The iPod: How Steve Jobs changed the music industry
It takes a certain kind of product to make its brand name synonynous with its function. Xerox. Colgate. Frigidaire. Yes, they are brand names for photocopiers, toothpastes and refrigerators (is Frigidaire even alive anymore?).
And then there's the iPod. That elegantly-designed player that you carry around in your bag, or pocket or even your arms (when you're jogging, that is).
Prior to its launch in 2001, there were already digital music players. When the MP3 format was introduced in the mid-90s, the DMPs were the logical “new” product at the time.
When Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday Oct. 5 at the age of 56, introduced the iPod to the public, he pitched it as the media player everyone always wanted, with a 5Gb hard drive where you could fit “1,000 songs in your pocket.” It obviously wasn't anything new, but its sleek design (in true Apple fashion) and user-friendly interface sealed it for the consumers.
And conveniently, it sync-ed with our PCs and Macs.
No, he didn't invent the iPod
Jobs didn't “invent” the iPod of course (that honor goes to hardware engineer Tony Fadell), but Apple's late CEO was on top of the whole development. He organized the meetings with Fadell's group and their other partner, PortalPlayer.
He was pretty sure what he wanted from it, which things needed to be improved on, or how it would have been structured. Prior to this, MP3 players looked like Walkmans (!), only playing digitized music. The iPod streamlined it all, true to the Jobs' minimalist/elegant ethos. And simplified the listening experience for the user.
The iPod's biggest impact was that it made digital music downloads legal. In the aftermath of the Napster fiasco, people had to turn to other peer-to-peer utilities for their illegally-downloaded music fix. With the iPod and iTunes, the music industry was forced to confront the harsh reality that times were changing: listeners wanted their music digitally. And they wanted them cheap.
Commodifying music
Apple didn't stop improving the iPod. It became smaller. And smaller. It Shuffled. Became a portable video player. Had touch screens.
As time went on, media became more and more accessible. Record stores may have folded, but the iTunes stores sales soared. Even locally, the sales of digital downloads within the past two years have been steadily increasing, according to the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. In contrast, CD sales crash by the day.
Old-school entertainment aficionados may scoff at what seems to be Apple's effect on the commodification of music. But Jobs himself had always been about treading new ground and actually creating the future. Like any Apple product design, the experience of being entertained should be as easily accessible as possible.
With the passing of the Apple founder, one can only wonder what lies ahead for media entertainment. But, knowing how far ahead products are developed at Apple, Jobs and company may have already created the future for us.
Whether we like it or not.
