Why radio is better than the iPod

1927 Radio
Originally uploaded by YlvaS.

I think satellite radio is the neatest thing since sliced bread. I know...you already have cable, and Netflix, and a cell phone, and a iPod. What do you need to pay another monthly fee for?

Well I like radio better than my iPod. In fact, I never even wanted an iPod. I had an iRiver Mp3 player first and I would have stuck with that except it was no longer being supported. Even now that I've been seduced by my lovely 30 Gig sleek little iPod (Best Buy exchange for the outdated iRiver), I can' get into the whole iTunes thing, and the massive cult-like assault of iPod accesories. Maybe the problem is that there is just too much "I" in all of the Mp3 player crap.

A while back I read an article in the Utne Magazine entitled, "Hell is Other iPods: the aural loneliness of the long-distance shuffler". It is a great article about how the iPod culture isolates us from each other and I have to say I totally agree.

"In an age of atomization and social fragmentation it reinforces solipsism and places the individual and that dreaded value "choice" at the heart of experience; it suggests connection -- always the implicit promise of the digital age -- while enforcing separation; it encourages people to "tune out" while they're occupying social space with others, as if the others were mere irritations; and it reduces the experience of music, which in my view is an inherently social and collaborative art and medium, to a preselected relationship with the self."

I love radio and I love tuning into local stations as I drive long miles across the country. I love to hear oldies, farm reports, local weather, and regional accents. I even love the seredipity of coming across a song that you would never download onto your iPod for the shame of it...the guilty pleasure song! You can't really embrace the guilty pleasure when you are confined to your ultra-cool and masterfully selected iPod collection.

True, satellite radio is a sadder substitute to what the ideal would be for real radio. But I defend it. I actually get turned onto new artists. I actually listen to things outside my normal comfort zone. And I can get NPR anywhere, anytime. I can even eavesdrop on the trucker's channel. It rocks. And it rocks because it makes me feel less alone.

So maybe I'm not sharing mix tapes as much as I used to. Maybe I like being able to download one track at a time from an online retailer. And I am addicted to the Shuffle button- I admit it! But it doesn't substitute for that first joyous glimmer of recognition, that feeling of "what is this and where can I get a copy?" It's discovery; closely followed by the need to share with everyone you know. So I am going to keep my radio subscription and keep listening to Jack Ingram's American Music hour on XM radio religiously. I will also keep listening to Prairie Home Companion. And I do check in to Last.fm when I get a chance. Because music should really be doing more than filling the time. it should be bringing people together.

In the words of Nanci Griffith, "When you can't find a friend, you've still got the radio..."