the Greater Nomadic Council

The Filthy iPod, It Plans

This New York Times article discusses the iPod shuffle feature (What?! It was just added in the 4th generation? What was Apple thinking?). Many people apparently believe their iPods can think:

Lucy Shaw, a social worker in New York, has stopped using Shuffle altogether. "It was totally not reading my moods," she said. It would play upbeat music when she was feeling low, and dark, somber selections when she was feeling upbeat. Furthermore, she said, her device had a penchant for picking songs containing four minutes of dead air followed by a bonus track - like Brian Ferry's "More Than This" (the song to which Bill Murray sings karaoke in "Lost in Translation," a bonus track on the film's soundtrack album).

Why do people insist on anthropomorphizing every device they own? Is it because they're incapable of even a basic understanding of probability and randomness? Or do they actually believe little demons inhabit those mysterious, electrical boxes? I do understand the impulse. I find myself noticing when my Rio Karma picks a song that's particularly apt for the current situation, but that doesn't lead to think it's "reading my moods." I don't know why I'm even complaining about this, though. It doesn't actually bother me that much. Maybe I should go take a nap.