I Give Thanks for my iPod Touch

For my wedding anniversary at the end of August, I bought two iPods, one for my wife and one for myself. I already had a previous generation iPod, but when I learned that I could download a French dictionary to the iPod Touch, I was sold.

I had thought I would fill this iPod with music as I had done with my previous one, but the iPod Touch is an entirely different experience. It has changed my life. First, there is the convenience of internet access. When I'm sitting in my chair and need a particular piece of information, I simply Google what I'm looking for on my iPod Touch, and within seconds, I have it. In addition to internet access, I have an address book, calculator, notepad, calendar, and then, there are the applications created for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and for those who don't know, the iPod Touch is an iPhone without the phone.

On my iPod I have the American Heritage Dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, the Oxford Concise Dictionary and Thesaurus, two French dictionaries, two e-Book reading programs, a database into which I've put all the books from my upstairs library so when I'm in a bookstore, I can check to see if I have the book already. Other programs on my iPod Touch are The Weather Channel, which tells me not only the temperature but how cold it actually feels, two programs which give me still shots and videos from Fashion Week in New York, London, Milan, and Paris, WebMD, a couple of astrology programs, and a Channukah Menorah whose candles will not drip wax. Oh, yes, and also a solitaire app which contains I don't know how many games of solitaire. The program keeps track of the number of hours you've played a game. I will not tell you how many
hours I've racked up so far on just two games.

Some iPod apps are free, and prices for others range from $.99 to $35.00 for the Concise Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus.

And the most wonderful thing of all about the iPod Touch is that you do whatever you want to do by the merest of touches on the screen. I find myself touching other things now and being surprised that nothing happens.

But, what led to all of this praise for the iPod Touch is this: As I type, my iPod Touch is informing me that there are 54 days, 9 hours, and 22 minutes until the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Behind the digital counter are photos of Obama that change as well as quotations from his books and speeches which also change. This is a free application in the Entertainment Directory of the App Store at iTunes.

So, on this Thanksgiving I sit here and watch the Obama Inaugural Countdown on my iPod Touch and just smile, smile, smile as the seconds counter speeds along.

I give thanks for my iPod Touch which brings me joy every day.

And, I give thanks for you who read my words and tell me that they mean something to you.

© 2008 by Julius Lester