Shuffling

I'm an admitted brand whore. I have certain brands that I'm loyal to in many aspects of my life - I love my Chuck Taylor sneakers, I love my Droid, I love Ben & Jerry's (you'll rarely find any other pint in my freezer). I even have a statistical solutions brand - I will always be loyal to SAS over SPSS. I'm just as particular about my beer. I'll drive miles out of my way for a coffee from Dunkin Donuts before I hit the Starbucks down the street. That's just how I am - I find something I like and I stick with it.

I also practice brand abstinence. I've always been a PC, and somewhat self-satisfied that I managed to make it through life without succumbing to the beautiful-yet-trendy Apple iProducts. Yes, I was perfectly comfortable in my geekiness, even if Justin Long is way more pleasant to look at than John Hodgman. (Really, back in the day, Justin Long as Apple would have been my boyfriend. True story.)



All that changed on Saturday, when I bought my iPod Shuffle. Not only did I cave and buy the iProduct to begin with, but when I started playing with it and realized that the playlist function on Winamp was almost completely incompatible with the Shuffle, I did the unthinkable. I uninstalled my beloved Winamp and replaced it with... dun dun dun... iTunes. And I feel dirty, like I've been sneaking around with my best friend's husband. Or with Justin Long.

But really, look at how cute it is!



So small, so pretty, so SQUARE. And the Genius playlist functions? Well, they're freaking genius. Ew, I can't believe I just said that.