The next iPod generation...

A couple of months ago, I was working here in my office at school. I usually work with my iPod on, as it helps me close out distractions--and just generally puts me in a better mood. Anyway, as I was working, my friend Tim came by and laughed, saying, "Man, you are really are part of the iPod generation." Now I think part of this is because he is still shocked that I am, in his words, "a baby." (This comment came from his quick calculation of my age when I was introduced at a faculty assembly and the Dean read off the dates of my degrees). Anyway, we could blog for weeks about how iPods and MP3 players have changed the world, but I thought today I'd just blog a bit about the next generation of iPod users--users a good 20+ years younger than me.

My niece, Kelsie, got an iPod Nano from her parents for her birthday. (My mother, by the way, thinks this is a completely inappropriate gift for a nine year old, but I am not so sure. Maybe she's just a little too young for it and it is a bit on the pricey side, but didn't we have Walkmans and things like that when we were around her age? I don't know--what do you think?) Anyway, she loves the darn thing and brought it to Thanksgiving at Tara and Jeff's house. (Another side note--her winter coat has an inside pocket specifically for an iPod. How cool is that? I want a pocket for my iPod in my coat! That also says something, doesn't it, about how many kids her age have these things?)

I had been telling Kelsie how my nephew Colin's favorite song right now is "Hey there Delilah." Tara tells me she hears him singing it to himself in his room at night or as he plays with his train table. How cute is that? I got to hear him doing it a bit and it was so sweet, I almost got a cavity. Anyway, Kelsie has that song on her iPod and played it for the kids, who loved it.


Here they are listening, one ear-bud per kid.

Then Kelsie played their other favorite song of the moment--Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape." Olivia and Colin don't call it this, though--they call it "Woo Woo!" As soon as they heard the opening bars, they both shouted "Woo woo!" and started to dance. It is hard to dance while sharing ear-buds, though, so they had to calm down a bit.


Still, as this picture shows, Olivia couldn't help herself and danced right where she was. This picture makes me happy. Hey, as they sing in Hairspray, "You can't stop the beat."