Relational Energy Healing

Life with the iPod Touch

Posted on 27. Apr, 2008 by rawwebdesign in Technology

As an audio and video freak I, like many middle-aged adults, purchased a new flat-screen HDTV, hooked up my home theater, and patiently awaited the outcome of the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD wars. My TV would look right at home on a Star Trek movie set, and can display the coveted 1080p signal. I eagerly awaited the coming revolution of exciting high definition content.

Well, this is a revolution that, for me, may well fall as flat as the Samsung’s beautiful screen. Toshiba have now conceded the marketplace battle for the hearts and wallets of consumers, leaving Blu-Ray the crowning champion of the 1080p format. But during while waiting out the battle my world has changed. Hi Def has been replaced by Tiny Lo Def. My life has transitioned towards downloaded internet content, and the ultimate gadget monster to blame it all on is:

Apple’s iPod Touch.

This little piece of techo-heaven holds both my audio files (music, podcasts, audio books and audio lectures) and, of course, video. After purchasing the iPod Touch at the oh-so-cool Apple store in Tokyo, I eagerly loaded it up with one of my favorite movies, as well as some Noam Chomsky video interviews. I was blown away by how much fun it was to carry my intellectual and entertainment “food” around with me. Plane rides were made bearable, workout routines a joy, spare time without a book became a pleasure. I can even jack this thing into my car audio.

There are two themes to consider, in this journey from hi-def to lo-def that may become a part of many our lives in the future. The first is content choice. We have all become accustomed to free access to TV and movies, delivered to us from the Main Stream Media (MSM). The MSM is all corporate-mandated material, from CNN to The New York Times or The Washington Post. But the older I get, the more limited these sources seem to me, merely repeating or reinforcing cultural thought as they do. What if I want to go alternative media all the way?

The content available for renegade free-thinkers is currently available on the internet, on both free and paid sites. Here’s one way to achieve Neo-like freedom from the thought-control grid of society: start tracking down alternative media content on the internet. Audio lectures, podcasts that encourage critical thinking, news sites like Democracy Now and Global Research, anything that shifts you into the world of new possibilities, and away from MSM.

The second theme is the use of technology. The investment in hardware and software does not run cheap but the rewards are tremendous. Of course, as a Mac user I’m going to recommend an Apple laptop or iMac, but you prefer to suffer you can get by with a Windows machine, and track down the equivalent software. For those of you with a Mac, here’s what you need for red pill nirvana: an iPod Touch, an internet connection, a video format conversion software, and the internet content of your choice. Here’s how my particular set-up works.

I’m curious about Erich Fromm, for instance, and ideas in his book, ”To have or to be?”. After ordering the book on Amazon.com I head over to Google Video and YouTube and do a search for available “Fromm” material. Sure enough, there are several interviews and lectures given by Fromm before he died. In YouTube I download several of the flash files that interest me. I have to rename each file, but the process only takes a few minutes, and I’m ready for stage two because my iPod does not play flv. files. Instead of complaining to Steve Jobs or accepting restrictive audio format control, I fire up the most wonderful front-end software: VisualHub. This little marvel will take my various .flv files (or other types of files, such as an unencoded DVD), stitch them together, encode them for the iPod, and finally drop them into iTunes like the wonderful techno-deva it is. At least most of time. Sometimes the techno-devas get cranky, and the sound goes out of sync, but such is the cost of freedom.

Anyhow, a little massaging here (add some tags to the file), a little aesthetics there (I add a small picture file to the new download, something fun to show up on the iTouch and it’s “cover flow” feature), and I’m ready to transfer my newly-created content to the iTouch. The red pill has dissolved and is now in my system: I am free to watch what I want, when I want, and how I want, improving my knowledge base and stretching my mind.

It’s a good thing.

Update, January, 2010: The iPod Touch is now rarely used, having been supplanted by the more versatile 3G iPhone.  I now await the release of the 4G iPhone in the Summer of 2010. Is there no end to my addiction? Probably not.

Tags: Trends