Friday, July 18, 2008

Podaholic

My iPod Touch and Apple Air are changing my life. They have opened me up to the daunting world of iTunes -- well, daunting from the pc perspective, which requires software downloads and music library duplication and all sorts of impositions. But now I have an 8 gig ipod iTouch that has replaced my 1 gigabyte Sandisk MP3 player (that used up several batteries a day), and a whole new world has opened up to me. In addition, fortuitously, my client location shifted from Herald Square to Chelsea Market, and my commute went from 15 minutes to 25 minutes. I say fortuitously because I have become a podcast junky.

When I purchased my BlackBerry last August, I thought that I would be reading daily newsletters from paidcontent.org and eMarketer on the subway and would be reading the digital version of the New York Times. But, alas, the version of paidcontent that came through to me was predominantly text links to content I could not access underground. It's ironic how I yearned for the days of text e-mails before html became the standard.

In addition, I wasn't always in a position to read my BlackBerry on the subway as I was often pinned against the door with my arms at my sides holding on to my bags for dear life -- the life of my possessions that is. So the increased productivity that came with my smart phone was only partially realized.

The Blackberry 8830 with Verizon coverage had been definitively recommended to me by Shelly Palmer (of TelevisionDisrupted.com and daily MediaBytes). Although Shelly felt compelled to remain at the cutting edge by purchasing an iPhone himself, he did not wish it upon me. And, having been paralyzed by the smart phone options before me for years (I referred to them as PDAs), I was happy to get definitive advice.

Well, my 8830 was life changing. It made me mobile. It made me free. While there is a conception that "CrackBerries" take you captive by making you always reachable and always working, I have found it quite liberating. Instead of feeling compelled to check my e-mail as I enter my home, I can go directly to watching mind numbing television - or eating that chocolate chip walnut cookie from Levain Bakery - without having to boot up my molasses-like Toshiba Satellite Pro. (Now that takes you captive!) Moreover, while I had recently missed out on an engagement because I did not see the e-mail in time (a few hours gave someone else the edge), the Blackberry paid for itself within a week through a fabulous project that would never have closed had it not been for my 24-7 on-the-road reachability.

But, as always, I digress.

The point of this blog is the joy of podcasting. In just the past few days I have signed up for pods from: Knowledge at Wharton (maybe I can retroactively take a class with that most popular professor Jeremy Siegel, whose class I placed out of), NPR (I'll never miss "On the Media" again), Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis (gosh, I hope that cable network pricing study sells!), and the New York Times (Weekend Business section, here I come!). Now if I could only figure out how to (a) sync my ball and chain PC, ipod and MacBook Air and (b) delete the podcasts I've listened to from my ipod.

It's a shame Apple doesn't offer podcasts of its user manuals!

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