A Study in Contrast

I have moaned about two IT corporations many times in the past. But this post is a measure of redemption for one of them. I have an iPhone (or more accurately an iEmail) and the biggest benefit of the iPhone re music is its podcast capability. It is very easy to load podcasts onto the device and access them.
Actually finding the podcasts is not as intuitive as I would like because the iTunes GUI is horrible (HORRIBLE). But I have been able to listen to lectures and the like while commuting into the city.

By comparison my new laptop (LOVE IT) is running Windows 7. I have railed against Microsoft on occasion, but I must say I really like this OS. It's comparatively unobtrusive and just as engaging as the Mac OS's that I've used (and I am an old school Mac user from way back) with the added advantage that it wasn't designed by the R&D staff at Fisher Price.

The point of this article, dear hearts, is that I found an old MP3 player at the bottom of a draw the other day. It's a Sony Walkman, only 1GB capacity, but chock full of great tracks. I plugged it into to my laptop and have been able to swap files effortlessly. No proprietary software required. No files have been irrevocably deleted etc.

It's a simple device that even comes with a built in radio and stores a PDF User Guide. As soon as my phone contract expires I'll be flinging my iPhone into something concrete and getting Nokia smartphone or two cans and some string haven't decide which yet.