Put away your status symbol

I'm a music fanatic so most people would think that I love iPods. But after seeing their impact on the industry during the past few years, I can honestly say that I think they suck. It seems like a ripoff to buy digital files of an album for $10 on iTunes when I can buy the CD for the same price, have better sound quality with my purchase and also rip the CD to my computer for free. I know that by now that argument is supposedly old-fashioned according to modern technology, so I'll let that part of it slide. My biggest complaint is that iPod users almost inevitably transform into some of the cockiest music listeners out there. I have my theory as to why this happens - I think they become drunk on their own power when they think that they can now fit pretty much their whole music collection in their pockets. In my view of music, every album you own shouldn't be instantly accessible to you 24 hours a day. I like it when I think of a song I'd like to listen to that I have to wait to hear. When I finally get home and pop in my "outdated" CD, the song seems to mean so much more. It also just creeps me out that people with these things actually use them to create soundtracks to their own lives. Life isn't some cheesy movie with a generic pop song playing in the background, no matter how much you want it to be like that. We should appreciate the fleeting moments of our lives that we actually have a chance to take in peaceful, quiet times. Noise is almost everywhere around us - is it really necessary to listen to three minutes' worth of music during the walk between buildings on campus? People could say that before MP3 players, there were portable CD players and things like that to try to justify their electronics. But iPods are much more prevalent than other portable devices ever were and their run as reigning status symbol makes rude behavior while using them acceptable. When someone doesn't have the courtesy to "unplug" or pause their blaring music if you try to talk with them, they are unconsciously telling everyone around them that their need to listen to the new Wolfmother single trumps any human interaction. There isn't much truth to the idea that this luxury item is now a necessity since the majority of us didn't have MP3 players two years ago. Another part of the cockiness is that iPods and lame Internet buzz bands go hand in hand. Not every new artist is some undiscovered gem, so drop the superiority complex when you try to beat your friends by listening to the most no-name bands. If they didn't inspire this behavior in their users, I wouldn't have any problem with what is only a newer form of technology that has already existed for a while. Instead, they suck the joy out of something that I love. In some ways, I'm nervous that this continued push to digitalization is only going to make modern music worse than it already is.