Archive for June 22nd, 2008

This week I got to thinking. Dangerous, I know. At Tim Russert’s memorial several days ago, they played music from his iPod. And I couldn’t help but wonder…did his wife or son just go through his iPod and pick something or did they pick something that was just “him?” What does someone’s playlist say about them?

My playlist would be pretty mute; I don’t have any playlists. I have a lot of music…hundreds of CDs, actually…and most of it isn’t on my iPod. Oh, my iPod certainly has enough room on it, but I’m afraid my laptop would give it up if I demanded that much room from it for music. So I mostly listen to podcasts on my iPod. And online radio on my computer.

At least, that’s my official story. The truth?

I’m skeered of iTunes. Yes, it’s user-friendly, and that’s the problem. If I started playing around with it, I’d never leave. I’d also be broke from the sheer amount of tunes I’d buy. (Well…maybe not. I don’t even know what music I like anymore. Seven years of kids’ music has deadened my musical taste buds.) I don’t think I’ve purchased any music from iTunes…free downloads, yes, but if I’ve bought anything, it’s less than five songs. And…this is so embarrassing, especially for a musician…I just don’t “get” playlists. (Excuse me, Jen, your age is showing. Time for you to go get your hair “set” in rollers and wear support hose. Oh, and your youth called…the teal polyester pants with the elastic waistband is on backorder, did you want the rose?). Do you set up several playlists for different times of day? How do you name them? Do you set the songs in order, or set them to play randomly? How do you decide what songs make the cut? Sniff…I’m just overwhelmed. And a dork. And that is a volatile mix. You just never know what’s going to blow or when. I honestly have no clue what songs are in my iTunes…I borrowed some CDs from a friend and every so often I’ll hear a song and wonder where I got that, ’cause I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a Poison CD.

So my playlist would confuse people…God knows it confuses me. Any thoughts as to where I can start?

My name is Jen…and I’m an iTunes failure…