The Cult of the iPod

reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad and edited by Julie M. Willingham

Author: Leander Kahney No Starch Press, Book Series – No Starch Press’ Cult of books. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593270666/index.html Released: November 2005 Pages: 160 $25 USD, $34 CDN, £25 GBP, 22€ EUR ISBN: 1593270666 Audience: All iPod lovers. A book best enjoyed with a cup of espresso or some green tea while your favorites play in the background. Learn all about the iPod troika and more. Strengths: A four-color, well-illustrated, easy to read and enjoy monologue on iPod lore and legend and culture. Weakness: I’m not an iPod addict, so was not as taken with this book as I was with this author’s The Cult of the Mac [macCompanion, January 2005, Volume 3 Issue 1.] Oh—interesting book or not—grey print in about an 8 point san serif font is not my favorite way to read. Where appropriate the instructions in the book was tested on a 1 GHz dual processor PowerPC G4 Macintosh with 2 GB DDR SDRAM running under Mac OS X 10.4.3. Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Publisher’s Overview — Wired news editor Leander Kahney follows up his bestselling The Cult of Mac with The Cult of iPod, a comprehensive look at how Apple's hit iPod is changing music, culture, and listening behavior. “The Cult of iPod includes the exclusive back story of the iPod's development; looks at the many ways iPod's users pay homage to their devices; and investigates the quirkier aspects of iPod culture, such as iPod-jacking (strangers plugging into each other's iPods to discover new music), as well as the growing legions of MP3Js (regular folks who use their iPods to become DJs).”

Review Introduction — I do not yet own an iPod, but will inherit my grandson’s iPod shuffle at Christmas. He’ll now have the new 30 GB, video capable iPod. The challenge to me, of course, will be making up my mind which parts of my extensive CD collection I want to reduce to 100 songs to fill my head as I treadmill along. With the shuffle’s limited capacity, am I going to want to mix folk, blues, and jazz, or stay more narrowly focused on one or more subsets of jazz? Poor Josh, he’ll have to work with up to 7,500 songs.

All of which brings me back to why am I reviewing this book. I am, as you well know from my articles, both an Apple junkie and a music junkie; and I am old enough to remember assessing a new acquaintance’s interests by checking out the books in their library and their record (yes, I mean vinyl) collection, the latter on hands and knees. I’m showing my cultural bias when, I admit that without my portable FM radio (a Walkman) and a book, I feel naked.

However, these days, according to Leander Kahney, it’s all hanging out on people’s playlists. As Charlie White wrote at the CreativeMac website: http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=35512

“Sometimes it’s illuminating to step back and take a look at a phenomenon that has changed our world. The portability of music is one of these phenomena, and Apple’s iPod represents the most user-friendly aspect of that portability. Cramming the equivalent of a room full of vinyl LPs on to a device the size of a deck of cards, the iPod has sold well over 10 million units since its introduction in November 2001. Looking ahead to the future, Business 2.0 magazine says that by 2010 there will be 500 million digital music players in the hands of people over the world. Phenomenon, indeed.”

So I sat comfortably ensconced in my “reading chair” reading, as an outsider, another cult book. It was time to tune into the cultural changes that had been occurring around me while I was looking the other way. Five or six hours later, I knew I was not likely to become an iPod addict unless I took advantage of an iPod music loading service. But, to my chagrin, I was convinced that collecting music as I still do (as CDs and vinyl) was soon to be as outdated as my reel-to-reel music collection. I, of course, shall remain a “50-quid bloke” [see page 63], but that did not detract from the pleasure I derived from this book. However, there’s always an alternative you can learn about on page 110 of The Cult of the iPod.

Therefore, after reading the book and doing my usual Internet search, I was intrigued to read my thoughts so precisely at Creative Watch (UK), Mon 12 Dec 2005; http://www.creativematch.co.uk/viewnews/?91809. There I read that “Prior to the iPod, what we listened to at home, or on our Walkmans or CD players was a much more limited (certainly in terms of capacity) and generally private affair. Judgments on your musical taste could only really be made by those permitted access to your personal music collection, and they were generally trusted friends or visitors.” [Just as I did those years ago.] “But now that iTunes allows us to share our vast collections of music over a network, people's personal taste is far more open to scrutiny, and not all of it is necessarily going to be positive, as Kahney playfully reminds us. Pointing out the extent to which our taste in music (or lack of) is now being exposed in shops, cafes, homes, at parties, and even - horror - in the workplace, he draws our attention to new iPod related phenomena - Playlistism, Playlist Anxiety, and 'Playlist Pruning.”

This review will differ from some I write: instead of showering you with mostly my own ‘purple’ prose, I’ll share with you the thoughts of others—folks who said it before I got to this review.

