Brickt, Bricked, Broken: Music Management and Socialization
Last week my vintage 20GB iPod bricked...died, dead, for good. As much of a techno-enthusiast as
I am, lusting after the newest in small tech, I continued to use this older version of the iPod even though I have a newer model. Maybe it was because it was the first iPod I owned, or that it worked fine for what I needed, or maybe I was just proving that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Regardless, my 20 GB is done.
Maybe fortuitously Apple announced that it will be unveiling upgraded iPods next week (9/9/08 to be exact). I have been seriously considering becoming current, or au courant, even.
But I digress, since my iPod bricked I have been riding around listening to CDs (instead of uploading my library to the newer iPod). This experience has proven to be a really weird meditation of sorts. I have become accustomed to certain characteristics of portability and management when it comes to music. This is stating the obvious to most (and prior to actually driving and listening to CDs such a comment would've seemed inane to me as well). I'm so privileged that I can use the word anachronism to describe this...kinda like Douglas Coupland used to talk about trust-funders faux dropping out and working as a sort of boutique slumming at McDonalds (see Generation X circa 1992).
I am, lusting after the newest in small tech, I continued to use this older version of the iPod even though I have a newer model. Maybe it was because it was the first iPod I owned, or that it worked fine for what I needed, or maybe I was just proving that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Regardless, my 20 GB is done.
Maybe fortuitously Apple announced that it will be unveiling upgraded iPods next week (9/9/08 to be exact). I have been seriously considering becoming current, or au courant, even.
But I digress, since my iPod bricked I have been riding around listening to CDs (instead of uploading my library to the newer iPod). This experience has proven to be a really weird meditation of sorts. I have become accustomed to certain characteristics of portability and management when it comes to music. This is stating the obvious to most (and prior to actually driving and listening to CDs such a comment would've seemed inane to me as well). I'm so privileged that I can use the word anachronism to describe this...kinda like Douglas Coupland used to talk about trust-funders faux dropping out and working as a sort of boutique slumming at McDonalds (see Generation X circa 1992).
My round-a-bout point to all this is: beyond mere socialization how many of us have any real vision for what we want to do with our music? Yes, I know there's a lot out there about DRM and exchange of mp3s and accolades for not being beholden to the album format. But what I'm asking is what do you want from your music in grandiose terms? How do you know? Is it from seeing live shows (assuming people still do that)? Is it from being really solid at online music exchange or consumption? Is it from roller skating with a ghetto blaster around your local suburban mall...wait, I bet you can't do that. What socializes us to music use and approach versus what socializes us to music appreciation and experience? Are we losing something here? At what point do the old practices seems weird, anachronistic, or even unfruitful?
It's possible to pose such questions due to our accelerated information culture that's buttressed by better and better technologies. I'm still hoping my philosophy for this materializes before September 9th. Gotta go change out some CDs.
Comments
The greatest advantage and use of music today comes from the ability to personalize it to our own individual preferences. Perhaps this is the ultimate desire we seek out of our music. The evidence from a technological standpoint is clear. As personal media has advanced over the past several decades we have gone through several types of media: Video Cassettes, CDs, and now MP3. Each of these mediums has given us increasing levels of control with the personalization of our music, ultimately leading to MP3s which have given users total control over their music.
So, to answer your question about what people want from their music, I think they want control over it, now more than ever before. The only things we’re losing are the two or three songs on most CD albums that we wouldn’t have listened to anyway.
To some extent, I think that we have become too accustomed to the changes in technology, that when we unfortunately have to resort back to traditional or older sources,we completely dread it. The advances in technology are destroying the traditional ways of listening to music because now we have a sense of control. We can control what music we would like to have, how to order the music on play lists,etc. I say, "Out with the old and in with the new, but remain mindful of the old and what it can do."
What I realized from this "Ipod break down" was I was not the only one that had to throw out my iPod or pay a lot of money to fix it.
However, ipod is still the number one mp3 player in the world. Despite many problems with ipod, people seem so fond of ipod. Surely, Apple's iPod is dominating the world in selling iPod and that's what I don't like Ipod.
