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1. iPod. An obvious first pick. But I seriously have no clue how anyone who likes music can live without one of these babies (or another quality mp3 player). I have vague memories of not hating my life before I got one, but then again it’s hard to be sure. Recently my old iPod Mini bit the dust and it took me about a month to replace it. My brand spankin’ new 80 gig iPod Video finally came a few weeks ago, and I was complete again. Because of the iPod, the music industry finds itself needing to be reinvented. Digital music downloads (fully and, ahem, partly legal) have become ubiquitous and podcasting is now a popular new information medium thanks largely to the iPod.
2. TiVo. No longer must we be jerked around by TV programming schedules and advertisers! By letting us choose when we want to watch our favorite shows, TiVo (as do DVRs in general) helps us watch more of the TV we want to watch, while magically seeming to reduce our total time in front of the tube. Huzzah! (Or maybe I’m just fooling myself with the whole “reduce total TV time bit” . . . )
3. MapQuest. Does anyone even remember how they got anywhere, say, ten years ago? Not me. I don’t recall using maps that much, and ten years ago we didn’t all have cell phones like we do today to call from the road. Did we give out a lot more directions to people? I honestly don’t even know. Actually, I tend to use Google Maps these days, but still—MapQuest gets the props for changing the paradigm of travel directions. That we get so upset at the tiniest map error just shows how completely online directions have insinuated themselves into our lives.
4. Netflix. The option never to walk into another Blockbuster alone is amazing! Also, I never realized how lacking my local video stores were in titles until I started looking around online at what the possibilities were. Even if you prefer Blockbuster Online, the movie rental business has been completely revamped in the last several years, and for the better.
Tuesday, 10. July 2007
TiVo is the only one I haven’t taken advantage of yet, but I’d say your other top 3 are likely to be in my top 4 as well.
“That we get so upset at the tiniest map error just shows how completely online directions have insinuated themselves into our lives.”
I can’t tell you how true this is for me… It’s the epitome of a love/hate relationship!
Tuesday, 10. July 2007
I have signed up for Tivo because I know as soon as I do, it will join the ranks of microwave, iPod, and a second car. All of those are things that I lived without just fine, and then after I got, I couldn’t think of giving up. I know once I go Tivo, I’ll never go back.
Wednesday, 11. July 2007
Come on, Marion, join the dark side! It’s inevitable–just a matter of time, so it may as well be now. That’s how I came to terms with it, anyway.
(I assume your comment had a typo and you meant you have not signed up for TiVo.)
Wednesday, 11. July 2007
How did the TiVo change your life compared to the VCR?
Wednesday, 11. July 2007
Mike, are you serious? TiVo is so much easier than a VCR in so many ways that it ends up being used a lot more. It’s much easier to program, with menus and schedules programmed in and options to record an entire season. And you don’t have to swap tapes in and out or have them lying around.