i ain't yo' bitch, bitches!

there are quite a few stories from the holidays that i haven't told yet (such as my dad getting back at SIX IN THE MORNING completely STUMBLING DRUNK on the day we were supposed to leave tahoe). i guess i'll tell some of them in a series of short posts (gotta practice staying on topic).

so the topic of this is the gift i received from *someone* whom i would name but it wasn't an issue of what-you-got-me-for-xmas because i didn't really want anything to begin with (in fact, when boyfriend asked me what i wanted, i told him i couldn't think of anything. then when he began to press me, i gave him some abstract suggestions - world peace, a better job, fourteen hours of daylight, etc.)

the above mentioned gift was an ipod nano.

which at the onset was ok because of the "cool" factor. i didn't open it for a few weeks (b/c at apple they charge a restocking fee if the thing is opened.) in stead, i tried to figure out what to do with it. i got a tape deck converter so that i could use it in my car, but what would i put on it?

when i started downloading audiobooks from the library a year ago, after burning the tenth and last CD of i am madame x i decided it would be way more convenient to put these books onto an mp3 player of some sort.

fast forward to the ipod nano. last weekend boyfriend and i went down to my mom's house in SC and a lightbulb went on in my head: HEY! I COULD FIND AN AUDIO BOOK TO PLAY ON MY IPOD WHILE WE DRIVE THE TWO HOURS!

since i ain't no one's bitch, i began to search the freeware world for an alternative to itunes (my computer is old cranky and doesn't like big, fast new programs). i also downloaded three audiobooks.

and i unwrapped the ipod. and took everything out. and plugged it into my computer so it could charge.

when i got up next morning, it was still flashing "DO NOT UNPLUG". so i started up the computer and unplugged it in the tray icon and then the ipod lit up. i plugged it in again, and opened up the software mandated by the library to play the audio books. there is a button at the top that says "burn/transfer" so i clicked on it, whereupon windows media player opened up. the player even recognised my ipod.

but when i tried to "sync" the audiobook to the ipod, i got an error message, something about "protected content." well, i had the 30-day license, so why wasn't it working?

i searched the freeware world once again, looking in the forums for "WHY THE #@%$ DOESN'T MY IPOD WORK!?"

i should have known this or at least found out before opening the ipod - the audio book files are WMA-protected format.

you cannot put WMA formatted songs on the ipod.

after some tears and being pissed off and feeling bad for returning a gift and losing the restocking fee, boyfriend encouraged me to take it back. it really wasn't worth tears; take it back and i'll get something else.

now why the hell do other mp3 players accept most audio formats (including WMA) while the ipod does not? apple fortunately has the cool gadget factor going for it so that people buy it oblivious to, or not caring about, the fact that you can't use WMA files with it. the first whiff of monopoly-ish-ness should come when the instructions tell you to download itunes before you can get your music up and running. and since you can buy music from there, you can only buy their music. it just seems like a racket - as in racketeering racket. for the same reason my next laptop will run linux instead of windows (in fact will be as microsoft-free as possible) - microsoft has just gotten too big, google is too eponymous and able to throw its political weight around. it's just all starting to smell a little fishy (as in swimmin' wit' da fishes fishy). (this may or may not be influenced by the fact that i'm reading The Outfit, which is about the chicago mafia and all the influence they've had)

i want a player that looks like a dog turd so that i can leave it plugged into my tape deck when i leave my car (if it's too cool, i'd worry about it being stolen, and who would want to break into a car only to put his hand in dog shit?)

so, i dragged myself to the mall and to the apple store. apple used to seem cool and a little edgy to me (using a mac kind of seemed like being part of a computer underworld, like raves were considered underworld), but with this newfound knowledge in hand, i was a little uncomfortable and a bit disgusted.

so in sum: i don't care what the player looks like, only that it is freeware compatible and upgradeable as more file formats become mainstream.

so apple, sorry, i ain't yo' bitch, bitch!