Final Step Into The 21st Century

I've enjoyed computers and electronics as far back as I can remember. When I was young I had an Atari 2600 video game system with around 40 or more games.  I had an email account as far back as the early '90s, and was regularly posting on newsgroups on the old Usenet before the current Internet really got going.  I've had laptops for several years, and as a family we have a total of four computers (two aren't really working, so I don't know if they really count).  I've had a blog for over a year, and know my way around computers and the web.  Thought I don't own every little thing (not going for an iPhone or iPad, thank you very much), I consider myself fairly tech savvy.  But there was one little thing that for whatever reason I never transitioned to....digital music.

Sure, I've downloaded songs onto my computer, but generally with the purpose of burning them to a CD.  I never really saw the need to have an MP3 player.  Then someone at my clinic brought in an iPod dock and several people began bringing their iPods.  Suddenly I realized that digital music was pretty cool, and a heck of a lot more portable than lugging CDs around.  Before long, I was pricing MP3 players and talking about wanting one.

A couple of days ago I finally did it.  I bought my first MP3 player.  Not an iPod, though I don't have anything against Apple.  After a lot of research I went with a Sansa SanDisk, getting it for about half the price of an iPod, and having all of the same basic functions.  I'm still trying to learn how to use it, but am looking forward to trying it out.  However, first I have to load it with my music.

That has been quite the ordeal, as I have many dozens of CDs.  For the last several days I've been working hard to rip my music onto my laptop in preparation for copying the songs to the MP3 player. That has been a lot of work!  But as of this afternoon, I finally finished, and am currently transferring everything over.  Tomorrow I get to really try it out as I mow the lawn.

I kind of feel silly, as I'm one of the few people I know who is this late in moving into the digital music realm.  But better late than never!