It truly amazes me how the iPod seems to have universal appeal, even with people who could hardly be called computer saavy. I have seen this appeal occur twice already in my family.

My brother owns the 20GB U2 edition of the iPod. He doesn't even like the band, but he liked the look of the iPod over the 'boring' white one, paying a $50 premium to get a different color iPod. He was actually the first person in the family to get an iPod, even before I did (and I'm the computer expert in the family). He originally bought the white 20GB iPod, but later returned it for financial reasons. A few months later, I splurged and bought the 40GB white iPod. This, of course renewed my brothers interest in the iPod and he soon went out and picked up the U2 edition iPod. We both use them for listening to music at the gym and we've also swapped music collections. The hard drive space iPods hold so much stuff that each iPod, both my brother's and I can hold BOTH of our collections with plenty of space to spare! It's amazing how much music you can put on these things! My brother has even gone beyond me on the iPod lust and bought an entire new stereo for his car in order to be able to plug his iPod into his car stereo.

My brother and I have been telling my 62 year old mom all about our iPods and how much we love them. So, my mom asked for one for her birthday. Being the good sons we are, we got her one. We decided on the 1GB iPod Shuffle for her, rather than the hard drive based iPods because she only has a small collection of CDs and wouldn't really need the full blown iPod. Now the iPod Shuffle is still pretty hard to get your hands on these days, seeing as how it is so new and so popular. I ended up having to make a 60 mile round trip one evening to an Apple store in a neighboring city in order to get one. (I actually got one for myself too!) It came in this small box that was bright lime green in color. The box is about the size of a 3 or 4 CD jewel cases stacked on top of each other. I wrapped it and delivered it to her on her birthday. Once we explained what it was, she was very excited about it. I've never seen my mother that excited about a gift in many, many years! She was so excited that she only ripped 2 CDs before she wanted to listen to it! Once these 2 CDs where done, she put on those infamous white headphones, started it up, and happily walked away to return to her quilting. Moments later, a fellow quilting friend of hers called her and she excitedly told her friend that she got an iPod for her birthday! The rest of the evening she wasn't without the white headphones in her ears and the white 'stick of gum' hanging from her neck. Since that day, whenever I've stopped by for a visit, she's there with those white headphones, listening away.

Music has a universal appeal, whether you are a teenager listening to rap, a 62 year old quilter listening to Josh Groban, or a 35 year old Software Engineer listening to rock. The iPod seems to have really struck a cord with people.