iThing Trouble Again...

CAUTION: If you are a fan of Apple products, I would suggest that you just skip this post altogether. I am frustrated and am taking out my frustration through digital yelling (AKA CAPITAL LETTERS) and being VERY negative about Apple iThings. If you like iThings, please, do us both a favor and skip this post!

I have an intense dislike for all things Apple. It's strange that this should be so, since my first ever interaction with a computer was with an Apple IIe, but it is. It has always been this way. For some reason, I do not think like an Apple product. I never have, and I never will. I know, I know - there are very vocal music therapists out there who will never give up their Apple products, and that is just FINE with me. My intense dislike comes from the fact that I personally cannot interact with an Apple thing without something messing up and making my blood pressure go through the roof!


In case you haven't noticed, I am struggling with my iPod at the moment.

I had a whole bunch of movies stored (I thought, at least) on my computer. They are now gone somewhere - wherever iTunes things go in this ether of a world. It's frustrating because I cannot stream what I want to watch to accompany my current work on my television (can you hear yourself, MJ?? What a privileged attitude you have!) so I am dependent upon my computer for all things at the moment. I can't use my iCloud account because, for some strange reason (I mean, I get it, but seriously, Apple???) I have to install my account on something that runs Apple's operating system BEFORE I can use iCloud for Windows. I have nothing that runs Apple's operating system because they just don't work for me. I thought that I might have stored things on the cloud, but that isn't happening - the cloud isn't available to me.

So, what is happening? Things that I have paid for are no longer in my library for some reason. Try to restore things from a previous library? That doesn't happen. IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE TO ME!!!!!!!!

This happens to me...often. Then, when I manage to find my files and things that I've paid for in the past, they don't work with my iPod which was the only storage device that had a 160 Gb drive to store my entire music library when I was roaming between 6 buildings and had no chance of access to streaming so that's what my facility bought for me to use rather than having to...

I can say this with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY! If I had any other option to having to use iTunes, I would! If anyone else had bothered to make a portable music player that allowed me to store my entire music library for use at any time, I would have bought it for my facility and another one for myself...IN A HEARTBEAT! 

I have wasted several hours at conferences listening for anything that will work on my Android system - anything at all - and there is nothing. I know I'm not the only music therapist out there who prefers PC/Windows/Anything but Apple iThings, but the Apple fans come out in droves when asked for recommendations. I try to make my voice heard, but it is often drowned out by people who think that their recommendation is more important than mine. I often acquiesce. 

At the moment, my frustration with my iTunes account is rooted in my frustration with my modem difficulties, but it would be nice if something electronic was working the way it should be. I can't find files on the computer that were there earlier. I am missing my ability to stream things any place at any time. I am in the middle of my Spring Break, and I cannot move forward on my goals until I can get the wireless aspect fixed. It is amazing how dependent I am on getting information when I want it.

I am spoiled. I think we all are these days.

I am sure that there are some folks out there encouraging me to "embrace streaming music for music therapy." I don't think I will ever get there entirely because of situations such as this one. On my last day of work before break, there was a city-wide internet outage. None of us could access our email accounts, the internet, or even the copy machines. The network was down, so no one could do any work. I like having something in my hand that I can use when I need it. It is becoming more and more difficult to do that these days. In order to play CDs, I need a CD player. Those are becoming obsolete. To get the music that I want when I want it, I need a good wi-fi signal wherever I go. That signal has to reach me wherever I am in the world, and I've found that cinder blocks don't really conduct signals really well.

I must finish this rant and move into more of my day. The ATT person should be here between 1-3 hours from now. Maybe things will miraculously show up again after I get my connectivity back. Probably not, though. Past experiences tells me that there is nothing to do except to download things again. Ugh.

Off to figure something out...don't know what at this point, but something...