Apple Archive

The iPod: Fad, Fashion Accessory, or Forever?

, 2005.03.04

Have we become iPod-obsessed? A recent parody video of Apple's 1984 commercial seems to make fun of just that idea.

After all, how many people have you seen today wearing those white ear buds? I have to admit that of those people I see wearing headphones, close to 2/3 of them seem to be the white Apple ear buds. Of those wearing third-party headphones, who knows how many of them are listening to iPods.

I've seen some people listening to the new iPod shuffle as well. While they don't tend to hang them around their necks, I've seen a number of people pull them out of their pockets.

There's no question that the iPod brand has completely overtaken the Sony Walkman's place in society. While I do see a few people with portable CD players (I have yet to see a Sony around here though) and occasionally someone with a portable cassette player, the iPod is most definitely dominant around Montreal.

When the portable cassette player was still popular, Sony enjoyed a large market share. It was "cool" to have a Walkman, and if you had those standard black headphones with a shiny metal band in between, you probably were using a Sony Walkman.

Until competitors came in and sold basically the same product for a lot less money.

It was almost opposite for MP3 players. There were plenty of players on the market before the iPod was released, but many of them were complicated to use and didn't hold very much music.

When the iPod came out, it wasn't cheap, but it offered a lot for the price. While many cheaper MP3 players held 128 MB of music, the iPod held 5 GB, which was almost unheard of in 2001. A somewhat overlooked fact is that the iPod also doubles as an external hard drive, something that other MP3 players of the time couldn't do.

Then, as I've stated before, there's the ease of use factor.

How did the iPod become a must-have accessory - not just another MP3 player? I think part of its popularity has to do with the excitement that preceded its launch. Apple was set to launch a "revolutionary new device", and almost everyone - even those not using Macs - wanted to know what it was.

I remember that some of the reaction at the time was a bit disappointed - until Mac users started buying them and showing them off to their PC-using friends.

Remember the colored Walkmans? They had them in black, red, yellow, lavender - almost any color you could want. Instead of just something to listen to music on, it then became a device that you wanted people to see you with, something that you'd clip to your belt so that people would see you had the black "professional" Walkman (which let you record), or the yellow "sports" Walkman (which was weather-resistant).

The iPod also became something that you wanted people to see you with, and perhaps one reason for the popularity of the iPod mini is the fact that it's available in more than one color. Who cares that it only holds 4 GB of music (which is enough for most people), as long as it matches your clothes.

What's inevitably going to come next is the day when the iPod is no longer the device to be seen with - much like the Discman is becoming today (though plenty of people still use them). Apple will then have to rely on sales from its other products.

iMac G5 They seem to realize that, too, and therefore are beginning to put more energy into developing the consumer appeal of their computer hardware - the Mac mini, the iMac, and the iBook, for example. The Mac mini, being completely new, and the iMac and iBook having been updated fairly recently.

And in 15 years you'll be getting comments about how "awesome" and "retro" your vintage iPod is - and they'll suddenly be back in again.

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