I remember the first time I saw someone walk across campus with a pair of white earbuds dangling from their ears. As more and more started to appear, I asked a friend across the hall what the iPod was all about. After all, I had heard the name, but I didn’t really get what to do with it. What was the point in spending loads of time copying CDs when the copy wasn’t going to sound as good anyway. Of course, this didn’t last. I felt hollow, my lack of cool screaming with every passing emo hipster and the faint wailings of Dashboard Confessional audible in the halls.  Eventually, the thought of carrying all of my music with me in something no bigger than a deck of cards became really appealing, and now, four iPods and two iPhones later, the rest is history.

Technology changed the way I consumed music; it changed my perception of it, too. It became harder to listen to a record for its whole when I was consumed with cramming as of much of it as possible onto my iPod. It has also made me more intentional when it came to listening a piece of new music. A new record became more of an event, and I started saving my money for stuff I was really excited about. I now wear a CD out before I load it on my iPod. After all, what’s the point in having 40 gigs of music in your pocket when you don’t really know what’s there.

My job required a careful viewing of yesterday’s Apple announcement. Love it or hate it, the iPad, like the iPod, will change the way people consume music, books, magazines, news, and a host of other types of media. Not because everyone will buy an iPad, but because media now has a more powerful, personalized method of delivery and lots of companies will follow in those footsteps. Not everyone bought a Model T but it wasn’t long before people gave up their horses.

I look forward to the week each month where all of my magazine subscriptions show up. I don’t want to read National Geographic on an eReader or iPad, but something tells me I eventually will be. And I definitely don’t want to trade the smell and texture of a book for a glass and aluminum computer. My appreciation for the print and paper has changed overnight, and I am convinced my enjoyment of an art medium is dependent on its medium.

For now.