You might have read recently about President Bush’s Apple iPod and the types of music he has on it. And your first thought probably was this: President Bush has a digital music player? Really?

He seems like such an old-school kind of guy. (It was a personal aide who downloaded the approximately 250 songs into the First iPod.)

It seems Bush, whose iPod is filled with country tunes and baby-boomer rock, uses the device during bike workouts to help pump up his heartbeat.

The president’s flirtation with this cutting-edge technology got us wondering about some of South Carolina’s public figures. Are they old school or new cool?

We first checked in with the office of our state’s chief executive to find out if Gov. Mark Sanford kicks out the jams with an iPod.

“He’s too cheap to buy an iPod. He’s just got a busted old Sony Walkman,” said spokesman Will Folks, not even attempting to make his boss sound cool.

Mayor Bob Coble doesn’t have an iPod either, but he did note that he was technologically savvy enough to be discussing this issue with us on his BlackBerry.

(Wow, how about that? Mayor Bob can speak through fruit. That is even more amazing than the Professor building a radio out of a coconut on “Gilligan’s Island.”)

Over at USC, some of the coaches are much more with it than the political types. Women’s hoops coach Susan Walvius has had an iPod for about a year. She prefers listening to hip-hop and R&B.

Football coach Steve Spurrier doesn’t have an iPod, but he does have a pair of Oakley Thump 256 sunglasses that have — get this now — an MP3 player built in. Spurrier got the world’s first digital music eyewear through an Oakley rep.

Like Bush, he wears them only when he works out. And he has about 50-60 country tunes loaded on them, including his favorite, Lee Ann Womack. He also likes the Jo Dee Messina song, “My Give A Damn’s Busted.”

“That was the way I was after two years with the Redskins,” he said.

S.C. State football boss Buddy Pough was stunned to hear of Spurrier’s high-tech shades.

“The last thing I need is my sunglasses to be talking to me,” said Pough, who also doesn’t have an iPod.

Darci Strickland, the WLTX-19 news anchor who’s a fan of classic R&B and gospel as well as country star Messina, has no iPod.

“I don’t know why I don’t have one, but I don’t,” said Strickland, before a thought occurred to her.

“Maybe I’ll get one for Mother’s Day. I’d love to have one,” said the new mom.

(Consider the hint dropped, Darci.)

Ask her media counterpart, WIS weather legend Joe Pinner, if he has an iPod and you get a decidedly different take.

“I’ve got an 8-track and I’m still listening to Andy Williams.”

(We think he was joking.)

Pinner prefers listening to radio because of its immediacy.

“It is ridiculous to see these people walking around plugged in. They’re plugged into their own little world. They’re isolationists,” Pinner said. “I’m plugged into the world. I’m plugged into nature and listening to the birds.”

Hang on, Joe, you sound like a grumpy old man.

“I prefer to be called a curmudgeon,” he said.

He also prefers a world without iPods.

“I’ll tell you what you can do with your iPod,” he said. “You can stick it in your ear.”

Hey, tell that to the president.