A history of Neil in 100 objects - Object 5 - MP3 player

I am on my third MP3 player, all from the Creative brand, all the same model, or a development on the same model.

Christmas 2005 I asked for an MP3 player for Christmas, I thought it would be nice to put a few albums on there, a bit of Kate Bush, Blur, Coldplay or Bach as I wandered around life. It turned out that I hardly ever used my player to listen to music at all.

I very quickly filled the space in my player with podcasts, Mark Kermode's Film podcast came first, then I found the Filmspotting podcast and downloaded all available episodes, then I just started finding podcast after podcast I loved listening to. Before long the player was totally full, and I had to delete all the music to make room for podcasts.

I would go for a walk just to listen to podcasts (it seems odd to sit on the sofa with headphones on), I would look forward to long journeys to give me hours of listening at a stretch, I would plug it into a small speaker to listen in the bath, sleepless nights were made easier by having a podcast to take my mind of whatever was keeping me awake.

And 2 players later nothing has changed, I recently took a new role within my job that requires nearly 2 hours total travelling time a day, and I love it, 2 extra hours to listen to podcasts! Despite this, the amount of brilliant podcasts out there means there is always more I want to listen to. Comedy, films, motor racing, science, Skepticism, philosophy, politics, and so much more to fill my mind with. There are simply not enough travelling hours in the day!

I like the fact my player is simple, and small, all it needs to do is play audio, and importantly starts up from the point in the audio where I switched it off (they don't all do this, which seems mad to me!). It is always in my pocket, it is my favourite gadget I have ever owned.

I will list the podcasts that I love one day on this blog, but in the meantime please don't suggest any more that I might like.

I just don't have the time.