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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Thursday, October 26th, 2006 - 12 Comments »

Slate Goes Luddite

I got the impression from his work that Michel Agger was a young man, if not in body than in mind. But a quick read of his response to Steven Levy

12 Comments »

12 Responses to “Slate Goes Luddite”

  1. The Carpetmuncher says:
    October 26, 2006 at 11:19 pm

    first…
    iPods kiss ass
    but Napster started the revolution
    iPod just got credit for it
    and created some sexy hardware
    i gotta get one of those new Shuffles that just clip on your belt

  2. Duc says:
    October 27, 2006 at 6:50 am

    Yeah, I was using audiogalaxy and napster to download music and playing on winamp and then my minidisc player before the iPod was a twinkle in Steve Jobs eyes. Your man’s claim isn’t that controversial – its that iPod popularised something that was already in motion, and I reckon he’s right. Plus iPods suck – form AND function over reliability.

  3. palmtree says:
    October 27, 2006 at 10:03 am

    Yeah, but before the iPod you had to burn CDs that could only play a little over an hour. Now you can have virtually your entire music collection in the palm of your hand. To me, that’s a different way of thinking about music than just a walkman or mp3 downloading. This is also about the further fragmentation of audience…you can start listening to progressively weirder music without worries that it’ll take space from your core songs.

  4. The Carpetmuncher says:
    October 27, 2006 at 12:28 pm

    My entire music collection (which is expansive) is digitized and yet I don’t own an iPod, though my girl does and I use hers occasionally (and of course I covet one, they are very fashionable!). I too have my entire music collection in one little harddrive, even if it won’t fit in the palm of my hand.
    But not having an iPod doesn’t make me any less a part of the “revolution” – because it really is about the invention of the MP3, Napster, and digital downloading and peer-to-peer sharing. The iPod is just a commercial reaction to the real revolution, but hardly the inciting incident. It’s closer to revolution profiteering than anything else, no matter what Apple’s propaganda wants you to believe.
    I tend to agree that the iPod is more a “next generation” Walkman than anything totally new, the same way a DVD is realy just a “next generation” Laser Disc. Less a triumph of technology than one of marketing and design.
    Still, iPods kick ass…

  5. Cadavra says:
    October 27, 2006 at 1:40 pm

    Funny, but I simply don’t have this compelling need to listen to music EVERY SINGLE MOMENT I’M AWAKE!!!

  6. Wrecktum says:
    October 27, 2006 at 2:38 pm

    They you miss the Poland’s point, Cadavra. It’s not about listening to music 24/7. It’s about the opportunity to listen to music. It’s about digital delivery of all forms of media any time, any where.

  7. palmtree says:
    October 27, 2006 at 3:16 pm

    “iPod is more a “next generation” Walkman than anything totally new”
    Don’t entirely agree. Yes, the function is both to listen to music. But iPod has changed listening habits…whereas before a mix CD or tape would play in a somewhat predetermined way, you are now the programmer of the iPod and “playing DJ” in a fundamentally different way. True that that’s the same as having a portable hard drive, but making that hard drive listenable is the difference…it has created new uses if the technology itself was old.
    btw, they do sell hard drive casings that wrap around stand-alone hard drives and turn them into ersatz iPods. That is the difference.
    And yes, portable digital mp3 players did exist before iPod, especially in Asia. Apple just made it better designed and marketed.

  8. jeffmcm says:
    October 27, 2006 at 4:05 pm

    I don’t agree. Listening to music portably, as with the Walkman, was a bigger paradigm shift than being able to jump around from album to album or from track to track.

  10. palmtree says:
    October 27, 2006 at 5:25 pm

    “Listening to music portably, as with the Walkman, was a bigger paradigm shift than being able to jump around from album to album or from track to track.”
    My paradigm shift is bigger than yours!
    Seriously though the question was not which is bigger, but is there one or isn’t there?
    My response is there is one because it has changed the relationship between people and their music. Being able to listen to music continuously for 16 hours and not have a single song repeat to me is a big shift from the Walkman.
    In other news, I agree with Cadavra about the importance of silence.

  11. palmtree says:
    October 27, 2006 at 5:39 pm

    I guess my point in a nutshell is…the availability of music is coming close to reaching infinity. Seems different than just being able to play the same 12 songs over and over.

  12. jeffmcm says:
    October 28, 2006 at 1:05 am

    When Ipods are linked directly to WiFi, so that you can immediately call up any song ever written anywhere on Earth, _that_ will be a big paradigm shift. But for now, since you still have to dowlonad the songs and input them yourself, I don’t think it’s that big of a thing yet.

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