PROJECT #7, Research It = "I-pod it"


Do you believe that the marriage of technology and art has the potential to bridge cultural divides and bring people of the world together like few inventions before? “The power of music to influence societies and bring about new and positive ideas is well documented throughout history.” The president of some wireless communications firm said the use of personal wireless communications devices and digital music will only make such experience more profound.

Fellow Toastmasters,

Music is the world's universal form of communication. It touches every person of every culture on the globe to the tune of $40 billion annually, and the U.S. recording industry accounts for fully one-third of that world market.

The music industry, as it was once known is again in crisis. From the 45’s of the 50’s& 60’s to the LP to the 8 track to the cassette tape to the cd and dvd, the landscape of business continues to change. At ever increasing speed. I think the new technology is to be embraced. Although it does not come easy to the industry, it has a gun to its head. The record companies must learn to adapt to decreasing retail cd sales volumes and prices, the impact of illegal downloads and the rapid, ongoing growth in digital sales.

The new demographic power base will continue to change the paradigm expecting “my media, on my time,” content on demand and virtual environments.

The emergence of Apple’s iPod was a mass-market phenonmen. They also launched their I-Tunes store in 2003 and empowered music fans to legally download individual songs. Technology is actually changing tastes! More on that later.

For now I want to find out how many people here have an iPod or mp3 player? How many understand what they are?
I like to explain that an iPod is a digital jukebox that fits in your pocket! It’s actually a hard drive, a tiny chunk of massive computer memory. Mine is the 20 gig which holds about 5,000 songs, and has 12 hours of battery life. I LOVE it!

This iPod changed my life. So, let me share a top ten list of way an iPod can improve your life.
1. more napsac or purse space and less shoulder strain when you want music with you, since it is so much smaller/lighter than an oldfashioned walkman
2. you will not run out of batteries half way
3. you can listen to your entire library, on shuffle. I admit I have now become a modern music listener who enjoys listening to one off songs instead of albums in their entirety.
4. you can look at the display to learn song names. And personally, I’ve learned to worry less about who wrote what or who plays what since I don't have access to the info...
5. other people with white headphones will nod at you on the street
6. you can easily record conversations, since it will function as a hand-held tape recorder. I’m recording this speech right now!
7. you can also easily carry your contacts in your iPod instead of also bringing your palm pilot and it will also store your digital photographs -- the newer ones have wonderful colour displays!
8. you will also be always be carrying an alarm clock and a flashlight, since I’ve used the backlight on mine to see the lock of my apartment door in the dark
#9. you'll know what an i-pod is, just like all the kids!
10. you will never again make a list of top ten must have desert island albums. forget old fashioned shenanigins, you can bring ALL your music - you have an iPod! All the Music you’ve ever wanted in one conveniently Portable place -- your pocket!

Now, just a bit more background research on the trends:
I read that Lifehouse, a Southern California rock band has sold 887,000 digital copies of its hit single and just 770,000 copies of the album that includes the song. The trend is even more noticable in sales of an album which has sold 304,000 copies compared with its hit single “Laffy Taffy” that has been legally downloaded and paid for more than 700,000 times.

Talk about the stats to prove a decreasing album attention span in society.

We shouldn’t be surprised that The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently launched a Ringtone Sales Award, updating its 47-year old Gold and Platinum recognition program to reflect the growing popularity of enjoying music through cellular phones. Ringtones are an original recording, not a synthesized instrumental version of a song. Tracks are now certified Gold (500,000 downloads), Platinum (1 million downloads) and Multi-Platinum (starting at 2 million).

In conclusion of this mp3 commercial/music industry research speech I would like to say that my only problem with my iPod, and the evolving industry trends, is that it makes the rest of my life obsolete. And I'm NOT just talking about the PC System Requirements!!!