Entertainment on The Road, Volume 1 - iPod

The question that I get asked the most is, "Doesn't it get boring on the road?" or, "Don't you get lonely being by yourself all the time?" The answer really is no, if you have the right tools. In this series I will try to discuss the things I use to entertain myself while making the long hauls. The tips and products I discuss are not just for truckers, but could be very practical for daily commutes or road trips such as vacations. Today I'd like to discuss with you the wonderful world of iPod.

In my opinion, iPod's are one of the most useful inventions. You can store a lot of music and play it back anytime you want, without fumbling through CD's. You can download music from the iTunes store at a reasonable price. They come in a wide variety of styles, sizes, colors, and shapes. You can even save videos and pictures on certain styles. It is basically a portable hard drive that you can take anywhere with you and access anytime you want. Lets break it down and see what the advantages are over older technology.

I'm fairly new to the iPod movement myself. When I started driving I carried CD's with me. Using CD's in automobiles can be troublesome and even hazardous. Not only do you have to carry many CD's to have a good selection of music, but you also have to change them frequently. In addition, you have to find a place to store them that is readily accessible while driving, and hope that you don't drop them and have them get scratched. Now that I have an iPod I leave my CD's at home, where they are safe. If you do have an iPod or plan to get one, its still nice to have the CD's as a hard backup copy of your music should anything happen to the iPod or your computer.

I especially like the shuffle all songs function on the iPod. Not only does this give me hours of uninterupted music, but I never know whats coming next. I am the type of person that likes variety, hence why I love the job of driving, because you never know what tomorrow holds, or even what the next minute holds. On top of that, if you realize that many CD's are created to be played in their entirety, this shuffling them could make for some very interesting transitions. One that comes to mind on my iPod was a transition that I heard that had the intro to one of Eminem's CD's where he introduced a song, then the shuffle cut to a country song. That was definately unexpected, but rather comical to me, so it provided a little added entertainment.

Along with music you could store pictures and videos on some iPod's. In the same way that music storage cuts down on CD's, the picture and video storage will cut down on your need to carry hard copies of these items.

All in all, I found my iPod to be one of the greatest investments I've made. When you combine your iPod with satellite radio, which I'll discuss in the next installment, you are provided with all day entertainment. Sometimes I get lost in the music and find myself miles down the road in no time, so therefore when I'm asked if I get bored on the road, I'm gonna have to say no.

Keep the shiny side up and the muddy side down...

Young Trucker