Originally published February 21 2006
Consumers say iPods are worth the expense
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
This in-depth article covers the increasing popularity of iPods and why people keep coming back for more. Also discussed are iPod accessories, music downloading and corporate control.
Whether it's the new and improved iPod from Apple that started it all, the tiny iPod nano or the unpredictable iPod shuffle, it seems everyone wants to get their hands on one of these little white (or now, black) devices.
For the uninitiated, iPods are portable digital music players that can store thousands of songs, as well as pictures and videos.
Are they truly as life-changing as Apple, which touts its star product on its Web site as "the world's best music player," would have you believe?
And will backlash by the music industry, which has not embraced digital music-sharing as enthusiastically as the public has, render iPods obsolete in a matter of years?
Examples: Paul Skibitzke, 35, is a senior programmer at High Moon Studios, an independent video game developing company in Carlsbad.
Rod Newman, 32, assistant food and beverage manager at the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara in Carlsbad, got his iPod this summer as part of a promotional deal.
Skibitzke has used up 37.1 GB of the 40 GB of storage on his iPod, and Heffner has about 3,000 songs on his iPod, as well as 300 or so favorites on his iPod shuffle and iPod nano.
Besides downloading music from previously purchased CDs onto their iPods, all four said they primarily buy music over the Internet from Apple's iTunes Music Store.
While musicians and consumers alike hail the trend towards a more democratic music industry, one group is decidedly not thrilled by the digital music revolution: corporate conglomerates such as Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which currently monopolize the music industry.
"People and companies that control the institutions of music production, distribution and consumption are constantly struggling with technologies that give access and power to people outside those institutions."
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