I didn’t want one. I thought it would be too big, too delicate to carry around in the garden, and I was sure email and web on it would be unusable, just like Windows CE.

I was wrong and I repent. I love its slidy screen, the pop up touch keyboard, the built in satnav, the big calculator, the silly pint-drinking graphics, the calendar that integrates to my Exchange account. I could go on. But yesterday I finally got round to doing what the rest of the country does, loading ITunes and looking for music to download. And my world has changed.

I didn’t have a Sony walkman, or an IPod, or anything in between. So wandering around the house serene in my own world of music is a novel experience. I just can’t believe that I can hear so loud and clear and those around me hear nothing. Bear with me, it’s just the enthusiasm of the novice – it will wear off.

Anyway, first thing I did was looked up two pieces I used to listen to when I belonged to a choir in the early 1980’s. The key thing for me was finding the exact recordings, by listening to samples. Took a while, but I found them. So, without apology, my first two downloads were:

Polegnala e Todora (Love Song) 3:38
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir Le mystère des voix bulgares

Dixit Dominus, HWV 232: 7. De torrente in via bibet
Ann Mackay, Choir Of King’s College, Cambridge, English Chamber Orchestra

With those two tucked away, tonight’s mission is to find a very weird track I once heard which essentially comprised a ball bearing being bounced on sheet metal…..

October 12, 2009