You’re Gonna Need a Crypto Wallet

Steven Levy: Well, here’s the thing. I have an iPod Classic, the last one with a good hard drive. And I’m terrified that it’s going to die, because when it dies, you can’t replace it. So I love to listen to that iPod on a plane ride where I can shuffle my whole collection. But I have to judge whether the trip is going to be worth it to take it, and spend some more time in what is ultimately a limited amount of life left in this pod. So the question is, is this trip iPod-worthy, in the sense that in Seinfeld, Elaine had the sponge-worthy metric on whether she wanted to use a certain kind of contraceptive. So I’m constantly thinking, “Gee, do I want to listen to music enough to pull out my great clickwheel iPod? Is this iPod-worthy?”

Michael Calore: Well, I’ll say two things. One, that you can still get iPods. You can buy them on the internet, you can refurbish them, you can get a tool kit and get a hard drive and pop them open and replace the hard drive inside of them. If the hard drive dies, of course, you have to refill it with music, but you can still plug a USB cable somehow into your computer and refill it with music if you have to. So I wouldn’t worry so much about losing that particular piece of hardware, because the hardware still for the next few years anyway, will be replaceable. The second thing I’ll say is, ride it into the ground. Absolutely. Break that thing. Listen to it so much that it falls apart.

Steven Levy: Well, after Covid it’s all carpe diem for me. So I guess I’ll take your advice.

Lauren Goode: There was a period of time when I was using this little waterproofed iPod. What was it, the Nano?

Michael Calore: The Nano.

Lauren Goode: The one that doesn’t have any screen, just the clickwheel.

Michael Calore: Oh, that’s the Shuffle.

Lauren Goode: The Shuffle.

Michael Calore: The first Shuffle.

Lauren Goode: Yeah. I found this company, I wrote about them at one of my previous jobs. This company, I want to say they were in, I don’t remember where they were, Oregon maybe, Washington state. And it was just a father-and-son team who would buy these iPod Shuffles in bulk, and then they would waterproof them, and they were for swimming. And they were great. I bought these little waterproof headphones, I clipped the iPod Shuffle to the strap of my bathing suit. And I would listen to music as I was swimming laps. I loved it.

Michael Calore: That’s great.

Lauren Goode: Loved it. And then eventually, I think it just, no matter how well you waterproof it, it got corroded, because it was really not designed to be underwater. Pretty cool though. That’s the last one I used.

Michael Calore: Oh, that’s great. All right, well that is our show for this week. Steven, thank you again for joining us.

Steven Levy: It was all I hoped for. Thank you.

Michael Calore: And we’re glad that you’re feeling better. It’s good to see you.

Steven Levy: Thank you.

Michael Calore: And thank you all for listening. If you have feedback, you can find all of us on Twitter, still there. Just check the show notes. Our producer is Boone Ashworth, and we will be back next week. Goodbye.

[Gadget Lab outro theme music plays]

Source