iPod for a Senior

Seven or eight months ago, I asked my son if he could suggest some way for me to be able to listen to Bible Readings while walking or riding in the car. Especially if I’m driving.

He said “Sure. You need either an MP3 player or an iPod.”

“Say what?”

He replied, “You know, what you see all the teenagers wear in their ears as they walk around.”

“In their ears?”

“Sure! You have to buy either one of those items I just mentioned, then go to your computer and download iTunes from the Internet. Those ear pieces are little speakers that will play into your ears, whatever you record on the iPod.”

“Right. What’s an iPod?”

“Go to an electronics store and buy one of the items mentioned, hook it up to your computer, then download Scriptures, Songs, Videos, Podcasts, etc. from iTunes.”

So, intrepid Senior Citizen that I am, I GO to the store.

I say, “I need either an MP3 player, or an iPod. Can you help me?”

He says, “Of course I can help you. Is the Pope Catholic?”

(Little joke there)

So, this guy takes me to the department for such things and I don’t know what I’m doing. I told the guy what I wanted to do, and he said,

“Want to download music also?” “Uh, yeah. Can I do it?”

We then try to figure out how much memory I might need in the iPod.

I call my son. He says, “Be sure to get one that will download from iTunes.”

“Right. But, how much memory?”

“Depends on how much you want to download.”

When the salesman hears “iTunes”, he says,

“Over here are some iPods that have 4 gigabyes of memory, or even 8 gigabytes of memory, and they‘ll work with iTunes.”

“Right. Let’s get the 8, OK?”

“Right over here. Take this one to the check out, for about $150.”

Gulp!

So I say, “Hey, let’s go for it!”

That’s how I got my iPod. I could have had the 4 for $100, but I got the “better deal”.

So, I bring the iPod home, and my son shows me how to download iTunes on my computer. We plug in my iPod, pick some Scripture portions from the Internet and download them, along with some music from the iTunes Store (you have to pay for the music and some of the Podcasts), along with some songs from a CD in the computer, and I’m in business.

This description IS rather simplified, in that there are some set up items that have to be done, the instructions are fairly clear. (At least to my son.)

Later, he showed me how to “dub” music from any CD’s I have, upload them to the computer, then download to the iPod. Upload? Download? What do I know?

So far, I’ve downloaded the books of John, The Acts, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and about 10 Psalms, 16 Podcasts, PLUS over 650 songs.

Guess how much memory I have left? 5 Gigabytes.

I’ve got room for some Audio Books, too, it seems to me.

Somebody said I should be able to get the whole Bible on 8 Gigabytes. I don’t know.

Let me tell you what I do with my iPod:

1. When my wife was in the Emergency Room for the last time, during her last couple hours of life here on earth, I placed the little ear plugs in her ears, and played Gospel songs for her, over and over, until she died. The nurse said she seemed so much quieter when she heard that music.

I’d also been whispering in her ear how much I loved her. Then, the Nurse said, “Did you hear that? She said , ‘I love you’”. I heard the words, but couldn’t distinguish them as well as the Nurse could. Those were the last words my wife said on this earth.

2. Every night after I get in bed, I put the ear pieces in my ears, turn off the lights, and listen to some of the music and scripture before I go to sleep. I have done so as long as 3 hours.

3. I have the iPod in my pocket at all times, and when I am someplace where I have to wait on someone, or on some service (like car repair), I take out the iPod and ear pieces and listen. No one else can hear.

4. Last fall, I went to one of the local high school football games by myself. I went early (as I ALWAYS do), and while the teams were “warming up”, I listened to music on my iPod.

5. et al.

Since I’m 84, you ought to hear some of the comments from people when they see me wearing those ear pieces. (My son said, “Dad, you look like a teenager.”)


Other people see me with them, or even with my BlackBerry Smart Phone accessing the Internet, and they say, “Boy, you’re up to date. I don’t even have any of those.” (Commenting on my age actually. It doesn’t bother me.)

Now……..if I could just get it to make my bed. (I thought maybe either Elijah’s or Benjamin’s Robots could do it, but to no avail.)

Or give me a shower, or brush my teeth? I’m an up-to-date kind of guy (I didn’t want to use “intrepid” again so soon.) Maybe there’s a “gadget” that’ll drive the car. (I’ll bet John would just LOVE seeing me drive his car down the street - in the back seat.)

Oh……I forgot.

A part of the iPod phenomena is that all those 600 or 700 different songs or Bible chapters can be played right off the iTunes, without the iPod being connected. (I wish I had known that before I bought the “dock”.) Coulda saved me maybe $30.

Nothing like keeping an old guy like me busy!