1. Apple "cooler" than Nike?
2. iPod success linked to storage
3. For digital photographers
4. Accessories for iPod
5. New file format
6. Arrange for a review or interview
Having sold over 730 000 iPods in the fourth quarter of 2003 alone, Apple Computer`s diminutive digital music player, which can hold up to 10 000 music files, is fast-becoming the biggest musical success since the Walkman.
Apple`s international site www.apple.com comments that iPod is lighter than two CDs, can hold up to 10 000 songs, thousands of digital photographs and can work as a personal voice recorder. When plugged into a Mac through FireWire or PC with FireWire or USB2, the device downloads and installs iTunes - Apple`s award-winning digital music software. iTunes automatically syncs to iPod and enables users to capture their CDs in their digital music format of choice, download tracks and album information from online databases and arrange music in libraries.
"Because of this relationship, users comment that at last they are able to archive and have easy access to their entire music collection," says the Core Group`s Greg Hill. "For the first time, users have easily been able to play and enjoy literally trunk loads of music by storing it and enjoying it on one device, which just happens to be the size of a cellphone.
"iPod is probably one of Apple`s greatest successes," says Hill. "For CEO, Steve Jobs, it`s an absolute coup. The interesting thing is that he has opened the device up to the Windows environment. He makes no bones about it, he wants to sell iPods to everyone."
In a recent interview with BusinessWeek`s Peter Burrowsspoke, Jobs commented that iPod appeals to a broad range of users from ages eight to eighty and that in terms of volume, more iPods are sold to PC users than Mac.
"iPod is in its third generation and no other company has been able to catch up. In its function and form, in the way it looks and its interface - there is nothing to beat it," says Hill. "Apple came late to the digital music player market. But since the release of iPod, they have steadily grown market share, and now the device is something of a de facto standard."
Wired News (www.wired.com) reports that Apple became one of the coolest companies in America last year. "That`s what youth marketing experts who follow the tastes of teenagers say," the report reads. Market experts in the US say that iPod, iTunes and the PowerMac G5 have given Apple the reputation as "one of the hottest companies in youth culture". A survey conducted last year asked 20 000 Net-connected correspondents aged 13 to 35 which company they would endorse if they were a celebrity. Apple was the most popular choice, followed by Coca-Cola, Levi`s and Nike.
"Looking back, Apple`s decision to open the device up to most formats has been wise. By doing so, Apple have created yet another culture, the iPod culture. There are literally hundreds of thousands of non-Apple users buying iPod. Apple is now appealing to people who, under normal circumstances, would not even look at our solutions. After six months of having the most awesome experience with iPod, you can go back to them and show them the latest iMac. He`s going to know that the iMac has got to be good because he has had such a fantastic experience with iPod," says Hill.
From a technical perspective, Hill says the key to iPod`s success is strongly linked to storage capacity. "There are all kinds of digital music players out there, most of which utilise low volume, solid state technology for music storage. iPod is different, all three flavours of iPod, from the 15Gig to the 20Gig and right up to the 40Gig device, utilise an internal hard drive for storage." The trick was in developing a product with a "skip-proof" drive. Under normal circumstances, going for a run with a product playing music from a hard drive would not be an enjoyable experience, because the drive reader would skip and jump tracks, resulting in a poor audio experience. So Apple has utilised the equivalent of Random Access Memory (RAM) to ensure clean, "jump-proof" listening.
"They didn`t build in a few seconds of `jump proof` memory," says Hill. "Oh no, being Apple they built in a full 30 minutes of protection. Of course, transferring digital audio to a memory buffer also increases battery life between recharges," he says.
"iPod simply works really well. The interface is fantastic and it`s really simple to use, but at the same time it has incredible features in terms of usage for this kind of device. It`s the right size - it`s not to big and it`s not too heavy, and it can fit in your pocket," says Hill.
There is a spin-off in terms of the interactive use of the device. Users are now starting to utilise iPod in their living rooms by resting it in a dock with standard audio outputs linking to their existing sound system.
Having a mobile digital device with a large storage capacity has additional application in terms of mobile data storage or even setting iPod up as a boot disk. Both Mac and PC users could set iPod up as a master drive with their office and home computers - allowing complete portability between desktop machines.
Cashing in on the iPod phenomenon, third-party manufacturers such as Belkin (www.belkin.com) have been quick to develop accessories for the device, including a universal media card reader. "The accessory simply plugs into the top of an iPod and enables users to download data from virtually any memory device. This has distinct advantages for mobile professionals such as digital photographers. Up until now, a digital photographer has been forced to lug a laptop around to shoots - not necessarily because they need to edit images on site, but because they run out of storage space on their cameras. Now, with iPod and Belkin`s accessory, they simply remove the memory card from the camera and allow iPod to store thousands of high-quality images," he says.
"Another device converts iPod into a digital voice recorder. And it`s not a pokey little thing that can store a few hours of voice data - with a 40Gig iPod, capacities seem almost limitless," he says.
iPod is generally used to play digital music in the MP3 file format. However, the most popular digital music format is becoming somewhat dated and a new format, AAC is rapidly gaining ground. "Although MP3 is quite good, to audio buffs, the quality is still not what it should be," says Hill. "AAC on the other hand, boasts CD-quality audio in smaller file sizes than MP3. And on iPod, you can play both," he says.
When asked in the BusinessWeek interview what`s in store for the future, Jobs responded: "You know us, we never talk about future products." Hill agrees: "It`s dangerous to guess what Apple will do next, you just never know." Will future iPods feature colour screens and larger drives? What about pictures and digital video? With QuickTime, the best video compression and streaming technology available, wouldn`t that be the logical next step? Those are the rumours, but Jobs is neither confirming, nor denying them.
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