FEATURE:
Music Technology Breakthroughs
IMAGE CREDIT: Jessa ZG
Part One: The iPod
___________
THIS will be a brief series…
IMAGE CREDIT: Ian Barnard
but I am interested in how music technology and devices have changed through the years. We all have quite sophisticated mobile phones where we can stream music and enjoy film/T.V. on a portable and handy device. I think we take this convenience for granted because, years ago, the technology was not quite as sophisticated. That is not to say that, at the time, various technological breakthroughs did not astound people! In future editions, I am going to look at the Sony Walkman, Pro Tools and other important innovations/technological steps. I grew up listening to music through a Sony Walkman, and then I upgraded to the C.D. Walkman/device. That said, they were quite prone to skipping the C.D.s, and one had to employ some patience when listening through one. I might cover them too but, as I headed to sixth form college in 1999, the main technology was the C.D. player. I think mobile phones were starting to get a bit more sophisticated - but nothing like we have in 2020! Even though me and my friends could listen to music through portable devices, we were very sociable when it came to sharing music. Often was the time when I would be handed some earphones to listen to some music from Blink-182 or Limp Bizkit – it was that Nu-Metal sort of time; looking back and the music has not aged that well! I went to university in 2001 and, about a month after I started, the iPod was born.
The first model was released on 23rd October, 2001. I wonder whether there will be anything happening to mark its twentieth anniversary next year? I think the iPod is one of the biggest leaps in terms of music technology and how we experience music in general. The iPod is a line of portable media players and multi-purpose pocket computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. By 2019, only the iPod Touch (7th generation) remained in production. Although its peak and popularity was relatively short-lived, I think the iPod directly influenced the smartphone and how we experience music on the go now. I will bring in an article that discusses the influence and importance of the iPod but, grabbing from the Wikipedia page concerning the iPod, and we can see why the device was created and how it changed the marketplace:
“The iPod was released in late 2001.[8] The iPod line came from Apple's "digital hub" category, when the company began creating software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders, and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful,"[9] so Apple decided to develop its own. As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including hardware engineers Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey,[10] and design engineer Sir Jonathan Ive.[9] Rubinstein had already discovered the Toshiba hard disk drive while meeting with an Apple supplier in Japan, and purchased the rights to it for Apple, and had also already worked out how the screen, battery, and other key elements would work”.
Although the later models of the iPod increased the GB capacity to 256, the original model of 2001 contained a 5 GB hard drive that could hold a thousand songs. This was a major breakthrough! Beforehand, we could only really play a single album on portable C.D. player, and I don’t think there was anything quite as revolutionary as the iPod prior to its 2001 release. The idea that one could create a huge music library and take that around with them was mind-blowing! Because the music was digital, one did not have to constantly stop when the C.D. skipped, and we didn’t have to carry albums around with us so we could swap them out when one ended. There was a slight guilt moving to a digital realm and digesting music that way, but I was still buying a lot of C.D.s in 2001 – and continued to do so for many years. Although the iPod cost $399 when it was released in 2001, I do think that the price was not too extreme. Consider the capacity of the device and how much of a step on it was from any other device. One could store a thousand tracks, and, with its sleek design, it was very handy and desirable. I guess, if one looks at the longevity and impact of portable cassette and C.D. players, then the iPod is relatively short-lived.
When it came out, it was prone to competition and, even though Apple developed the iPod and increased its capacity and brought in new features, the market did open up. Spotify was created in 2006 so, when it developed a following, it sort of did what the iPod did: the user could create playlists and shuffle through tracks. I think streaming sites like Spotify definitely took a lead from iPod in the way individuals could create their own playlists and have this huge digital library where they could shuffle the tracks and did not have to rely on the rigidity of the album. Some might say that the iPod had a detrimental impact on the album, in the sense people could buy individual tracks from iTunes and they did not have to buy the whole thing. I think there was still an enormous demand for albums but, as technology was advancing, it offered people the opportunity to enjoy and experience music in a whole new way. The first article I want to bring in provides great resource when discussing the impact and selling points of the iPod:
“The real advantage of the iPod was its integration with iTunes. Unlike other MP3 players, which required users to drag music files into folders, iTunes allowed you to sync your music automatically to an iPod. Apple’s integration of hardware and software made the user experience much easier than what other devices of the time offered.
