The portable MP3 player continues to be the hot item for those who want music on the go. I was talking to a teen the other day wearing a wristwatch MP3 player she takes on her walks. She showed me how it stores & plays about 60 songs and does everything but tell time.
"Cool", I said, "That's a lot of music."
"Yeah, it's not an iPod, but good enough for me now." She explained apologetically.
Why was the 60 song capacity such a disappointment? I can't even name 60 songs.
Well, the iPod is the undisputed king of all MP3 players and it holds a lot of music. I got my first real demo from my 16 year old niece last Christmas. Her cute and wanting little sister threatened to enter the work force early to obtain her own. Every kid wants one bad, but read on, these gizmos aren't cheap!
The iPod has caused the rebirth of Apple Computer, Inc., which has sold over 10 million units as of Q1 2005, with annual sales growing at a respectable 525 percent! I haven't seen that kind of growth since the invention of toilet paper. Apple has also become an industry-leading innovator in selling music online from their iTunes website.
Take an iPod Tour
The iPod Shuffle is the baby of the family, offering 512MB of space, which can hold about 120 songs and set you back $99.00. But everyone must ask themselves in the mirror, "Can you show your face at a party packing only 99 songs?" If you're not sure, better buy a little insurance in the form of the 1-gigabyte Shuffle, which can hold 240 songs. ($149.00) Your peers will recognize that you're in the iPod game, albeit entry level.
For some, 240 songs barely scrapes the surface dust of their collection, coercing them to consider the iPod Mini which can hold 1,000 songs ($199) or the 6GB Mini, which holds 1500 songs. ($249) I noticed that Apple is still using diminutive adjectives for this product level, and I guess the message is that the "Mini" is for a puny music collection that is tiny and rather small-ish. So be careful when giving this one as a gift.
"Here son, I got you an "iPod Mini" for your birthday!"
"Thanks Dad, but what do I look like, a baby? It only holds 1500 songs! They'll laugh at me! "
"But son, my generation needed a moving crane and a 3 man crew to bring in a machine that could play that much music."
"I thought you loved me..."
If your unsure of the size of your child's music library, the "regular" iPod is the way to go. ($299) Everyone on this level is "normal" and "common" and no one can be singled out for ridicule. Perfect for a young teen! And 20GB of space gives you that benchmark 5,000 songs, which is probably considered usual and customary in a world economy that had a ten-year run at emptying the product off the digital shelves of the record industry for free.
Granted, there are many who would beg for death rather than leave the house with so many songs left behind on their 'big' computers. The 60GB iPod Photo ($449.00) would be the choice for them. It can hold 15,000 of your favorite songs, or 25,000 of only your best looking photos. I keep my 25,000 photos in bins out in the garage. (Admittedly, they're a little bulky to carry around, and I have difficulty with retrieval when I desire to look up a particular birthday or holiday memory.)
But if you're buying any of these for your kids birthday, better up their allowance, or put them to work down at the mill because these iPods are specifically designed to download from the iTunes website for 99 cents a track.
Napster
Napster began hollering "Do the Math!" from the sidelines with a spot during the Superbowl. They spent $2.2 million to ask the question, "How much does it cost to fill up your player?" The spot is no longer on the company website, but it showed a guy in the Superbowl stands holding a sign that read, "Do The Math"
iTunes + 10,000 songs = $10,000.00
Napster + MP3 player = $15.00 per month
It appears like Napster wins the championship of MP3 players hands down! Napster has a million songs that you can download day and night for only $15.00! (I wonder if they paid for all those.) But there was a sentence printed in the ad, that was so small I didn't catch it on my father-in-law's big screen which takes two houses to contain. They only flashed it for a moment so it must not have been important. I looked it up later: "Subscription must be maintained to continue to access songs downloaded from service." Turns out, with Napster's service, you're not buying, but rather, you're renting the music. You can't burn them onto a CD and you can only use them on certain MP3 players. When you quit paying the $15.00 per month, the music disappears...no matter how long it took you to download it all. If you want to buy a song from Napster, it will cost you... drum roll please... 99 cents!
