An Apple A Day Really Bites

So this story begins with me and and iPod and a computer. We all got along great. Whatever song I downloaded from iTunes showed up on my computer and then I'd pug in my iPod and it showed up there, too. I could even make playlists on the computer, synch my iPod, and there they were. It was fabulous.

But my humble little iPod didn't have a lot of space on it and filled up, so I got a new one. I don't know which iPod it is. It's black and silver and says iPod on the back. And it has white earbuds and lots of memory. When I got the new iPod, I had one problem. My computer didn't have as much memory as the iPod, so I got around that by unchecking a box or something, and the computer, new iPod and I got along great....no synching problems. I'd download music, it would be on my computer, I plugged in the iPod, and it was now on the iPod. We were so happy.

I finally upgraded my PC and that's when the trouble started. Not right away, of course. Right away, everything was fine. The iPod synched with iTunes on my computer (which is also black and runs some kind of Windows software) and I thought cool. Until I tried to buy new songs or U2 gave me a free album (which was sweet of them) and....it showed up on my computer, and on my iPad, but not on my iPod. Now, why this music will show up on my iPad, which I have not synched with my new computer....I don't know. I mean, I figure it's that it has the same Apple log-in and password, so it's kind of automatic. It would be kind of nice if it would show up on my iPod, especially as I prefer to play music from my iPod, which is why I got the damn thing.

But it didn't just show up on my iPod and thus began my quest of synching and re-synching and swearing. And I exported and imported and I imported and exported and spent way too much time reading various "how do I make my Apple products all get along" forums. And I watched some videos.

One very bad day, I thought I'd figured out the secret and I checked (or unchecked) something and half my music went away. I said bad words and shrieked and ran around and found my old PC, lugged it upstairs, preformed electronic CPR on it and restored my iPod. Except, of course, for the new music.

Today, I thought I had it again. I would give up hope of getting iPod playlists to the computer and create new playlists on the computer and export them to the iPod. That didn't work, either.

Someone told me that what I really needed to do was buy a Macbook and everything would synch fine. And I said, "Uh, yeah, you want me to buy another piece of expensive Apple technology just so I can use the ones I have now? Do you have a bridge you want me to buy, too?"

I keep reminding myself that I can listen to all of my music somehow, just not all on the iPod. (And I haven't even tried adding my iPhone into the equation.) And I remind myself that this is a first world problem and that all suffering is transitory and maybe in my next life all my gadgets will work together. Or, maybe in my next life, I'll get to be the one who invents cool technology everyone wants to buy.....and then as they try to use it, I'll just laugh.