The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness

waste

I've been obsessed about the iPod. It's just an MP3 player, so why am I so smitten by it by my own 3rd Gen iPod nano. This book was made to satisfy that question, going into the history of how it's made, plus its impact on the world. Plus it's nice to see the occasional small snippet of that man Steve Jobs. Great read if you're interested in this particular bit of Apple history, written shortly before the iPhone changed everything, again.For the record, my iPod nano was green, survived a fall, and two hours in a washing machine, was a high point in what was a dark few years in my life, and I can't seem to find it anymore. I love my iPhone 7, and the iPad 2 I'm typing this on, but I do miss that tiny, perfect thing.

This book is an interesting reading in 2022 when the iPod is phased out and to compare cultural impacts from that time with today's 15 years later.Steven Levy has been able to not only tell how the iPod was come to be what it was originally, the challenges with portable players before, with the music labels resistance to new technology that could affect revenues but to show how people were impacted by white box device and its offsprings. It offers insights on how only by very insistence of Steve Jobs the labels were convinced to try selling the music on a 3rd party store, the original iTunes Store with a not crippling Digital Rights Management (DRM) mechanism.Also, it is very interesting seeing how people would start comparing songs they held on their devices, how shuffle pseudo randomness became an issue and the start of the Podcast movement. Above all it, how we can see some parallels with todays influencers TikToks's dance and Instagrams reels Steven could never forsee in their current form but the behaviour still have been imagined on the book. Or think of music streaming being possible.It is kind a sad feeling having iPods retired and in essence an enjoyable reading revisiting how things have changed and great new developments we have.

I read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it greatly - I found it an interesting read full of small insights into the industry in general and Apple specifically. As someone that has been a casual user of iPods and other MP3 players for years (first was a Diamond Rio 500), as I read the book (and saw Steven Levy on Charlie Rose) it explained why certain things are they way they are with the iPod. I enjoy history of technology books, and this one is well-written.

I have read Mr. Levy's book "Hackers" several times. I found the information he supplied regarding the early days of computing very entertaining and of interest to me. This new book just hasn't grabbed my attention. I stopped after about 15 pages as it seems more like an Apple advertisement than an historical presentation. I realize there is not as much meat here to write about, but I really don't know why he bothered. It is not that interesting a subject, and probably was done just to cash in on his previous successes.

I bought this book for my IT fan husband LAST year and i am now myself engrossed in it. A great account of the development of the ipod; design , naming, branding and why it's cool. Odd layout of paragraphs but the font and the cover make it almost as touchable as the thing itself. Loved the chapter on the random ness ( or not) of the shuffle.