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A Recap of the iPod's Life
BDPrime writes "Here's a good look at the iPod's five-year existence and how, it can be argued, the device saved Apple from rotting away. From the story: 'It's hard to overstate the impact of the iPod on the computer, consumer electronics and music industries since it was introduced in 2001. The iPod, arguably, is the first crossover product from a computer company that genuinely caught on with music and video buffs. It's shown how a computer can be an integral part of a home entertainment system, and it's led pop stars from U2's Bono to Madonna to trade quips with Apple's own rock star, CEO Steve Jobs.'" Just to give a little bit of the other side of the story, not everyone loves the iPod. An anonymous reader wrote in with a link to research on unhealthy iPod listening levels at New Scientist. Additionally, Achromatic1978 writes to mention that the iPod has won a Shonky award from the Australians. I don't know what Shonky means, but I think that's bad.
Furthermore.. I wish someone would class-action sue Apple for emotional distress to public transport users. It is not Sony headphones I hear leaking like sieves. It is those cheap-and-nasty white iPod headphones that seem to pump about as much noise out as they do into the ears of the listener!
I don't get the iPod success. It wasn't the first portable mp3 player and as shown in that old slashdot article, it wasn't even remotely the best one on the market.
It just doesn't make any sense, it's like Apple is using some jedi mind trick to sell overpriced average hardware.
Really? Revenue in the last quarter by segment :
iPod $1,559 million
Desktops $869 million
Portables $1,344 million
So over 2million USD of revenue on computers is somehow inconsequential?
Seems they're making more money from computers, and you're full of shit.
yes, I mean it.
This is basic high school economics.
Revenue != Income.
I didn't say that all their REVENUE came from the iPod, I said all of their PROFIT(Income) did. You're either really bad at business, or English. I'm not sure which.
I think the iPod has impacted our world in the following ways:
Ahh, you're a pointy head. Non-pointy-heads still say "affected".
1) It has pretty much consigned the old "boomboxes" to near-complete obsolescene (thank G** for that!). People now listen to their own music with generally not disturbing others in a package far more convenient than even the old cassette player Walkmans.
Yeah, with boomboxes you could get a bunch of your friends together in the park or at the beach and listen to the same crappy music, but at least you did it together.
2) It has changed the way we buy music, by legitimizing music downloads.
I'm old-fashioned (but hardly a techno-luddite) and used to enjoy browsing the music store and finding cool stuff in the $5 closeout bins. Sure, there's the instant gratification of downloads, but that generally means that you're home in front of your PC. It's not a group activity whereas browsing music stores was...
3) It has actually made radio talk shows more popular,...
God help us.
4) It has made it far more practical to not have to carry around your Compact Discs when listening to music in the car.
Yes, this is indeed a benefit. On long road trips (with your friends), after three rotations of Green Day's Dookie you turn off the music (and stop singing) and then start talking and playing gags on each other and mooning the girls in the convertible.