Ok, I know I’m a Johnny-come-lately to this game, but I just got an iPod. My birthday was last week and my wife surprised me with an 80 GB iPod Classic. I have to admit that I’m a little surprised by the effect it has had on me. First, I’ve got a ton of CDs that I have ripped & burned so that I can play them in the car… or at least I thought it was a ton. But the iPod has got me going through my whole music library. Turns out that I had maybe one quarter of my music on my computer. Now (and I’m not done yet, I still have about 15 more CDs to go), I have over 2,400 songs on my computer (and on my new iPod). And that has not even made a dent into the available space on that 80GB iPod. I sorta obsessed on iTunes all weekend ripping my CDs for hours at a time. But what really caught me off-guard with the new iPod was the joy of going through and rediscovering all my music. See, in the search for more CDs to fill the iPod, I’m finding CDs that I had totally forgotten. Now I’m rating them and organizing them. Was it just me or do all teenage boys fancy themselves as some kind of audiophile? When I was in high school, I could name every album I had, what songs were on them, who played what instruments. Now, going back and looking and listening to this music again, it is like finding long lost friends.
The really interesting thing is that, in the search for album art, I’m going out on the web and getting updates on some artists that I hadn’t listened to in years. I rediscovered Billy McLaughlin, a phenomenal guitarist. Turns out that Billy has a neurological disorder called focal dystonia that causes him to lose control of his left hand. Think about it: a guitarist who can’t control his left had. It ended his career. But apparently Billy McLaughlin has rediscovered himself. He has taught himself how to play all his songs (which are amazing) using his right hand. And he’s still (maybe even more) phenomenal that he was back then. Talk about being dedicated to your craft! Way cool. I rediscovered Jewel who I only sorta liked in the 80s. But I went out to her web site. She has a new country music album out and it sounds pretty good. (Although I don’t think her music has changed much — “Country” music has been redefined since the 1980s).
I’m reminded that, of all the gifts that God gives us, music has got to be one of the best. It stirs my emotions and gives me life all over again. What an incredible thing to be able to almost instantly recall and listen to any song in my music collection.
