Why a Wireless iPod Will Redefine Cool
I had this tech fantasy a couple years ago and just figured it was so obvious that it would come to fruition. It hasn’t, for a number of reasons.
The Fantasy
I get on the subway to catch a ride home. iPod in hand, I’m listening to my current favorites when I see a person across the train with the signature white headphones, the ones without the wires. I pull out my iPod, get that knowing look from the other person, smirk back and choose to tune into what they are listening to. The music starts immediately as I tune into her subway car-wide broadcast. Above the screech of the wheels on the rails, I hear a song I’ve never heard from a band I don’t know and… I’m really liking it. (It doesn’t hurt that the girl with the other iPod is cute.) Sixty seconds into the song, I know like it, so I hold down the center button and it’s bookmarked.
I get home and sync my iPod. My bookmarks from the day are available as just another playlist, bookmarks that go to the iTunes Music Store where, of course, I can sample all the other tracks on the album and check out the band more.
The cute girl gets home and sees that three perfect strangers bookmarked her favorite music, feels pretty cool about it and knows that her new boots are working.
Much is made of relational databases like Amazon’s which recommend music based on what you already like, but the organic experiences hold a lot more weight in my mind. Getting a recommendation from a massive corporation isn’t very compelling. Getting a spontaneous recommendation from a cute girl pirate broadcasting on the 6 train, well, that’s what cool is all about. It’s ‘peer to peer’ in a whole new sense.
The Reality
This dream hasn’t materialized for a pretty simple reason. It scares the music industry to death. If you’ll notice however, the fantasy above is pretty friendly to artists and, as a consequence, to labels. The original version of this story goes along the lines that I don’t simply bookmark the music but that I make a copy of the song from one iPod to another. The story above is the compromise that lets me listen to the music of the people around me when they’re around me and gives me the easy option of exploring more and possibly buying my own copy when I get home. This is viral marketing at it’s best and if it doesn’t happen, well, someone’s just being foolish.
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[...] iPod chip maker plans Wi-Fi, Bluetooth support [Reg Hardware, with a tip of the Kangol to Obvious Diversion] Comment on this post [...]
[...] Secondly, Zune seems to violate the rights of artists. Zune lets you share music file with other Zune users wirelessly. Sounds cool, right? I wrote about this idea nearly two years ago in the hopes that someone would make it happen, but this is not the way to do it. Right idea, wrong implimentation. [...]