“It all started just a few years ago, with the original model back in 2001. Then came the popular, colorful mini version, which was soon followed by the high-tech photo edition. And most recently introduced was the slim, compact, and inexpensive shuffle. Thus began the I-pod revolution,” Paige Hazzan writes for The Buffalo News. “Since it first came out, the Apple I-pod has launched a new generation of how Americans, along with millions of others around the world, listen to music. Who knew that such a small mp3-playing device could turn into something so huge and help put Macintosh, a company that was constantly being overshadowed by Microsoft products, back on the map as a leading competitor in the business?”
Hazzan writes, “References to this tiny gadget are turning up everywhere in the entertainment industry, from characters in movies who are casually seen listening to them all the way to high fashion models in designer Dooney and Bourke’s 2005 spring catalog toting around the hot item in their ads. New car models from brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Nissan even offer special audio integration systems so the I-pod can be easily hooked up to the vehicle’s stereo and sound outlets.”
“The I-pod’s trademark little white headphones appropriately named “earbuds” are often seen worn by teenagers roaming down school hallways, or if they are banned during school hours, quickly donned as students exit the building at the end of the day,” Hazzan writes. “So why all the fuss? What’s the big deal? Sure, the I-pod’s original appeal is obvious: who wouldn’t want a device that can play and store all of your favorite music without you having to lug around hundreds of CDs? Nevertheless, the question remains: How has the I-pod continued to stay on top throughout these past four years despite many new competitors? Moreover, how has it grown into such a huge teenage phenomenon that it has become a status symbol for the young generation?”
Hazzan, who will be a sophomore at Nardin Academy High School this fall, talks to her teenage girlfriends about Apple’s tiny moneymakers, “Almost all the girls interviewed use I-tunes, the companion computer program to the I-pod that helps to organize music into play lists as well as download new songs for 99 cents each… while not everyone is obsessed, it is clear that those teens who have I-pods really love them, and for that reason alone these high-tech music players are going to stay popular for a long time to come.”
Full article here.
Note to T-he B-uffalo N-ews, it’s “iPod” and “iTunes.” Almost everybody can finally manage to get it right in print and online by now. Why not give it a try, too? It makes the article more difficult to read with all of those daft “I-pods” and “I-tunes” references.
Hazzan, who will be a sophomore at Nardin Academy High School this fall, offers a new perspective that makes this article interesting because it shows a glimpse of what’s really going on. It’s much different than the usual routine of reading what some fifty-something Wall Street analysts think as they try to figure out why Apple’s iPod+iTunes is such a hit with teens.