The Perfect Thing (pg. 197-256)

Summary:
Chapter 8: Apple
One fact that I found interesting is that Steve Jobs was fired from the company he created, Apple, in 1985. Now, 12 years later, 1997, he regained control of the company he confounded. He came back because Apple was having a financial crisis. Levy once asked Jobs if he will be CEO of apple. Jobs said no. His stay at Apple was only temporary, to help the company get back on its feet. In fact, Apple has been 90 days away from bankruptcy. Apple's revenues went down from 8 billion to 5 billion. Jobs was CEO of Pixar while he was out Apple. Jobs thought it is time to repair Apple.  During that time, Dell computers were on the market. Michael Dell once said, if he was in Job's shoes, he would close down apple. In 1998, the iMac was released. This was the first project, Jobs  worked on after his second coming to Apple. The original iMac was egg-shaped and was blue. The iMac was a big hit. Then after the iMac, there was the iBook (an iMac to go). Then, Apple was building wireless internet standard (Wi-Fi) into its computers. By 2000, Jobs does not consider himself an interim. the one thing that Apple always does is prefixing its products with "i", like iPod, iMac, iPad, iBook.  Before the iPod came out, the iPod team was thinking about letting the PC people be able to buy iPods that is compatible with windows. The plan was realized. Jobs made a deal with MusicMatch to provide software for the iPod to work on Windows platform. There were disadvantages because Windows had to buy extra hardware like FireWire to put on their computer.Apple also needed to write iTunes for Windows. In 2003, Apple created a Windows version of iTunes. iPods cannot be downloaded from any other music sites besides, iTunes. After that, Jobs was think on how to make the iPod mini better and thus came the new iPod nano with a color screen, click wheel, built in games and other features. Apple has improved itself.
Chapter 9: Podcast  (Last Chapter)
Adam Curry was trying to figure out how to merge radio and internet together. Working with Dave Winter, a software designer, they developed Really Simple Syndication (RSS). It allows people to subscribe to "feeds
or digital file deliveries. Blogging and iPod goes well together, so audio files should also be with the iPod. The name is of having unstreamed audio or video is called podcast. The name Podcast was created in September 2004. So the first version of iTunes that included podcasting was released in June 28, 2005. When you subscribe to a podcast, the next time you open up iTunes, new episodes would be downloaded. By the first of July, a million podcasts were downloaded. There would be podcasts about sports, news, and every other subject. Also, even Universities and college professors upload their lectures on iTunes as podcasts. Then, Apple distributed music videos for $1.99.

Quote:

"These people don't love what they create. And people here do" (Levy 225). 

Reaction:
This quote was said by Steve Jobs, referring to the people running PC companies not liking their own products. I can tell that Apple loves what they create because if they love what they create, then customers around the world will love what was created. For instance, 55 million iPods were sold by mid-2006. That is a lot of iPods sold. If that many people buy iPods, then the iPod is certainly a likable product. I agree with Job's opinion. If there is no inspiration in the product, then it will not sell as much as a company might have hoped. I think that inspiration is key to successful sales.

The Perfect Thing (pg. 135-196)

Summary:
Chapter 6: Download
The iTunes did not exist before the iPod. It actually came around 2 years later after the introduction of the iPod. In 1997, Justin Frankel created WinAmp, the application that can be considered a digital jukebox. He sold the program to AOL. MP3s used to be on computers, but in 1998, Diamond Multimedia, a small Korean Company, released a tiny speaker device called the Rio PMP300, that would play an hour's worth of MP3 songs that can uploaded from the computer. Record labels sued because a digital music players that can make computer copies of songs was a violation of copyrights. Record labels were desperate for people to listen to new releases, that they even bribe radio stations to play their songs. However streaming songs on the internet would let people hear new songs faster. Michael Robertson created a web site where one can search information about MP3 files. Visitors of the site requested Robertson to upload songs. So, he asked unsigned bands (bands that are not signed to a record label) if he can upload their songs on the website and the bands can use the website to promote themselves. Robertson also let people listen to music from their collections while they are online. Record labels sued Robertson . Napster was the next victim to record labels. Napster was a program where one can download songs for free. Record labels sued because of copyright. For iTunes, one way is that one can insert a CD and import the songs to the iTunes library. Steve Jobs wanted to give iPod users a way to buy music legally. So the iTunes Music Store was launched on April 28th 2003 with 200,000 songs. By 2006, the store more than 2 million songs. This made buying music much easier because it was part of the iTunes software. So, Apple needed to make a version that would work on Windows computers. Record labels are liking it. Instead of buying a whole CD, from iTunes one can buy their favorite songs instead of buying the whole CD.
Chapter 7: Shuffle
One feature of the iTunes and the iPod is shuffling, where you can listen to your songs in random order. However, the narrator (Steven) is questioning whether if his songs are really shuffling. On his iPod, he had about 50 Steely Dan songs , he felt that Steely Dan is being played too much. Some artists doesn't even come up at all. So it like the iPod is only playing favorites. When Steven asked other iPod users if the iPod is also playing favorites even when put on shuffle, they said yes. So in January 2005, the iPod shuffle was introduced.  During that time, the Shuffle costs $99. It does not have a click wheel, display, or a menu-driven interface. The reason why this new iPod is called a shuffle because its main job is to shuffle songs.

