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
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
I will be honest. I am addicted to music recording.... Read More
Celebrating an endorsement between G-Man Music and the fiery axe-makers... Read More
Before the internet, unsigned music artists couldnt make a living,... Read More
You know your songs are great (and so does your... Read More
When I started playing jigs, my default bowing pattern made... Read More
When you read music you are deciphering the printed page... Read More
So you want to be more creative when playing piano.... Read More
So now you've decided to record your songs. Good for... Read More
Those of you who have been reading my articles for... Read More
Members of LAMN (founded in 1988) and NARIP (founded in... Read More
SoundEdit Pro is a digital audio editor for a user-friendly... Read More
The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments... Read More
Are you frustrated because finding your favorite songs on the... Read More
My friend, guitarist Brian Hughes, toured with the Chieftain's in... Read More
Have you ever started learning a lick or exercise and... Read More
Chord symbols (for example, Fm7, Cmaj7 or G6) are a... Read More
One of the Appalachian Mountain region's greatest contributions to the... Read More
Controlling the images of the mind through image projection has... Read More
The lyric writing side of songwriting is known to create... Read More
Not since the heyday of Dance/Pop Artists like Taylor Dayne... Read More
If you are outraged by the prices software giants demand... Read More
Frustrated in a gridlocked?Job got you stressed out?The children have... Read More
Buying a guitar is an important decision that my students... Read More
In the world of music, many Jazz improvisers and Classical... Read More
There are so many areas in life where one must... Read More
Learning how to improvise is confusing for most. The sheer... Read More
Rhapsody music, from RealNetworks is one of several reputable legal... Read More
When you first learn how to use a mixing console,... Read More
Now, that you are familiar and likely connected with online... Read More
While many people think that the mixing of the separate... Read More
What is "Episcopal" music?We often hear people express concern about... Read More
It's no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some... Read More
Why jazz piano improvisation?Why not gospel piano improvisation?Is it not... Read More
The idea of actually creating a complete piece of music... Read More
When I first began playing the piano and improvising, there... Read More
Most of you have probably heard of the RIAA's quest... Read More
Today's music fan interacts with a "community" that is far... Read More
Many students want to create music that has a certain... Read More
When you read music you are deciphering the printed page... Read More
There is a lot more to the story that meets... Read More
Les Paul vintage Gibson guitars were first produced in 1952.... Read More
From the Telecaster to the Flying V to the Iceman... Read More
So you want to be more creative when playing piano.... Read More
Are you well past puberty and have always had a... Read More
Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and... Read More
Everybody's doing it: downloading music and sharing files. People who... Read More
Controlling the images of the mind through image projection has... Read More
There are basically two ways you can compose a piece... Read More
I was listening to NPR the other day when they... Read More
As an amateur songwriter, who struggles with a computer far... Read More
Many piano students spend much time learning how to play... Read More
This lesson can open for you a secret of high-speed... Read More
Welcome to the wonderful world of music. As you begin... Read More
Do you remember the movie, Groundhog Day? In this wonderful... Read More
The idea that studying music improves the social development of... Read More
New York born singer songwriter Michael Alan, who records with... Read More
Celebrities now such as Outkast, a fashion wear can be... Read More
Meet the 12 Major Notes:1. C (do)2. C# - Db... Read More
Boy, I really detest how some people do websites. Bands... Read More
A while back I was driving along the Jerusalem highway... Read More
As you probably know, there are thousands and thousands of... Read More
For the Creative Artist -- Good Health Insurance is Truly... Read More
Mistake #1 - Thinking about what you're going to playA... Read More
Here are six very good reasons to learn how to... Read More
Betty Kresin, Eminem's grandmother from the maternal side... Read More
How many chords do you need to create a piece... Read More
Music & MP3 |