So you think you can only get addicted to drugs and cigars and beverages with addictive components like coffee and liquor, eh? If your answer is yes, then you are completely misguided. Modern day addictions encompass what you can hold in your hands, like online pornographic materials and MP3 files stored in your hard drive.

Brace yourself for a self-diagnosis. Most guilty music lovers are unaware of their growing condition. Here are certain beliefs often held true by people who are addicted to MP3’s.

10. Forgetfulness does not include MP3 players.

As you drive away from home and gets stopped by a patrol officer, you realize that the only thing you have in your pocket is your MP3 player. Unfortunately, you can’t show the thumbnail of Beyonce in place of your driver’s license. You spend a night in jail, but you are not bothered. After all, you have a full track list recently loaded and with zero play counts, which should be enough to keep you occupied all night long.

9. Modern day fashion accessories equal iPod bling-bling.

Real bling worn by R&B artists today can cost a fortune and they don’t do anything but shine. An MP3 player is there to provide all your hip-hop beats and lets you express you own style. An iPod has Classic versions that would look too big to hang from your neck. If you choose a smaller version, like an iPod Nano, that has less storage space, it is the perfect size to act as your bling pendant.

8. Faster MP3 transfers call for dedicated cable and port.

In order to connect your MP3 player instantly after downloading songs, you have reserved a port of your PC for the sole purpose of MP3 transfers. You even think that a dock is not an accessory but a necessity to keep your computer desk organized (this is what you would like to believe). In reality, you bought a dock so you simply have to place your MP3 player in it and you’re instantly connected

7. A car that is not iPod ready is cheap.

For you, the real definition of modern day luxurious living is being able to play your track list as you travel in your car. It does not matter if it’s built-in as an auxiliary system or if you use a gadget that overrides radio signals; the important thing is you can listen to your tunes as you drive. While you drive, you barely look at your GPS tracker. Getting to your destination is a secondary concern to you. You want to be certain your iPod is charging while in the car, so you can use it again as you step out of the vehicle.

6. Remembering birthdays is difficult, but not MP3 count.

You know the exact number of MP3 files you currently have. A 60 GB capacity would hold about 15,000. You’re currently at 6,515. You have room for over 7,000 additional songs. How about your significant other? Do you know his or her exact birthday? You don’t seem to care. After all, you have set your phone to remind you of all the celebrations in a year, including family birthdays and gatherings with friends.

5. Multitasking is vital to continuous MP3 downloads.

The symptoms get a little more serious as we hit the second half of the list. When you’re an MP3 addict, the word “multitasking” may have a different register for you. For instance, you really need to use the bathroom, but you try to hold it for something you deem important – non-stop downloads. What you do is you queue MP3 downloads, making sure that your computer has enough tasks to do while you’re away. You do the same before watching TV, before doing your work, or before going to sleep.

4. Organization is a virtue, especially for your track list.

It is no big deal if your clothes are thrown everywhere in your room. It is also not a big deal if a dripping glass of juice serves as paperweight for your textbook. However, it is utterly necessary that your track list retains organization for easier MP3 access and for the sheer pleasure of aesthetics. The files in your MP3 player should follow a “Song Title – Artist Name” format if these two entries are not contained in different columns. No track number or any stray character should come before the song titles for they ruin the alphabetical listing of your track list. Any other compulsions you can think of have been cleared up to improve your song line-up.

3. Hunger strike bears fruit – a bigger hard drive.

The usual 40 and 60 GB capacity of your computer is not enough and you have all the unused PC applications to blame. In reality, you may already have thousands of songs on your desktop, but you can’t fight the urge to download more. In response, you resort to all means necessary to buy a new hard drive with a higher capacity. You are willing to skip meals and trade off other less significant things to accommodate more albums and compilations.

2. Your loud voice is innate.

When people comment about your new developed habit of talking too loudly, you apologize by saying that it’s one of your inborn qualities. You may not realize it, but you can trace such a habit from wearing earphones too often. Although you’re prone to hearing impairments, such a condition may not coincide with your being boisterous. The loudness of your voice may be a simple adaptation to the way you talk when wearing earphones.

1. Dreaming about bitrates is perfectly normal.

The absolute sign of MP3 addiction involves seeing images and thinking about concepts related to MP3’s even while you’re asleep. Can you think of a more severe symptom that transcends the state of being unconscious? Do you want to know what’s worse? When you wake up the next morning, and you tell your friends that you were dreaming that the bit rate of the songs was below 96 bps, which is nothing short of a nightmare.

There’s no sense denying it. If you are guilty of one or more of these signs, you’re a certified MP3 addict. If you think that you’ve been doing all of these things, then addiction is an understatement. Try checking if you’re still active in the other aspects of your life – and by that, we do not mean volume regularization, WMA to MP3 conversion, or other MP3-related tasks.

 

Due to the fact that it is one of the most addicting of all computer-related creations, MP3 players and other similar hardware may be considered one of the Top Ten Computer Hardware Breakthroughs of all time.