Four Generations of Zen


jayvee@m-ph.comI love the iPod. Who doesn’t? We love it and Steve Jobs knows this so on Monday, he announces a new generation of hard drive based players. No, it isn’t a higher capacity hard drive since it maxes out at 40GB (The 60GB units are still upcoming, rumor has it). It’s really about continuing the line of Zen.

I podI have been talking with friends over dinner about miscellaneous tech stuff, grassy pastures, and gender preferences and in the middle of it all I started to wonder why with so many hard drive based audio players out there from Archos, iRiver and soon to rise Sony, the iPod still kicks up the beat.

The answer to that question is the Zen of the iPod … “iPod therefore I am.” Think about it — the Archos Gmini 220 is basically the same hard drive player with 20GB of space but it can also double as a photo bank through a CF card slot. You can store hundreds of high quality images from your digital SLR into the player. The Gmini also acts as a voice recorder which can record directly to MP3 format — especially useful for taping long interviews digitally. On the other side of the fence, iRiver’s hard drive based players have built in FM tuners which have to be bought seperately by iPod users as seen with the iTrip and iTrip Mini. And yet people still prefer the iPod?

Gmini 220The Zen of the iPod spells “music lover and nothing else” all over your stiff body. No matter how stiff you are, owning an iPod automatically brands you with a sign over your plugged ears which reads “I have an iPod because I love listening to music.” No to voice recorder, no to smaller size, no to an amalgamation of features. I buy an iPod, pop it into my PC. It organizes my entire playlist by album and artist and I can even download new songs from the iTunes online store (over 100 million songs downloaded!). Music — and nothing but music is all I need.

Usually a business model such as this would fail, but people are capitalizing on how the iPod has been branded as dedicated music player to the point that it has become a Zen device — just like other Apple products. Yapi of Philmug says that “Mac users are like people who buy BMW’s and Benzes. They take and use them as advertised, no setup necessary. And you’d be ridiculous for lowering your Beamer and putting hydraulics in it, not to mention decals. Same with Macs.”

I do admit … four generations of iPods with barely any changes. They must be doing something right. What do you think?

Every issue of m|ph features a section on mobile audio where we usually pick on the iPod and their wannabees. Grab your copy now. It’s easy to spot.

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July 20th, 2004
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
JM Ibanez
Posted on:
7/20/2004 at 7:29 pm

I believe it’s partly marketing/hype and partly because Apple’s products look so damn good. Hell, I’m a Linux geek and if I had the money, I’d buy myself an OS X box (G5… drool… G5…)

I mean, c’mon. The wannabees don’t have that Apple style. Windows XP looked like an ugly plastic thingamabob when MS released it– and when OS X just came out in all its translucent Aqua glory.

Style, my friend. It’s all in the style.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
jayvee
Posted on:
7/21/2004 at 11:45 am

good insights — let me go a bit further. i believe style and fashion is the most fleeting thing. take the ipod and remove the Apple logo and call it something else. i think it would sell less. the Apple brand really does something to a product.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Migs
Posted on:
7/22/2004 at 12:23 am

Wired News: Inside look at the birth of the iPod. How history was made.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
iBernie
Posted on:
7/27/2004 at 1:14 pm

There is probably some truth to an article at the Penny Arcade that the iPod is the modern day equivalent of the Katana sword.

As mentioned in the article, the Katana was more than just an implement used for slicing and dicing a samurai’s opponent. It is a portable symbol of power, social standing and class. Only a privileged few in medieval Japan had the right to own and carry the much venerated blade.

So is the iPod. There are digital music players around but only a few individuals carry this little marvel of modern industrial design. Coupled with the intrinsic exclusivity of the Apple brand, this little music player has indeed transcended its function as a “mere” music player but it has become both a technological and cultural icon.

The original article that equated the iPod with the Samurai sword can be found at: http://www.penny-arcade.com/hookup_13.php3

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
jayvee
Posted on:
7/27/2004 at 2:04 pm

remember how vintage costs so much more than machine mass produced goods? vintage guitars, vintage cars and the like are prized. this is perhaps the first time that much attention has been given to a digital product, treated like a cultural icon. :) amazing aint it?

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Winston
Posted on:
8/2/2004 at 9:47 am

@ jayvee
“take the ipod and remove the Apple logo and call it something else. i think it would sell less. the Apple brand really does something to a product.”

Not true. If this is true at all then Apple would have overtaken the PC and we’ll never have to discuss this thread at all.

Take note that the iPod is not the first MP3 player around and iTunes (music jukebox) came first before the iPod (music player).

Its all about the music player + music jukebox + music store working in synergy that made the music player (the iPod, ofcourse) a hit! Its the whole experience and not the form factor (Sony’s Net Walkman is thinner and sexier) or the music store (Real Network can sell to any music player, thanks to the hacker that broke the FairPlay DRM code).

My 2 centavos.

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
jayvee
Posted on:
8/2/2004 at 10:32 am

at first i was sort of apathetic about the iPod then i came to see how well it organized my playlist. im seriously thinking of getting an iPod because (1) gusto ko talaga ang music and yes, mr. winston i think there are people who just love the form factor of the iPod. (like me). when i saw the belkin voice recorder adapter … i’ve gone to more than 90% sold.

but there are people who also buy because they see the mac logo :D

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Alvin P.
Posted on:
8/2/2004 at 12:17 pm

Hi, i stumbled upon yet another IPOD KILLER.. but what separates this from the pack is that it has the ability to play OGG files(!), a built-in FM radio radio that records directly to MP3(!), open-source firmware (!!), and third-party applications that allows it to sync with linux (!!!) it’s called the “NEUROS” - http://www.neurosaudio.com/ =) and it costs MUCH less at $249.00 for the 20GB flavor (as compared to the IPOD’s $299).. now if only i can find a distributor here in the phils…

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
jayvee
Posted on:
8/2/2004 at 6:32 pm

there are a lot of iPod killers around. what you just mentioned is a great unit too. GOOD .. no .. GREAT FEATURES! Ogg format? wow! you can store a billion songs with that! haha!

i still love the iPod though — it syncs with iTunes kasi! haha! :D as winston commented, the whole iTunes+iPod makes a world of a difference.

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Winston
Posted on:
8/5/2004 at 8:06 am

iPod is “iTunes Mobile” (minus the Party Shuffle, Crossfader, album cover art, iTunes radio, etc.). Who knows 5G or 6G later, we’ll have all those features integrated. :)