Five years of the iPod -- your thoughts

[Kensterberg]

The iPod is five years old now, as you probably know already. What do you guys think ... did this little white box really revolutionize the way we listen to (and think about) music, or is this just hype? What's on your iPod? What kind of effect has it had on your listen habits, for better or worse?

[phil]

The kids got an iPod ...

With only one ear, it's kinda tricky
to use any portable music device !!

[Dr. Drum]

I agree with a lot of the stuff that was in that Salon article today - the iPod has had a major effect on music, listening habits, etc., in ways both positive and detrimental. Personally though, the last new portable device I bought was a Sony Discman, so it hasn't directly changed the way I relate to music at all.

[luke]

I just got an iPod because I was sick of having 200 CDs falling out of my truck every time I opened the door and because the money I put into buying blank CDs in a year is more than the iPod, but I'm starting to second-guess how much use I'll actually get out of it.

It's no XM Radio, that's for sure.

But yeah, for them kids these days, an iPod is the new tennis shoe.

[Thorngrub]

yeah, an iPod would be cool . . . . . . . . . (someday)

[Paul]

Someday I'll get one....

I can see it being usefull for the metro ride to work and on road trips...lugging 50 cds on road trips just aint cool. I reckon I better get a new computer first before I get an iPod....May need to breakdown and get a MacBook Pro soon....

[Paul]

kenholzman said:

The iPod is five years old now, as you probably know already. What do you guys think ... did this little white box really revolutionize the way we listen to (and think about) music, or is this just hype? What's on your iPod? What kind of effect has it had on your listen habits, for better or worse?

Ken, did you read that article on salon.com about the iPod? I thought it was pretty interesting, and although I don't have one, I can understand the problems the writer is talking about. I think my brain, which is already hyperactive, could quite possibly go into overload w/ an iPod.....Plus, I've been around them, and digital music just doesn't sound as good...after awhile, it hurts my ears...sounds too tinny/hollow....nothing like the warmth of vinyl...it is very convenient though, it's not like you can tote a record player around w/ you in a car or on the train....

[Kensterberg]

I read the Salon article on the iPod, it's part of what prompted me to start this thread. In fact, I'm pretty sure I posted a link to it, or at least suggested it, to folks on Influential Music (or somewhere) here the other day.

I agree that compressed files don't sound as good, but I've found that they're fine for almost all rock. I generally use Apple's AAC format for ripping my discs, and 128 kbs makes a nice compromise between absolute sound quality and compactness. I'll sometimes play with the EQ settings in iTunes, but generally my stereo does an excellent job with playback of pretty much any source I ask of it. (Interestingly enough, when Jerry Harrison remastered the entire Talking Heads catalog recently, he used 192 kbs AAC files for everything. That really says a lot about the absolute sound quality of compressed files. This is the new Heads DualDisc reissues that we're talking about here, which are supposed to be exceptional sounding, and they used a lossy format for it. I did my cd v. vinyl comparisons back in the middle eighties, and on the same system a good cd player with a good disc will blow away a good turntable with a good LP -- there's more dynamic range, more sonic detail, and frankly, that illusion of "warmth" in analog is generally just that. Also, vinyl is an inherently abrasive medium -- records wear out a hell of a lot faster than discs -- where every listen is naturally going to be of poorer quality than the one before. The cult of vinyl baffles me, it really does. I have absolutely no "warm fuzzies" towards vinyl.)

Anyway, my point here is that for me, absolute sound quality has lost out to convenience. I love being able to assemble playlists in iTunes and then play those back over my stereo via an airport connection. My cds do sound a touch better, but frankly, I don't sit down to seriously listen to rock as an audiophile very often these days. I put it on when I'm doing housework, or when I'm reading, or playing video games, etc. And recently I took the big step of beginning to get rid of some of my cds ... some of the ones that I just never ever pull off the shelf. But before ditching them, I made sure I've got good rips of 'em ... just in case. I've realized that it really is about the music for me now, not about the discs or the booklets, etc. As much as I've always loved cds, my standard practice now is buy the album on disc, rip it to my laptop/iPod, look at the booklet, then put the thing on the shelf and never pull it out again.

I can actually foresee a future in which I have almost no rock cds, everything is digital. As soon as I come up with a good way to back up 100 or so gigs of music, I'll consider it. As it stands now, I've found that I listen to the stuff that I've bought from iTunes just as much (or little) as I do things I've bought on disc. I didn't think that would be the case, I really thought I was more attached to the physical fetish elements of my music obsession.

Instead, I'm just a couple of notches away from saying "computer, play me some Mozart," or "computer, I feel like some jazz, not Coltrane tonight" and seeing what comes up.

