I was drooling over an image of an iPhone during my time as a soldier, last year’s April. This gadget seemed amazing: Internet, music, video, images, all in one, plus the ability to make phone calls, text SMS and take pictures. I wanted an iPod, but this was nothing compared to the hype of the iPhone! Months later, I am holding an iPod touch in the palm of my hand, which is not far from the image I’ve seen back then.You have to understand that it was long ago that I did buy something that hyped and expensive, for myself. Pre-ordered in my shop, I waited for a couple of weeks before it came, wrapped in a plastic bag, like a bunch of carrots. The image of the [sarcasm] world’s most beloved artist, Macy Grey [/sarcasm] was on the small treasure box. You have to understand that the package came as I was working, so I had to suppress my enthusiasm for an hour or so. But even my boss couldn’t resist his curiosity to see it, so a glorious, ceremonial unwrapping took place: Religiously, I took the small shiny device out of the case and I looked amazed at it: Sleek, thin, light, smooth, sexy, the iPod touch is an eye-catcher, no doubt. I may have seen hundreds of iPhone and iTouch images before that moment, but once you got it in your hands, it’s something different. I pressed the “on” button and the half-bitten apple appeared on screen…
And nothing happened. The iTouch needs to be connected to a pc with iTunes first, the Apple software for music and stuff. My boss, watching me in this half-crazed condition, urged me to download iTunes on the shop’s laptop, but my colleague insisted that this could be an even more worse idea, since I would completely forget the fact that I was working… for at least 6 more hours. My boss said that this was for my own good, since it could be stolen, if someone saw it lying there, next to the laptop. I calmly replied that I will instantly eradicate anyone who even looks at it funny within a 10 meter radius…
Fortunately, customers magically stopped entering the shop for a while and the installation took place. I cannot put into written form the feeling when I saw the user interface of the iTouch assembling itself. The problem was, that, despite it’s beauty, the iTouch needs “feeding”, and that means putting as much multimedia in it as you can! Jennifer Lopez had the honour of being the first artist to appear on the device’s screen, although I wanted Mika’s wonderful album “Life in Cartoon Motion”, a symbolic gesture, since I was listening to “Relax, Take It Easy” the first time I saw the iPhone. And also, I think Mika fits better to such a gadget than JLO. But I had to test CoverFlow, the little thing that lets you flip through album covers with your finger!
The same night, I put iTunes at home and I made a playlist with all the MP3’s currently found in my laptop. I also added some videos and some photos (120 or so). But the next big step was to hack it or as it commonly called, jailbreak it. It’s rather a simple procedure, that I won’t explain here. If you are a lucky iTouch or iPhone owner, just google it. The result is that now my iTouch can do much, much more. I have an NES emulator (who is a bit slow for my tastes), a SCUMMvm platform, which is great (Curse of Monkey Island! On my iTouch! Working!). Some simple games. Greek keyboard. Instant messenger for my MSN account. Custom icons and background. I can put a lot more in it, since every day more and more applications appear. And the magical iTouch searches for updates and news by it self…
The final verdict is that it’s worth it. 330€ may seem a lot for a media player, but it does come in handy. I have to ride the bus 4 times a day and the distance is covered in 30-40 minutes every time. Imagine to have to go the same road again and again, listening to nothing else than complains and misery from the other passengers. Now I just put my earphones, and I can listen to Nelly Furtado or the Beowulf soundtrack or Stamatis Gonidis, or even watch a movie trailer. It’s not alienating either – I don’t use it all the time, only when I am alone or I have to cover long distances. Some days ago I decided to clean up my flat, so I put on some music and I did the cleaning up, but with more tempo ;-)
Now go buy one for yourself and help Apple conquer the modern world!
