USA Today: iPod is lifechanging

To clarify my previous comment...

Obviously I didn't have reel-to-reel, an 8-track, or a record player, but you get my drift about the Walkman.

"but you can also argue that this generation never had a walkman.. and the iPod is this generations discovery of what was cool about a walkman."

Well, I'm in Generation Y, and I had a Sony Walkman and then later on...a Sony Discman. Now I have an iPod. I didn't miss out on anything, really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y#Howe_and_Strauss:_.22The_Millennials.22

"I assume you mean USA Today rather than the state as a whole?"
I assume you mean the country rather than the state as a whole?

The credibility of that entire list is suspect... Or at least the way they've numbered the list.

TiVo has changed one of the highest-profile industries on the planet... Television. It certainly is more important than bagged lettuce, the StairMaster and oversized golf clubs.

Puh-lease!

I listed to various CD players through HS, had a TERRIBLE 1st gen MP3/CD player, and picked up an Archos when I was a senior in college at the same time my friend picked up a 2nd(3rd?) gen iPod. I thought it was pretty slick, but couldn't afford one at the time. It was a pretty solid player overall, it had color display and played video and had a pretty decent memory. Fast forward 4 years and 2 iPods later and I'm STILL pulling music I haven't heard off my 5th Gen. 80 gig video iPod. Funny how much an interface can change the way you listen to music.

Sure the fact that the iPod contains most people's entire music collection is a big change.. but you can also argue that this generation never had a walkman.. and the iPod is this generations discovery of what was cool about a walkman. What I mean is that when I was growing up, I had a walkman. It fit in my pocket and I could walk down the sidewalk and listen to some music, and it was fantastic. Kids these days have CD walkmans which never really captured the original experience because they were always so bulky. You couldn't throw a CD walkman in your pocket, you always had to hold it in your hand. And you had to be careful of how you walked otherwise it would skip. Sure there were other formats such as minidisk and those funky 3" cds.. but they never really caught on here in the US. I suppose what I am saying is that with portable electronics.. size matters. Which also explains why the iPod took off and the bulky hard driver players of the time didn't.

It's also life-changing in the way that it not only captured an existing digital music market, it helped it explode by being accessible to consumers who did not consider themselves tech-savvy and would not have ever thought to purchase a digital music player prior to its launch.

I think what changed my life was more iTunes than the iPod. Sure, the interface is slick, but I've had other MP3-players before. And the one thing that's so sweet is that I can have access to this whole digital world and it syncs flawlessly with my baby. I guess that's what they call an iLife :)

1954, transistor radio: portable music, with content determined by networks (radio station)

1979, Walkman: portable music, with limited amount of content determined by user (cassette tapes)

2001, iPod: portable music, with user's entire music library

One small life-changing aspect of that difference is that my apartment and car are no longer cluttered up with media (cassettes and CDs). I don't need a "CD jukebox;" I don't have to worry about whether I left one of my favorite CDs in the car.

The whole iPod ecosystem is also life-changing. I remember the first time in 2003 when I realized I had forgotten to swing by the music store to pick up an album that had been released that day. Instead, I went to the iTunes Music Store -- and the album was there! Ten minutes later, I was listening to it. I didn't have to get in my car, burn fossil fuels, drive for 30 minutes, find a parking space, etc.

Audio and video podcasts have also proven life-changing. There's a great radio show called "Selected Shorts" that airs locally on Mondays starting at 1 AM... collections of the show were available on CD for $28. Well, it recently became available as a FREE podcast. So now I don't have to stay up until 2 AM to listen to this show anymore -- I can hear it when I want.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=253191824

Likewise, Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac" airs locally at 6:50 AM -- a bit early for me. The free podcast means I can listen to it at any time, and save shows I like for repeat listening.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=136642066

The iPod may not be a religion, it may not be a way of life :-) -- but it is most certainly NOT just an updated Sony Walkman, either.

I think that Joe and Doug hit it on the head - if I had my WalkMan with me, I had to carry (X) number of tapes with me as well, and it was (by necessity) only a portion of my collection and only a small one at that. The MP3 CD players were a useful bridge, in that I could carry MORE music, but I still had to juggle what was on which CD at any given time.

An 80 gig iPod (or other large-capacity MP3 player, granted) gives me random access to much, MUCH larger percentage of my music collection at any given time.

For a junkie like myself, that's pretty darn intoxicating and also AMAZINGLY liberating.