I've bought myself a rather nice electro-acoustic guitar today. It's a Takamine (in case you were wondering), and it's a thing of beauty. It sounds just fantastic, but it's making my fingers hurt. My amplifier (which I use with my Telecaster) seems to be on the blink though, so I can't tell you what it sounds like played through that at the moment. I think the amp will have to go back to the shop for some TLC.

Seeing as I only filled about 15 gigs of space on my 30GB Zen, I've been borrowing lots of CDs from friends, relatives and the library. I think I've managed to get it up to 21.5 GB now. And I can't actually think of any more albums I really want...

Well so far I'm really impressed with my Zen NX. It's USB 2.0, so it transferred all fifteen gigabytes of music files in about 40 minutes - that's fairly impressive. I've already downloaded the new firmware for it, which changes the menu options from words to icons (which is much better) and also purchased the Notmad Explorer software to make synchronising it easier. All the reviews that I've read about the Zen NX mention that the bundled software isn't up to much and they're right - it's not. Notmad Explorer makes the whole experience a lot more intuitive - just like using Windows really. And at around £11, it's a bit of a bargain too.

I've taken the plunge and purchased a shiny new Creative Labs Jukebox Zen NX, and I have to say that so far, it's really good. I've got nearly all my albums on it (around 200) and it's only two thirds full! I think I'll have to start borrowing CDs from the library in order to fill up my hard disk quota... Anyone got any recommendations?

So after much deliberation and consternation, I have finally decided to take the plunge and buy a hard-disk MP3 player. I was having a bit of a problem (way back in October) deciding whether to go for the all-conquering and unspeakably trendy Apple iPod or the considerably cheaper, more versatile but distinctly more utilitarian Creative Labs Zen NX. I've spent quite a large amount of time ripping my CD collection (about 250 discs) as Windows Media files, which aren't supported by the iPod, meaning that I'd have to start again from scratch encoding things as MP3s. Bearing in mind that the 30 gigabyte Zen NX is £120 cheaper than the 20 gigabyte iPod, I've decided to go with the Zen, bearing in mind the extra work and cost the iPod would entail.

Somebody needs to tell the people at Apple to stop making lovely new shiny things!! I can't afford them all!

We're deep into the "grand cellar attic swap round", and we had to go to Ikea (again) to buy even MORE furniture. This has now totally blown our budget, but never mind eh? It's looking really good. If only I could find places to put the stuff that's still festering in cardboard boxes, that'd be even better. I also now have a shiny silver 17" flat screen monitor, some fairly cool speakers and a wireless keyboard and mouse for my computer. If you're going to do these things, you might as well do them properly. I shall take some photos when we're completely finished, and put them in the gallery for you to peruse.

So then, new year resolutions. Have you got any? I have loads. I probably won't do them, but here's a few in no particular order...
- Go to the gym regularly
- Get an "all in one" mortgage and pay off as much of it as possible
- Learn to play the guitar properly
- Buy expensive shoes
- Weigh eleven stone (in case you're wondering, I'm ten at the moment...)
- Eat better food - less stuff out of packets
- Go scuba diving
- Buy a new mattress
- Keep in touch with friends more
- Read books
- Keep this website up to date

Happy new year!! We saw the new year in with a huge snow storm that covered eveything in four inches of snow in about three hours - it was quite exciting actually. Then (being slightly inebriated) we thought it would be a great idea to go sledging at 1am, in the dark. So we did. It was quite a novel experience. Miraculously, no-one ended up in casualty.

And 2004 has ushered in Low Fidelity's new look, and a bit of a new direction. It's a pared-down, no-frills version of it's former self. It is (drumroll please...) the new and improved Low Fidelity! I'd noticed that for some time now, this blog was only really focussing on one thing, and that thing was my pursuit of shiny gadgets. So now I'm just going to come out of the closet and say it out loud - THIS IS A WEBSITE ABOUT MY LOVE OF GADGETS!! Occasionally I might add something off topic (hey, it's my site - I can do what the hell I like) but for the most part it'll concentrate on all things electronic and microchippy. So now you know. If you don't like it, feel free to leave. For the rest of you, buckle up, and let's go.