Golden Oldies

It’s natural to feel anxiety when you’re learning something new. Perhaps you think you might somehow break your iPod, or accidentally reconfigure iTunes to some wacky, unfixable settings. Don’t worry. These feelings are normal.

If it’s the iPod, itself, that’s worrying you, consider backtracking to your CDs and CD player for a little while. There’s a great deal of comfort in being nostalgic. Maybe you have an old tape, 8-track player or even a turntable. Take your records for a spin! You’ll be amazed at how far music storage has come in such a relatively short time, and it’ll put your iPod in perspective.

If it’s the iTunes software giving you minor anxiety attacks, push away from it for a little while and work with software you know like the back of your hand. Do you like gaming? Dig up a game you haven’t played in awhile. Do you enjoy writing? Open a Word document and add a few pages to that novel you’ve been working on.

The point is to give your mind (and your panic buttons) some time to adjust. As you learn this new technology, boost your confidence by doing things you can do well. Seeing how far you’ve come with old favorites will give you remarkably clear perspective on how far you’ll be able to go with the iPod and iTunes.

DID YOU KNOW? More than 3 billion songs have been downloaded from the iTunes Store since it was made available in April 2003.