I finally gave in (that is, gave up) and purchased an 8 GB iPod nano, black, to replace my perennially broken old iPod, which repeated applications of the Nintendo method had failed to fix when it broke earlier this month. (All told, the Nintendo method ultimately extended the life of my old iPod by at least 15 months.)

I'm fairly annoyed by Apple culture, but I bought an iPod again in large part because iTunes for Windows is such an excellent podcast management jukebox — something the Consumer Reports rating fails to account for.

After two weeks without anything to listen to, the upticks in both my productivity and my job satisfaction are considerable.

Other purchases this week: Halo 3, an Xbox Live Gold subscription, and Skate. I've never been such a spendthrift before, but the entertainment dividends here are pretty substantial. I am now, as they say, set.

Update: I am, however, extremely annoyed at the utter lack of protective cases for this iPod model. You'd think Apple could've contacted suppliers ahead of time and said "we're releasing an iPod with the following dimensions on this date, maybe you should make accessories for it." Or manufactured its own cheapo case for a temporary monopoly. As opposed to the current "be patient, and careful" plan.