The machines are taking over

I own an iPod Touch. I won it last year in a wine tasting contest. I managed to guess the identities of five French reds correctly -- I was the only person in a group of about 25 who did it (I knew all that hands-on research would pay off sooner or later!).

Ian and I are not hugely technologically savvy. We are trying to stay current but it's really hard. We routinely find that the Bell remote defeats us. Still, we muddle through. We haven't yet not watched a video we wanted to watch, but sometimes it's accompanied by a lot of cursing and swearing.

But tonight, I feel convinced that we are not really in control. A few months ago, Ian's son gave us his MP3 player because he had upgraded to a newer iPod, and this machine didn't charge his latest toy. I was really excited, because my "wine-won" iPod was still very new to me; we didn't have an MP3 player, and it seemed like such a functional way to store and play your music. And it is.

Except that this evening the machine started all by itself.

We were finishing the supper preparations and Ian was talking to his daughter on the telephone to find out her Thanksgiving plans, when I noticed music playing in the background. I thought Ian must have turned on the "big machine" (literally) in the living room.

Long story short: No big machine. No one turned anything on. The little player started all by itself. It's still playing -- I'm struck by the nice variety of music I've downloaded onto it.

Why did it start? Is it because it sits close to the iMac and just felt like asserting itself?

Will it do this in the middle of the night?

I'm sure its intentions are not malelovent -- it seems the most pleasant of small machines.

But still.