Why I love my iPod touch!

     It was just a few months ago that my brother brought over a shiny new toy that he had recently purchased from Verizon. It was the Verizon Storm, and it looked awesome. He quickly went about the task of showing me just what his cool new phone could do. The sleek design, touch screen, and high quality video had me green with envy. Of course my first question to my brother was “how much did it cost?” Fortunately for my brother, he was at a place in his Verizon contract that he could purchase the Storm for around $200.00. When I checked with Verizon, I was told, I would have to wait until November to get the same sort of deal; it was February. If I wanted the Storm, I would have to pay the full $500.00 price tag!

    If there is anything I have an addiction to, it is technology. Just how could I wait until November? The only thing that trumped my frustration about missing out on the latest cool new technology, was my indignance with Verizon for asking me to pay $500.00 for what cost my brother $200.00.  I thought about switching companies. “That’ll show them”, I said out loud. Soon, I realized that that was not going to work. Most of my family and friends already use Verizon, and it was free to talk to them

     Earlier this month, my ipod nano stopped working. Since it was several years old, I decided to go ahead and spend the money to buy a new nano. When I got to the store, I learned that the 8 gig ipod touch was just $80.00 more than the nano, hmmm. I started reading the box and soon I learned that the touch also had Internet capabilities, ooooh. I wondered why no one had ever shared this information with me before. After some though, I came to the ultimate conclusion that it is because Apple would rather consumers purchase the iphone with its monthly service contract. I had previously dismissed the idea of an iphone, due to the required AT&T connection.

And so I bought the ipod Touch at Target for $229.00. Next to the new dishwasher I bought this past spring, it was the largest purchase I had made in years. I was hoping for a cool way to listen to music in my car and on my walks and was thrilled to learn that I could also access my email and facebook accounts anywhere there was wifi (bonus). I soon found out that the iTouch would not only serve to satisfy my listening needs, but would also negate my need to purchase a more expensive phone. “But you didn’t buy a phone”, you say. Let me explain.

No matter what your needs, there is an itunes application for you. Many people are surprised to learn that these applications are available for the itouch as well as the iphone. Here are a few of my favorites:

Facebook Application

I don’t know about you, but I hate waiting for my laptop to turn on and load, before checking what my friends and family have been up to on Facebook. With the itunes app., all I have to do is click 3 times and I am there, no waiting.

Shopper (by MidCentury Software)For a mere .99, this application will allow you to easily create grocery list on your itouch.This list can be sent to an email address or carried with you on the itouch to check off as you shop.

Pedometer (by Western ITS Limited)This innovative application is $1.99. In addition to calculating you steps when walking, jogging, and running, it will also calculate the calories you have burned during any session. Afterwards, the application will log your steps and burned calories along with the date in an exercise journal. Awesome! In addition, you can listen to your music without interfering in the process.

There are so many applications designed to entertain, increase productivity, and improve your health that I actually thought about taking a day off work to explore them all. In addition to the many apps that run about .99, there are numerous free apps that are simply amazing. Parents and teachers will appreciate the magnitude of games and tutoring apps that aide in educating everyone from kindergarten, to those preparing for the ACT, and medical students, studying anatomy.

So the way I see it, I got the technology I craved, without a new phone. In the end, I not only had a great new way to carry and listen to music, but I also had a mini-computer capable of nearly everything my more cumbersome, less portable laptop was able