My iPod is one of my favorite things that I own. I have always liked to have music with me wherever I am. It’s an amazing progression: from mix tapes, mix CDs and now to playlists. I bought my first iPod in the Spring of 2010. It was the impressive 160 GB iPod Classic, the iPod with the largest capacity. For my own amazing music collection, nothing else would suffice.
I can honestly say that every song on my iPod has been hand selected to be added. I am not someone to just put a whole cd on there. If I don't like a song, it doesn't get added, simple as that. I spend a lot of time listening to new music – or new to me music – and deciding what gets added.
In 2005, I had the idea to list my favourite artists and my favourite songs by them. It was at the beginning stages of MP3 players. While most of them were financially out of my reach, I was able to find a Sony Discman that would play data cds containing MP3 files. I spent a great deal of time in 2005 listening to my music collection and cataloging each of the songs I liked. When that was done, I picked and listed the ten (sometimes twenty) that I liked the best. I made ten MP3 discs of these favourites – one with all the number one songs, one with all the second ranked songs and so on.
In 2006 I got my first MP3 player, a Creative Labs Nomad. 30 GB of portable music. The MP3 discs became obsolete. As did the top ten lists, because I could now have all those songs with me on this new device.
In 2012 I found a 6th generation iPod Nano on Craigslist for a very cheap price. I had the idea to have a separate iPod with songs of just my favourite artists. It was then I remembered my previous cataloging and decided to revive it. This time, it would be strictly my own personal top ten songs from each artist.
I find it very interesting as to how my musical tastes have expanded from 2005 to now. It's also interesting to see the changes of favoured songs from certain artists. Since 2012, I have updated the lists as I encounter new music from different artists, as I've also updated the iPod from an 8GB 6th generation Nano to a 16GB 7th generation Nano.
My top ten songs are chosen for what they mean to me. They’re chosen because they remind me of a certain time in my life, things I went through or how they make me understand humanity. It's easy to include ‘Margaritaville’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ even though they are the obvious choices for both artists, because they are excellent songs that evoke many memories. But I also have gems like ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On’ and ‘My Love, My Life’ that most people wouldn't know, but are truly amazing.
Music has been my constant companion my entire life. The words and music have always helped me carry on day to day. There's always that question about your ‘desert island albums.’ I'd rather have my Top Ten iPod.
