iPod touch

When I was in my second year of junior high school, there was something I wanted so badly I could taste it.
That was the iPod touch.

It was shaped like a smartphone, but it was like a "smartphone that couldn't make calls."
My sister, who is two years older than me, had started high school and gotten a smartphone.
When we ate out or had a nice meal at home, I was envious of how my parents and sister would take out their phones and snap photos.

Just as the name "smartphone" implies, I thought, "How smart...!"
It was a little lonely being the only one in the family, the youngest child, without a smartphone.

Furthermore, several kids in my class and club had an iPod touch.
Apparently, you could use Twitter and play app games on it.
I was allowed to use Twitter on the family computer, but I wanted to tweet from my own device!

Thinking about it now, it feels like, "What kind of desire is that?"
I couldn't suppress my desire, so I scoured the official Apple website.

Then I told my mother, "I want an iPod touch."
While showing her the product page, I gave a very passionate presentation.

"It can be a camera, and you can listen to music too!"
"You can use apps, too!"

However, the response I got was:
"You don't need it, do you?"
"It's still too early for a mobile device."
"I'll buy it for you in two years."

"You have a Walkman for music, don't you?"
"You have a digital camera, too."

Those were the words.
No, that's not it.

I don't want a Walkman or a digital camera, I want an iPod touch...!
I was frustrated and absolutely didn't want to give up.

A few days later, I gave the presentation again.
"You can send emails, but you can't make calls!"

"This isn't a mobile phone! (Super important)"

"You can't use the internet without Wi-Fi, so it's safe!"
"I want to take pictures like a smartphone!"
As a result of my two passionate pleas, I finally got permission: "If you buy it with your own money, that's fine."
Later, I went to the electronics store with my mother to see the real thing.
My desire to have it accelerated even more there.

What was being sold at the time was the 5th generation iPod touch.

There were plenty of color variations, but I had decided it absolutely had to be silver.
According to Wikipedia, the 32GB model was 24,800 yen.
That was a huge amount of money for me at the time.

Since my total savings weren't enough, my mother covered the cost, and I ended up paying her back little by little like a loan.

Thinking about it now, my mother, who allowed a junior high student who couldn't pay in full to buy it, is truly amazing.

She never once said, "If you can't pay now, forget it." Thank you.
I went home and excitedly opened it.
I took the device out of the package, and the moment I held it in my hand—I froze.
...There's no rear camera?

I turned pale all at once.
This might not be what I wanted.
I felt like crying.

I had already opened it.
It's meaningless without a rear camera, so why isn't it there...

It was my lack of research.
For the 5th generation, there was also a 16GB model that omitted the rear camera and LED flash.

I had only thought, "I want silver!" and without hesitation, I had chosen the 16GB model, thinking the capacity didn't matter.
I confessed to my mother, half-crying, "This might not have been the one..."

Then my mother was calm, saying, "We have the receipt and the warranty, so why don't we ask if we can exchange it?"
We immediately went back to the electronics store.

I was thinking to myself, "This is absolutely impossible..."

Because I had already opened it.
Instead of me, whose spirits had fallen to the bottom of the earth, my mother explained the situation.
Then, even though it had been opened, the clerk said, "We'll exchange it for you!" and agreed immediately.

I was so happy and felt so guilty that I almost cried.
The clerk kindly checked with me, showing me the model I had originally wanted, "Is this one okay this time?"
I still can't forget how grateful I was at that moment.
If I could go back to that time, I would definitely want to send a thank-you note to the customer center.

From then on, I used my iPod touch every day.

It was just when our home Wi-Fi was broken, so I couldn't use the internet at home.
Thinking about it now, it was an unintended digital detox.

I don't think I was glued to the internet every day, and I think I had a quite healthy way of enjoying it.

I made full use of Ito-Yokado's Seven Spot and free Wi-Fi at public facilities, and downloaded apps whenever I could in places where I could connect to the internet.

Twitter, which I had longed for.

Saving purikura images with friends.
Everything made me happy.
The 24,800 yen my mother covered for me was paid back little by little over a little more than a year.
My mother managed it by writing "〇〇 yen left" in a notepad, and I paid little by little from my monthly allowance.

When my wallet was flush with New Year's money, I put it all toward the loan repayment at once.

I still remember the sense of accomplishment when I paid it off.
By the way, the iPod touch was discontinued in 2022.
It's a little sad.

The music on my iPod touch stopped in time around 2015.
Back when I was into Japanese rock.
I loved the time I spent importing CDs I rented from TSUTAYA and listening to new songs with earphones.

Every time I listen to the playlist from back then, I can time-travel back to when I was in junior high.

Recently, digital cameras and film cameras have become popular, but the image quality of the iPod touch is also quite emotional.

A texture with a bit of noise.
A unique, nostalgic color tone.
I also like the toy-like shutter sound.
Everything about it is dear to me.

My iPod touch is packed with memories.

I want to continue to cherish it so I don't break it or lose it.