Michael Montez Online

So I just shipped off all my old iPods to Costco (they have a pretty cool recycle program). In return I will be getting $80 for my old 3G 40gb iPod and $76 for my old 8gb iPod Nano. I will be using these cards to get a new iPod, but what iPod should I get.

Before we start the comparision, let me say that I have ruled out the iPhone because I love my phone and don’t need a new phone with limited phone capabilities.

So that leaves two options, and iPod Classic or the iPod Touch. There are obvious pros and cons for both. The iTouch is a cool device with a very useable interface and a built in web browser and has the potiental for third party apps (the hardest reason for me to resist). However, the web browser does not support flash media. It comes in 8gb or 16gb sizes and cost $399. The iPod Classic is a very familiar interface, cost the same price, but comes with 80gb (and could thus hold my entire music library).

With my Nano, it was cool that it was so small, but I had to build play list to get music on it (because of the large library) so I never had all my music/media with me. When I had my 40gb, I had my whole library and it was really cool. So do I go with future or function? Please help me decide.

Hey podcast fans (both of you) – remember when we had that great show (NIMH)? Well all the intro and outro music was Nintendudes, and now they have a new album. You can download it from their MySpace site.

I enjoyed it and I think you will to.

I have scheduled a departure date of Mid-March 08 for New Zealand. Look for your invitation to the farewell concert (performed using Guitar Hero III). Well I haven’t left L.A. yet so that means that I still get to write about LA.

So the writers of TV shows are on strike. They want a bigger piece of the pie from digital downloads. Of course they do, and they should. Selling shows via the web in a download form should have a much higher profit margin. There is no physical product or packaging, and the shipping is paid by the purchaser (the downloader uses their connection to the internet). So why not kick a few pennies back to the writers, actors, and other who are talanted enough to work it into their contract. We all learned about compound interest – those pennies add up (remember Office Space).

I do have one issue with the strike. The lack of creative slogans and signs. These guys are writer, the slogans should be more dramatic, comedic, or thriller-ish. The writers of Law and Order and CSI should have the most dramatic signs, while The Office and 30 Rock writers should have the picketers ROTFL. If I drive by the picket line of the Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimel, those guys should have new signs every night, and they should be topical.

But the strike is also an opportunity. An opportunity for some web-only programming to shine. Shows like Clark and Michael and…well mostly just Clark and Michael for now, should be pushing their new content. As the daily shows shut down due to lack of content, that writer from the mid-west with a video camera and a dream will write, shoot, and publish to the web. Someone will like it, and they will tell someone else, and so on and so forth. But for now, just watch Clark and Michael and tell me what you think.

I realize the irony of writing about a writers strike and by writing I am proving that I am not a writer nor am I on strike.