Steve Jobs And What Mac Means To Me.

Steve Jobs.

It is hard to put into words someone that has left an impact on the entire world.  Steve Jobs was able to do this with one simple word… Apple.  It is impossible to do anything today without encountering something innovated by Steve Jobs.  The mouse, the personal computer, the way we listen to and purchase music, the way we communicate with our friends and loved ones, the way we live.

Although I used an Apple computer for a brief time in elementary school, the Apple IIE I believe it was called, my connection with Apple computer did not begin until 2000.  At that time I was a hard core PC user and never could imagine I would become a “switcher”.  But once you go mac, you never go back.  A close friend of mine used an Apple computer in his music studio. Night after night I would tease him, and do my best to convince him PC is better.  That is what PC users do.  And I was proud to be one of them.  But then something happened.  As I used the Apple computer in his studio each night and then went home to my own Windows computer I became disappointed and eventually dreamed of one day owning one.

That same summer I began working in a professional recording studio in NYC.  In every room there was a MAC.  Even the receptionist desk where I spent my first few months had stylish imacs in different colors.  Now I felt, as someone desiring a career in music, an Apple was a necessity.  There was just one problem.  Macs were expensive and I did not have almost $2000 to spend on a computer.

Then came the accident.  After my grandfather passed away financial problems for our family were abundant.  My grandfather made it clear though that he wanted me to have his car.  It was a Ford Taurus with very low mileage, mostly from back and forth trips to college when he would drive me.  I loved that car and felt it was one of the last pieces of him I could still hold on to.  One summer afternoon leaving the neighborhood a person driving on the wrong side of the street hit me.  The car was totaled.  I was devastated.  Because the car was not new the “book value” was not that much despite its great condition.  After much hassle with the insurance company they sent me a check.  That check was not enough to purchase a new car or replace all the emotional ties I had to it, but it was enough for a mac.

My grandfather was a great supporter of my music education.  He paid for my music lessons and made sure I was taken to them. He dropped me off at college almost every morning until he passed, many days making sure I even had  money for lunch.  My first year in college I persuaded him into buying me software that I could “write music with”.  It was expensive but I think he new something because I am still writing music today.  I felt that purchasing a MAC would be a purchase he would approve of.  It was an investment in my dream.

My first mac sits in the corner powered most of the time.  It has gotten old and become a senoir citzen in the world of  technology but I still love it.  It is a mac!.

As a professional Apple has become the center of my creativity.  I have three in my studio now including that first one.  There isn’t  a note I have recorded in the last 10 years that hasn’t went through or been a part of my Apple computers at some point or another.  And at the time I hated that son of a bitch who hit me coming around the corner that day. But like Steve says sometimes you can only connect the dots when you look back.

Thanks Steve.

Think Different!

Thats all I have to say.

Peter Weis

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