least five sets of white earbuds trailing down into a pocket. God knows I did. Every day.

Only now that I own an iPod do I truly understand its genius. That genius lies in something Arthur C. Clarke once wrote. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I’m a tech savvy person, but I feel the same way about the iPod as I do about wireless internet: “How the hell does it do that?” How do you fit 80 CDs’ worth of music in something the size of a Graham Cracker? I don’t know, nor do I care. All that matters is that this little thing, which I have taken to calling the Tiny Miracle, has changed my life. The urge to strut down the street when the Kill Bill theme comes on is almost irresistible.

The iPod is a gigantic success because it eliminates virtually all friction in the user experience. You don’t feel like you’re using your iPod, you feel like you’re listening to music. My music library doubles as a store where I can buy a song more easily than candy at a candy store, and candy stores have their product in the name. It’s all synchronized to my ultra light music player, with an interface so intuitive that I can use it without even looking at it. I truly believe that Apple stumbled upon not just a perfect product, but a new evolution in lifestyle electronics, like television or cell phones.

My name is Jon, and I’m proud to be a Pod Person.