new player

The cheap little 8GB ChiPod disgusts. After the file names started looking like Old English runes, and the files themselves elicited "Format error!" after six or eight deletions and reloads, I've given up on it. Now it won't even boot up.

And taken up a new player. Cowon, whoever they are, offer the iAudio M5, packing a 20GB hard drive, and all the codecs that my beloved iRiver i120 used to, even Ogg.



There are yet more similarities between the M5 and the i120, but two very nice differences: it is about 2/3 the weight of the i120, and about a sixth the price, unadjusted for inflation.

There's a stack of them for $57 each in the BX at Andersen AFB. I'll wager this ride is discontinued. I would very much like to find the remote and the dock for it, but don't want to spend as much for them as I did for the player itself.

consider the cat belled

Several more Blackberries have been added to my organization, including one assigned to Yours Truly.

I appreciate its power, and the expense to give this power to me. However, I don't cherish being the office boy at this outfit. Becoming a 24-hour office boy I like even less, and that is what this device portends. It enhances reaction, which means it will inhibit proaction.

It even sucks as a plain telephone. What I really wanted, and dared to ask for, was a service plan and cable to run EVDO over the existing plain-jane mobile phone. Ohhhh no, we have to get you a Blackberry, cheaper in the long run.