What's the best way for those of us falling behind in new technologies to catch up?

[Mike 03]

I'm really falling behind in tech, and there must be some some sort of tutorials or something for people who want to learn about:

IPODS, what they do and how to operate them
IPhones, what they do and how to operate them

If we have a certain technology like satellite radio and we are recording the stuff we like but don't know what to do with it (how to save it or where to save it to) after we record it on the portable unit, what the hell to do we do?

What places to we have to join to be able to download what we upload on services like Sirius/XM.

I feel like Bambi in the middle of a forest fire. I don't know how I've allowed myself to become so ignorant about modern tech, or what to get, or how to use it, but it happened.

Meanwhile, my niece is mastering the Wii (which I love, to the extent she let me play with her).

I don't know what happened; I've been so preoccupied over the past four or five years that technology has passed me by. It's embarrassing, but I want to catch up.

Anybody else in the same boat?

ON EDIT: Just to disclose, one of my sisters actually gave me a Blackberry, but after three weeks of "texting" I realized I hated it, unplugged it, put it in a cardboard box in the closet and have not looked at it since.

But in my denfese, I used to be an early adopter: Newton Apple (still own two and use one), and collected MiniDisc players (around ten of them). So I'm not a Pynchonian Luddite or anything like that.

[pokerfan]

1. .

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[Skittles]

2. nothing to be embarrassed about, everyone learns it sometime

if you're interested in something, get it and go at it - yes INDEED

[WinkyDink]

3. I'm further behind than you! I've never used my Blackberry at all! Just pay the monthly bill!

Don't WANT to be in constant contact with the world.
Don't know from iPods. Don't WANT to have earbuds and music in my ears constantly.
Have a 35mm film camera. Don't WANT to go from photo-shooting to the computer and get caught up in fiddlin' with the now-umpteen pictures.
Don't have call-waiting, voice-mail, or anything other than a ringtone on my "land-line" phone.
Don't know how to work the DVD-player I won at Bingo. Maybe it's because I haven't figured out the wiring connections to my TV and never-used VCR.

LOVE my computer, though!

[Dammit Ann]

4. Anything mac is easy.

ipod. iphone.

Macs. easy as hell.

You have obviously figured out computers.

The rest you figure out as you find what it is you want to do or need to do.

Blackberrys are for people who WANT to be constantly in touch, an iPhone, not so much, although, it certainly has that capability.

Tech is whatever you need it or want it to be, it is there for you, the individual. Pick and choose, you aren't behind, just unaware of the possibilities.

Download itunes, that's a start, especially if you like music, an ipod may be in your future...