iPods are the ultimate evolution of portable music. I remember when the walk-man first came out, and the thought of carrying a tape with you was amazing. That would hold a hundred songs if you were lucky, and ended up being so bulky and expensive, I never owned one. I did own a few portable CD players, but they were finicky if you did not hold them still defeating the purpose of taking them anywhere. They worked in the car to an extent, though they had four or five wires, and I could only ever figure out what one or two of them actually did. Then came the iPod. Thousands of songs all in one light, long lived, resistant to music package. iPods went through their evolution too, but they are so much better than the preceding things that it is astounding. I have had two iPods and two iPhones (which are essentially glorified iPods in my mind). I spend hours creating carefully crafted playlists to serve on my iPod. It ensures that I will want to listen to most of the songs most of the time. They allow you to travel with music, or to have it while you focus on a task. I tend to only listen with one ear because I was taught well that you cannot go through life ignoring it. This also makes biking, driving, and scooting a lot safer because you can still hear things as you listen to awesome music. They have all taken me thousands of miles and kept me calm when I might be mad. They sooth bad moods, give encouragement, and motivate you to achieve the work you need. I almost always keep my iPods on shuffle because I like the variety. The random aspect also keeps things from getting boring, and it can be an unexpected delight when a song you are thinking of or need to hear comes on. Although, there was that time when I had just seen a murder of crows coming out of the jungle and my iPod randomly played four or five songs in a row immediately afterwards about death. That is what keeps the random play exciting I suppose.