The Jobsian Dilemma

My iPod, a 20-gigabyte fourth-generation model that was perpetually enclosed in a hot pink iSkin, died several months ago. I'd had it for over two years, and I certainly did take it to the gym when I shouldn't have (running with a hard drive-equipped iPod can really take a toll on its lifespan, in case you didn't know). So I suppose it had reasonably reached the end of its lifespan.

Since then, I've been operating solely with a little silver clip-on Shuffle. It's much better for working out, and I've been enjoying the autofill function for re-discovering music that I hadn't listened to in ages (New Pornographers, anyone?) At the same time, however, I'm hoping to get myself a new "real" iPod at some point. Last night I was on a train from New Jersey back to Manhattan and suddenly I really wanted to listen to the Shins' Wincing the Night Away. But oops, there weren't any songs from it on the Shuffle. So that minor inconvenience ended up making me consider why I've put off buying a new iPod for the past few months.

And the reason why? Steve Jobs is making me afraid to buy an iPod. I am wholeheartedly convinced that if I buy a new iPod, within a week Mr. Jobs will make a grandiose surprise appearance, rub his hands together, and announce that a completely new iteration of the iPod has been released and anyone who has an old one can just suck it. The thing is, I recently learned that I'm not the only one. I have a handful of friends who similarly relate to me that their iPods have died and they're putting off on getting new ones. The video iPod has been pretty standard for long enough now, they say, and consequently they think it's about time that we'll be seeing a totally new one that will render the current "generation" thoroughly obsolete. I kind of see where they're coming from. I bought my old 4G when that round of iPods was brand new, and I'm glad I hadn't gotten one of the older ones. Hello, click wheel!

So who's to blame? Is it Jobs himself, or is it the legions of Apple rumormongers who continually convince us that the release of a touchscreen, 100GB, Beatles-edition iPod is absolutely imminent? Or is it the good old American ethic of thriftiness telling us "no, don't get it, save the money now and wait for something better?"

I call it the Jobsian Dilemma.