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In iPod America, Legions Tune In by Marco R della Cava (USA Today)
Posted by Ed and Lois
With its high-tech decor and clubby feel, Apple’s flagship store here doesn’t look like a creepy cult headquarters. But there’s some kind of mind-noodling going on: Everyone exiting its glass doors is ready to spout the gospel of iPod.
I love the sound quality and how many songs I can carry around,” says real estate agent Paige Baron, 25, running her fingers over a pink iPod Mini. “My friends all have one, and I just felt it was time to catch up.”
She has just joined the iPod nation. Apple may have introduced its innovative digital music player in 2001, but of the 10 million iPods sold to date, 8.2 million of the $249 to $399 gadgets were purchased in 2004. Nearly 5 million were bought over the holiday season alone. With its new $99 Shuffle, Apple expects the streets to soon sprout even more iPod people.
“This is all part of the shift from mass media to personalized media,” says Paul Saffo, research director of The Institute for the Future, a tech think tank in Palo Alto, Calif. “With the iPod, the Buddha is in the details. The finish and feel are such that you want to caress it.
“And when you do, wonderful things happen.”
Befitting a contraption that has captured the fancy of everyone from working stiffs to head-bopping celebrities like Nicole Kidman and Leonardo DiCaprio, the iPod has created its own:
Economy. Dozens of new companies cater to the faithful, including accessory manufacturers that turn your iPod into a digital audio recorder; fashion firms making clothes with iPod-ready pockets; and companies that will load your entire CD collection onto your iPod.
•Cultural trends. Some nightclubs are offering patrons the chance to DJ via their iPods, while even bolder owners practice iPod “jacking,” momentarily swapping units with a stranger to tap into another devotee’s musical soul.
•Naysayers. Some consumers still balk at the top-of-the-line iPod’s cost, and others have yet to be convinced that Apple’s version of the MP3 player will ultimately dominate the category. Recently, Dell CEO Kevin Rollins dissed the iPod as a “one-product wonder” that his and other companies would top soon.
Interviews with owners of various ages tell the same unsolicited tale. They shun today’s radio programming (too much talk, not enough good songs) and resent buying CDs that are full of songs they don’t want (they gladly spend 99 cents a song at Apple’s iTunes online music store, where 1.2 million songs are snapped up daily).
“This is no fad — the iPod has changed my life,” says Andrea Kozek, 29, a health care professional from Milwaukee and owner of, yes, My Precious.
Full Post:http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2005-01-31-ipod_x.htm