The iPod's Dirty Little Secret

[Jahfin]

From The Boston Globe:

By Mark Pothier

IT USED TO BE EASIER to judge people unfairly. A cursory scan of
their record collection revealed secrets. Telltale copies of REO
Speedwagon's ''Hi Infidelity" were known to wither budding
relationships overnight. Soul-deep conversation and physical
attraction could not compensate for the nagging doubt planted
by ''Frampton Comes Alive." ''I must have been really drunk at the
time" did not explain away Air Supply's ''Greatest Hits."

By the late 1980s, CDs began to overtake vinyl, and cover art shrank,
making closer inspection or sharper eyesight necessary. Now, the
popularity of Apple's iPod has further accelerated the disappearance
of visual clues to who might be compatible or, at least, safe.
Getting next to a 1.67-inch backlit screen requires cooperation or
intimacy, and where's the fun in that?

CD towers, sprouting from living room floors like design-school
projects gone haywire, demanded to be critiqued. No condominium in
1989 was considered furnished without a 6-foot-tall, 72-CD capacity
rack made of spiraling wrought iron. From top to bottom, they read
like psychological profiles. Unlike rifling through a medicine
cabinet, there was no guilt associated with this kind of examination.
Demure, born-again type has ''Cat Scratch Fever"? Check exit
accessibility. Self-proclaimed jazz aficionado's ''Kind of Blue"
still shrink-wrapped? File under ''fraud who favors Kenny G."

And it was about more than content. CDs in alphabetical order, sorted
by genre, haphazardly placed, without jewel cases - they sounded out
a person before a note played.

Yes, bookshelves similarly serve as portals into personalities, but
they often mislead. Required-reading college books with uncracked
spines, for example, say nothing about a person's true habits
(though ''Finnegans Wake" does look lovely against distressed pine).

CD choices seemed less calculated, more telling, and because they
were clunky and costly, the average collection was small enough to
make a quick verdict feasible. But iPod has changed the rules. Its
storage capacity, up to 5,000 songs, allows consumers to mix whims
and impulses with commitments. At 99 cents a track, everything is
disposable, nothing has to matter. It is a jumble out there.

Someone might order a slice of The Kinks' ''Picture Book" because
they heard it in a Hewlett-Packard commercial, not because they
wanted an introduction to Ray Davies, one of the 20th century's
finest pop music composers. They can contend that a download
of ''Logical Song" followed a viewing of the film ''Magnolia," not an
embarrassing enthusiasm for Supertramp. In the old days, mere
possession of an album by the shrill British quintet was akin to
indictment. You had to go to a store, pick the thing up, and
contemplate handing $15 to a cashier - premeditation, clearly.

The iPod ''Shuffle Songs" function compounds the confusion: What to
make of someone who allows a computer to program their listening
choices?

Something has been lost, besides graphic designers' jobs, as our
musical choices have gone from public displays to private stashes.
But something also has been gained. Today, the iPod has induced a
kind of hush all over the world. Those ubiquitous tiny white
earphones have replaced many a boom box and subwoofer. There is more
cacophony than ever and most of the time I can't hear a thing. Ted
Nugent never sounded this good.

[lookingat40]

Hey...I have Air Supply's greatest hits...just downloaded it to my new Creative Zen Touch 40gb Mp3 player yesterday...my wife hates AS but they are a guilty sappy pleasure of mine..."Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" rocks!!! lol

[tikitatas]

The ear buds that came with my iPod hurt me.

[Sam]

Yiou are suppose to drink Bud, ( and NO that is not the same as Col. Bud!) not pour it in your ear!

[Ilph]

I'm confused by this article.

[RinglingRingling]

I prefer my 300 CD rack, and the 5 CDs of mp3s.. Probably need to finish ripping all the Jimmy CDs at 192 rather than 128

[CVParrothead]

When I bought my ipod I bought it so I would not have to carry around any more cds. I can now listen to whatever I want whenever I want without having to look through my cds for that one song that I want hear at that one particular moment. Too me the ipod is just about convinience.

[tikitatas]

Perfect for the car with an iTrip . . . no cases or stuff to mess with when you have to be payin' attention to the road!