Whether you love its functionality or loathe its hype is immaterial to the iPod’s desirability — everybody has one, wants one or is talking about one. As the singular device for which much new content is being created, the iPod is an undeniable catalyst behind the present technological revolution, the mechanism responsible for the unbridled pace of development in music, video, photography, radio and communication. Its impact and spread is viral, its chokehold on pop culture and modern lifestyle unrelenting.
Since the product’s November 2001 launch, more than 28 million iPods have been sold worldwide. More than 6.4 million those came in the most recent quarter, a number that boggles the mind even more given that 2 million sold during the same period a year earlier — a 220 percent surge suggesting that the device isn’t even close to peaking. Apple’s iTunes Music Store, which goes hand-in-hand with those thin, translucent devices, owns approximately 84 percent of the legal download market. The online outlet needed less than 20 days to sell more than one million video downloads, a mark reached weeks ago. Moreover, iTunes has already moved more than 600 million songs on its way to becoming the seventh-largest music retailer in the United States.
Of course, the iPod isn’t the first device to open up the world to new possibilities. Here’s a timeline of the other revolutionary agents.
PRINTING PRESS: 1400s
Developed by the Chinese and mastered, modernized and popularized by Johann Gutenberg, mass-produced printing meant that books, news and other information could be easily disseminated and passed on. This was the first real inkling of an information age.
PHONOGRAPH: November 1877
The first device that al-lowed users to record and play back sound, Thomas Edison’s invention used a vertical stylus to record onto cylinders. Shortly thereafter, Emile Berliner developed a system on which sound could be re-corded onto discs. Initially one-sided and 5 inches in diameter, so-called gramophone records evolved into double-sided 10-inch platters that played at 78 r.p.m. Discs and cylinders competed until the late 1920s, when the former, preferred by the public and music companies, won out.
RADIO: 1906
The transmission of sound via electromagnetic waves brought news, weather, music, sports, events, speeches, entertainment and information into households everywhere, and became central to military and maritime communication. All kinds of knowledge became instantly accessible, in essence shrinking physical-distance barriers.
COMMERCIAL TELEVISION BROADCASTING COMMENCES: July 1941
The ability to instantaneously see prerecorded and live images on a screen and hear sound broadcast from faraway locations transformed every aspect of human existence and captivated the public’s imagination. While experimental mechanical sets capable of producing miniature pictures were sold in the 1930s, TV didn’t take off until commercial television standards were authorized, greenlighting the way for commercial stations. The boom permanently took hold after post-WW II. Color network TV broadcasts began in the early ’50s, and by 1962 more than 90 percent of U.S. households had a TV.
45: March 1949
45 r.p.m. records — or Extended Play singles — touched off a popular musical explosion and became the choice sonic currency among teens. RCA Victor’s answer to Columbia’s 33 1/3 r.p.m. “full-length” LPs, introduced a year earlier, “micro-groove” 7-inch 45s were widely available, less expensive, usually featured two to three songs and planted the seeds that allowed more artists to record. Instrumental to the development of rock ‘n’ roll, 45s were the medium on which pioneers such as Johnny Cash and Chuck Berry originally recorded.
CASSETTE TAPES: 1963
While not the first tape-based format, the re-recordable cassette ignited the home-taping phenomenon. Plastic, inexpensive and available in different time lengths, cassettes were subject to demagnetization, break-age and “wore out” when continually played. Their fidelity paled in comparison to LPs, but that didn’t stop every kid during the ’80s from spending hours compiling mix tapes of personally selected songs. Though many have since forgotten, cassettes were blamed for killing music sales long before down-loading existed.
VHS: 1976
VHS (Video Home System) domesticated video by permitting viewers to record television programs on what were initially two-hour-long tapes and, after studios flooded the market with titles, watch their favorite movies whenever they wanted. The victor of a fierce battle against Sony’s competing Betamax format, VHS became synonymous with America’s increasing appetite for prime-time TV and box-office movies.
