Digital is a different kind of skill, but related (or at least related in a forgotten kind of way). I want to not forget. I want to be able to learn how to use my DSLR camera in a way that means I can fiddle quickly with manual settings have more chance of getting the shot that was in my mind’s eye.

And there’s the thing. Anyone with a half-decent digital camera can, come up with picture-perfect, stunning shots – the kind of shots that most of us would, year’s ago have dreamed of getting. But year’s ago (and by year’s, I mean actually, not that many years – 15 years maybe, tops, which is actually not that long…) film and developing were expensive and unless you were a photoholic like me you would only take one or maybe two shots of a subject.

Even so, now, if you have an idea in mind for a project – an illustration, brochure, or poster – and you need some source material to work from (and you can’t go and take it yourself) you’d be surprised at just how often when you look at the various online galleries and stockphoto websites there are lots and lots and lots of images that are all very much the same. Only the very few capture the idea that you dreamed up in your mind.

Which leaves me to think that whilst anyone, given some good kit and the opportunity can take a very, very, good photograph of something, only a very  few can take a truly unique photograph. Because that skill is in the mind, not the camera. That skill would be very nice, very nice indeed, to have.

But really, does the smartphone do all of things?

Again, really? Really?!? Apps and webserving? Yes, but do enough and you’ll soon find yourself wanting more. Books? Again, yes but the pages are small. Camera? Yes the quality is getting better and better but it still limits you with what you can, and so often with not even as much functionally as the old instamatic cameras of old. And they play your music too…

But here’s the thing. The largest, high-end, smartphone takes what 64GB tops. Most are much smaller, 16GB if you’re lucky or less, and that you have to keep all your apps, browsing cache, pictures, ringtones, documents… everything! Before you get to music storage.  My iPod takes 80GB of music and its pretty much full – my entire music collection. Unless you enjoy wrestling with the unweildy beast that is iTunes (and who does?) to decide what you might want to listen too and sync your music regularly then its simply not enough space.  And if you do like syncing your music daily, well, surely you might find i easier to go back to CDs. If I’m going to store my music on any device, then I want to store all my music on said device.

Some might counter this argument with saying, well you can store it in the cloud. Yes, yes you can, but that’s only going to work if you can get to the cloud. I’ve been using buses quite alot recently, and i’ve noticed that even when they offer free wifi in places itsnot seamless and straightforward and can cannot be replied upon for speed of access. Mobile internet too is, or can be, flaky at the best of times, and costly too.

And what of batteries. It may be nice to just carry one pocket-sized device with you but if you are using it intensively then the batteries going to be exhausted faster. And then what do you have? I like to have my dedicated devices: my camera, my tablet, my iPod, my phone, and my kindle (or actually, probably, more often than not, a book.

So for me, no the end is not nigh for my iPod. In fact I might need to uprade to a bigger one!