Bono, Steve Jobs, etc.

[Joe Allonby]

There's also the convenience factor. The ipod will hold a lot of music
so you can carry it around with you. Nobody wants to lug that many cds
or cassettes. I listen to music at home, so I can sit there with a big
assed album cover reading the liner notes. In my truck I listen to
news. On the street, I pay attention so that I don't get run over by a
Saab driven by some idiot texting. I really don't need portable music,
so I'm not a customer for ipod, Zune etc.




On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 10:00 AM, Carvill, John <john.carvill at sap.com> wrote:
>> What were these "people" who now listen to iPods listening to their
> music on previously?
>
> Are you asking that question because you're genuinely interested in the answer? Or are you just having a go? Your use of inverted commas around 'people' suggests the latter. But anyway...
>
> Today's MP3 players, i.e. (digital) portable audio devices, roughly equate to the old (analog) cassette Walkman devices which proliferated during the 1980s. The rise of portable MP3 players, such as iPods, has, of course, coincided with the rise of a number of digital formats, notably MP3, wma, etc. The iPod age has seen a huge surge in the number of people (or, if you will, 'people') using portable audio. Popular though the Walkman was, the iPod is surely more common? The huge numbers of people using iPods (or equivalent) today, coupled with the popularity of the MP3 format, means there are enormous numbers of MP3 audio files being listened to, right now.
>
> Therefore, it's not just a question of 'what were people listening to previously', because it's not the case that the number of 'portable audio device owners' has stayed constant while the format (cassette, MP3) changed. The new digital formats go hand in hand with the new digital devices. The new digital devices have brought about a big increase in the number of people using portable audio devices, and a lot of these people are using the MP3 format.
>
> All of this seems obvious to me.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf Of Keith
> Sent: 11 January 2010 14:17
> To: Pynchon Index Cacorum
> Subject: Re: Bono, Steve Jobs, etc.
>
> On Jan 11, 2010, at 2:31 AM, John Carvill wrote:
>
> People have been sold iPods, god knows how many tens of millions of
> them, and
> the success of these MP3 players has led to a decline in the average
> quality of music being listened to, on the planet, right now.
> ========================================================================
> =====
>
> What were these "people" who now listen to iPods listening to their
> music on previously?
>
>
>