Technology, baby!

We were at my parents' house on the weekend. Tristan was sitting in Granny's lap and she was reading him a book. Simon was elsewhere, and made some sort of appealing noise that attracted Tristan's attention. He hopped down from Granny's lap, on his way to investigate what Simon was up to, and Granny protested.

Granny: Where are you going, Tristan? We're in the middle of a book.

Tristan: I'll be right back, Granny. Just pause the book.

***

It's my birthday next week, and my family has been asking me what I would like. I have absolutely no idea. Well, there is one thing I would especially like, but no amount of money will alter nature's plan for that.

Beloved suggested my family combine forces to get me a 1G iPod Nano, and I'm seriously considering it. As you may remember, Beloved and the boys got me a generic brand MP3 player for Mother's Day last year. I agonized for months on what music to load, and then it took me an embarrassingly long time to get around to actually put the music on the MP3 player, which was in and of itself an entirely frustrating experience. Despite carefully crafted sets and links between song groups, the laptop and MP3 player conspired to jumble the playlist, but the player itself doesn't have a scramble feature. And then when I used it at the gym, my primary reason for wanting one in the first place, I found the volume wouldn't crank loud enough to motivate me.

Will an iPod solve any of these problems? Probably not. But I want one anyway. I'm embarrassed about what this says about my not-so-latent consumeristic streak.

Do you have an iPod? Which one, and would you recommend it? If not an iPod, what else do I need for my birthday?