Sometimes it’s hard to believe life existed before the iPod. The ubiquitous, beautifully designed personal music device has revolutionized the way we listen to music, surpassing even the previously wildly popular Walkman. By linking the iPod to the superbly stocked iTunes store, it has leapfrogged far above all competitors. One only has to walk down any street in America at any time of day to see just how far this revolution has come, as we encounter people with white headphone cords dangling from their ears while going about the business of their daily lives.
And it doesn’t stop there. Apart from the portability advantage, Apple has brought change inside the home as well. The Airport Express device allows you to play music on your computer, via the iTunes software, and wirelessly send it to any freestanding stereo system or set of powered speakers in the house within range of your wireless network. Now, with users copying their CDs to their computers for use on their iPods, they have access to their entire music collection for inside listening, too, and new auto inputs on late-model cars are extending that reach as well. Thousands of listeners are selling their CDs or putting them in storage (don’t forget to make hard drive backups!) after porting their music over, freeing up the physical space that CDs and albums once hoarded in their living rooms.
None of this is news to anyone who hasn’t been asleep for the last 5 years, as Apple sold 60 million iPods and garnered unbelievably giant market share.
But along with this new paradigm for experiencing music also comes a loss.
The focus on singles rather than whole albums deprives artists from relating their complete vision in the form of an extended music experience that comes from the careful sequencing of tracks along with a readily available physical album cover/sleeve that further entices the listener into the artist’s world.
I can’t imagine such breakthrough albums as Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon or The Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band bought as discrete singles only and not accompanied by the entire experience of the rest of the tracks. How about Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick without its album sleeve that folded out into a mini-newspaper complete with articles and crossword puzzle, all giving clues to the insight of the songs and bringing the listener closer for a more intimate listen? The advent of CDs was bad enough for those of us who loved to read the covers while we listened, with tiny 5” by 5” booklets and its small type. Now, digitized PDF-like files are becoming available with some purchases but are tied to the computer or so small as to make them unpleasant to read. The tactile part of listening is almost a memory.
The executives in the music business tell us that today’s listeners aren’t interested in complete CDs with all their “filler” material. Maybe it’s a reflection of the quality and depth of today’s music and artists or maybe it’s the I-don’t-have-time-for-anything lifestyle that so many of us find ourselves caught up in. The shuffle function on the iPod contributes greatly to this effect and hence the positive feedback loop (or is it the negative feedback loop in this case?) goes on and on.
All I know is that the revolution has landed, and while enriching our musical lives, has made us a little poorer for it.
*Disclaimer: I own an iPod Mini but rarely use it due to its short battery life, but use Airport Express and iTunes to blast CDs (in their entirety) around the house.