Tuesday, February 21, 2006
What was that? Rewind it!
I live in the digital world, and it's destroying my life. In the past year or so, I've started using 2 products that have totally altered the way I do things. The first is TiVo, which changed my viewing habits. The other is iPod, which completely changed my listening habits.
The main attraction of these two things is that I can pause them at any time if I need a break, or I can rewind them if I miss something. (I've been listening to the Howard Stern show a lot on my iPod. Believe me, I wouldn't rewind a song to hear Journey sing the chorus to "Wheels in the Sky" again.) The problem is that I've started to think that I should be able to rewind or pause EVERYTHING.
I first noticed this in my Accounting class the other day. My professor is a nice guy, but he's a low-talker. I can hardly ever hear him. Of course, it doesn't help that I sit in the back of the class, next to the very noisy heater. It probably also doesn't help that I'm ruining my hearing with my iPod. (Thanks for the heads-up, Pete Townsend. I never would have figured out that listening to very loud headphones for hours a day might affect my hearing. Go "research" more kiddie porn, you jerk.) Anyway, my professor actually said something mildly important, and I missed it. The first thing I thought was "I'll just hit the 15-second rewind button." The second thing I thought was what a big moron I was.
This weekend, I went up to the Cabin in Wisconsin. We have the satellite dish up there, which is nice. There was a free Starz preview weekend, so I watched a couple movies. Kill Bill, vol. 1 was on, so I was watching that. Luke started getting antsy and wanted to go to bed. I grabbed the remote and reached for the pause button before realizing there wasn't one. And all I could think about was how uncivilized it was to not be able to pause live TV. I guess this is what they call "roughing it."
I've had similar problems with my iPod. Howard Stern's new show is on Sirius satellite radio and they have about 5 minutes of commercials every hour. Well, they have commercials, but I don't. I just skip right past them. This has caused me a lot of problems when I try to listen to regular radio. This weekend, I tried to fast forward past the commercials on WAPL (the Rockin' Apple, Appleton's great radio station). When I couldn't, I just threw on my 90's playlist on my iPod. I think I might be done with commercial radio. My iPod has officially ruined me.
The main attraction of these two things is that I can pause them at any time if I need a break, or I can rewind them if I miss something. (I've been listening to the Howard Stern show a lot on my iPod. Believe me, I wouldn't rewind a song to hear Journey sing the chorus to "Wheels in the Sky" again.) The problem is that I've started to think that I should be able to rewind or pause EVERYTHING.
I first noticed this in my Accounting class the other day. My professor is a nice guy, but he's a low-talker. I can hardly ever hear him. Of course, it doesn't help that I sit in the back of the class, next to the very noisy heater. It probably also doesn't help that I'm ruining my hearing with my iPod. (Thanks for the heads-up, Pete Townsend. I never would have figured out that listening to very loud headphones for hours a day might affect my hearing. Go "research" more kiddie porn, you jerk.) Anyway, my professor actually said something mildly important, and I missed it. The first thing I thought was "I'll just hit the 15-second rewind button." The second thing I thought was what a big moron I was.
This weekend, I went up to the Cabin in Wisconsin. We have the satellite dish up there, which is nice. There was a free Starz preview weekend, so I watched a couple movies. Kill Bill, vol. 1 was on, so I was watching that. Luke started getting antsy and wanted to go to bed. I grabbed the remote and reached for the pause button before realizing there wasn't one. And all I could think about was how uncivilized it was to not be able to pause live TV. I guess this is what they call "roughing it."
I've had similar problems with my iPod. Howard Stern's new show is on Sirius satellite radio and they have about 5 minutes of commercials every hour. Well, they have commercials, but I don't. I just skip right past them. This has caused me a lot of problems when I try to listen to regular radio. This weekend, I tried to fast forward past the commercials on WAPL (the Rockin' Apple, Appleton's great radio station). When I couldn't, I just threw on my 90's playlist on my iPod. I think I might be done with commercial radio. My iPod has officially ruined me.