Quote: 

"One was that using shuffle on the iPod has become incredibly important to people" (Levy 173).

Reaction:
Using the shuffle option is really fun. It brings me suspense of what the next song might be. If there wasn't a shuffle button, the songs would play in alphabetical order. That would boring because it is predictable of what the song will be. I would have that moment that I didn't know this song was going to play next. If the shuffle feature is not working like I want it, there is always the forward button.

The Perfect Thing (pg. 92-134)

Summary:
Chapter 4: Cool (Part 2)
So the question is: how did the coolness of the iPod through its design came about? Well, a guy named Jonathan Ive, is responsible for the design and look for the iPod. In the early 1990s, Apple was looking for a young designer and Ive got the job in 1992. Back when the company just started, Jobs had an idea how to design the company's logo. It would be an object. Since "apple" is a fruit, the logo should be the apple, the fruit. He and Ive worked together to design the iMac and the iBook (that does not exist anymore). There was one time that Ive talked about the new design of the new fourth-generation iPod classic. It would be the first full-sized iPod with the click wheel with the buttons being part of the click wheel. Ive also thinks that a different shade of white should be the color of the new iPod. Then after the new iPod came out, there came an iPod mini. It is 50% smaller than the original iPod. With the mini, there are choices of colors, gold, silver, pink, green, and blue. Its costs $249 and holds up to 1000 songs. The mini was the best-selling iPod of all. Women especailly bought the mini. The pink color was popular. That is how the iPod became cool.
Chapter 5: Personal
On the streets, if one sees another with white earphones, then that is an iPod person. They are in their little world or bubble, and at the same time, they are bumping into other people. The narrator questions if the iPod turned the current generation into a zombie generation. Before the iPod, there was the famous Sony Walkman that was released during the late 1970s. The Walkman is a potable tape player.  It has headphones that makes it sound that you hearing the music from your stereo system. Co-founder of Sony, Akio Morita, brought home a prototype and  realized the person sitting next to you or beside, or even near you would feel left out because you listening to music and the person is not. So, another headphone jack was added to the Walkman so two people can listen. However not many people use the second headphone jack, so in latter designs, there was no second headphone jack. Having Walkman's headphones, it feels that you are in your personal movie theater, as Andreas Pavel describes it. The Walkman also had negative reviews. The iPod is the new Walkman. In Walkmans, you play the cassette over and over again, but it the iPod, you have  whole variety of songs. There are negative reviews about the iPod. The iPod has a reputation in causing people losing their hearing. So in March 2006, Apple  introduced a volume limit setting in the iPod where people can set the maximum volume of their iPod. The iPod is your personal friend.

Quote:

"Each was in his or her own musical world, walking to their soundtrack, starts in their own music video, almost oblivious to the world around them" (Levy 107). 

Reaction:
I definitely can relate to this quote. I bought my new iPod 2 weeks ago and when I used it, I felt as though I was in a different world. I was unconscious from the world surrounding me. One example is when my friends are trying to talk to me. With the iPod, I don't even realize that they are talking to me. Now while I'm on the train, I can barely hear what the train attendant is saying on the intercom. The worst thing is, I cannot put it down. The iPod is like a drug that I am addicted to and can't stop.