My beautiful old iRiver died while i was travelling in Cambodia. It disappeared from my luggage on a bus. Device death by disappearance.

i was sad, i was disappointed.
But sooner or later i had to have another music player**.

So i chomped on the ammunition and stole an iPod classic from JB hifi. They took $325 from me but it felt like a steal anyway.

Heaven.

Glamor-tech.

Charming.

and no i don’t have to run iTunes.
So Relieved About That!!

Yes, Winamp manages an iPod just fine.

• No fuss,
• no silly synchronising,
• no locking the pod to only one computer.

Just drag the files across and there they are.

Yay Winamp.

PS: not perfect, this device.

• Sensitivity of wheel changes according to mood;
• iPod freezes, yes freezes;
• display by coverflow is dumb: every song is displayed with its album cover.

**Yes i have the iRiver e100, but that’s a kind of joke really. When you put the micro SD card in, all the screen writing reverses to mirror image. Fortunately i can read mirror writing just like da Vinci.

photo credit: Themis Chapsis

i love searching winamp media library for songs relating to a word, and then listening to the mix. The other day i found 68 songs relating to the word black.

Nick Cave Black Betty .. such a good cover. Kicking Against the Pricks is always my favourite album from the Caulfield genius boy. Listen to that song over and over. The Spiderbait version was fun in its own way, but doesn’t really compare. .. and then i listen to Tom Jones version, and it’s shit. In a good way. But compared to the Cave? Shite.

Tom Waits has the record for a single artist in my collection .. 7 songs with “black” in the title.

Radiohead Black Star, of course. OMG what exquisite pain and pleasure in their music. Just recently Radiohead became my most-listened artist of all. i have been catching up .. to the rest of the world.

Nikka Costa Black Seed, Goldfrapp Black Cherry .. Nina Simone Black Is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair. i admire the brilliance and passion behind all these songs.

Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet, Queen Latifah Black Hand Side, and *The