Academic Essay (1000 words)

The Emergence of the Ipod
as a form of Music Technology

The main topic and argument of this essay is that the emergence of iPod’s has been the greatest development in modern music technology. The opposing side to this argument will also be discussed. The Apple iPod was 1st introduced to the public on the 23rd of October 2001. It was an unexpected but welcomed announcement, just a few months after the release of itunes. The price was $399, worth the money because at the time, the ipod was unlike no other music player technology. The ipod relies on a hard disk for storage, instead of CD’s and it is smaller in size and is easy to use. This 1st ipod had a 5GB storage capacity which is enough to hold over 1000 songs (iLounge 2004). It was a great step for Apple and an even better product for listening to music. The iPod has come along way from the record player and CD walkmans. It has become a favourite amongst many people. This is mainly because it is easy to use and they don’t have to carry around walkmans and change CD’s. All that has to be done is, download music to your computer, mix songs if you like then upload to your iPod, and it is much more easier and quicker. They are very popular with teenagers’ because it allows them to make their own space with their music. The music itself can promote relaxation, reduce anxiety and stress, promote appropriate behaviour, change moods and alleviate boredom. Research shows that teenagers are more likely to use music to accompany chores rather then pleasures, tasks that are duties, especially when going for a run, they are more likely to have their ipod with them when exercising (Frith 2000). Music can also arouse and pacify people, research shows that listening to music can reduce testosterone levels, which is likely to result in less conflict, less sexual confrontation and more group cohesiveness (Huron 1998).

There are currently four different iPods available ranging from $119 to $499, and memory sizes from 1GB (240 songs), to 80GB (20,000 songs). With each new iPod, there are better technological enhancements made. The 30GB and 80GB iPods have 60% brighter display and up to 20hours of battery life and you can now put your entire music library onto your iPod (Apple iPod 2007). Just after being on the market for two years the popularity of the iPod had reached the likes of Madonna, Tony Hawk and David Beckham. They allowed Apple to sell limited edition iPods with their signatures engraved on the back for $548 each, which made these iPods the most expensive ever sold by Apple. In June 2003, Apple had sold it’s one millionth ipod, less then two years after the release date in 2001. By October 2004, analysts reported that ipod sales are 82% of all digital music players and 92% of all hard-drive based players (iLounge 2004). An Apple spokeswomen said, that the reason why the ipods are selling so fast is because of the technology involved in making them and the fact that ipods have a failure rate of less then 5%, which is fairly low compared to other consumer electronics. Apple stands alone on top of the portable media player market because it is a revolutionary product (Nerd approved 2006).

Although having stated and proved that the emergence of the Apple ipod has been the greatest development in modern music technology, there is always another side to this debate. There has been legal controversy in France, Canada and the United Kingdom, with problems relating to the Apple Ipod. In 2002 the ipod was briefly taken off the market in France, because the device violated a law limiting the sound output of portable devices to 100 decibels. In December 2003 Canadian authorities imposed an additional governmental levy to each player sold, which then got Apple sued by the United Kingdom for violating their trade-agreement (iLounge 2004). There are also complaints regarding the random feature on the ipod, were user’s claim that their ipod’s random feature is not really random, that it plays certain artists and songs over again (Keeling 2007).

After searching the internet there were many websites that lobby against ipods, one of which stuck out ‘iPods Suck! – Anti – Ipod’. This website is completely against the use and production of ipods. There are articles on the product from its price to how faulty it is and all the writers have purchased and own an ipod. One article stated that, ‘it is a bad thing that the ipod culture is blowing other devices out of the water, just for the brand and fashion reasons’………’every single ipod product requires earphones which are always white, there is no variety for the customer’……..’when looking at the functions of an ipod and what it holds, you really don’t seem to get much for your money……..display is basic, standard ipods are just black and white and the connectivity is poor’ (Anti–Ipod 2007). The ipod can connect with other operating systems but not very well. Apple has intentionally prevented outsider developer from experimenting with or changing the devices operating system (iLounge 2004).

There is much debate over the emergence of iPods, wether they are the greatest form of music technology. This essay has shown the two sides of this debate, but has argued only one, that the emergence of ipods has been the greatest development in modern music technology. Just the fact that the ipod is still the highest selling portable music device in the world is enough to prove the argument. But this argument may never be resolved it may just come down to personal preference, wether a person likes ipods or not.






Reference

Anti-Ipod. (2007) ‘iPods suck!’. http://www.anti-ipod.co.uk/ipod.php?misc=search&subaction=showfull&id=1173748929&archive=&cnshow=news&ucat=2&start_from=&, accessed 1st May 2007.

Apple iPod. (2007) ‘Apple Store’. http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=5DA18255&node=home/ipod/ipod, accessed 1st May 2007.

Frith, S. (2000) ‘Music and Everyday Life’, Critical Quarterly, 44(1), pp. 36-45.

Huron, D. (1998) ‘Is Music an Evolutionary Adaptation?’, School of Music, pp. 43-57.

iLounge. (2004) ‘A Brief History of iPod’. http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-a-brief-history-of-ipod/, accessed 1st May 2007.

Keeling, K. (2007) ‘Does Your iPod Have a Soul? Playing with Random Numbers’, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 5(1).

Nerd Approved. (2006) ‘Love iPods Too Much?’. http://nerdapproved.com/audio/do-we-love-ipods-too-much/, accessed 1st May 2007.