An Ode to my iPod

My first ever Apple product was an iPod Nano in 2005 when I was in school. A neighbourhood friend had got his hands on a used iPod from someone and came to show me. I was instantly drawn to this device. Although I had heard about Apple, the famous US tech giant - this was my first-ever experience of actually using an actual product. The device felt something like no other - truly ahead of its time.

This iPod Nano had 1 GB internal memory, fully loaded with classic English rock songs. A whole lot of them. Pink Floyd, Led Zepp, Queen, Eric Clapton, Green Day, you name it. Made of solid metal - quite uncommon for a device like that in those days. The simple UI and the famous ‘feather touch’ click wheel truly made me think - I just had to get it. But how?

So I shamelessly asked my friend if he would like to trade in with my Discman - a portable but bulky CD player with horrible battery life. (I had stolen $12 from my dad’s purse to buy but clearly, it was a complete waste of money. I didn’t tell this to my friend though or else he would never agree to sell an iPod. I still wonder what made him indulge in this unusual barter of gizmos. I'm fortunate he did.

And finally - this iPod Nano was mine. For me, it was one of the most precious things I could imagine owning. It came with an earphone with super comfortable earbuds. The squarish screen, bright display, and so many songs were perfectly grouped into albums. All those sweet memories of this little device - music to my ears they say.

But there was another problem - I didn't have the charger. The iPod showed a green bar which was getting red. It was running out of battery and would soon shut down. I went back to my friend asking for the charger. Unfortunately, he didn’t have it. Rather, he never had it. The man who gave him that iPod didn't give him this important accessory. Just like Apple stopped providing the chargers to the iPhones. So where to find a charger?

I went to Chadni Chowk in Calcutta, known for its huge electronics market. Another question came to my mind - how much would it cost? I stole 500 bucks from my dad again and found a shady shop that had what I wanted. But it was a fake charger. Thankfully, it did the job. The iPod was finally getting charged. A sigh of relief! Now all I had to do was 'load' new songs and also get access to the precious collection of mp3s. The shopkeeper told me simply connect the device to a computer’s USB or tether the iPod to PC to sync music.

However, when I tried to add new songs, this method didn't work. The problem was I had Windows 98 which didn't support this feature. The only thing that was left was to find happiness in the music library it already had. Apart from music, the iPod had wallpapers, games, a calendar, and podcasts (this was a new term for me then). I don't think ever finished exploring all the things it had in its tiny storage.

One day, I took the device to my uncle’s house where my cousin brother saw me using it. He begged to let him use it for some days. Initially reluctant, I gave in to his pesterings. But it was my big mistake. He ended up damaging the feather touch wheel which led to an accidental lock. I'm still clueless about what had happened.

We tried many times to fix the Nano but to no avail. I didn't have the money to take it to an Apple service center for repairs. So the iPod remained somewhere in my cupboard for many years and I lost interest. But the songs are kept safe inside its memory and in those countless memories of mine.

With Apple discontinuing this category recently, I strongly felt the urge to pen down those thoughts of using a device that made my childhood musical in more ways than one. So 'a 1000 songs in your pocket' shall never be the same again!

-Subhrajit

P.S: Thank you, Sylvester, for being so generous in giving me this little marvel.