It’s getting to the point where it has to be my way and no other. It has all come to a climax because of a gift I received at Christmas – an Apple iPod. This little gadget is not entirely to blame for my selfish mood. I’ve been worried about the sorry state of entertainment that is available. Why are only new movies available on pay-per-view? Why can’t I choose when I want to watch a television show? Why am I forced to drag a radio with me to catch a special show? Can’t I just download the audio?
I’m going to drag you back even further into the depths of my life. In the rural backwaters of my home town the only entertainment, electronic wise, was two channels of television. Both out of Lloydminster. We chose between Tommy Hunter and Dallas. Then my family got a VCR. I can still recall the wonder I felt walking into Lloydminster’s first movie rental place and staring at the walls. Was it possible that so many movies actually existed? So, religiously we rented movies and enjoyed watching them when we wanted and as many times as we wanted.
I was beginning to understand the idea of watching what I want, when I want. The experiment continued as my family joined the eighties movement where rural farmers placed big dishes in front of their houses. Sure you blocked your living room window but you got HBO and all sorts of shows. We stopped just being couch potatoes and became “consumers of media”.
Now I have an iPod. My movies have become portable. I carry family pictures. (Not a couple – but hundreds). I listen to news, weather, and excellent fiction when ever I’m ready to listen. There’s even a few good print articles downloaded on the thing waiting to be read.
Giving the consumer a choice still seems to be a very strange idea to regular television and movie producers. They still insist on picking the time, the day and the place you enjoy their products. But they are changing because we are asking for it. I’m even giving it a try. You can listen to these in audio format. Use iTunes to download them into your iPod. But, you may have already made your choice. I’ll keep trying just to read my stuff and leave my singing to the solitary confines of my truck.
