Broadway is now playing at the palace

Sure, some eyebrows have been raised over the fact that President Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod but I think it's an inspired gift.

I mean, how cool is it that he gave her something I'd like to receive? Also, what could be more American than musical theatre?

Finally, a British designer named Jonathan Ive played a major role in creating the iPod, which helped revive the sagging fortunes of Apple Computer. It's the greatest example of Anglo-American cooperation since Lend-Lease.

Here's a list of the songs. Apparently they were all taken from a CD called Ultimate Broadway. They're classics, featuring a mix of British and American performers, and I have almost all of them on my iPod. Okay, excuse me while I go create my very own royal playlist!

The great magical quotient

I bought myself a shiny, silvery 120GB iPod Classic to replace the 20GB model whose hard drive expired. It wasn't easy. I felt like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit. I had to upgrade my operating system so the iPod would run on my PowerBook, and I had to buy a new case to protect the screen.

But it's up and running, with plenty of room for my show tunes and theatre-related podcasts. Now, while I'm waiting for Downstage Center to resume, I can download all of the Working in the Theatre podcasts from the American Theatre Wing and watch them while I walk on the treadmill.

Of course, I have to start with the May 2007 program on leading men, which included Kevin Spacey, who was on Broadway in A Moon for the Misbegotten at the time.

Kevin was the person who first sparked my interest in the theatre. I became a fan around the time he became artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre, and he was so passionate whenever he talked about being on the stage.

Here's some of what he had to say:

"People come into a theatre and it's the most artificial surrounding you can imagine. There's big curtains, there's exit signs, there's chairs, there's programs. And yet somehow, if the elements have come together right, 20 minutes into a play that entire group of a thousand people or less go to a world that you're asking them to go to and they believe in that world.

And that collective experience, where a thousand strangers come into a building and believe, is what to me is the great magical quotient of when great theatre, great performances, happen. It's almost like a breath. We feel the audience."

Which iPod am I?

I'm afraid my 20-gigabyte, circa-2004 iPod is on its last legs. Sometimes it works perfectly, other times it freezes when I try to sync it with iTunes. I often have trouble rousing it from a deep slumber. Luckily, my 2-gigabyte nano, which I use as my portable car stereo system, works fine. But I can only fit a tiny fraction of my music, podcasts and audiobooks on it.

Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of what Apple's done with the shape of the iPod. When I hold them, the Classic, pictured above, seems a little big, the nano seems a little small. And there's nothing in the 20-gigabyte range anymore, which was the perfect size for me. I never really came close to filling it up.

But you can't cry over last year's models, much less the models from four years ago. So, I went to Apple's "Which iPod Are You?" page, to determine which iPod I am. Let's review my choices:

Shuffle: No screen, largest capacity is 2 gigabytes. Forget it.

Nano: Like I said, I'm not crazy about the flat, square shape, and the nano almost seems too tiny to hold. And it only comes in 4- and 8-gigabyte models. Too small.

Classic: An 8-gigabyte Nano is $199. For another $50, I could get an 80-gigabyte Classic, which is plenty big enough for me. Plus, I'd be able to upload movies and tv shows from iTunes. Again, I'm not crazy about what Apple's done to the shape. It doesn't fit as nicely in my hand. Not that I ever actually hold my iPod in my hand for any length of time. When I'm using it, it's either in the cup holder in my car or the bottle holder on the treadmill.

Touch: This is cool because it has Internet access. The drawback is, you're paying a lot of money for not very much capacity. For $299, you only get 8 gigabytes. The most expensive model, which costs $399, only gives you 32 gigabytes. While it would be nice to have Internet access with me 24/7, I don't really need it. I'd much rather have the extra gigabytes for loading up my music and podcasts. I've used the Touch at my local Apple store, and the keyboard is really small. It took me quite a few tries to type in "CNN." I kept hitting the wrong letters because my fingers are too big or something. It was very frustrating.

iPhone: This does everything the Touch does, plus it has a phone. It would have the advantage of allowing me to combine two gadgets currently taking up space in my handbag. And Apple just announced a 3G model: $199 for 8 gigabytes and $299 for 16 gigabytes. (I'm hoping this announcement means a price cut for the nano and Classic). The 8-gigabyte model would be a good choice if I were looking to replace my nano. But I want to replace my main iPod, the one I take to the gym, where I want to have as many entertainment options with me as possible. And what happens if the pod part breaks in a couple of years but the phone part works fine?

I guess it boils down to how much I'd use the Internet and e-mail features in the Touch or iPhone. Right now, I don't think it's very much. The keyboard is too difficult for heavy-duty 'net surfing. And where am I going where I can't check my e-mail for hours? Nowhere. Having the extra space for my rapidly expanding collection of show tunes is more important. So I guess I'm a Classic. Somehow, I just knew.