technological advancement.

Just went to the comp exhibition-fair-thing at singapore EXPO. (can't remember what it was - but there were a lot of people around selling electronic stuff.)

They happen a couple of times each year, and whenever I go to them I come back loaded with junk. Make no mistake - not junk I actually PAID for, but all sorts of cables, wires, peripherals, cards, brochures, pamphlets, business cards, hands-free sets, screen protectors, and occasionally curry puffs.

This is a rather alarming trend. Last year I came back with a dubiously-acquired desktop replacement computer. This time the free gadget is a mysterious bit of white plastic called an ipod shuffle. Now, this thing confounds me.

Why, I ask, is Apple, capable of fitting 20 gigabytes of memory into a space not much bigger than a deck of cards, unable to place a screen on this device? It's not like I haven't seen smaller devices with screens, because I certainly have. The makers of Digimon did it. Creative did it. It can't be that difficult, especially for a company like Apple. And I'm not even asking for the kind of screen that shows you the song name with all sorts of graphical bells and whistles: volume meters, play time, battery life, graphic equalizers. The ipod shuffle, which looks like a little white stick with a button on top, doesn't even feature a little counter to tell me which track I'm playing. Ten out of ten for style... minus several million for functionality.

Unfortunately, Apple decided to take a revolutionary step, backwards, and market this new screen-less concept. No doubt I am intrigued that at any time I'm completely unable to tell what track is coming up next, oftentimes what track i'm currently listening to, and what other tracks there are, save memorising the order in which I downloaded my mp3s to the ipod.

This is not to say, however, that the thing is completely useless. It isn't - it still features Apple's wonderful itunes technology, allowing seamless synchronisation and uploading of mp3s. It functions as a fairly large USB flash drive. It still features good sound-quality, and most of all it is absolutely tiny, making it extremely portable.
Also, it has this immensely cute LED button at the back which lights up green when you press it if the battery is charged. A major selling point, that.

I can't complain - I got it free. But I wonder if I might've been better off trading my old cd player for a casette walkman... which is five times the size, and only slightly less functional.

-adam