(01.26.05) THE iPod isn’t my preferred vehicle for delivery of music, but it’s been a hell of a great addition to my list of options.
I remember being excited several years ago about the arrival of portable CD players that could also play MP3s. I spent time wondering which groups of 10 CD’s (give or take) I could convert to MP3 for placement on a single CD. I could actually put my 100 favorite recordings into a small case that held 10 CDR’s! A trip to the beach or elsewhere no longer meant being without a decent selection of music at my fingertips in a small, no-hassle package.
So, you can imagine how I felt about the arrival of the iPod. Still, I didn’t take the plunge until Christmas ’04, when my father-in-law gifted me with a 4MB iPod Mini.
I filled it up in no time.
The iPod lets you sort your music by genre (as well as by song, artist, album, etc.) In the mood for Power Pop? Scroll through that genre for Jellyfish, the Elvis Bros, Swag, Sugarbomb, etc. Jazz? Miles, Brubeck, Ben Webster… Trip-Hop? Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow. Prog? Crimson, PFM, Soft Machine, Ain Soph… Classical? Mozart, Barber, Ralph Vaughn Williams. Techno? Pick one of the Ministry of Sound compilations I’ve loaded. Ambient? Eno, Another Fine Day, Robert Rich.
Use the genres included with the iTunes software, or create your own genre names. Call it what you want. Take it with you to the beach, to exercise, on a road trip – anywhere you’d love to have music, including places where it was once not convenient.
While others bemoaned the loss of sound quality as a byproduct of compression, I reveled in the possibilities. This was not a way to replace my CD collection – it was an opportunity to explore it more often.
This year, seeing how much I enjoyed the 4GB mini, my wife bought me the 60 GB Video iPod. Now I can have several hundred more CD’s worth of music at my beck and call, all stored in a little player the size of a deck of cards.
Do I find this all pretty exciting? You bet.
Now, I realize that the original thread was more high-minded than this post, inquiring into the bigger picture of digital music delivery, sound quality, loss of cover art – the whole idea of music reduced to ones and zeroes, with nothing visual or tactile to accompany the sound.
I’ll admit that this last issue frustrated me when I downloaded The Album Leaf’s One Day I’ll Be On Time. After paying $9.99 for the right to download this recording from Napster, I would have liked an image of the cover, or at least a text file of the liner notes. This is obviously an issue which needs to be worked out.
But I’m also aware that if it were not for MP3’s, I’d have never heard this terrific recording to begin with. In fact, many of my favorite discoveries of late have been through programs delivered via streaming audio, which is certainly not a format for audiophiles. (If you are really bored, check out the embarrassingly gushy rave about Groove Salad on my blog.
I can’t predict the long-term impact of digital musical delivery on the future of sound quality. But I do know that this delivery method empowers plenty of people who would otherwise find it difficult to share their music widely. The good stuff will always find a way to its proper audience through word of mouth, and as long as a high quality master of the original recording exists, it will be available in a high quality format if demand exists.
The evolution of video quality and delivery may offer an analogy.
When it comes to enjoying compressed media, story and plot are to video enjoyment what compositional quality is to musical enjoyment. A good story is a good story, even on a small screen, and good music is good music, even as an MP3. The enjoyment of either medium can be enhanced by experiencing them in the best possible format, on the best possible equipment. But the price you pay is convenience, and the opportunity to enjoy material in a variety of environments.
I mentioned earlier that my new iPod is one of the video iPod’s, capable of playing any full-motion video source material (TV shows, movies) which is compatible with the iPod’s video display software. Just for laughs (literally), I downloaded an episode of The Office to test this function.
I was surprised by the picture quality and overall watchability. I can easily see catching up on various shows during my lunch hour at work, which previously would have involved burning shows to DVD, then discarding them after watching the DVD on a laptop. I can also see finding a way to convert some of my pre-recorded DVD’s for use in the same way. For example, I have the first season of Babylon 5 on a boxed set of DVD’s. Ideally, I would watch these on my big-screen TV. In reality, I find I seldom have time. Since these episodes are more story-driven than effects-driven, I could still enjoy them on a small screen if the opportunity presented itself. I’m certainly more likely to view them if I actually have them with me when this opportunity arises. With the video iPod, that’s not a problem. I can have plenty of video stored on the device for viewing at a moment’s notice, and it’s not at all inconvenient to carry. But I certainly don’t expect this to become the primary mode of delivery for video. Television displays are getting bigger, not smaller, and broadcasts are moving towards high definition. Still, if some television shows or movies of interest to me become available only as iPod downloads, I’ll be grateful that they’re still available at all.
For example, though many out-of-production television shows have been released on DVD, others have not for fear that production costs will not be covered by sales. I was probably one of 7 people on earth who found Bob Newhart’s 3rd CBS series, Bob to be hilarious. It probably lasted all of 8 episodes. I’d love to be able to get my hands on copies of those, plus any that remain unaired. I can’t imagine there’s enough demand for a DVD release, and I doubt there ever will be. But the cost of digitizing these shows and uploading them to iTunes would be very little. And I’d be happy to pay for them.
Similarly, iTunes is a perfect vehicle for making out-of-print music available with zero production costs. Would I be happy to have the out-of-print em:t label stuff, even as MP3s, sans cover art? It’s not my preference, but indeed I would. I currently have no other way to hear it, unless I spend zillions of dollars on eBay for second-hand copies.
I’m not an apologist for Apple, the iPod, or iTunes. But for me, the iPod itself is neither threat nor menace. Without regard to downloading, it has allowed me to enjoy my current collection in ways I’d never considered, and I look forward to the day when my listening (and viewing) options are expanded even further.
