As the number of iPods Apple has sold reaches 42 million and companies like Levi's build iPod controls into its jeans has it come to the point where it's not just normal to own an iPod, it's actually not cool?

The iPod has completely revolutionised the way we listen to music. Rather than buying albums one at a time, sitting down and listening to them over and over until we know the words or every intricacy of the movement, we buy stuff, rip or download it and then it joins the thousands of other songs on our white device awaiting selection by the random Apple algorithm.

Does this mean that we no longer appreciate music as much as we used to? Is it coincidence that in 2004 and 2005 of approximately 200 albums that I bought there was only one gem? The other gems that I would have found in previous years have not received the attention they would have got in previous years when they would have remained on my CD or MD player until I'd learnt to like them. iTunes must take some of the blame as my desktop is now a glorified jukebox. Of course I can just play the CDs but it's so much easier to just press play and let it run!

The iPod has simply made it too easy to listen to lots of music once and miss out on the repeated listening that made people love music.

So how does this stop the iPod being cool? Well it's a great looking piece of kit, but if I don't focus on music as much as I used to and lose some of the enjoyment, the iPod is not actually benefitting my life. Oh yeah and my dad's got one, my aunt has one, all my cousins and all my colleagues - we're all just the same. Which isn't cool.

Tags: ipod, uncool