[Galactus]

Don't have an iPod and I don't really want one. I have a CD player that plays MP3's when that quits I don't have to worry about getting all those songs back. I'm always surprised by people who sell their whole collection becuase they bought an iPod. It's going to crash and then where are you? I still like CDs. I still buy them. Even stuff I download generally gets burned and put in the car or played in the store I rarely ever listen to music on a computer.

[Kensterberg]

It's silly to trash your cd collection b/c you got an iPod. After all, you can't even transfer files from an iPod to a computer for backup (without buying shareware anyway, which is my biggest complaint about the device).

However, I do find that I use all my cd players a whole lot less than I used to. I haven't had a disc in the player on my office desk since ... um, well, since I got my laptop/iPod hooked up to it ... in 2002.

I sometimes will listen to a cd in the car, but in the last six months, that's even been losing out to the iPod.

I must admit, however, that more than my iPod, I love iTunes. I use iTunes continually. It spends as much (or more) time running on my Mac than Word or Safari (which is to say, it's pretty much always on). Even if I'm not listening to anything, chances are I'm taking a few minutes here and there to tweek a playlist, etc. Having access to (almost) everything in my cd collection ... that's just too good to resist for me anyway. I could live w/o my iPod, but I can't imagine life without iTunes any more than I could imagine life w/o music.

[tuneschick]

I love my iPod – it's one of my favourite possessions. I commute about four hours a day, and before I had an iPod I always carried a discman… and about 30 discs. My music choices were very much mood-driven, so I’d often change up those discs two or three times a week, using my mood on any given morning to gauge what I thought I’d feel like listening to that day. And I always carried an extra set of AA batteries.

So I love the convenience of having 1200 songs in my pocket (my only regret is that I bought the mini – when they were phasing this particular model out a couple of years ago and it was dirt cheap – when what I really want is the 60 g model. Soon enough…) I love, as Ken said, having the ability to create all sorts of playlists… goes back to my old love of making mix tapes. As the author of that Salon article said, “the music becomes a soundtrack for the scenery.” That’s exactly how I feel. I love that.

That said – I still buy as many CDs as I ever did. And when I’m at home, I listen to CDs or records. When we’re in the car, we listen to CDs. I only listen to iTunes if I’m actually on the computer at home, which isn’t all that often. So while I can’t imagine life without my iPod, it really hasn’t changed the majority of my listening habits all that much.

[phil]

I've realized that it really is about the music for me now,
not about the discs or the booklets, etc.

This is how I've been approching music for the last 15 years ... !

I burn "best of" and personal mixes way much more now
than actualy listening to entire albums except for Dylan, the Beatles
and a few other artists, mainly Jazz musicians or classical ...

[luke]

My music listening:

Truck = About two to three hours in there every day, got the iPod because the CDs were filling up the entire front seat and floorboard, it was just too much. I had two full CD books and tons of other CDs falling all over the place.

Home = Sometimes music on the computer, but usually XM. I can't remember the last time I played anything on my stereo system other than XM.

Exercise= Suppose I'll be using the iPod here, too. Been running with an MP3 player for about five years, these days I'm biking with one (albeit at a much lower volume...)

Outdoors= Was my laptop, but I suppose that I'll be getting a boombox for the iPod and using that, too.

My problem is that I download five or ten albums in any given week and then don't get to listen to the stuff for months because I don't have time to sit in front of the computer or I'm out of blank CDs.

I do plan on getting a Discman with MP3 capabilities for work, because once we bring something in, we can't take it out until we quit or it breaks.

[Paul]

I did my cd v. vinyl comparisons back in the middle eighties, and on the same system a good cd player with a good disc will blow away a good turntable with a good LP -- there's more dynamic range, more sonic detail, and frankly, that illusion of "warmth" in analog is generally just that. Also, vinyl is an inherently abrasive medium -- records wear out a hell of a lot faster than discs -- where every listen is naturally going to be of poorer quality than the one before. The cult of vinyl baffles me, it really does. I have absolutely no "warm fuzzies" towards vinyl.)


I listened to 'Face To Face' this past weekend on both vinyl and CD, and the former sounded way better to me. Perhaps its the way the CD was remastered (or the lack thereof), but the record sounded fuller, and yes, warmer. The drums had more depth, and the guitars came out cleaner sounding....I don't know, perhaps if the Kinks katalog were put on SACD and played through an SACD player it would sound better....but I've now heard both 'Face to Face' and 'Arthur' on vinyl, and it sounds WAY better than the CD.

[Galactus]

I've done the Vinyl Vs. CD test from time to time and I could tell a difference with earlier CDs but CDs made within the last ten years or so the difference is minimal at best and sometimes, for instance the Band and Dylan's reissues the quality is markedly improved. I like vinyl but, like Ken, I'm at a loss for those who taut vinyl as some magical medium. Even now higher bit rates are making digital sound better, anything over 128 I'd bet money most people couldn't tell a factory CD from a burned copy.