Fuse

Despite being in theory some kind of socialist anti-consumerist anti-materialistic idyllic la-de-da sort, I am deeply in love with consumer electronics. A part of me feels ever so slightly guilty, that while the world is filled with people in need, in genuine poverty and material want, I can fill my home with flat-screen monitors, Palm Pilots, Playstation IIs, DVDs, a digital camera...So many things that, fundamentally, are not at all essential to human life. Yet I don't feel nearly guilty enough to give any of these wonderful, wonderful things up. It just isn't going to happen. Maybe this makes me a bad socialist, but you'll still have to pry my Palm Pilot from my cold, dead hands. I love a good gizmo. Although I usually prefer to refer to such things as 'thingies'.

My latest thingy is a portable mp3 player. I have been a bit late getting onto the portable music bandwagon; I never did get a Discman. I don't own enough actual CDs to make such a thing terribly cost-effective. And the Discman just wasn't computery enough to trip my gizmo trigger. A really good gizmo ought to jack into my computer somehow. Ideally, everything remotely electrical, including my toaster and electric kettle, should jack into my computer. But that is neither here nor there.

There are a number of discouraging things about Padelford Hall, where the Math Department is kept here. Several of them are pillars, placed in the stupidest locations around the lounge and our one dedicated departmental classroom. They block your view of windows, other students, sometimes the blackboard. I hate them. Another thing is the absence of music of any sort. When I'm in my office, grading, or TeXing, or whatever, it gets very quiet and lonely. I think to myself, 'If only David Bowie were here to save me!' So, after moaning and bitching about the total absence of Bowie for a year or so, I finally decided to do something about it. I vowed to acquire an mp3 player. After consulting a Knowledgable Source, I decided to get a Sonicblue Rio Fuse.

I love it! I call it Dr Prunesquallor.

It's so tiny! It's about the size of two of my fingers, neither of them middle. It's so cute. It fits anywhere. In coat pockets. In pants pockets. In shirt pockets. One could carry it rectally, if one were so inclinded, for it is of such diminutive dimensions. And it's pretty peppy, too. It'll hold 128k, enough for two full CDs and some change, or possibly more, depending on file quality. It gets me through the day, that is for darned sure. And it jacks right into a USB port. Did I mention it's tiny? The one flaw I've found so far is the earphones that came with it. They're these little wee 'earbud' things, the sort that wedge themselves into your ear so people often can't tell you're wearing them at all unless they notice the black wires leading up to your head (although they may just think you're turning Borg or something). They get uncomfortable. Perhaps my ears are simply too tiny to accept them. The normally-sized among you would probably find nothing amiss.

Anyhow. Big thumbs-up here. It's a miracle of modern technology, and fills me with hope that in another ten or twenty years our soft, fleshy organs will be replaced with tireless metal and plastic, and we will evolve into a race of unstoppable cyborgs and dominate the universe.

Posted by aloysius at December 18, 2003 10:24 PM | TrackBack |