The tip of a white-crested wave is building.
It is propelled by the currents born when pop culture meets technology meets one of the world’s most consumed forms of art.
The iPod.
iPods offer the opportunity to live life in surround sound cinema style – to put to music even the most mundane daily activities, to walk to the words of the music that moves you.
And this nation is devouring it.
With only the occasional Easter egg pastels thrown into the mix, business offices, subway trains, sidewalks and college campuses across the globe are now seeing white.
It’s around 8 on a Friday morning and Kevin Jackson, a junior from Auburn, is trudging into his Spanish class like many Western students are walking into classes these days – pulling white earbuds out from beneath their hair or hoods.
Jackson bought his iPod last November from Apple, which he said offered him a $50 student discount.
“When I first got mine I knew only one other person who had one,” Jackson said. “Now, I probably know 20 people who have them.”
Since then, Jackson’s put roughly 2,200 songs on his 10GB third generation iPod. Most of them – he estimates approximately 90 percent – came from his own CD collection. But he’s also bought 20 or 30 hours of music from iTunes, a system that allows consumers to organize and swap digital music.
The iPod has been described as the “walkman of the 21st century.” But it would seem that, at least its potential, is much bigger.
iPod’s launch came just a month after Sept. 11, 2001. This, coupled with the $400 price tag and the fact iTunes was only available to Mac users, meant the iPod phenomenon was a bit belated.
But those days of wondering if iPods would catch – and hold – seem to be over.
Last Christmas Apple reportedly sold 733,000 iPods, followed by 807,000 the following quarter and 860,000 the traditionally-dead quarter after that.
Based on a nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 22 million U.S. adults – approximately 11 percent of the U.S. population over age 18 – have an iPod or MP3 player.
Pew’s research found the devices were mostly owned by males, households that earn more than $75,000 annually, and have broadband access.
According to research gathered by Sesame Technology, which in September changed its name to Extra View Corporation, British teens are more likely to know the cost of an iPod than a pint of milk.
Greg Royalty, a Lawrenceburg junior, got his 20 GB iPod from his parents for Christmas last year. He said he has about 900 songs on it currently – most of them came from his own existing CD collection.
He said not having to carry his collection around with him is a nice change.
“I got mine because I’m a music freak; I listen to music all the time,” he added. “I didn’t get it because it’s a status symbol.”
But like it or not, the iPod is a growing trend.
The Takeover
Lauren Brooks, digital image specialist at Best Buy in Bowling Green, said there has been a rapid increase in all iPod sales this year.
“Right after Christmas we went from selling two or three a day to about 10,” Brooks said, before noting most customers range in age from teens to grad students.
“But we do have older people who come in for them too,” she said. “iPod knows no age boundary, I’ll definitely say that. Older people like them for (listening to) speeches and things like audio books.”
Case in point, consumers have quickly discovered being able to keep as many as 10,000 songs in your pocket is not the only benefit of the iPod.
The roughly 5-ounce device also acts as a premium storage space for digital photos and video files.
Royalty said he once downloaded a movie to his iPod so he could share it with a friend, “but it was kind of a hassle.”
In hopes of initiating creative uses for technology in the education field, Duke University raised brows by handing out the newest fourth-generation 20 GB iPod to incoming first-year students last semester. Students were encouraged to use them for downloading Duke-related audio and text such as orientation schedules, academic calendars, language lessons and lectures.
Western’s figures, estimating iPod’s popularity, are still somewhat reserved.
“There’s what, 40 people on my floor?” Elizabethtown freshman Isaac Mouser, a Keen Hall resident said. “And I’d say about five of them have one.”
Still, iPod’s success is most apparent in college towns like Bowling Green and larger cities across the globe.
The Sprawl
At nightclubs stretching from London to Tokyo, iPods are now, on occasion, official deejays. These occasions are called “No Wax evenings,” and mean club-goers can take turns showing off a few of the tunes they’ve packed in their pods.
And nightclubs in cities like New York and Washington D.C., are cashing in on the popularity of iPod Jukebox nights – at which people select their own seven-minute music sets from the thousands of songs stored on the club’s iPod.
Frankfort sophomore Alex Oder bought her new 20 GB iPod from Best Buy last weekend and already has already uploaded 1,400 songs on it from her computer.
“I love it,” she said. “I take it everywhere with me. I listen to it on my way to class, on the way back, when I’m working out…”
Oder said although none of her friends have an iPod yet, she sees “quite a few” in the Preston Center are sporting the white earbuds.
It’s because so many mini music devices entering the market at lower prices – by competing brands and improved versions of the iPod itself – that more and more consumers are choosing to have their favorite music by their side all the time.
The cheapest iPod is the iPod Shuffle, which now retails for about $99, according to Apple’s iPod website. A regular 20 GB iPod goes for about $300 and the new iPod photo sells for about $50 more.
Jackson and Oder agree the costs of the devices are justified.
“I lose CDs a lot, so I figured if I had them all on one thing I wouldn’t lose them anymore,” Oder explained. “And now I don’t have to buy blank CDs anymore, I just hook it up to my computer and all the music I recently downloaded will go to my iPod.”
The View
Still, fortunately for bargain hunters, it seems competition in the MP3 player market is not likely to slow anytime soon.
Sony is supposed to introduce a new line of digital players this summer, Napster recently tossed a hat into the ring with a service similar to what Real Network’s Rhapsody has planned, which will stream unlimited music for a monthly fee.
This past Christmas iPod competitor Dell Pocket DJ found itself on Oprah Winfrey’s list of favorite things. The 5GB-MP3 player is as small as the iPod mini and has similar features and starts at around $200.
Plenty of other Hollywood “it” players like Will Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow have also boasted the iPod product line, and its signature white ear buds have appeared in numerous music videos, silver screen scenes and television hits like Fox’s “The O.C.”
There is more good news. Because carrying a broad range of music is common among iPod people, and because songs sold via download online are now calculated into rankings on Billboard Hot 100 list, many people say the growing popularity of iPods is potentially very good news for independent artists.
Royalty said it makes sense indie bands would get more play thanks to the iPod because of the number of songs on iTunes available for download and the fact there’s no reliance on commercialized radio air time.
“Because indie artists, I think, are most concerned with getting their music heard rather than copyright laws and stuff like that,” Jackson said.
Mouser agrees.
“With iPods, people listen to more music because it’s easier to get online and they share it more,” he said. “If people only listened to what was on the radio they wouldn’t ever hear anything good.”
This is one of the main reasons Mouser says he can’t even go to class without his third-generation iPod he bought on Ebay two years ago.
“I don’t know what I would do without mine,” Mouser said. “It’s makes life so much more tolerable.”
Reach Natasha Allen at features@wkuherald.com.
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