What Is on My iPod?

Before I address the exact subject of the title of this post, it is first helpful to reveal to my various readers that I am something of an experienced person with technology, which is merely to say that I am usually ultimately successful in getting a computer to do what I want it to do despite its operating system, and I have repaired them with hardware substitutions in my time, so I am considered by many of the people with whom I associate to be rather knowledgeable about technology and electronic devices.


All of that information culminates to reveal that I am one of those people who researches a product before he buys it to ensure that I will be completely pleased with it when I obtain it. An MP3 player was no exception to this rule, and, while many of my friends were buying iPods in various models, which were mostly Nano and Touch variants, I had been looking at an almost unknown little gadget, at least to them, for myself to enhance my collection of opera recordings.

It would seem that I had found the perfect device, for I learned that Sandisk's line of Sansa players, the best of which may have been the E200 series, featured an FM radio recording function, and, naturally my mind began to calculate all of the enjoyment I could receive from listening to broadcast gems from the Metropolitan Opera by recording their performances on Saturday afternoons during their season. However, the E200 series was discontinued and replaced with the View, and, more recently, the Fuze. I had asked the kind employees at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and other places on numerous occasions whether either of these replacements had the recording feature built into them, but they told me that they did not. I was downcast for a while until I walked into Radio Shack on an afternoon, and the knowledgeable salesman reintroduced me to the Sansa line of products. In his pitch he explained that one of the features it had over, say, the iPod, was that it could record from FM radio. I could not believe my ears, and I asked him if he was absolutely sure, to which he replied that he was, and I quickly bought their tiny, two gigabyte model Clip+ for a rather great amount when you consider that these players are now sold at almost half of what I paid for mine.

I have received much pleasure from this device, and I am most proud to say that it has recorded an appreciable amount of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts for my benefit, but my main qualm with it was its capacity, or, rather, its lack thereof.

Less than a week ago, I found myself in a pawn shop, and I recalled my dilemma with the Met's next broadcast of Verdi's "La Traviata" starring Marina Poplavskaya, Matthew Polenzani, Andrezej Dobber, and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, so I went to see if there were any bargains to be found in the portable music devices. As I looked, I saw several iPods of various generations, but my eye was drawn to two or three Zunes and a Sansa View. I looked at the View first, and I was pleased to see that it was a thirty-two gigabyte model, which would be a considerable improvement over my current device, but the price was rather more than I was willing to pay for this used and arguably almost obsolete item. I looked at other capacious players, and it seemed that storage came with a price. I was almost ready to give up entirely and settle for what I had when i noticed that the collection of iPods was rather varied and larger than the rest. I began to look, and I saw a white thirty gigabyte model, but it was being sold for more than the Sansa View, and it was certainly not the newest model. I then saw a black one, and, when I analyzed it, I found that it was an eighty gigabyte model iPod Classic, and it was the same price as the white thirty gigabyte one had been. I quickly bought it as it was a very good purchase for the capacious storage that it could support. On my way home after I purchased it, i could not cease thinking about how my operatic recordings would all be able to be consolidated onto this one device, for at present my library consumes about forty gigabytes, and I thought of all of the expanding of my selections I could now afford to accomplish as well.

After some difficulty in transferring my music from a Windows 7 based personal computer to a laptop equipped with Mac OS X, neither of which are terrible machines, I have finally captured some four gigabytes of music onto my new iPod, and I must say that I am most excited to be able to listen to any of my recordings whenever I should have the whim or desire.

Therefore, to disclose the contents of my music library to you as it appears on my device and to treat this post in the proper fashion with the article corresponding to the title in obedience, I shall commence.

  1. La Traviata-Met-2010: Valenti, Gheorghiu, Hampson; Armiliato
  2. Music For A While-Anne Sofie von Otter
  3. Anne Sofie von Otter's Performance at the Verbier Festival 2010; Marc Minkowski
  4. The Legend of St. Nocholas-Anonymous 4
  5. A Little Night Music-Original Broadway Cast Recording
  6. A Little Night Music-Broadway Revival Cast Recording
  7. La Sonnambula-Cecilia Bartoli, Juan Diego Florez, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo; Alessandro Marchi
  8. Celtic Thunder-Celtic Thunder
  9. Anam-Clannad
  10. Sacred Handel Catatas-Emma Kirkby
  11. Ah, mio cor: Handel Arias-Danielle DeNiese
  12. The Mozart Album-Danielle DeNiese
  13. Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs-Dawn Upshaw; David Zinman, London Sinfonietta Orchestra
  14. 2009 Recital, Barcelona, Spain-Diana Damrau
  15. La Fille du Regiment-Met-2010-Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Florez, Kiri Te Kanawa
  16. BBC Prom 74-2010-Dorothea Roschmann; Gianandrea Noseda
  17. Amarantine: Special Christmas Edition-Enya
  18. Odyssey-Hayley Westenra
  19. L'Elisir d'Amore-Toulouse-2007-Inva Mula, Giuseppe Filianotti
  20. 2005 Recital, Paris, France-Magdalena Kozena, David Daniels; Paul Goodwin
  21. Lulu-Met-2010-Marlis Petersen, Anne Sofie von Otter, James Morris
  22. Recital-Leo Nucci, Patrizia Ciofi
  23. 13-Original Broadway Cast Recording
  24. Rosso: Italian Baroque Arias-Patricia Petibon
  25. Recital-Ramon Vargas
  26. A Night of Love-Verbier Festival 2010-Renee Fleming
  27. Lucrezia Borgia-WNO-2009-Renee Fleming, Vittorio Grigolo
  28. Giulio Cesare-Met-2007-Ruth Ann Swenson, David Daniels, Patricia Bardon
  29. The Dawn of Grace-Sixpence None the Richer
  30. The Fatherless and the Widow-Sixpence None the Richer
  31. My Dear Machine EP-Sixpence None the Richer
  32. Into the Woods-Original Broadway Cast Recording
  33. I Capuletti e i Montecchi-Minnesota Opera-2001-Sumi Jo, Vivica Genaux; Will Crutchfield
  34. In the Kingdom-Whitecross
  35. Several Various Singles from Albums
Thank you for your enthusiasm as to what are the contents of my music library, and this is not even the whole of it. Perhaps I should devote a whole page to my music in my possession. I do know that I shall enjoy having it all with me without having to choose what I want to hear because of a lack of space. May God bless all of you immensely, and thank you for reading.

-Tyler.

Comments

I'm surprised that you have the revival cast recording of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC after you spoke so negatively about it in your facebook "review" after only listening to the seconds of preview on Amazon.
Tyler Barton said…
Sarah,

I still do not think the New Cast Recording quite measures to the musicality of the original, but the performances are still good. They are rather different than those to which I was first introduced on the original recording, but I like quite a few of them. Angela Lansbury breathes excellent life into the Countess. On the average summary of the album, I would say that it offers more of a dramatic interpretation of the songs, but the original has more musicality, and either approach has its advantages. I have favorite moments in both of them.

-Tyler.

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