I’ve had my ipod since May of 2005. It’s a drab little white 20Gb Gen3. It has no color, and no video. But despite being the single most heavily-used piece of electronic equipment I own (other than my computer), it gave me no real problems until November of last year. When I’d first gotten, we had the foresight to buy the three year protection plan that Best Buy offers, so when the harddrive finally decided it’d had enough, I was covered. Rather than wait the 2-3 weeks to have it — fondly referred to as Ishi, after the Ghost In the Shell character, Ishkikawa — fixed, I opted to have it replaced with a refurbished unit. Unfortunately, “refurbished” doesn’t necessarily equal “fixed,” and the new ipod (Ishi II) almost immediately began displaying quirks similar to the old one shortly before it had kicked the bucket.

I actually ended up not using it at all from Thanksgiving to New Year because local radio stations were playing Christmas music (and I loff eet! <3). But the first or second day I hooked it back up in the car, it gave me the sad little dead ipod face, and hasn't worked since. For various reasons, I haven't had a chance to go back and have it fixed/replaced again, but that's beside the point.

The actual point of this entry is that I’m trying to figure out what I want to do when my warantee expires. I’ve already checked to see if I’ll be allowed to renew it, and that’s a no-go, so I’ll pretty much be on my own if problems arise in the future. I’m halfway over the fence toward getting a newer model altogether, and donating my current one to some — shall we say, “charitable cause.”

I’m not really looking for anything fancy — just something I can fit my entire music library on (it has only breached the 20Gb mark in the last few months). Friends have an occasional chuckle over the fact that, from time to time, I’ll randomly discover music in my library that I didn’t know was there, or that I hadn’t actually listened to before. For me, though, that’s one of the best parts about having an ipod. I can set it to random and listen — literally — for days. Yeah, not all of it is fantastic, and some of it I’ve listened to until the notes ooze out my ears, but regardless of whether I’ve heard it a million times or never, it’s something different everytime I plug it in.

So what exactly does the current market have to offer me? I went in, wanting an upgrade compared what I have now, but nothing crazy. The iPhone is certainly a fine piece of hardware, but a) I’ve got a phone already (did, in fact, just recently get a new one), b) wouldn’t want to pay the fees every month just to be able to use an iphone, and c) have had enough experience with handheld electronics to know I don’t want my phone and my music player eating up the same battery. Plus, the largest capacity iphone available right now is only 8Gb. If I’m going to pay $400 for something like that, it would need a little more substantial storage space. I’m not saying it’s not an awesome bit of technology, and I’m not saying I’d never buy one. I’m just saying something like the iTouch (ipod Touch, whatever :p) is more attractive to me right now because the phone features aren’t. And even the Touch is sorely lacking in the hard drive arena. So it would appear that I’m stuck with the ipod “Classic” if I’m looking to upgrade, at least for the time being. With a minimum (these days) capacity of 80Gb, it’s hands-down teh winnar!, even if the price hasn’t come down any since the haydays of my little Ishi.

This all leaves me wondering, however, if it’s part of their marketing strategy to introduce new models of products into the market, and then phase out “older” ones so they don’t have to lower prices any. I could be perfectly happy with a 60Gb ipod. Hell, I don’t even really care all that much about the video feature that’s now standard. As far as the music is concerned — and really, wasn’t that the point of the ipod from the beginning? — my only real concern is storage space. I’ve begun my first forays into the Zune world to see what that’s all about. I’ve heard good things, but I think I’ll wait for the research to really get under way before I make any judgements of my own. I have really enjoyed Ishi while I’ve had it, but who knows? Maybe I’ll end up making the switch.