It seems that everywhere you go these days, you can’t help but see them—white earbuds tucked into the ears of their glaze-eyed owners. You see them in the grocery store, jogging down the street, and even in class. If you haven’t guessed by now, this new sweeping technological trend is known as an iPod (or any of its variations, including nano iPod, iPod Shuffle and iPod Pictures).
The ubiquitous white cords and earbuds are a reflection of what may be one of the biggest technological progressions since the PC, in the form of a trendy white machine that allows you to fit more music than ever before into your pocket — just try fitting more than 300 CDs in there! Apple recorded its best-ever second quarter this year, largely due to the shipment of more than 5 million iPods, suggesting that this phenomenon is no longer solely the realm of indie snobs and the tech-savvy.
Encountering so many iPod users in almost every aspect of public space brings many questions to mind. Is it rude to interrupt an iPod listener? Is it rude to listen to an iPod during a conversation or a lecture? What will be the social effect of millions of people walking around with headphones for hours on end?
Julia Clarke, ArtSci ’08, said she sometimes consciously chooses to leave her iPod at home, mainly for social reasons.
“I don’t think that just because I’m wearing an iPod, people shouldn’t talk to me, or that I’m being anti-social, but on the other hand I know that people might assume that, so I won’t bring it along.” It seems though that a sense of community is not entirely lost in the typically solo world of iPod users. In the UK, iPod nights at clubs allow partiers to plug in their own playlists for the crowd to dance to. In college towns like Cambridge, U.K., and Oberlin, N.J., users have begun “jacking in”—walking up to another user and offering them your iPod while you plug into theirs for a minute to listen to his or her song choice.
As techie writer Douglas Roshkoff says, “It’s a kind of a stoners’ ethic, really, the way you pass the joint at a Dead show.” An online iPod brotherhood has taken shape, reflected by clubby websites such as ipoditude.com, and ipodlaughs.com—a website that allows users to come clean about the most embarrassing songs on their playlist. Even with the advent of personal music players, we still enjoy sharing our music with others. iPod or not, music is still a public commodity.
The effect of the iPod goes beyond the social lives of its users, and is permanently changing the way music and media are distributed. The idea of complete albums is disappearing, because people are buying and downloading individual songs instead. The upside is that this practice eliminates what some call the “Chumbawumba factor”—buying a CD only to find the single you love sounds completely different from everything else the band has ever done.
Bands and labels are finding the need to market on a song-by-song basis. Brit rockers Bloc Party have recently released a single, “Two More Years,” without any intention of including it on a new album. The demise of albums spells the end of liner notes, cover art, and that little paragraph where each member of the band thanks God and his mom.
Using the Internet and iPods to select music also makes a greater variety of bands and genres —which would normally not make it onto mainstream radio— accessible to the public. The more than 400 million songs that can be accessed through iTunes attests to the unprecedented mass of media that is readily available. While previously restricted to the garages and basements they recorded in, independent and unsigned acts can now advertise and share their music with listeners all over the globe.
Another innovation, podcasting—the Internet posting of audio blogs, lectures and radio shows—has given a voice to anyone with an idea and an iPod, and allows other users to share their favourite music du jour. Going beyond musical elitists who are interested in downloading rare music, podcasting also increases iPod demand.
Duke University students download podcasts of lectures, the urban hipster can catch up on “The Ongoing History of New Music” on the Edge 102.1 website, and commuters can listen to the traffic report on their way to work.
In fact, the iPod is versatile enough to make it seemingly indispensable to absolutely everyone. It can be personalized through the colour of the shell, the engraving on the back, the photos loaded on it, and even the playlists that it holds. Apple’s site advertises “celebrity playlists,” as if Elijah Wood’s song choices are the key to his fame.
Even companies outside the entertainment industry are cashing in on the iPod market, with both Pepsi and the Gap offering free downloads to customers. This summer, Kraft Foods offered users an iPod-compatible download of 100 recipes featuring Kraft ingredients. The iPod is sure to draw in more and more advertisers looking to profit from urban consumers with a disposable income large enough to afford an iPod.
The iPod’s massive invasion of our culture is undeniable—things are changing. Hopefully this change will be for the better, making the iPod not a new technological status symbol or a barricade against the outside world, but instead broadening perspectives. No matter how regular the iPod becomes though, let’s not forget to take out our earbuds and live without it once in awhile.
—With files from news.com, wired.com, pitchforkmedia.com, en.wikipedia.org
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