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How iPods Took Over the World
An anonymous reader writes "The Observer has a piece today about the iPod's ascension to dominance of the mp3 player market. The author argues that it's largely the result of clever business tactics and the iTunes music store." From the article: "The second thing about the iPod: it puts you, not them, in control. Basically, the record labels are devotees of the Henry Ford business model: 'You can have any music you want so long as it's what I want to give you.' But using the cyberspace jukebox, you're no longer at their mercy. You don't have to pay for the four filler tracks on every album. You don't have to buy albums at all. You can put country next to classical, punk next to jazz, Barry Manilow next to Placido Domingo (wait, that's a joke)."
The iPod's marketing is so clever, they've managed to bamboozle the author of the article evidenced by sentence one, paragraph four:
It may have given "you" the perception you're in control, but you're not, you have been betrayed by every corner of the commercial industry. The only unique factor about Apple and the iPod is they've made the betrayal seem warm and fuzzy.
Fair use is almost gone. You want to play iPod music anywhere but on your computer (or four others, God Bless you Apple) or your iPod? Forget it.
Oh wait, you can spin the track out to a CD, then rip (a wink and a nod) an mp3 or other sans DRM that will play on your other mp3 players. Maybe.
Of course, that's assuming some other mechanism isn't in the pipeline to circumvent that.
Oh, and the music you're writing to a CD to rip back to mp3s?
It's been a string of betrayals by the music industry... which holds out as bait the enticement some startup band could make it big like Metallica, Jewel, etc., if they only toe the RIAA and Music industry line. Apple and iPod are just one piece in the betrayal tapestry.
(I've mentioned this before -- it bears repeating: one of the most egregious betrayals by the music industry is the CDDB. Almost since the creation of CDs digital media was capable of encoding all album meta-data, e.g., liner notes, lyrics, credits, and track, title, artist. But they never provided this! A clever and enterprising public domain database stepped up to this, at least to create a database of album and track info. Who populated it? Not the record industry. We did! And we still get nothing in return.)
Apple can't skate on their complicity just because they made something warm and fuzzy, something easy to use, something dominant... in some ways that makes them more evil. Trust us, you'll like this -- the first one's free.
I'm holding out hope I can continue to find unadulterated CDs, unencumbered (and high quality) mp3s and players that will play them all interchangeably and headache free. So far I find enough Indy available and talent that, for me, the mainstream entertainment pap is irrelevant.
Oh and, by the way, I'm more than willing to purchase/pay fair prices for music.
Is slashdot becoming Digg + 2 hours.
The article AND the iPeople have missed it. As mentioned, iPod and ITMS, are simply relaxed control, but control just the same. The truth of the matter is that iPods and ITMS are simply the best alternative (more or less) for the great unwashed masses that just want music they like, when they like, how they like. To most people, a little control is a good thing, and Apple has kept up their closed/controlled business model from the beginning. This works for many people. Most folk don't want to have to install the software to make their microwave work, they just want to push buttons, and likewise, they want their music to be that simple too, as simple as turning on the radio, or as close as they can get to that.
That is why Apple's iPod is so successful, because of all the sheeple, and Apple's willingness to pander to that principle.
16 year olds know how to rip CDs to MP3 players, and it doesn't bother them doing it. They don't mind grabbing a couple of MP3s from online, or a friend... its easy for them, they think of it as normal, so the iBusiness_model will soon also be outdated. The next 'killer apps' will be those that allow this new group of technically savvy people to use their information and media however they feel like using it, without the chains or training wheels of current DRM technology.
*ANY* intelligent business group already knows this.... the rest of them will just keep lawyers busy trying to stop it.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
I think it's amusing that apple takes processors, OSes, audio&video codecs, network protocols and lots of standards (CD, DVD, USB for example) from PCs and then claim the PC aera was over, because the apple aera is here...
if this is the apple aera (haha) then it is still the PC aera, because apples are so much like PCs now... except that they are more expensive, have an extremely closed system and make the user incapacitated... Thats why I'll never buy apple products!
however - the success of iPods (like the current success of apple) is just a matter of "hey, see how cool this looks!" - the first generation of iPods (which was a great success already) was technically pathetic and extremely user-unfriendly (in many ways the newer generations are no better), they just looked cool, thats all they had to offer...
read this:
http://news.zdnet.com/html/z/wb/6035707.html
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Can someone explain this to me? Compared to legal alternatives, the iPod is at best a wash on features (other than tight integration with iTMS) and is priced much, much more expensive (you pay a significant Apple fanboy premium versus competing players). Compared to legal alternatives for aquiring tracks from name artists, iTMS has practically trademarked the terms "cheap" and "easy". I wanted to get the Hammertime song (don't ask). iTMS = fifteen seconds and $.99 later its mine.
I got sucked into the iPod/iTMS cult because I was an iTMS user who needed a portable MP3 player, not an iPod user who needed a download service.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Listen to yourself. You've been brainwashed. "It works for me and for most people so if it's not right for you, well tough"??? You do realise that people hike and camp with mp3 players and music all the time don't you? You've well and truely fallen into the trap of being a self-centered ego-maniac. His needs aren't important because they don't also happen to be your needs? Ever heard of live and let live? What the? Ever heard that diversity is a good thing to be encouraged not stamped out with a commercial cookie cutter? Obviously what ever time you've spent in the wilderness hasn't helped you think and reason beyond your own selfish needs. Amazing that you can open your eyes and ears to nature, pay attention, and still walk away with so little learnt.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer