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About this siteFor six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul Saturday, July 24, 2004New features in Mozilla Thunderbird 0.8Redemption in a Blog: "Thunderbird 0.8 is shipping soon (July, according to the roadmap) and test builds have just been announced. Here's the rundown of the new features you can expect to see: RSS integration, Blocking remote images, Global inbox for POP3 Accounts, Get All Mail functionality, and Better quick search. Thunderbird 0.8 will also come with the usual bugfixes as well as Mozilla Suite Profile Migration and improved spell checker support. This is gearing up to be an excellent email client as more bugs get ironed out. I've switched. Have you?"Yes. Yes, I have. :) [ Posted at 4:08 PM | Permalink ]
Friday, July 23, 2004Removing the schmegma from an iPodI haven't really written about my impressions of the new 4G iPod yet, but one (unpositive) thing that struck me right away was a weird, random coating of sticky stuff on the Click Wheel, which was a bear to get off. Turns out the iPod Mini has the problem as well, and Apple has a support document explaining how to remove. Hey, I love those rubber gloves. [ Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink ]
Apple's Report CardMP3.com: "That buzzing sound you’ve been hearing is Apple, with its 100 million downloaded songs and recently-announced brand new iPod. Time for a little objectivity...how’s Apple really doing?"Just to be clear here, he's talking about the New Apple (i.e. iPod Corp) and not Classic Apple (makers of the Mac). [ Posted at 11:22 AM | Permalink ]
Thursday, July 22, 2004[U2] Moves to Preempt ThievesWired: "An advance copy of U2's brand new album, which is not due in stores until November, was stolen last week at a photo shoot in the south of France. The band is worried the new songs will be posted to file-sharing networks. If so, lead singer Bono has a plan: 'If it is on the Internet this week, we will release it immediately as a legal download on iTunes, and get hard copies into the shops by the end of the month,' Bono told the paper. He added, 'It would be a real pity. It would screw up years of work and months of planning, not to mention fucking up our holidays. But once it's out, it's out.' The album, Vertigo, will be the band's first release since the successful All That You Can't Leave Behind nearly four years ago. A rough cut of the disk disappeared from a recording studio in Nice during a photo shoot. The band was putting together the finishing touches. Most of the album had previously been recorded in Dublin. French police have launched a major operation to find the disc. 'A large slice of two years' work lifted via a piece of round plastic,' said lead guitarist The Edge on the band's site. 'It doesn't seem credible, but that's what's just happened to us.' Band manager Paul McGuinness said, 'The band is so excited about (the album's) release. It would be a shame if unfinished work fell into the wrong hands.'"So, I like U2 and everything, but two questions spring to mind immediately here. Didn't this happen to their last album as well? And what the heck is up with "a piece of round plastic?" He means a CD, right? Thanks Keith. [ Posted at 8:41 PM | Permalink ]
Apple's Slow Boat to ChinaBusiness Week: "Beijing estimates that its economy is growing at a 9% clip, but that could understate the real growth in the big cities. China's economy is hard to get solid numbers on because so much of what happens remains off the books ... Apple, however, is hardly rushing into this potential promised land, although it has shown signs of interest. In May, 2004, it unveiled a deal to preload its popular iTunes music software on every PC made by Founder Technology, China's second-largest PC manufacturer ... many wondered whether the Founder deal presaged a more intensive iPod marketing campaign in the big urban centers of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. So far Apple hasn't done anything further on this score, but it ought to hurry up. It has a wide-open opportunity to become a big player in what will likely become the world's largest personal-tech market within the next decade. The math is compelling. Weingrod estimates that China now has 35 million to 40 million households with the equivalent purchasing power of a U.S. household earning $25,000 to $30,000 per year. That means now 100 million Chinese are living the middle-class life. That number could double or triple over the next 10 years, Weingrod figures, making the Chinese middle and upper classes nearly as large as the entire U.S. population."China is a tough nut to crack. People overwhelming use cheap PCs and pirated software, which means Windows usually, or Linux, which is becoming the State choice. It's unclear what Apple could do to make its Mac product lucrative in China. iPods are, however, another story. [ Posted at 10:56 AM | Permalink ]
iPod and iSight Don't MixChris Breen: "Apple tells us that if you're using both a new iPod (Click Wheel) and an iSight camera on your Mac's FireWire bus, your Mac may freeze. The workaround is to either connect your iPod to the Mac via a USB 2.0 port (these new iPods can be synched with USB 2.0 and, like the mini, will also charge over a USB 2.0 connection) or unplug the offending iSight before plugging in your iPod to the FireWire port."Ah well. [ Posted at 10:56 AM | Permalink ]
Walter Mossberg Does What WSJ Claims, But He Still Falls ShortI'm terminally tired of the over-hyped and unimpressive Walter Mossberg. In today's Wall Street Journal, Walta reviews the Apple AirPort Express, and there are so many problems with this review, I don't even know where to start."The first thing to know about AirPort Express is that, like the iPod and iTunes, it works just as well with Windows PCs as it does with Apple's own Macintosh computers. You can use it happily in a Windows-only home." Actually, Walta, you can't. Numerous Windows wireless adapters refuse to work with the AirPort Express, and I have repeatedly failed to get it working here on every wireless-equipped notebook I have. Currently, AirPort Express works reliably only with a Mac. "Apple's setup software, called AirPort Express Assistant, is, in typical Apple fashion, simple and crystal clear, and it works the same whether on a Windows computer or a Mac." Except that it isn't, and it doesn't. Look at this excellent Macintouch write-up for details. "The setup was a breeze in my office, where my wireless network isn't password-protected..." Note to hackers: Mossberg's office network is not password protected. "I had to resort to a somewhat more complex software utility Apple also supplies to get the AirPort Express set up properly with my password." But you said Apple's software was "simple and crystal clear." I'm curious why this guy is so well-respected, and I've had issues like this with his reviews for some time now. On the other hand, pinch me, did Apple suck-up Walter Mossberg actually just criticize an Apple product? Wow. [ Posted at 10:42 AM | Permalink ]
Wednesday, July 21, 2004Apple Makes Its Case for the Connected Home in 2004Connected Home Media: "Depending on your perspective, Apple Computer is either an amazing American success story or a colossal failure. On one hand, the company, rejuvenated under the tutelage of CEO Steve Jobs, has unleashed a slew of impressively designed Macintosh computers, successfully converted to the UNIX-based Mac OS X, and taken the consumer-electronics world by storm with its dominant iPod portable audio players and the Apple iTunes Music Store ... On the other hand, dark portents exist for the California company. Its Mac computers, although elegant and well designed, haven't fared well under Jobs, and the company has lost market share year after year since he returned to the helm ... So what message should we take away from the company's situation? In my opinion, there's never been a better time to support Apple. If you're interested in digital media, home networking, and personal computing, you should know that Apple's product line-up has never been stronger."And you thought I hated Apple. [ Posted at 11:29 AM | Permalink ]
Two takes on the .Mac renewalWe're getting close to the time when many people, myself included, will need to renew their .Mac subscriptions. Here are two interesting takes on this subject..Mac isn't worth the investment "I'm sometimes asked if it makes sense for new OS X users to pay for Apple's .Mac ("dot Mac") online service ... Apple won't like what I'm going to tell you. The .Mac service is an expense you almost certainly can do without. The idea behind .Mac is about as lame as anything I've heard lately. You pay $100 a year for a small amount of online storage, an extra e-mail account, a virus scanner and a personal Web page ... You can see that I'm no fan of .Mac. I think Apple created it as a way to make a lot of money fast. The easiest way to tell Apple it needs to work a little harder for your dough is to avoid .Mac entirely." Is it Dot Mac time again? It's that time of the year again for many people -- Dot Mac renewal time. Dot Mac has been mature for long enough that there really isn't much to warrant another article over. However, there is one pernicious detail that will probably be the key reason people decide not to renew this year. It's Google. How does Google affect Dot Mac? As you all know, Google has started giving away 1 GB mailboxes with its new Gmail service. Yahoo has followed suit and now gives away 100 MB of mail storage and for $20 a year will give you 2 GB. How much does Apple sell for $100 a year? 15 Megabytes." Both of these articles focus on the limits of Apple's online storage, and in the wake of moves by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, I fully expect Apple to bump up both its email and remote file storage limits. If this happens, I'll definitely renew .Mac. [ Posted at 11:19 AM | Permalink ]
Inside Look at Birth of the IPodWired: "Ben Knauss is a former senior manager at PortalPlayer, the company Apple Computer approached to help develop an MP3 player that would eventually become the wildly popular iPod. Knauss shared his firsthand knowledge of the device's development, the glitches that almost killed it, and the extraordinary steps Apple took to keep the iPod a secret. Knauss, who acted as the primary liaison between Apple and PortalPlayer, quit the company in 2001. According to Knauss, the iPod originated with a business idea dreamed up by Tony Fadell, an independent contractor and hardware expert who'd helped develop handheld devices at General Magic and Philips ... Knauss said Fadell approached several companies and was turned away by all of them, except for Apple. Apple hired Fadell in early 2001 and assigned him a team of about 30 people ... Knauss said at one of the first meetings with PortalPlayer, Fadell said, 'This is the project that's going to remold Apple and 10 years from now, it's going to be a music business, not a computer business' ... '(PortalPlayer) was attractive to Apple because we had an operating system,' said Knauss. 'That was a real selling point for Apple. We had the software and the hardware already done, and Apple was on a tight schedule.' Knauss said the reference design was about 80 percent complete when Apple came calling."This is an absolutely fascinating article. Highly recommended. [ Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink ]
4th generation iPod: The unveilingThis one's for you, Keith. :)In the spirit of those lame slideshows people always seem to take when they get a new Apple product... 
Tuesday, July 20, 2004Apple settles Rendezvous trademark disputeAppleInsider: "Apple Computer, Inc. and Tibco Software have settled a trademark dispute through a mutual out of court settlement, AppleInsider has learned. Last year, Tibco of Palo Alto, Calif., alleged that Apple's Rendezvous networking software, used in Apple products such as the Mac OS and iTunes Music Store, infringed on its Rendezvous name. Tibco's Rendezvous software allows applications to share data across networks, but came to market prior to Apple's similar Rendezvous technology. In a suit filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California, Tibco said that it has been using the Rendezvous trademark since 1994 and was seeking unspecified damages for competitive and economic harm caused by Apple. Earlier today, Tibco representatives confirmed that the two companies had come to an out of court agreement, but were not at liberty to discuss the terms of the pact. An official request for dismissal was reportedly filed by Tibco earlier this month. Sources close to the negotiations say that, as part of the deal, Apple has agreed to phase out its use of the Rendezvous name."Related: "According to sources, Apple Computer, Inc. filed for a trademark on the term 'OpenTalk' with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on July 8th, just 24 hours after the company reportedly settled a trademark dispute with Tibco Software over the use of the term Rendezvous. Not surprisingly, the filing includes a description of OpenTalk that is strikingly similar to Apple's current Rendezvous technology: 'Computer software for the automatic configuration of computer networks, computer programs, computer peripherals and other electronic devices.'" [ Posted at 7:34 PM | Permalink ]
We Don't Need No Stinkin' LoginWired: "While many online newspaper readers are used to the idea of registering to read free content online, some news buffs are supporting and creating sites that help them beat the system with fake or shared login information that helps keep their personal information under wraps. Increasingly, Web publishers, and in particular newspaper sites, are demanding that readers give up some of their personal information -- like e-mail addresses, gender and salaries -- in exchange for free access to their articles. The publishers say they need this information to make money from advertising. But anecdotal evidence and online chatter suggest readers are annoyed with the registration process. Some readers enter bogus information, while others are looking for ways to bypass the registration roadblocks. BugMeNot.com is a site that generates login names and passwords for registration sites. The site is a boon to those who want to keep online anonymity or stamp out spam. According to the site's homepage, 14,000 websites have been 'liberated' from registration bondage, and it's clear many people are doing whatever they can to avoid really logging in." [ Posted at 10:36 AM | Permalink ]
Gamers, check under hood because Doom 3 is comingHouston Chronicle: "A new id game has the potential to drive sales of both components and new PCs as gamers upgrade in preparation. Hardware makers are as excited as gamers.Todd Hollenshead, id's chief executive, said Doom 3 will require: • A 1.5-gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 chip or AMD Athlon 1500. • 384 megabytes of memory. • Two gigabytes of hard drive space. • An nVidia GeForce 3 graphics card or better; or an ATI Technologies 8500 or better. Video ... cards at the top of the heap — nVidia's GeForce FX and newer 6800 series, or ATI's Radeon 9800 or newer X series — will provide the best experience and cost the most. If you're upgrading, look for at least 128 MB of video memory in a card with Direct X 9.0 capability that installs into an AGP slot. Cards in the $150 to $200 range — such as a GeForce 5900XT or a Radeon 9600XT — will be a sweet spot." One thing this article omits is sound. I'd expect DOOM 3 to make pretty heavy use of directional sound effects, meaning this might be the first game where a 4 or 5 speaker set up is almost necessary. [ Posted at 10:32 AM | Permalink ]
Napster Signs Up U.S. CollegesNewsfactor: "Six U.S. universities have signed up to offer Napster's legal digital music downloading services to their students. The Los Angeles, California-based company has a strategy of contacting university administrators to offer low-priced subscriptions in a bid to lure students away from illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing networks such as Kazaa. Napster is a subsidiary of digital media firm Roxio. Cornell University, George Washington University, Middlebury College, University of Miami, University of Southern California and Wright State University all plan to create their own on-campus version of the Napster service. Pennsylvania State University and the University of Rochester have already started offering the service to their students. The new services are expected to debut this fall." [ Posted at 10:02 AM | Permalink ]
Monday, July 19, 2004The net's sleuths (the story behind the theft of the Half-Life 2 source code)Guardian: "Hackers stole the biggest PC gaming sequel in history, but they didn't count on being tracked down by the people they believed were supporters - the gaming fans ... In January, it came to light that the FBI, Scotland Yard and the German authorities, along with the Half-Life 2 fan community, had been searching for the culprits since the leak was announced last October. Last month, the thieves were arrested in Germany and other undisclosed countries. Having accessed Valve's server through a security-bypassing loophole in Windows, the hackers were able to download an early and hugely incomplete version of Half-Life 2 and post it on the internet for downloading via Usenet. A boxed version of the code was even on sale on the Ukrainian and Russian black markets."Fascinating stuff. [ Posted at 6:31 PM | Permalink ]
Microsoft and Lindows Settle Trademark CaseLinspire: "Lindows.com and Microsoft Corp. today jointly announced that a worldwide settlement has been reached in the trademark infringement cases between the two companies. 'This case was centered on the fundamentals of international trademark law and our necessary efforts to protect the Windows trademark against infringement,' said Tom Burt, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft. 'This settlement addresses those concerns, and we are pleased that Lindows will now compete in the marketplace with a name distinctly its own.' 'We are pleased to resolve this litigation on terms that make business sense for all parties,' said Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows, Inc. 'Over the next few months Lindows will cease using the term Lindows and transition to Linspire globally as our company name and primary identifier for our operating system product.' The settlement agreement resolves all claims in this litigation, both in the United States and internationally. Terms of the settlement are confidential." [ Posted at 4:56 PM | Permalink ]
Get iPod and iPod mini UpdateApple: "iPod Updater 2004-07-15 supports all models of iPod and iPod mini, including the new Click Wheel iPod. This update includes the latest available software for each model of iPod or iPod mini.Download and install the iPod Updater 2004-07-15 then connect your iPod or iPod mini to yor computer. The iPod Updater will automatically determine if an update is required. New for Click Wheel iPods * Shuffle songs with one click * Create multiple On-The-Go playlists * Delete songs from On-The-Go playlists * Select reading playback speed for audiobooks * Hear the clicker user interface sound through headphones * Charge via USB 2.0 connection * Enjoy improved playback performance Updates for iPod with a Dock connector and iPod mini * Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store * Improved playback performance * Support for the Apple Lossless Encoder, to enable compressed music encoding at high quality Updates for iPod without a Dock connector * Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store * Improved playback performance" [ Posted at 2:21 PM | Permalink ]
iPod Software Update Arrives; Old iPods Left BehindJim Heid's iLife 04 Site: "Apple has indeed released a new software update for the iPods, and it does not add revamped menus and enhanced on-the-go playlist support to third-generation or earlier iPods, not even the iPod mini. That's too bad. As I said yesterday, throwing a little bone to buyers of older iPods would be a nice consolation, a way of saying, 'Yeah, so your iPod isn't the very latest one anymore. Here's a little something to make you feel better.' And the fact that the new menus and on-the-go playlist features will not be available for iPod minis introduces a new quandry for iPod buyers. Until now, the only major difference between the big and little iPods was their size. (A few dock-connector accessories don't work with the iPod mini, but who cares?) Now, however, buyers must consider whether they also need or want the additional goodies that the fourth-generation iPod provides: the new menu scheme, the new playlist features, the audiobook speed-up/slow-down features, and so on. Buyers must compare the two iPod families carefully -- and the mini suddenly doesn't look as appealing as it did last week. The extra $50 that a new iPod costs over a mini now buys you a lot more than just several times the capacity."Don't get your panties in a bunch, but sadly this is standard operating procedure for Apple. I'm a bit surprised that iPod Mini users won't get the new features, but not surprised at all that 3G iPods (and even older versions) won't. That's just the way these guys do things. [ Posted at 1:20 PM | Permalink ]
Apple Introduces the New iPodApple: "Apple today introduced the new iPod, the fourth generation of the world’s number one portable digital music player, featuring Apple’s patent pending Click Wheel, which combines the smooth and continuous scrolling of a touch-sensitive wheel with five push buttons for superior one handed navigation. The new iPod also features up to 12 hours battery life and Shuffle Songs, a new command in the main menu which gives users instant access to one of the most exciting new ways to listen to their music library. All iPods work effortlessly with Apple’s iTunes, providing music fans with the best digital jukebox on either a Mac or Windows computer and access to the iTunes Music Store, the number one digital music service in the world. The new iPod is available immediately in a 20GB model for $299 and a 40GB model for $399."Just a note for anyone interested in these things: The new "iPod Click Wheel," as Apple calls the new generation device, doesn't work with the iPod dock used by previous generation iPods, and the 20 GB model does not include the dock, so you'll have to spend an extra $39 on the dock if you get the lower-end model (and want/need it). You can view the technical differences between the different iPod models here. One thing I'm interested in seeing is that Apple appears to bundle separate Firewire and USB 2.0 cables now; I wonder if this means that the 4G iPod can trickle-charge off of USB finally? Also, my own news story about this release is available now on WinInfo. [ Posted at 1:12 PM | Permalink ]
jesse strikes againadot's notblog: "Jesse Ruderman, for those of you who don't know him, is one of Mozilla's top security experts. He's responsible for a huge number of exploits discovered and fixed. In addition to that, he runs The Burning Edge, a daily view into what's new in Mozilla Firefox. And if that wasn't enough, he's also the master bookmarklet writer. Today, I see he's created a new bookmarklet that just kicks ass. The new bookmarklet, called flash seek bar, adds a nifty seek bar for Flash animations. I challenge you to give it a look and not find yourself poking around Jesse's site for the rest of the day :)"Good stuff. And there's a version for you IE weenies as well. [ Posted at 11:34 AM | Permalink ]
Sunday, July 18, 2004Would-be iPod mini owners play the bluesKnight Ridder: "What makes the iPod mini the planet's most lusted-after tech toy? Simple, said market researcher Richard Doherty: It's the element of 'unobtainium.' 'That's when you've identified it and coveted it and you want it, but no one seems to have it,' said Doherty, research director of Envisioneering in Seaford, N.Y. Indeed, a scarcity of 4-gigabyte hard drives has left Apple's colorful digital music players in such short supply that online buyers are cooling their heels for up to two months before getting their hands on one ... Apple said it's moving as fast as it can to meet demand, which has far exceeded expectations since the mini went on sale in February. The company delayed the device's overseas release, originally planned for April, until it catches up on the home front." [ Posted at 10:37 AM | Permalink ]
My take on the new iPod Apple's best-selling iPod is a force of nature, and Apple can properly take credit for ushering in the age of legal digital music. This week, the company will unveil its next-generation iPod, which seems to fix some of the mistakes of previous units. Here’s my first, off-the-cuff response to this next generation iPod, with the understanding that I haven’t held one in my hands yet. That said, the iPod’s biggest strength has always been its design, so if anything, my final analysis should be even more positive.
Click wheel. The new iPod utilizes the excellent iPod Mini click wheel, and does away with the capacitor-driven button nonsense that made the previous generation iPod almost impossible to use. No more ultra-sensitive buttons? Bravo. Simpler menus. A long time coming. Right now, the menu system on the Dell DJ blows away the iPod, but the new iPod menu looks simple, clear, and easy to use. New features. On-the-go playlist creation and management are of little interest to me, but many music lovers will appreciate this feature. The audio book faster playback feature is liften from Windows Media Player, but is a welcome addition. Better battery life. Finally! While the new iPod’s 12 hour battery life can’t touch the 22 hours you can get with a Dell DJ, it does so in a much smaller and nicer looking package. Excellent. Lower prices. Again, bravo! The iPod has always been too expensive. The new prices ($399 for a 40 GB unit and $299 for a 20 GB unit) are now more competitive. I suspect Apple killed off the 15 GB unit because it was too close in price to the lowly 4 GB Mini. That’s too bad for consumers, but understandable. And where's the 60 GB version we know is coming? No color screen. I’m mixed on this one. A color screen would drain battery life quickly, but my time with Portable Media Centers (PMCs) has proven to me that the availability of album art as you listen to music is kind of cool. This one is a toss-up: I completely understand why there isn’t a color screen, but expect Apple to release a high-end color model by the end of the summer. Conclusion. Previous generation iPods suffered from four huge problems--interface sensitivity, battery life, price, and compatibility--and the new version fixes three of the four, which is just excellent. If we can somehow convince Apple to either open up its iPod to third party music stores and audio formats, or open up its FairPlay DRM scheme so that users of other portable devices can access iTunes, the company will have completely obliterated every complaint I have about its music products. All in all, this is an excellent improvement over an already world-class device. I can’t wait to see one in person. [ Posted at 10:21 AM | Permalink ]
The New iPod Newsweek: "The considerably tweaked fourth-generation iPod will roll out this week, and NEWSWEEK got an advance peek. It looks a bit different, operates more efficiently, has a few more features and costs less. Here are the highlights.
The click wheel. The iPod keeps getting slimmer and more streamlined. While the initial version had a relatively boxy feel, subsequent versions have been curvier and smaller. This one is about a millimeter thinner and, more significantly, eliminates the control buttons that sat under the display screen. Instead, it uses a "click wheel," where the controls are placed on the compass points of the circular touchpad that lets you scroll through menus. This is an innovation carried over from the diminutive iPod Mini. More efficient menus. There's less thumbing required to get to your favorite stuff. "Music" is a first-level entry, and now a single click initiates the popular technique of shuffling your library for playback. New features. You can create multiple on-the-go playlists and delete songs from those ad hoc mixes. And audiobooks are not only easier to find, you can listen to them at normal speed, slower or 25 percent faster, without its sounding like a Munchkin. Longer play. Coast-to-coasters rejoice: the new iPods are rated for 12 hours of rockin' between charges—a 50 percent boost in battery life. This is accomplished, Apple says, not by a heavier battery but diligent conservation of power. Lower price. The top-of-the-line iPod, holding 10,000 songs (40 gigs, as geeks will tell you), now costs $399. The lower-capacity model, with room for 5,000 songs (20 gigs), costs $299. That's a $100 price reduction for each. (There's no more 15-gig model.) Color. Fuggedaboutit. Despite rumors to the contrary, the wide-bodies are still as pure as the driven snow. Bottom line: If you have yet to jump on the iPod bandwagon, it's cheaper and more attractive to do so. If you're already plugged in, the question is whether you should engage in the "iPod Bump," where you snap up the spiffy new version and pass Old Reliable to a grateful friend or family member (or the highest eBay bidder). If your music collection has exceeded your iPod's storage space, or your listening binges exceed your current iPod's battery life—or if you want to hear Bill Clinton's abridged book in 4-1/2 hours rather than six—consider the Bump this time around. Of course, if your heart went aflutter at the very sight of this year's model, you're probably in line at the Apple Store already." [ Posted at 10:14 AM | Permalink ]
