When my sister graduated from college, all she asked for as a gift was an iPod. So I  checked the Apple store to see which one I can afford (translation: I will be willing to buy for someone other than myself, heh), and I decided on the iPod shuffle. What, I got her through college – sort of – so that’s just fair, right?

Turned out, it inspired me to buy myself an older-generation iPod Nano from Ebay. After a few months, though, because of some unimportant reason, we decided to swap iPods. So the thing is, I’m hating the shuffle. That’s too strong – I’m not liking it too much. I don’t like that I can’t control my playlists. I don’t like that it can’t accommodate all my mp3s. I like that it’s so easy to carry around, but that’s about it.

Now, I’m being tempted to buy an ipod nano 8g just because of the above reasons. But then again, I don’t need one. And I’m really not in a position to “waste” money like that. I guess I’ll distract myself with looking at the specs of the 160 GB iPod classic whenever I think of the nano. Geez, what a problem to have.

My friend asked me, “So, do you find the iPad useful”? I gave an immediate answer of No, to which on second thought I have a lot of “buts” to add. No, you don’t need one for work, if we have the same kind of job; no, you don’t need it to get through any of your daily tasks. If you already have a laptop, even not touch screen laptops, then no it doesn’t really add much to the functions you most use. But, it’s a lot of fun.

I use it as an e-book reader, although I’ll be first to say that I don’t have much time to read books these days. I use it for web searches and checking e-mails and instant messages when I’m outside of home, but if you’re using a smartphone then there’s your alternative. I play games on it, and download apps like the ones I use most frequently- an expense tracker that generates records of all your cash inflow and outflow, and several time management applications which couldn’t do anything about the fact that sometimes 24 hours is just not enough for the things I need to accomplish. Maybe the best use I have for my iPad right now is for watching movies and TV series while I’m waiting for sleep. It’s just less weighty to bring to bed than my laptop. So, it’s very useful, but not something everyone should do without.

For sure you’ve heard about this game called Angry Birds, right? Well, it’s so addicting that when a version for Mac finally came out, I bought it the same day it was released. It’s not like I play a lot of games — although when I was young, I was absolutely nuts about Super Mario Bros — but I really find arcade games (I think that’s what they call it) fun. I never really understood network and strategy games, anyway. I’ve never even touched an xbox 360 or tried any of those popular network games. But Angry Birds? I’m done with it, and I can’t wait to try Fruit Ninja next.

When the iPad first came out, I am one of those people who found the name funny and unoriginal. I mean, from iPod to iPhone, and now the iPad, the iTable doesn’t seem too far-fetched now.  But now, it’s actually proving to be Apple’s best product yet. Industries and research institutions use it; picture this: archaeologists now bring their iPads in the field to compare rock samples for color, texture, etc., and generally just to bring an entire library with them for referencing. If you would believe your television, lawyers need them, too, to do away with all those notes and heavy paper load while they’re on the go. Heck, the iPad even made the Kindle obsolete, and Kindle was Amazon’s best-selling product.

I sure get the appeal. Oh, how I do. But since I have no legitimate use for it rather than wanting to have a pricey accessory to my laptop, I made a promise to myself that I won’t think about an iPad, not even with signs everywhere saying to Buy it here, until I’ve read ALL my unread (hard copy) books. And I’ve got a lot. [It's because my primary (planned) use for that gadget would be as an e-book reader, more than an Internet browser or anything else.] If I do finish reading everything, I believe that I would feel so good about myself that I’d like to give myself a reward. Too bad it doesn’t seem to be possible in the next few months.