The Eric Clapton iPod Conspiracy

Well, I'm upset.

At the urging of fully one-half of the Internet, plus my wife, I was finally convinced that I wanted, nay, needed, an Apple iPod.  Grass-roots advertising, I suppose!  Naturally, if I was to get one, it would have to fit quite a lot of music on it, as I have a lot of CDs and also have a lot of core music that would always need to stay on the iPod for one reason or another. 

I began ripping music long before I purchased the iPod, so when I got the contraption, I'd have music ready to go.  I ended up purchasing the iPod Classic 160 GB player, and in short order had well over 10,000 songs transferred to it.  (The ripping and transferring process continues as we speak!)

10,000 songs is a lot of songs.  This is good!

Now, I most often use the iPod when I am out for walks.   I generally walk between 1.5 and 4.5 miles per day, so this translates into between 30 and 90 minutes of music listening time.  So far, so good.  I generally put the iPod in "shuffle" mode, which randomly plays songs from anywhere on the iPod.  After the third or fourth walk with the iPod, I noticed a disturbing trend:  The iPod, in shuffle mode, played a significant percentage of one particular artist.

That artist was Eric Clapton.

In fact, every time I went for a walk, I got at least one Eric Clapton song!  I have perhaps six Eric Clapton CDs on my iPod, and if you figure on 10 songs a CD, that is approximately one-half of one percent of the iPod that contains Eric Clapton.  If you are mathematically inclined, you can figure out that this is statistically unlikely.  Still, I can buy having a little streak of Eric Clapton being played.

Here's the kicker:  On a single 60 minute walk, I once had not just one statistically unlikely Eric Clapton song, but three (3) songs play from a singleEric Clapton CD!  The CD would mathematically make up less than one tenth  of one percent of the content of the iPod.  YET, I still got three songs from this single CD while in shuffle mode.

Even my skeptical mind knows a good conspiracy when it sees one!

Think about it. Companies and bands pay for product placement all the time.  How hard could it be for Eric Clapton, Inc. to pay Apple to predominately play his music, if it is on the iPod?  Please think about this! What are the chances of three songs from a single album being played in a single 60 minute period?

Clearly something is not right here. 

Today, as I was walking, another song started playing from the SAME ALBUM!

I turned the iPod off as quickly as I could.  What is with this Eric Clapton / iPod conspiracy?  I demand an explanation!  The free world (and portions of communist China) deserves an answer!

I'm waiting to hear from you, Eric Clapton and/or Apple!

What I don't get, and this may be the weak link in the conspiracy, is what Eric Clapton has to gain from his obvious manipulation of the iPod?  I already havethe CDs so that can't be it.  Of course I did enjoy the songs that were played.  As a complete aside, I'll have to say that I now enjoy the "Pilgrim" album much more and have gained even more appreciation for Clapton's guitar skills.  I will probably fill out my Clapton collection with more CDs that I have on vinyl so I can hear more of that Claptonny goodness on my walks.  But all of that is irrelevant to the topic at hand:

Just what is Clapton gaining from all of this?

Note: In case you missed it, yesterday I "guest posted" over at "A Bun's Life."   It's a mommy blog.  I'm a daddy blogger.  You don't want to miss this historic event.  Click here for the post!

Comments

[Rightmyer Rants]

You almost make me want to leap into the 21st century and get an iPod - almost!

[LisaS]

I've noticed that our CD players get in moods, too. We have (3) 400 disc changes interlinked so we can shuffle over 1000 discs, and sometimes it's in a jazz mood, sometimes classic rock, sometimes alternative/punk. I really can't explain it any other way.

[rebecca]

can't tell you exactly what i mean when i type the following, because all i'm doing is quoting my significant other (who could've been effing with me?), but apparently there's something called 'smart shuffle' to avoid such happenings as you've described. again, don't know if it's true; or, if it is, how to work it. i know, i've been helpful.

[Jeannette]

Can you create an "Anything but Eric Clapton" playlist?

[Renee]

I originally bought an iPod because I had a 45 minute commute to work. I had the same problem! I ended up just picking my favorite songs from certain albums and removing the rest to cut down on the repeats. I looked on the apple website right now and couldn't find anything in particular. It mentioned Smart Playlists, but that's a little different....

My iPod is now full of Podcasts. Those things are awesome. You can get anything from video game commentaries to short stories to whole books.

[hannah]

thats great! ipods are awesome.

i think u should make a playlist.