The world's biggest mp3 company has so many problems and their only focus seem to be selling more by producing new generations of ipod like everyday. Like Sai said, there are other mp3 players with far better sound qualities and better prices. I think its time for everyone to end Apple's domination.
Well, short answer: I'm poor. Shiny new technologies are wonderful and good, but most of all expensive. As a result, I've learned to cope with walking around and actually listening to my environment as difficult as it may seem. For fear of sounding too much like an anti-iPod snob, I won't go into too much detail, but there is something romantically rustic about not constantly having tweeters and subwoofers blaring in my ears.
This is one significance of music to me, and part of my goal in listening to music is the simulation of live performances, whether it is noise-cancelling headphones, a car stereo, or a surround-sound system in a large room. Over the past summer, I found my father's record collection and began listening to music I had never heard of before, but were big deals in the '70s (The Mahavishnu Orchestra, for example). Our record plays through our surround-system, and for some reason, when I was immersed in 5 minute long drum solos, I felt some strange connection with the music that is not there when I hear a song for the first time through my computer or cd player. It may have been the LP experience, but I felt like I was actually sitting in front of the group on stage, and it felt amazing. Listening to these records was one of the most rewarding experiences of my summer, and in this sense, I would not consider these older practices and means of music recording retired at all. They are still very much so a part of the music community and those that embrace the past learn are able to improve in the future.
So yes, I would agree we are losing this experience through the combination and immediate access to vast amounts of music at once, but that is what the new, technological world is all about, efficiency.
The other thought that came to me was that it is astonishing just how engrained we are to the status quo of our technological lives; it's like were dug in like ticks. If I haven't been to a place before, invariably I will use the Internet for directions. If I were to be in a situation where either my phone isn't in my pocket or my computer wasn't within arms reach, I would be immediately disconcerted. I think that I could figure my way out quickly enough, but the point remains that technology has essentially socialized me to feel a sense of panic if I don't have access to the Web... it's almost as if by not having my iPhone on me, I'm completely checked out from the collective.
In fact, I did not get an iPod until a few months. I finally got my first iPod for free with the purchase of my new computer. In fact, I doubt I would have an iPod to this day if I did not get it for free. Call me cheap and eldritch . . . Yes I do listen to music all the time and no I am not living in a different generation. I simply just never bothered to get one. Throughout the years, my parents offered to buy me an iPod; however, I never really saw a huge need to get one so I didn’t. It is simple . . . I always have music readily on my computer to listen to and in the car I listen to the radio or various CD’s. More importantly, I am a very indecisive person when it comes to music; therefore, it is far easier to listen to the radio where someone else chooses the order and types of songs played. I have found that now that I have an iPod I still do not use it that often. Occasionally, I use my iPod to run on the treadmill, but when I am in the car I still find myself listening to the radio.
Individuals have trained themselves to be 100% dependent on their iPod and when they do not have it stress and anxiety begins to surface. Particularly, it simply depends on your way of life, if you are accustom to having something all the time any time then when that object or thing is taken away the person is going to strongly want it back. Specifically that object for millions of people in American is their iPod. IPods can become addictive just like tobacco and alcohol.
But good luck with your new and improved Ipod. I pray you have better luck than I have had.
I do not believe our approaches to listening to music is changing the experience, per say. If I enjoy an artist, I am still inclined to see that artist live. The mp3 revolution merely aided millions in quickly accessing, exchanging, and organizing their music.
(Un)fortunately, there is always a new iPod to be had. It seems that just as one gets used to his or her iPod, a new one arrives. In a way, we are constantly stuck a bit behind the times. On the other hand, there is a mysterious delineation between something being old (bad) and something being vintage (good). I would venture to say that some would consider your old 20 gig to be "cool," that is, a badge of honor to have been such an early adopter of the iPod.
I could also relate to the use of CD's in place of mp3 in a way. I have recently purchased the 5th album of Epik High, which is a Korean hip hop group. I could have bought there songs on iTunes or even illegally downloaded their songs, but I bought their CD album because it just shows my passion and support for their music. I also think that you would not be a true fan of a band if you did not even have their album on CD.