Nothing cheesy about iPod, so why move it?

End of the line: my current iPod shuffle. Now relegated to history.

Can someone please hit the pause button on the world, because it's getting harder to keep up with all the technological changes.

My go-to personal music machine, the iPod, is the latest gadget to be put out to grass.

In an announcement on Thursday, Apple said its iPod shuffle and iPod nano would no longer be sold. They are the last true iPod devices. The only iPod descendent remaining is the iPhone wannabe Touch.

Like the Sony Walkman before it, and portable CD players, the iPod has seen its day and the world has moved on. It's 16 years since the original iPod was launched. It was chunky, and in today's world of streamlined portable personal electronics would be considered a brick.

My first iPod was a 4th generation version (2004) of what is now referred to as the "Classic" model. It made sense to have one. I was about to relocate to Bermuda, but I hadn't done enough upper-body gym work to handle carrying a suitcase filled with my entire CD collection. So I transferred the music to the 20GB drive on the iPod, and still had a handsome amount of storage space left over.

Later, I transitioned to the smaller shuffles, going from the 1st generation model that resembled a USB stick, to the stubby 2nd generation and finally the ultra small 4th generation.

The Mp3 players were my home music machine, and I'd occasionally wear one when exercising and running long distances. But a combination of rain, sweat, and constant shaking proved fatal for the first three devices. I no longer wear an Mp3 when running, so my third shuffle (appropriately named after my current running gait) still works after many years. I use it at home for my music fix, particularly to break the monotony of ironing, and as an essential relaxing distraction when travelling.

'Old school' camera used: a photo with Michael Beck

Call me old school (that's Mr Old School, if you please), but I loved these tiny Mp3 players for their portability and uncluttered design functionality.
And on the subject of old school, when Heather and I had a photograph taken with Michael Beck last year, we were the odd ones out. Everyone else was wielding camera-equipped smartphones, while we pulled out a point-and-shoot digital camera. The Warriors actor even commented: "You guys are old school."

Today, I use my smartphone more than ever. For a start, it is no longer a BlackBerry, for which I believe I earn a bunch of brownie points.

I opt for the camera phone over the trusty point-and-shoot about 80% of the time. And it comes in handy for email checking, occasional internet use and interview recording (no need to carry an old school diction recorder).

I've yet to use it for listening to music, but it is clear that is the way ahead. The popularity of streaming music through smartphones is the primary reason for the cliff-falling sales of iPods.

The world is changing, and as in Dr Stephen Johnson's book, Who Moved My Cheese? it is all about adapting to change and looking for the new cheese, and perhaps finding it to be superior to the old, vanished stuff. We'll see.

For now I'll plough on with my iPod shuffle, while making a few experimental forays into the world of smartphone music  - just in case the old school cheese vanishes.

Hey director, leave those films alone

They're great movies. Classics of their era. So why did the directors who made these masterpieces decide to tweak and alter them 20 or 30 years later?

If the changes had made the movies better I'd understand, but in the case of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy and the gritty, 1979 cut of 'The Warriors', the subsequent re-imaging has resulted in far inferior viewing experiences.

I have great admiration for both George Lucas ('Star Wars'), pictured below, and Walter Hill ('The Warriors'), two exceptional talents. But I'm mystified by their motivation for tinkering with some of their best work to make director's cuts that are best consigned to the nearest trash can in favour of the originals.

Many others have commented on these director's cut, take a look around on the internet and YouTube to see what has been said. In the case of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy the changes are mostly computer generated animations splashed across the screen that alter the tone of the movies and, quite frankly, clutter up the clarity of the stories. With Hill's director's cut of 'The Warriors' the inclusion of cartoon-cutsy transitions between scenes completely jars with the compelling realism and darkness of the 1979 version.

Sure, there is a place for revisiting creative works and improving upon them. My favourite poet William Butler Yeats did so with great success, and the evolution of the song 'Saints and Angels' by the music group The Waterboys, from its mid-1980s original to its early 2000s incarnation, with notably developed lyrics, are testament to how artistic works can rise to a new level when reworked by their original creators.

Returning to movies I would add Ridley Scott's director's cut of 'Blade Runner' to the list of artistic works enhanced by a slight re-imaging.

The big danger comes when the re-working is done on a creative work that has already proven to be massively popular in its original format. Anyone who tinkers with such is doing so at great peril.

Of course, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Except in the case of 'Star Wars' and 'The Warriors' you can't. If Lucas and Hill are saying, 'Hey, this is what I intended the movie to be originally' and leave the viewer with the option of watching the original or their re-worked alternative, then fine. Alas, that is not the case. It is practically impossible to lay your hands on unaltered versions of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, likewise copies of the 1979 original of 'The Warriors' are no longer produced, having been superseded by the director's cut. Both directors have taken a deliberate and strong line, arguing that their director's cuts are the definitive versions and the originals should be removed permanently from public consumption.

The first 'Star Wars' movie, released in 1977, is unquestionably one of the biggest landmark cinematic releases of the 20th century. Yet today the public are unable to purchase or view this iconic film in its original, un-tweaked glory.

Similarly, if you want to see 'The Warriors' as it appeared in 1979 you'll have to scour second-hand shops or online sales sites to get one of the pre-director's cut releases. It's becoming scarcer, but it's worth the effort.

So what can be done? Ultimately, it boils down to a simple request. To slightly misquote the lyrics of a Pink Floyd song, 'Hey director, leave those films alone'.