Saturday, December 15, 2007

On my non-iPod



I don't have an iPod. When I finally decided about a year ago that I could use some music while folding hand after hand after hand at the poker tables, I definitely wanted an MP3 player that used flash memory instead of a hard drive. Flash memory is more durable, has no moving parts, uses less battery juice, and is more compact. At the time (and perhaps still--I haven't checked) the largest capacity anybody made was 8 GB. There were two models available, an iPod and this one from SanDisk: http://tinyurl.com/2rwcbq. The latter was quite a bit cheaper, so I went that way. I'm mostly content with it, though I know it's not as stylish or functionally elegant as Apple's offerings.

Anyway, it occurred to me today to post here occasional updates of new music I've acquired for my non-iPod. I will only include music that I think makes for good poker accompaniment. I'm not sure exactly what the criteria for that are, but some music that I like a lot just doesn't work well. For example, most good classical symphonic music (Beethoven, Brahms, Copland, Mahler, etc.) has so much range in volume that I'm constantly having to fiddle with the sound in order to keep the lows audible over the background casino noise, then turn it down again when it goes fortissimo. That's just too annoying.

I previously mentioned the last CD that I bought, a collection from Elvis's live performances at the Las Vegas Hilton from 1969-1972 (see http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2007/10/chuck-woolery-and-me-non-poker-related.html). Then somebody who likes me a lot bought me the "gold" version of the same album, which includes the bonus CD with the full recording of the first of those Hilton shows. Major smiles there. Elvis is, I think, the definitive music for poker.

Still, one needs some variety.

I got another new one this week, a Christmas present from my brother, and I'm already in love with it: "Begin To Hope" by Regina Spektor (http://store.wbr.com/store/prod.aspx?pfid=1210817). Best song of the set, already enshrined in my list of all-time favorites, is called "Better."
Turn up your computer speakers and enjoy:





1 comment:

Short-Stacked Shamus said...

I refer to mine as my "iPod-like device." Where I listen to all them poker podcasts . . .