The Book Itself — As noted on both the publisher’s website and in Charlie White’s review. “The book is technically a paperback, but its cover is made of extremely thick paper, and the book exudes quality from start to finish. Its 144 pages contain more graphics than text and are liberally sprinkled with delightful cartoons, photographs, info boxes, and callouts.

With its contents laid out like an iTunes playlist, Kahney captures you with themes and images like:

iCandy for the Ears	Copy Protection or Business Protection
Music Magic found in Shuffle	The iPod Killer: p Pod
iPod Snobs Unite	iPod users in the Closet
With an iPod, who needs a turntable	iPod Jacking
Playlistism Evolves	iPod Spam and Scams

“Besides its gorgeous design, the principal strength of the book is author Leander Kahney’s precise way of describing the iPod phenomenon and putting it into context, as well as his impressions of the experience of using the iPod itself. For instance, Kahney notes that the record album has been replaced by the playlist, where few people listen to an album all the way through any more, and assemble their own playlists according to their personal tastes. Also interesting was the way the author describes a person’s music collection as a way to peer into his soul.

“The book also covers the way iPods have woven their way into our society, and illustrates how its fans have embraced the iPod to the extent that hasn’t been seen since people fell in love with Macs and TiVos. I particularly like the way Kahney compares listening to an iPod to a cinematic experience, where everyday routines such as walking down the street, going to the supermarket or going on a boring car drive can be enhanced with high fidelity musical accompaniment. Kahney reminds us that the MTV experience is translated into the real world with the help of the iPod and other portable music devices.

“The entertaining subject of musical snobbery and the effect it is having on iPod fans, however, forms just one part of Kahney's fascination with all things iPod. In the book he also covers the booming industry of iPod related accessories and add-ons, such as iPod skin designs, (one of which features a weiner-riding dominatrix), the growth of MPJs (ordinary people using their iPods to become DJs), Podjacking (users plugging into each other's iPods to discover new music), 'Podcasting' and even 'Godcasting.”

Discomforts - My main complaint about the book is in the book author’s apparent espousal of the theories on consumer cyborgism by talking head Markus Giesler (page 139) and the pseudo-sociology that follows. [See: http://www.markus-giesler.com/] Okay, I’m a bit hot under the collar, but despite Giesler’s academic credentials—he’s an assistant professor after all—and his being a self-proclaimed expert on the technoculture of entertainment marketing and consumption, including the iPod, I found this chapter too much for its proclaimed audience.

I have no problem with Professor Giesler’s goals: “Now why am I doing research on iPod consumption? First of all, because I'm a proud owner of one of these nice little devices! And, second, because I believe we should find out more about the ways in which we use the iPod, how we interact with it and also other iPod users, in short, our everyday iPod experiences, our stories, our adventures.” [http://www.mymacexperience.com/ipod/html/introduction.htm]

I have no idea whether Professor Giesler is correct about his observation of the effects of the iPod on consumerism and associated human interactions. Nor am I expert enough to predict the direction of the interaction of people with today’s technologies. The concept of the cyborg consumer (one who uses several pieces of technology as a daily part of life), if real, certainly deserves a clearer treatment than possible in this otherwise excellent book. I spend several long hours reading Giesler’s articles, frustrated by un-diagram-able sentences containing technical mumbo-jumbo. I still have no better understanding of the subject matter, than you, my reader, might have about the mathematics of quantum mechanics. [Others agree. Check out http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/ipod/markus-giesler-ipod-marketroid-031439.php, http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000713029635/].

 What I object to is the fact that anyone who introduces concepts of consumer behavior hidden with FOG factors of 20 and above has no place in a well-written book such as The Cult of the iPod. Leander, shame on you!

In Closing — I quote from iCandy For the Ear (3) “Inside the iPod, a music collection comes alive. There's delight in loading up a ton of stuff from all genres, eras, and styles and seeing what the machine comes up with. Select Random Shuffle, and the iPod dredges up tunes you might never consciously choose to play, But chosen for you, they're a delight.

“This mode of play also allows you to discover gems in a collection that previously sat unplayed on a shelf of CDs. Songs previously neglected can become top favorites.”  … Kahney notes that the iPod has changed forever his listening habits. “No longer do I want to hear an album all the way through (with rare exceptions), What I want is a playlist of my favorites…”

Buy the book. If you’re an iPod fan or if you’re considering buying one, this book will either give you an interesting perspective on your favorite music player or serve as an excellent introduction to the iPod phenomenon. This is an engaging book, and you’ll relish the gorgeous graphics and entertaining prose within. Rating 4.0 macCs