...And now I'm just plain lost.

I made up my mind last week that I would, no matter what, buy myself a decent mp3 player for Christmas - I've tried to hint to my dad that I quite needed a new one, lots of times, but after three months of "Okay, yeah, sure, go and get one then" I came to terms with the fact that he would only keep giving me permission, not the funds, to get one. So I'd have to get myself one if I wanted it badly enough - which had me continuing to use the nearly-dead player function on my phone for a while, until I got sick and tired of spending several whole minutes trying to successfully start the connection, only to be rewarded with extremely choppy functionality every time I wanted to plug my headphones in.

So miserly old me finally decided to get a proper mp3 player, because I really can't work, stone or kintoro without music. And none of that crap about playing it out loud; I live in a relatively quiet neighbourhood (except for those gossiping maids from opposite who're noisier than mating banshees in the evenings, and those spoilt kids screaming at each other on their tricycles) and I don't think my mum will appreciate me playing music aloud at two in the morning. I'm not even supposed to be awake at two, actually, so considering the fact that loud music might be a just few decibels short of Nuclear Explosion levels of discretion, that's not such a brilliant plan.

Yeah, I kind of like my music loud enough to drown out the sounds of anything else.

Anyway, enough waffling about. Getting right down to it, I'm getting severely confused as to what kind of player to buy. At first I thought my needs and specifications were pretty clear - I just need something that gives me good, portable audio, so that I can carry my entire music library around. To start off, I gave in to conformity and decided to check out the iPod range. Initially, I wasn't considering the Touch at all because I don't need video functions. I was thinking a Nano would suffice, but the new generation is pretty ugly... Then the elder brother comes and says, "Eh, get the iPod touch. You can watch all your videos on it and download all those apps and stuff."

So I get swayed by his cunning sales pitch and now I keep thinking how fun it would be to be able to watch videos on the go (and by videos you know I almost definitely mean KAT-TUN PVs). And then, as though the derailment isn't enough, I suddenly find myself considering the Sony W-series, the kind that's basically a Shuffle with better audio quality, less mess and (coolest bit coming right up) waterproofing. And then I start going to gadget review sites and forums, and finding more and more options... Will I even reach a decision by Christmas??

Blegh, me and my over-susceptibility to random influence. How laaaa.