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This past Christmas was a sad day for the WDHiP club, as it has likely been every Christmas for the past half-decade or so. I called Sid France, the 89-year-old president of the New England chapter of WDHiP, and let him know that I had forfeited my eligibility and would no longer be part of the ultra-exclusive We Don’t Have iPods club. He swallowed any bitterness he might have had and wished me luck on all of my endeavors, promising that he would inform the three other club members of my departure. I wished him well and hung up the phone, and with a slightly heavy heart, I began charging my very own refurbished iPod, lovingly bestowed upon me in the spirit of Christmas.

For the first few days, I brought it everywhere. I imported over 800 songs and simply shuffled my way through laundry, workouts, and potty visits. I used it at work, tried to use it in my car, and even went to sleep with it a few times. I’m very protective of it, though I plan on being even more protective of it when I get one of those little soft cases and strap it somewhere to myself so that I never have to hear anything other than the soundtrack of my life. Even as write this, I am importing CDs into my computer so that I can try and cram as much of my music library as possible into my little black fun box. And somewhere in my closet, in a place where I’ve already forgotten where I put it, my CD walkman is quietly shedding a tear as it prepares itself for an afterlife of dust gathering.

But my other CD players have nothing to worry about. As sleek, tiny, and convenient as my new iPod is, it’s still just an Mp3 player. At the gym with a pair of earbuds stuck in my head, I’m not all that concerned with fidelity. In my car, with the help of a charger/transmitter, I can blame the inferior sound on the fact that I am using a combination of cramped radio frequencies and crappy wiring. But when I plug in my fancy headphones and close my eyes, I’m not very impressed. I notice the lack of separation and depth. I miss the clarity and precision in some of my favorite recordings. Yes, it’s absolutely great to have so much music in one tiny little thing, but I am thankful that it hasn’t always been like this.

As I’ve probably mentioned or intoned in previous blogs, I really like high fidelity. I really like excellent recordings. I really like listening to a great song on a great system. And because of these tastes, I know that the iPod will be the fast food of my musical diet. I just wish that everyone else would realize this too. While most people are well aware of the compressed nature of Mp3 files, there are far too many cars with Mp3 players, bars and clubs running systems off of iPods, and kids growing up knowing only the ear-wrecking muddle of the earbud to assume that the majority of us care that our musical tastes are the equivalent of Wendy’s.

Again, I love my iPod, and I will continue to fill it up and care for it. But my CDs will not be trashed after I import them, nor will I spend any money at iTunes, unless I get another gift certificate (which I ended up using on a movie anyway). It’s great to have a quick fix or a 2,000 –song mix, but my iPod and stereo will not be hanging out together very often. They will both be perfectly happy performing separate and fulfilling tasks in separate areas of my musical kitchen.