Maybe it's just the mass-media professor in me who is used to chanting "technology shapes content." But, you know, I sort of see a link between the following two stories in those radically different Washington, D.C., daily newspapers. First there is the Washington Times piece on what could be called iPod theology among the young 'uns. You know, the tendency to get a stack of religious texts and punch up "shuffle."

It may mean the rise of "orthodoxy a la carte," where, as with IPods and music, young Americans take a "mix and match" approach to religion, said Bill Galston, a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration.

Read that story, then try to get it out of your head while you are reading the new Washington Post's Metro piece on the growing D.C. trend of iPod theft -- which some people are seriously calling a form of "identity theft." That leads to this idea:

. . . "Thefts) of digital music players are rising, police say, putting [Sara] Scalenghe and others through the emotional trauma of losing something that has become an increasingly important and personal part of their lives. Victims said they felt the thieves got an illicit glimpse at their musical tastes and even their "souls."

See what I mean? I wonder if anyone is preaching on these trends?