iPods

I put off getting an iPod for ages. "Delayed gratification" I believe the experts call that. In fact at my advanced age it was plain stupid. Now it's one of my most important possessions. Soon I shall be going on a long trip with lots of aircraft time. I shall board the plane with my iPod and my Kindle (another wonderful boon) and be absolutely set fair.

I first heard recorded music when I was about 7, I think. It was on an old Victrola with a horn coming out of it and of course, a wind up handle. I can remember the music too. It was a selection of National Anthems - all very stirring particularly to the nations involved. The records themselves which spun at 78 R.P.M. were quite brittle, and the way we played them was with a steel needle placed in the head that came down on the surface of the disc.

Needles were expensive and furthermore used to wear out the record. So we used to put in pine needles which were good for about one play. From that we advanced technically to LP's, which spun at 33 1/3 R.P.M. and allowed entire symphonies to be played on a disc - both sides usually for the long works. Pop music was generally sold on the smaller 45's and contained one song on each side.

From there we changed to eight track players, although I never went that route. Then to cassettes, of which I had hundreds - mostly self recorded. And now we have MP3 players with enormous storage. I have about 3,500 tracks on mine and I've hardly started to fill it up. I wonder what the next development will be?