 "Photo: Illustration by ryan stokes")
I'm pretty sure my iPhone counts as a vital organ. That thing contains my entire life - without it, I'd die.
I know it may sound ridiculous to a lot of people, but the most important things on my iPhone are my playlists. I have one for pretty much every thing I do.
I have separate play lists for doing homework, walking to school, driving and sleeping - just to name a few.
The best thing about my playlists is the complete customization. Each and every song caters to my moods and to my musical taste. To my iPhone, no one exists but me.
As technology advances, complete customization becomes more and more attainable. Gone are the days of suffering through commercials and irritating pop tunes, while pleading with your radio to "please play something worth listening to."
These days, between custom-radio sites such as Pandora.com and massive online music libraries such as iTunes, there is no good reason to ever listen to a song you don't like.
But customization goes beyond simple taste. For me, music is almost a necessity for prolonged physical exertion. New Web sites such as runhundred.com have stepped up the personalization of music, merging it with the fitness world.
Runhundred.com allows users to search for tunes with specific beats per minute in order to optimize their time at the gym.
"The site sorts songs by tempo, genre, artist and BPM," said creator Chris Lawhorn. "You tell the site one song you can really get down to at the gym, and it matches you to songs with the similar attributes and the same BPM."
This site just earned itself a bookmark in my Web browser, right next to Pandora.com and YouTube. When it comes to personalized music, no activity demands more than working out and lacking the proper equipment can be troublesome.
Senior Dave Haddox is having some gym-related difficulties without his recently broken Zune, he said. Although he has replaced the MP3 player with online tunes from Pandora.com, he feels the loss the most on the treadmill.
"It's hard to run without music," he said. "I brought a CD player to the gym and felt like a total outcast."
Just the thought of trying to workout with out my playlists freaks me out, but not everyone shares my dependence on custom tunes.
Not only does sophomore Matt Thom not have an MP3 player, he thinks most technology is damaging society.
"The more customized technology gets, the more dependant people will become," Thom said, "People who are dependant on technology are the same as people dependant on drugs."
Thom might be right, but my lifestyle is my business and I could quit - if I wanted to.
Therein lies the issue. I really don't want to quit, and neither do you. We're all happy with our personalized playlists, cute little white ear buds and custom theme music. Plus, all the cool people are doing it.
Elizabeth Ghiorso can be reached at eghiorso@theorion.com
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