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12/11/2006: "The Greatest Thing Since ..."

Over the centuries, man has invented some amazing things: the wheel, the steam engine, the three-meat pizza. But all of those and so many others pale when compared to the first great invention of the 21st century - the iPod.

It might be hard to remember, but the iPod wasn't the first music player. Sony had been producing the Walkman tape and disc players for decades, and several companies had already produced devices that played a new kind of music format - the MP3 file. But Apple was the first to combine intelligent design with practical features, and had the smarts to make it all seem cool. It didn't take long for the iconic white earphones to be seen everywhere. True story: today, I saw a traditionally dressed Hebrew man - dark suit, long beard, yarmulke - walking in a crosswalk in front of my car. Sneaking out of the collar of his shirt? The earphones of his iPod.

I'm an Apple guy anyway, but I fell in love with the iPod from the beginning. I use one when I fly to pass the time, and on the boat it serves as music to go to sleep by. With the advent of the iPod shuffle, music was small and discreet enough to carry around at work. Since I work virtually most of the time, my office is a backpack, and you'll always find an iPod in there. When the latest version of the Shuffle was released last month, I picked one up. It's so small, I keep it permanently attached to my badge hanger. Others have their enamelled pins; I have my iPod!

Now if Apple would just come out with their version of the Crackberry ...