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Look around, in any crowded buses or trains, and you will find passengers plugged to the music through their white headphones. Many will be able to recognise such people as the sophisticated and "cool" users of the iPod, one of Apple's proudest inventions that has caught the world by storm. This technological wonder is not only gaining dominance among the MP3 market, but is fast becoming a necessity for every individual around the world.

Ever-Improving Design

The iPod's stylish and popular reputation is not only due to Apple's widespread marketing campaigns, but also because of the continuous technological improvements that follow it. Like other MP3-producing companies, Apple has been continuously improving each iPod models to build an identity for the brand. The design of the first-generation iPod proved to be a success which has driven the brand into high recognition and reputation. It was a product that lived up to Apple's slogan, "Think differently"; although superseded by nonmechanical "touch" and "click" wheels, the circular controller design has become a prominent iPod motif. This was improved further, as seen in the second and third generation which introduced more user friendly functions. These include their more compact size and easier connectivity via the USB wire. Sales rocketed even higher with the invention of the fourth-generation, which offers picture display and a larger storage space. Finally comes the fifth-generation iPod, the all-in-one devices that plays music, displays pictures and plays videos. Other notable improvements include the reduction of minor audio defects, such as hard-drive noise being heard through the headphone jack, as well as an increase in recording quality to 44.1 kHz stereo, 22.05 kHz mono. It can be argued that effective advertising and celebrity endorsement made the product a succes, but it is also due to the rapid improvements, which attracted many into investing in the item. All these improvements took place faster than any other MP3s available and this helped pave a way for the build-up of the product's reputation through mass marketing. However, hardware improvements and mass marketing could not guarantee success for iPod; user-friendliness is another factor in which Apple has tapped on for the growth of its product.

Change in listening habits

This is a function which none of the MP3 makers has stumbled upon. The creation of this transfer software has soon lead to its improvement and the birth of an online one-stop music store for the product: the iTunes Music Store. Advertised that any song was 99¢, the music bought from it can be uploaded onto the iPod and the store has become the dominant online music service, helping the sale of iPods. Today, the store has sold over 1 billion songs and 15 million videos. There has been controversies however, that the company is trying to gain a vertical monopoly by forcing its iPod users into using the software to purchase and transfer the songs. Regardless of the validity of the claim, we know that the software has made the transfering and pruchasing of songs easier, instead of the usual purchase of an album and burning its songs. This has its disadvantages, especially when the listener is forced to buy the album even though he prefers only one or two of its songs. With the creation of the iTunes Music Store, people can now purchase of legal music and choose the songs that they want. Copying thousands of songs to an iPod is a lot easier than burning stacks of CDs. A wider freedom of choice is given and this proved to be the product's strongest pull factor.

There are also new ways to parse a collection. The iPod can be ordered to play songs by year or genre, or by keywords in the title (“red” or “sun”). It’s also possible to really drill down; for examlpe, selecting just prog-rock epics that run at least 20 minutes and include album art. Best of all is shuffle mode; let the iPod be the DJ and see what it comes up with. This can produce a delightful and unexpected combinations of tracks. Shuffle can also make the iPod seem uncannily prescient—somehow, it selects just the right song at the right time.

The Unhappiness

The growing number of iPod users has raised alarms on the eventual result of this technological revolution; will Apple monopolize the entire technological market, just like how it does with the invention of the iTunes Music Store? Will we see a standardise way of listening to music? Will musicians be forced to produce singles instead of albums, clamping down on creativity? Are we seeing the death of other MP3-producing companies? The questions and doubts are endless. With Anti-iPod campaigns and posters, many are already battling globalisation and its harm in creating a central powerhouse that will eventually monopolize an entire area of growth.

The Conclusion

The advertising and commercials will be useless if the product does not differ from any other MP3s on the market, or if the product does not offer any technological benefits at all. It is in fact the main ingredient, which is catalysed by mass marketing, to form the product into a cultural icon. Almost everyone uses it; from the pious parish vicars to impious punk rockers. We might feel that the product is beneficial and that it is wise to invest in it. However, there are long-term effects if everyone were to make blind purchases of it. With over 3 million-plus owners, we might just be seeing the emergence of a company that might revolutionize our lifestyle, not just technologically, but socially as well.