So far my new iPod has been less life-changing than I had expected. I'm definitely thrilled to have so much music at my immediate dispense, but it hasn't really impacted my listening habits dramatically, which was something I had thought a lot about before deciding to get an iPod. I valued my relatively traditional habit of listening to a record from start to finish, and I'm glad to find that that hasn't changed. Nevertheless, I do like my new ability to shuffle through songs at random when I'm feeling indecisive.

The biggest attraction of MP3 players for me was the ability to easily listen to newly-acquired music on the go with minimal effort. When I think about it, though, it's not so different from burning a CD or minidisc with unlistened records, which is what I'd done until now. So I guess it makes sense that the iPod has made only a subtle difference in how I listen to music.