Maybe in addition to "godlike" there should be a category "iconic." There are certain songs I just can't rate — they are so deeply embedded in my life, they evoke a time and place that's a part of me.

Would you mind terribly if I didn't disregard your post? I think you've hit on something that is a lot more prevalent than one would think—especially with every other Joe and Sally Commuter adorned with ear buds while waiting for the 6:07 to Midtown. I, too, have an iPod, which after I loaded it up was a constant companion for, oh, say, 3-4 months. But as much as I love Calexico, The Jayhawks, and Steely Dan (and tons of others), I can only listen to their stuff constantly for a short while. So, the solution is to rotate stuff through, right? Only it's not so easy because (1) every iPod has only so much capacity and (2) being chained to iTunes makes dumping some stuff in favor of others a chore—not impossible, mind you, but a hassle. You end up spending as much time tending to your library as you do listening.

I used to take half a dozen CD's on the subway with a portable CD player. With a pretty good collection of CDs—it would take a number of iPods to store all of them—I had great fidelity and all the variety I wanted. Don't want to listen to Tom Petty today? Okay, bring in XTC, INXS, and REM. The iPod's a terrific little gizmo, but managing it is a pain in the butt, and it will never be able to maximize the kind of variety that we need—indeed what radio does, the difference being that we control the playlist instead of Bill and Becca. I play RP on my 'Droid, but it disappears once the subway goes underground, and the app is a battery buster to boot.

My guess is that your complaint is fairly common and most folks just make do or invest the time necessary to have constant, consistent variety. Dunno. Anybody found an equable solution?