Now that the excitement over Steve Balmer's iPod comment has died down some, I am curious about what people are filling their iPod and iPod-like devices with since iPod can store 10,000 songs.

Are all the iPod users filling up their iPods with purchased songs or songs from their CD collections?  How many of us have 10,000 song music collection?  How long does it take to rip that many songs?

Does 'fair use' allow a user to fill his or her iPod with songs bought by friends and family since all those songs can be borrowed?  What is the reasonable degree of separation for 'fair use'?

Inconvenience of sharing often drives people to buy their own copy but that inconvenience doesn't exist for virtual goods.  Does the law allow simultaneous use of copyrighted goods?

Update:

I just realized that increasing popularity of podcasting means iPods will have two very different types of content: transient and permanent.  As to what implications this might have aside from UI related issues, I have no clue yet.

So I started using a cellphone again.  I lasted two years without one and had only minor inconveniences.  But when my wife shoved one at me and said Use-It-Or-Else (aka Please), I dropped it into my pocket and went for a walk.  Not Bad.

One of the problems I had with cellphones was that having one in my pocket felt like I had an extra off-center penis with permanent hard-on.  Cellphones have gotten small enough during my sabbatical that it now feels like one after a cold shower.  So I told my wife I'll give it a try.  iPod?  Oy.  It's a long road to there from here.  Let's do it one leg at a time.

This sort of thing occurs regularly on the blogosphere and get worse in numbers and scope as blogosphere expands.  Just as Joi believes that blogosphere is an ideal environment for fostering Emergent Democracy, I believe that blogosphere is an ideal environment for Emergent Chaos.  Echo chamber doesn't begin to describe the terror awaiting us in the future.

In a world where loudness and number matter more than reason, a world where views of distant forests are hidden by nearby dancing trees, growth does not bring wider diversity and deeper understanding but wider polarity and deeper misunderstanding.  The really sad part is that I am one of the savages.

I have grown to dislike Google, the company.  When I am in an unreasonable state of mind, I would even use the word 'hate'.  And I prefer to place the blame on Google, the company, because it's more comfortable there.  While they are great at 'unintended' PR, they have managed to foster hostility against them among geeks over the last couple of years just as Microsoft has done so over the last couple of decades.

Here is a nice takeaway soundbite:

I hate Google, but I am addicted to it.

Can the MSN Search team break my Google addiction?  Not if they keep looking at Google as a service instead of a highly addictive drug.  Google is worse than heroin because it's free and always available.  It's so bad that it's part of my daily language and I often find myself pushing it to family and friends.

You can't beat it unless you offer more powerful kicks.  The mindset that thinks in terms of features and algorithms is incapable of delivering those kicks.  Think designer drugs.  Think habits and addictions.

Read my disclaimer.

I got back from Seattle an hour ago.  I'll post about the trip and what I think about MSN Search when my body's gas tank is filled some.

I would like to thank the MSN Event Team though (Britta, Jim, Brenda, etc.).  Britta, in particulary, babysat all of us all the time.  And a big thanks to Sean Carver for throwing the event and making bloggers a significant part of it.  We are a noisy lot and tend to introduce uninvited chaos into any event we attend.  Thanks for putting up with us, Sean.  Although we didn't give what the MSN Search team wanted to hear, I think we gave them what they needed to hear. 

I landed in Seattle and comfortably settled in at plush Monaco Hotel.  Flight here was uneventful except for the usual strip show at SFO.  In my room, I found a backpack full of goodies and a glossy folder of the schedule.  And a booklet of event attendees' bio and photo arrived just a minute ago, fresh from the printer.  So far, I am impressed by the well produced red carpet treatment.

I'll have to miss the dinner tonight to get together with an old pal but I see that Dave, Chris, and Liz are attending as well.

Disclaimer: Because I am a pushover with people who are nice to me, my views on Microsoft will be biased until the red carpet treatment effect wears off in a couple of weeks.

Watching Dave spread the podcasting meme is like watching Moses split the Red Sea.  Simply amazing and much more effective than infomercials and brainwashing.  The cool thing is that he is just doing and talking about what interests him but his activities are slowly eating up our mindshare.  It's a new form of evangelism.  Devangelism?  Nay, it's Davangelism.

Wow.  Suddenly a new cool expression appears out of the blue to enrich our culture: herring fart.  While the recent discovery that herrings communicate by farting is probably not good news for Red Herring, I doubt those stinky fishes are saying much, not even enough to qualify as micro-content.  On the other hand, I am tired of the expression bullshit, so the discovery of herring fart is good news to me.

I am also glad that Mother Earth doesn't communicate the same way because we'll have many more Mount St. Helens if she did.  After all, she has a lot to say to us.