So is the real math?
iPod = Napster?
So my music loving friends, here is how I add up the numbers:
For $9900 you can download 10,000 songs from either Napster or iTunes and own them. Or for the same price you can download an unlimited amount of songs from Napster for 55 years, but you can't leave them to your children.
Rick David writes a humor column called, "Don't Laugh It Could Happen To You" for http://sandiego.merchantamerica.com
If you are just starting out learning guitar one of... Read More
"Turn it down!"How often have you heard that command in... Read More
Now that you've spent hours and days and weeks and... Read More
Back in the 90's we had a local Southern Gospel... Read More
The MP3 movement started out with a huge audience of... Read More
Boy, I really detest how some people do websites. Bands... Read More
All through the age's music and spirituality as served hand... Read More
Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My... Read More
Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law... Read More
The idea originated with singer Jon Bon Jovi. Jon kept... Read More
Do you ramble on endlessly with your improvisations? If so,... Read More
In this guitar lesson we look at a great way... Read More
Songwriters dream of making their living by writing, and sometimes... Read More
We all know that music can be inspiring, entertaining, and... Read More
When it comes to promoting their new music releases, I... Read More
Both of these timbers make great soundboards on flat top... Read More
Often people receive a banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar or some... Read More
Like starting with any instrument, beginning clarinet is a process... Read More
Anyone who has recorded vocals to tape knows there is... Read More
Facts about MC Big Proof"If I was you, suicide would... Read More
Playing the ModesWhen I used to use this pack with... Read More
G-Units 50 Cent , was born 6th of July 1976... Read More
We all want to be in the moment. That's where... Read More
While it probably doesn't seem like this would help -... Read More
Steven: Maybe more than any other guitarist ever, you're inextricably... Read More
There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn... Read More
It is believed that the custom of dining in began... Read More
The gong is one of the oldest musical instruments in... Read More
1. Don't try and make something happen. Trying blocks the... Read More
As industry insiders, we sometimes forget that when discussing the... Read More
Learning how to improvise is confusing for most. The sheer... Read More
Once you know what your Unique Selling Proposition is as... Read More
This article gives the essential basics for how to play... Read More
Bang! Bam! Bang! Have you always wanted to play the... Read More
A New Breed of Aspiring Songwriters Is In The Making.... Read More
The Solid-bodied Corvette (not to be confused with the Corvette... Read More
I have always believed that success, in practically any subject... Read More
Change is good. Just ask the millions of unsigned artists... Read More
We all know that music can be inspiring, entertaining, and... Read More
While many people think that the mixing of the separate... Read More
Are you frustrated because finding your favorite songs on the... Read More
Here's a method I use that works. First, sit down... Read More
Do you sit down at the piano and feel anxiety... Read More
The harp that once through Tara's halls the soul of... Read More
Is it really possible to become an expert in some... Read More
Cultures around the world since the beginning of time have... Read More
"Turn it down!"How often have you heard that command in... Read More
It is no secret that over the past couple decades... Read More
The Rickenbacker 4003 electric bass guitar is one of the... Read More
Guitar chords, (chords played specifically on a guitar,) differ only... Read More
Remember the old ad that used to run endlessly in... Read More
It sounds like a side show, doesn't it? It does... Read More
Members of LAMN (founded in 1988) and NARIP (founded in... Read More
Disregard the popular image of rappers with their ghetto blasters,... Read More
Chord symbols (for example, Fm7, Cmaj7 or G6) are a... Read More
The violin is a bowed stringed instrument and is the... Read More
Boy, I really detest how some people do websites. Bands... Read More
How many chords do you need to create a piece... Read More
The Open Position Chord (OPC) allows you to create a... Read More
Following, is a list of alternative sources that may be... Read More
You know your songs are great (and so does your... Read More
It may surprise many to find that the hobby of... Read More
There is a lot more to the story that meets... Read More
There are a lot of independent labels out there waiting... Read More
I can't believe how much of the year has gone... Read More
1. Learn how to ImproviseLearning how to improvise is the... Read More
Music & MP3 |