Izzy Grinspan in The Village Voice reflects on why a device that is most often used solo engenders feelings of community.
I’m not ready to go swapping my little green buddy with anyone yet. I haven’t had the chance to use it enough, to fill it with all the right songs, to build a history of use, to have a comfort level with it yet. It wouldn’t show enough of my musical taste to anyone now. Maybe in a few weeks. Of course this presupposes that there’s anyone I could swap with … not at all guaranteed in a small town in western PA. Sigh.
(Article link thanks to Rob Walker’s Journal of Murketing.)