Newsweek flubs new iPod launch iPod Nation In just three years, Apple’s adorable mini music player has gone from gizmo to life-changing cultural icon  The Apple of his eye: Jobs and singer Alicia Keys shop online at the iTunes Store By Steven Levy Newsweek July 26 issue - Steve Jobs noticed something earlier this year in New York City. "I was on Madison," says Apple's CEO, "and it was, like, on every block, there was someone with white headphones, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, it's starting to happen'." Jonathan Ive, the company's design guru, had a similar experience in London: "On the streets and coming out of the tubes, you'd see people fiddling with it." And Victor Katch, a 59-year-old professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan, saw it in Ann Arbor. "When you walk across campus, the ratio seems as high as 2 out of 3 people," he says. They're talking about the sudden ubiquity of the iPod, the cigarette-box-size digital music player (and its colorful credit-card-size little sister, the Mini) that's smacked right into the sweet spot where a consumer product becomes something much, much more: an icon, a pet, a status indicator and an indispensable part of one's life. To 3 million-plus owners, iPods not only give constant access to their entire collection of songs and CDs, but membership into an implicit society that's transforming the way music will be consumed in the future. "When my students see me on campus with my iPod, they smile," says Professor Katch, whose unit stores everything from Mozart to Dean Martin. "It's sort of a bonding." The glue for the bond is a tiny, limited-function computer with a capacious disk drive, decked in white plastic and loaded with something that until very recently was the province of ultrageeks and music pirates: digital files that play back as songs. Apple wasn't the first company to come out with a player, but the earlier ones were either low-capacity toys that played the same few songs, or brick-size beasts with impenetrable controls. Apple's device is not only powerful and easy to use, but has an incandescent style that makes people go nuts about it. Or, in the case of 16-year-old Brittany Vendryes of Miami, to dub it "Bob the Music Machine." ("I wanted to keep it close to my heart and give it a name," she explains.)  Adding to the appeal is the cachet of A-list approbation. "I love it!" says songwriter Denise Rich. "I have my whole catalog on it and I take it everywhere." She is only one voice in a chorus of celebrity Podsters who sing the same praises voiced by ordinary iPod users, but add a dollop of coolness to the device, as if it needed it. Will Smith has burbled to Jay Leno and Wired magazine about his infatuation with "the gadget of the century." Gwyneth Paltrow confided her Pod-love to Vogue (her new baby is named Apple—coincidence?). It's been seen on innumerable TV shows, movies and music videos, so much so that Fox TV recently informed Josh Schwartz, producer of its hit series "The O.C.," that future depictions of music players would have to forgo the telltale white ear buds. Schwartz, himself a 27-year-old who still hasn't recovered from the shock of having his unit stolen from his BMW, was outraged. "It's what our audience uses and what our characters would use," he says.
People who actually create music are among the biggest fans: "The layout reminds the musician of music," says tunester John Mayer. And couture maven Karl Lagerfeld's iPod collection is up to 60, coded in the back by laser etching so he can tell what's on them. "It's the way to store music," he says. Lagerfeld's tribute to the iPod is a $1,500 Fendi pink copper rectangular purse that holds 12 iPods. It is one of more than 200 third-party accessories ranging from external speakers, microphones and—fasten your seat belt—a special connector that lets you control your iPod from the steering wheel of a BMW. Music hits people's emotions, and the purchase of something that opens up one's entire music collection—up to 10,000 songs in your pocket—makes for an intense relationship. When people buy iPods, they often obsess, talking incessantly about playlists and segues, grumbling about glitches, fixating on battery life and panicking at the very thought of losing their new digital friend. "I'd be devastated if I lost it," says Krystyn Lynch, a Boston investment marketer. Fans of the devices use it for more than music. "It's the limousine for the spoken word," says Audible CEO Don Katz, whose struggling digital audiobook company has been revitalized by having its products on Apple's iTunes store. (Podsters downloaded thousands of copies of Bill Clinton's autobiography within minutes of its 3 a.m. release last month.) And computer users have discovered that its vast storage space makes it a useful vault for huge digital files—the makers of the "Lord of the Rings" movies used iPods to shuttle dailies from the set to the studio. Thousands of less-accomplished shutterbugs store digital photos on them. iPods aren't conspicuous everywhere—their popularity seems centered on big cities and college towns—but sometimes it seems that way. "I notice that when I'm in the gym, as I look down the treadmills, that just about everybody in the row has one," says Scott Piro, a New York City book publicist. And the capper came earlier this year during the Apple vs. Apple case—wherein the Beatles' record company is suing the computer firm on a trademark issue. The judge wondered if he should recuse himself—because he is an avid iPod user. (The litigants had no objection to his staying on.) Read the rest in Newsweek starting Monday... Page 2: How Apple entered the digital music revolution Page 3: The iPod is changing our listening style [ Posted at 9:59 AM | Permalink ]
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