An iPod For Dad
My dad likes to stay up late and read. I know he’s often bored at night and that he enjoys listening to music, but with everyone else trying to sleep he needs something with headphones. For a few years he’s been using a portable CD player and carrying around some discs. It’s not terribly practical.
One of the benefits to having a geeky son is that you may find some kind of technology foisted upon you. So as an experiment I put some dad-friendly music on my iPod nano and let him use it for a few days. It was a definite hit. He loves the idea of having a big collection of music to listen to, but the nested menu system in the nano was confusing for him. My concern was that he would spend his time trying to get it to work rather than enjoying music. I looked at the Apple web site and it seemed like the iPod shuffle would be a better choice for him.
So this week I ordered a custom-engraved iPod for him, and will fill it up with some of his favorite music to get him started. It’s going to be fun to see how this goes. I know the music will be a bit hit, and it’s possible he’ll develop an interest in podcast content as well.