The iPod changed the world of music, in several ways. While the Sony Walkman democratized music listening in the streets, or during your commute, you still needed to carry around cassette tapes. These took up space, and were especially susceptible to dust and lint from your pockets. With the iPod, you can carry your entire music collection in your pocket (unless your music collection is as big as mine, that is). No longer do you have to decide before you go out of the house or on a trip what music you might want to listen to and remember to bring those tapes. And, with the ability to now download music from the cloud, you may never even have to worry about what you have synced to your iPod; you may be able to download the music you want when you want to listen to it. The importance of the iPod is therefore not only the device, but the entire ecosystem that it depends on. From iTunes on your computer to iCloud, the iPod is one link in a chain that brings music to your ears.
And the iPod changed the world of music in another way: it brought the idea of “shuffle” to listeners. With the iPod, and iTunes, you can listen to music at random. Instead of making choices, you can let fate choose what you listen to. In some ways, this approach to listening to songs devoid of their context in albums—not that different from radio, just without the DJ’s grating voice and the loud commercials—has helped speed the erosion of music sales. No longer approaching music as albums, listeners have taken to buying individual songs, from the iTunes Store, Amazon.com, and other places”.
I think that it would be cool, nearly twenty years since the iPod was introduced, that there was a modern design more in keeping with the original. One can buy the iPod Touch, but I loved the original iPod because of its design and the fact that it was just about the music. Although the original was sort of lacking in different functions and menu options, I do think that a twentieth anniversary edition could be launched that had a large capacity and lots of options, but it would be a standalone music-playing device. As this article explores, the iPod was a real game-changing product:
"The iPod truly ushered in the era of portable digital consumer electronics, much as the Walkman did for analog audio," states Jordan Selburn, principal analyst of consumer electronics at IHS-iSuppli.
In just 10 years the iPod has been so influential that the word has come to represent a portable digital music player in the same way "Hoover" dominates the vacuum cleaner market. Apple wasn't the first to introduce such a device, so why has the iPod brand dominated all others?
"The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player out there — before it came out I'd used models from Rio for my runs — but it took the shortcomings inherent in the existing products in the market and improved on them," explains Jonathan Seff, executive editor, Macworld. "It held much more music than a typical MP3 player, and its use of FireWire meant transfer speeds much faster than the slow 12Mbps USB everyone else was using," Seff continues. "Plus the combo of hardware and software (iTunes) made it easier to use than much of what else was out there. And in very little time, the iPod took over the digital music player section of the market."
The iPod's design is iconic. Design museums around the world display iPods proudly. Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, Jonathan Ive, has earned multiple awards and accolades.
"One of the major reasons for the iPod's success is its unique design, which is simple and aesthetically appealing, making use of high-quality materials like stainless steel," says Dr. Peter Zec, CEO and intellectual and creative head of red dot. "The Apple Industrial Design Team, led by Jonathan Ive, focuses on strict and sustainable design politics: The first iPod fitted perfectly into Apple's product family of that time — just like the latest models do, which pick up today's unibody design of the iMac or MacBook Pro.
"The simplicity of the iPod's design speaks for itself: There are no unnecessary buttons or wheels, just one single element to navigate intuitively through the product's entire music library”.
I am going to look at various musical software and hardware devices in future instalments, but I wanted to start with the iPod: something that was a big part of my late-teenage years and, at the time, was an enormous treat! The price of the iPod did come down and the capacity increased so that music lovers could have a bigger library in their pocket! At a time when we compile playlists and have an assortment of music on our phones, we must give a nod to the humble-yet-pioneering iPod! In 2001, this intriguing device came along that people clambered after and embraced – even though it was expensive. All these years later, and we can realise and appreciate how the iPod…
PHOTO CREDIT: Apple
MADE a huge impact.