Glad I got out of the PC repair game in high school. Such a fun read.

I don't quite have the willpower of the author,  but quitting meat and alcohol seem admirable. I'd like to get to that place, eventually.

When the iPod was released it made a single promise: all of your music in your pocket. With great software and this promise, it sold like wildfire. Over time our music collections grew and with it, the max capacities of iPod also grew.

After a good run, the iPhone came out. Unlike the iPod, the iPhone used smaller faster solid state drives. Our music collections no longer fit on the device. We now had to pick and choose in advance which albums we'd take with us.

However, the iPhone had one thing the iPod didn't: cellular internet connectivity. This  made a new reality possible: access entire label's catalogs for the cost of a CD per month. No music taking up precious storage (which now also houses our photos and data) and constant access to the latest releases. Win-win.

Or is it? How many artists did you forget existed because the albums you owned were hidden behind recommendations for the masses? How often have you been unable to change songs or buffer because of connectivity issues? And when your subscription expires or the service is shut down, what's do you have for all of the money you've spent? Nothing. Nada.

Maybe it's a sense of nostalgia. Maybe it's longing for software and devices that just work. But I'm switching back. I've re-purchased an iPod Classic so I can keep my entire music collection with me again.