iFrustration (2): Podcasts and The Apple Store

....Back to my iPod gist, I decided to go to the Apple Store to find out if I could fix the battery of my iPod...the store on Regent Street (London), it has this whole retro feel with someone giving a presentation/demo in the corner probably on some new technology or its functionality and a lot of staff (mostly weird looking, or with dread locks or those who looked like they hadn't showered in days, or the skate-board type ones, in fact they all fit the bill) in T-Shirts with random slogans, hopping and skipping all over the place (not exactly attending to customers).

There were also a lot of people there, some browsing the products, some surfing the net, some there to listen to music, some there to just feel all MAC-y, some queuing to probably buy or fix their items I just don't know. I was tempted to just walk out, there was also a lot of construction noise coming from upstairs (I thought hmm that must be where the technicians are, breaking PC's open and fixing).

Anyways after about 12 minutes of just staring and no one came up to assist me (talk about Customer service), I went and sought one of these Apple guys just for him to give me a business card with the apple web address and told me to go home and book an appointment that they were fully booked --"Just type in concierge in the search bar when you go to apple.com/uk" and book an appointment - GEE THANKS!

So I went online, but hey I had to wait till that particular day to book an appointment i.e. tomorrow - HELPFUL? NOT! I booked an appointment the next morning and went back there, went upstairs to the Genius Bar (I realised the noise was from construction/renovation) and there were loads of people with MACs, iPods, iMacs, iSights, all waiting to be served, so I joined them and sat down.

Ashe after 30 minutes some lady told me to sign in, do they not have any idea that signs in the store are very helpful? What is the point of being all retro and different but not having the major things to help you in a shop. Silly. In the end, the silly girl who attended to me asked me to pay £49 for a new battery but I would lose the engraving on the back and all my songs I was sad for a minute but hmmm okay (my engraving is just my name and not like it was from a loved one, plus I have my songs at home) see me thinking they would take it back and do all the stuff and I would have to come back, she just brought out a brand new Second Generation one (i.e. old-school) for me to take home, I was like what happens to mine then? She's like, it goes back to Apple ----B$tch! So now I have a new mePod!

Anywhoo, now about Podcasts, Oi! Yes, you there, how can you own an ipod and not know about its features? Yes stop denying you! You wondered what podcasts were the other day when you opened your iTunes but you couldn't be bothered to find out since it did not affect your music listening. Little did you know it was the bomb, let alone the new ish! Yeah what are podcasts?

Podcasts are simply pre-recorded broadcasts. So, as opposed to the radio where you can miss out on stuff if you're not tuned in, these are saved and you can just download them. There are millions of podcasts, from "what happened in which episode of the OC" to "self help" to "Naija music" to "Company newsletters" to "comedies" to "learning Spanish" to "Christian Scriptures", etc. and you can further download them on to your iPod, to listen whenever, wherever, cool huh?

My favourite podcast is the Neo Soul Cafe (video and audio). You can download or watch the video podcast here.

Speaking of soul music, check out Aderemi's post and listen to some classics online.

Yes oh, I may be Naija to the Core but I don't mess with my soul music, anyways what does everyone think about podcasts and do you have any interesting ones?