Hello World!

Don’t expect this post to last too long.  But you did indeed find your way to the new home (about time!) of Damaged Gears.  Yep, it’s finally got its own domain…  Well, the right dot suffix in dot-com vs. dot-net.  At any rate, this should give me slight additional motivation to update Damaged Gears more often.  Hopefully.

First thing though, is to port over all the old posts from damage.wordpress.com.  Don’t worry, I’ll let it be.  However, all the new contents will be here and that’s about it.  Yep.  I’ve got more headphones and DAPs to disemvowel.  And as always, I’m on your side, letting you know what gears sounds like a million bucks while costing you less than a Ben Frank.

More on that really, it’s thanks to the iPod’s mainstream acceptance that the portable media and all gears related (including headphones) have gone down in price for tolerable sets, and the more expensive sets, while remaining fairly pricey, have gotten heaps better.  Call it competition, call it progress, but it’s good to be a fan of music in general right about now.  Think about it.  Even 5 or 10 years ago, it was impossible to imagine that a device the size of your wallet along with a set of headphones that cost… $50 could perform just as well as an entire system that took up 1/2 of your living room.  And that was available whenever you wanted it.

But that’s reality.  In fact, we’re using our phones to listen to music, watch video, keep up with our friends, share our inane thoughts and amusing kitty phots, make reservation at that hip restaurant, or find that hip new restaurant, and occasionally make phone calls.  In one device.  We saw it move about 5 years ago with the introduction of Walkman Phone and the rumblings of iPhone rumors.  The iPhone was a revelation in form and function.

Despite its current woes, the iPhone still remains the standards bearer in terms of all in one device.  It’s a DAP.  It’s a HD Pocket Camcorder.  It’s a Point and Shoot Camera.  It’s a Game System.  It’s an eBook reader.  It’s even a Phone every once in a while.  Try to tell that you’d have that device in your hands to your past self.  Would you have believed it?

And now, what holds for the future?  Even smaller?  The iPod Pico?  Who knows?  But it’s a great time to be a fan of music in general.  Even as DAP will start to shed it’s storage for always connected, streaming library, there’s still room for stored and streamed media.  And there will always be room for discrete MP3 players, DAPs, and even the relic of full sized headphones here and there.  And when Damage finds a value, you bet your ass that he’ll be on it like white on rice.  And he’ll let you know about it.

Until then, enjoy.