ResearchHow the iPod Won the West
Many veteran Mac users scoffed the day the iPod came out. Even though I had long taken to ignoring the Macs in favor of building PCs, I registered astonishment at it - Mac was a computer company, what were they doing with this Sony-like device? Partly because everybody expected a Newton, and partly because it was MacIntosh-level pricey. Slashdot posters were among the first to weigh in: "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." And of course it became the best-selling MP3 player to date.
I got one for Christmas, and can attest that all of your objections to its features vanish when you actually get to turn one on and use it for a while. It is true that it's smaller than you picture it, like a deck of cards, and extremely easy to fit in your pocket. And it's so light, just as good as a minidisc player, but with a better buffer and twenty-minute skip-protection. Besides, it actually holds more than the advertised four thousand songs, if a good deal of your MP3 collection is short pop songs.
The interface is so incredibly easy to use; your gramma could figure it out in 45 seconds. And not just the basics, the whole system is that simple. Pixo, a company which is owned by Sun Microsystems and hence has its roots in Unix, designed the built-in operating system and licensed it to Apple. They made it small and simple like an operating system should be. What's best is how your kids and family can use it instantly, without having to ask what to do. The only question I get is how to turn it off: Hold down the Play/Pause Button. the iPod automatically synchronizes to your MP3 library with iTunes, and functions as a firmware hard drive.
People keep ranting about how pricey it is compared to other MP3 players. A couple of things will sway your decision. First off, it's beautiful. The front is a clear plexiglass polycarbonate, sleek and shiny and yet tough as a brick. I've dropped it with not a scratch on it. The back is polished metal; like the chrome of a solid motorcycle engine.
Second, there is the interface, and there you can tell where their R&D dollars went. The iPod's jog dial looks better than any other mobile device you've seen, and the screen is far easier to read. I can navigate the interface to get to a song with the iPod's menus faster. Also, the iPod connects with one cable to either your Mac or PC. It charges over that cable, and copies music over it. Plug it in, and the computer does the rest without you, even charges it as you leave it in.
The third is Firewire and USB 2.0 support. I have to mention this again because it's so much better than any other MP3 player out there. It's blazing fast, and you can copy about five gigabytes to the drive in just under ten minutes, while it takes hours for any USB 1.0 player. You can even pull stunts like booting your computer off the iPod's hard drive, by copying your System Folder over to it. For instance, you can boot off the iPod if you need to repair your internal drive, all while charging the iPod.
In typical Apple fashion, the iPod has preserved ties with the users of all computer system platforms. The iPodLinux project has a port of an ARM version of the Linux kernel alongside an interface called "Podzilla" that runs on all iPods. In addition, you can format the iPod in FAT32 form for Microsoft Windows usage. Meanwhile, an open-source firmware called Rockbox allows the iPod Nano, Mini, and most display-capable iPods after the third generation to play Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Musepack, WavPack, Shorten, and MIDI files, in addition to vanilla MP3s. Rockbox also offers gapless playback and a more sophisticated equalizer.
The Apple think-tank keeps us all guessing. What will they come up with next? Those of us who remember the NeXtStep machine (beautiful idea! dead marketing!) or the Cloud Nine remote (infinite power! but we just wanted a simple remote!) have had our last laugh. Apple never plays a small hand. They gamble big, and all of their ideas either die gasping or lead to fantastic success. This time, it was Apple's turn again.