My newfound love of iTunes.

My life as a grad student has opened my heart to iTunes.

I should backtrack a touch. I have always used iTunes for my iPhone and/or iPod, but I never really purchased stuff from iTunes. I was always a pirate; I was a LimeWire user who downloaded every song under the sun for free and then uploaded them into my iTunes database. As fate would have it, however, LSE blocks LimeWire (and every other illegal downloading app, I’m sure) and I’m now unable to violate intellectual property rights on a daily basis. Being that I need new music, I started using iTunes and I discovered the wonderful world of iTunes U and TV SHOWS! I’m not a big TV watcher (never have been), but I have a tendency to get uber-bored whilst ellipticalizing at the gym. After 30 or so minutes you get into the elliptical groove and just move sort of robotically, but I need to keep my mind going and my energy up and I typically need some stimulation to make that happen. The answer: music or TV!

Since I discovered downloading seasons of TV shows, I’ve become kind of hooked. I can’t do it very often because they’re kind of pricey, but it’s so nice having TV shows on hand! I recently downloaded the entire season of Private Practice (to complement my Grey’s) and have been watching an episode during every trip to the gym! I also downloaded a bunch of university lectures on HIV/AIDS (they’re all free!) and have been listening to those intermittenly while working out (much more exciting than it sounds). Before I know it, 45 minutes or an hour have passed and I’ve worked up a much-needed sweat! Plus, I made a deal with myself: no watching Private Practice unless I’m at the gym. Since I paid $35 for the season, I use them as a weird incentive. If I want to see the next episode of Private Practice/Gossip Girl/Grey’s/Keeping up with the Kardashians (keep that one on the DL), I have to watch it at the gym and get my exercise in! Bizarrely enough, it works! It seriously incentives me.