Return with me now ... to the era of headphones!

I finally broke down and got an iPod. I resisted as long as I could. I'm weird like that sometimes.

Most of the time I embrace new technology ... the "latest thing" ..... and can't wait to try it out. I was that way when cd's became popular. I couldn't wait to start updating my vast catalog of lp's and cassette tapes to cd's instead!

But once in a while something will come along that I just don't want anything to do with. For reasons I can't really explain. Mp3's ..... iPods .... that sort of thing .... but my resistance finally crumbled. Crumbled at the hands of eBay .... and a damn good deal on a damn good used iPod!
LOL

So now I have to figure out what I want to put on it. It's a 20 gig ..... will hold around 5000 songs, so the manual says. Well .... since I've pared down my once massive cd collection in the last couple of years, I'm not even sure if I could fill the thing up with what I got!

And of course, I won't put everything on it. Some cd's only have 2 or 3 cuts that are worth repeated listens anyway. So I can do some big time culling .... that will probably be kinda fun.

Of course, all the King's X has already been ripped and downloaded. That was the first order of business. And in the last two or three days I've listened to all their songs on the iPod.

Which brings me around to the title of this post.

Remember when headphones were all the rage when it came to really digging into your music collection? Oh I'm talking back even before the Sony Walkman came along. Back when headphones were big, bulky affairs .... that covered half your head. You'd put them on and the world around you would disappear. Even before the music started. Then you'd put in your favorite tape or lp by Rush, or maybe Pink Floyd, or Zeppelin. Or if you were really adventurous, The White Album by the Beatles.

You'd dim the lights in the room, lay down on your back in the middle of the shag carpet, and just get lost in the music. Sucked in. Surrounded by swirling delays and cascading reverbs and feeling for all the world like you were right there on stage with the band.

It was the coolest thing.

I now understand the draw of the iPod. It's the exact same thing. A return to the era of headphones. In the last few days I've found myself getting lost all over again in the cd's I've been listening to for years. Only now I'm hearing everything!! Every little whispered lyric, every bounced delay, every layered multitrack guitar .... all the little nuances that get lost in a big living room on a big home stereo system .... or drowned out by honking horns and screeching tires while in the car.

Wow ..... it is so freakin' cool!

I haven't listened to music in headphones in years! I listened to "Gretchen Goes To Nebraska" by King's X yesterday and just fell in love all over again with that record! Heard things I had never heard before. Amazing. It's like the music has taken on a whole new dimension for me.
I have barely taken the ear buds out in the last 4 days. Just to work and sleep! LOL

Like all new trends or fads, I'm sure the fascination will fade in time and my iPod will become just another part of my day to day life that I take for granted. But for now I'm indulging in some long-lost musical discoveries. All over again.

It's really made me appreciate more the music I already loved!

How cool is that?

Why did I wait so long?

Gotta go listen to Jelly Jam II now .......... ;-)