APPLE II HOME COMPUTER: June 1977
Apple’s first commercially available and functional personal computer brought word processing, number crunching, basic programming and arcade gaming to the living room — and to anyone who could afford $1,298 for a 4kB RAM machine. Initially equipped with an integrated keyboard, color monitor and audio cassette interface (soon replaced by a floppy disk drive), the Apple II was the first among the initial wave of user-friendly desk-tops. Major advancements wouldn’t again arrive until the Macintosh debuted in 1984.
SONY WALKMAN: July 1979
The Walkman transformed how we listened to music. Suddenly, tunes could go with us anywhere. Though solidly constructed, the bulky first models only played tapes and made rumbling noises when moved or bumped. But in time, the Walkman was slimmed down and came equipped with such luxuries as AM/FM tuners, recording options, bass boost, equalization and Dolby noise reduction. Greatly responsible for the cassette tape’s popularity, the Walkman capitalized on ’80s fads such as roller skating and jogging. Cumulative worldwide sales of Walkmans are thought to exceed 200 million units.
COMPACT DISC: 1982
The compact disc marked the first salvo in the digital music revolution. Smaller, thinner, more portable and cleaner-sounding than LPs, the CD became the dominant music format within a decade of its release and for better or worse, extended average album lengths from 40 to more than 60 minutes. Obvious advantages prompted many to dump their LP collections and replace them with CDs, a move that traded warmer sound and detail-oriented artwork for smoothness, ease-of-use, unprecedented track access and instantaneous navigation.
MINIDISC: November 1992
Though a commercial failure, the MiniDisc gave the public its first taste of ultraconvenient recordable, digital, portable media. Sporting better sound than the cassette (which it was designed to replace), Mini-Discs didn’t skip, offered speedy track-to-track access and tables of contents. A dearth of available prerecorded software prevented it from catching on, though the MiniDisc continues to have many followers who love its text and audio storage capabilities.
CD-R: 1994
An offshoot of the CD, CD-Recordable pioneered how audio, images and data were stored, as well as the ease with which they were recorded. Helping signal the death knell of the cassette, CD-R drastically cut recording times and introduced the practices of “burning” and “ripping.” Within a few years of its introduction, CD-R prices fell, and the format really took off. That the top surfaces of CD-Rs can be written on with markers sealed their status as the modern mix tape and ideal physical medium to which music down-loads can be transferred.
DVD: November 1996
Setting a new standard in how and what we watch, DVD altered visual and sonic experiences with interactive menus, bonus footage, multiangle options, superior picture quality and surround-sound magic. Whereas Laserdisc hinted at a brighter future, DVD followed through thanks to its irresistible extras and affordable price point — not to mention advancement by the pornography industry and coddling from Hollywood, which nearly immediately began releasing first-run films for sale on DVD just months after they hit the big screen. The fastest consumer-electronics format to significant market penetration, the DVD is responsible for the boom in serial television nostalgia, as studios crank out season after season of current and former network shows. The format is also cited as a prime suspect behind the movie-ticket sales downslide.
MP3 AUDIO FLASH PLAYERS: 1998
Offering unprecedented convenience, flexibility, shirt-pocket slimness and an absence of moving parts, MP3 audio and flash-media players ushered in a modern era when talk of music turned from minutes to gigabytes. Diamond Rio’s PMP300, the second portable MP3 player, signified the impending battle between record industry and downloaders after the Recording Industry As-sociation of America sued (unsuccessfully) to prevent its sale. These technology-bridging devices also demonstrated the premium that would be placed not on fidelity but storage capacity.
IPOD: November 2001
The most groundbreaking media device introduced since the advent of CD, the internal hard-drive-based iPod did away with physical media, seized upon virtual-reality presentation, took portability to a new extreme, tapped into an unparalleled cool factor, allowed for the storage of record collections and boasted hours of continuous playback on a single, lightweight, wireless hand-held device. It simultaneously upped the ante in accessibility, organization, support and immediacy. Early-generation mechanical problems such as balky buttons, screens that cracked and clunky thumb-wheels have been solved. Calendars, photo books and to-do-lists are among the amenities on the newest iPod iterations.
