Thank you for the music, Mr. Apple

Being more than a little averse to change - and a teensy bit tight-assed - I have been clinging on to my 4 year-old mini under the pretext of preferring it's "retro" stylings to the new slim-line nano. Never mind that my mini's battery life was such that it would spend all day charging from my mac at work, and wouldn't survive the 30 minute bus journey home; or that itunes no longer recognised it, so that my ability to access or update the music has been haphazard for a year - a bit of a problem given my propensity for becoming obsessed with some artist or other, listening to them over and over, then inexplicably tiring of them and tossing them to the bottom of my adoration-heap.

I have been hot and heavy for Fleet Foxes for a while now, but that shows no signs of abating. No, sir.

Last week I was getting frustrated with myself for my general lack of action, and as I couldn't quite work up the courage to book an expensive trip, I decided it was time to at least drop some cash on a new music-machine. A little encouragement from a certain gadget-happy boy in my life, and the deed was done. One 16gb silver magic box in the post, courtesy of amazon.co.uk.

Walking in the early Spring sunshine, plugged into that magic, After Eight sized sliver of a gadget, I was thrilled all over again by the possibilities the ipod presents to your average, everyday music-worshipper. I particularly love it when the shuffle setting seems spookily in sync with your mood:

The Shins - Gone for good
Liz Phair - Whip smart
The Dodos - God?
Bob Dylan - Oh, sister
Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
Laura Marling - Your only doll (Dora)