iPod Love

My name is Scott Coats, and I am in love with my iPod. I accidently bought an iPod, and I love it. I should explain.

Last year I got an iPod for Father’s Day. I asked for and received a used Nano. Misty bought it on EBay. It is a 2GB 2^nd generation iPod Nano. I liked it. I didn’t use it a ton at first. I loaded it up with songs and listened from time to time.

The main issue I had with it was the amount of storage. I have about 4 GB of music on my computer. So I had to be selective with what went onto the iPod. That wasn’t really a problem, though. I only listen to about half of the music I have anyway.

Several months ago I discovered the wonders of the Podcast. At first I only downloaded “This American Life.” I would listen to it on my computer at work. After a few months I discovered others I liked. I didn’t have enough time in the week to listen to them all. Then I decided to load them onto my iPod and listen at home while cooking.

This created an audio storage crisis. I had to pare down the music on my iPod even more. Again, not a huge problem. More of an annoyance, really. As my list of podcasts grew, the problem grew as well. Soon I realized I needed a new iPod.

I decided I would start looking on EBay. I planned to do some research and then I would know exactly what to ask for this Father’s Day. A few weeks ago I began looking. I always begin my EBay research with a search of completed items to get an idea of what things are actually selling for.

I began by looking at iPod’s similar to mine, but with a larger storage capacity: a 2^nd generation 4GB iPod Nano. I found several possibilities. They were all relatively cheap. Most were around $50. Soon I decided I would see what else I could get at a comparable price.

For the next couple of weeks I perused EBay for iPods. Nano, Touch, Classic. I looked at them all. Soon I decided I wanted a 1^st generation 8GB iPod Touch. Most were around $80-$100. That was too much. Still my heart was set on a 1^st generation Touch.

Last week I continued my research mission. Because of the cost of my intended target, I reluctantly broadened my search. I searched for 8 GB iPods of any variety. In that search several 5^th generation Nano models popped up. Very few of them sold for less than $100.

From that “completed listings” search, I went to an “ending soonest” search. Another measure of what price an item will bring. I found 4-5 things that caught my interest. Most of them Touch models, all of them ending in less than 8 hours.

After I marked the interesting things as items to watch, I refreshed the page. Then I noticed something interesting. A 5^th generation iPod Nano for $56 ending in less than 2 minutes. I clicked.

I quickly read the listing. I expected to see ‘as is’ in the description. My research taught me that ‘as is’ is a telltale sign of a non-working iPod. It wasn’t there. Two very important keywords were there: ‘100% functional.’

I scrolled back to the top of the page.

A minute left.

Still $56. I refreshed.

50 seconds.

Still $56. I quickly read the description again.

30 seconds.

I thought hard. Should I bid on it? I don’t really want a Nano. I want a Touch.

25 seconds.

I’m not going to get it. I’m sure someone put in a maximum bid. (If you’re unfamiliar with the workings of EBay, I’ll explain. You can enter a maximum bid. Say an item is at $5, but you are willing to pay up to $25. You can enter $25. Your bid goes to $6. Then if someone else bids $7, the system automatically bids $8 for you. This will continue until the auction ends or someone bids more than your maximum.) Surely someone put in a maximum of $80 or more. I would.

20 seconds.

Might as well bid anyway.

I licked the ‘bid’ button. I entered $57 and clicked submit. The confirm screen popped up. I confirmed. The page began to load. I awaited the “You’ve been outbid” screen.

The auction page loaded. I noticed the time. 4 seconds left. Then I noticed the message: “You are the high bidder.”

3

What? The high bidder? How can I be the high bidder?

2

No one put in a maximum bid?

1

$57? Really?

“You won this item!”

I stared at the screen.

“Oops. I guess I just bought myself a Father’s Day present.”

I was in shock. Finally reality began to set in. I just bought an iPod. I just spent $57. I re-read the description to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Eventually I accepted my fate. I bought an iPod, somewhat accidentally. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it would have to do.

I decided to check out the 5^th generation Nano. I learned it had some nice new features. It has a video camera. It plays videos. Quite an improvement over mine. After reading the new features I was a little more excited. After all, I’d bought it for a really good price. It was a great deal. But I still was not overly excited.

Yesterday my new iPod arrived. I was still a little anxious that it would not work. I half (or maybe more than half) expected to find something wrong with it.

I opened the box. It looked fine. I turned it on. The screen lit up. My excitement started to grow. I began to scroll through the menus. I tried out the video camera. I looked at the games. Oh, it has an FM tuner. Nice. It has a built in pedometer. Cool. An external speaker? Hmm.

I grabbed my ear buds and plugged them in. I spun my way to the FM tuner and tuned the radio to our local NPR station. A little static. Then I heard the sounds of All Things Considered. I cooked dinner while listening to the last segment of that show and then Marketplace. My excitement continued to grow.

Before dinner I plugged the iPod into my computer and downloaded the latest This American Life podcast. After eating I grabbed my iPod and the dogs. We went out for our evening walk. I turned on the pedometer and began This American Life.

An hour later my walk was done and Ira Glass had wrapped up the podcast. The dogs were exhausted and I was in love. My accidental iPod won me over.

My name is Scott Coats, and I am in love with my iPod. I love it. I am not ashamed.