Meryl's Notes Blog

Been reading The Perfect Thing, which covers everything you wanted to know about iPod from its origins to its popularity. Steve Jobs deserves much of the credit for the iPod’s existence and success. Jonathan Ive, who works for Jobs, also had a lot to do with the design.

The iPod has so much power that even my kids wanted iPods. My 13-year-old didn’t want another brand even though it could hold more music and came in more colors. So she received a 2gb black Nano. My eight-year-old originally didn’t care about the iPod — probably because he didn’t know of it. He was happy with his 6gb black Zen Micro.

Even Paul preferred the Zen over the iPod. I gave him an older iPod of mine and that thing didn’t last long before it died. But it was stolen first. The thief returned the iPod to his desk when the batteries died (strange, no?). My iPod also got stolen. Who wants an MP3 player that thieves love?

Now my eight-year-old wants an iPod, even a Shuffle like his friend’s. We told him the Shuffle doesn’t let him control songs and doesn’t hold as much music as the one he has. Talk about the power of iPod. My kids want the real thing. The original. THE MP3 player.

I recently got another iPod (since the company responsible made right on the stolen one), a beautiful red 4gb iPod Nano similar to the photo except it has white buttons instead of black. I like it more than the original 30gb video iPod. It’s lighter, prettier and feels good to hold. I’m not even a big music fan (hearing loss, you know) and I love looking at this thing plus I listen to music far more than I used to in the past.

The Zen Micros are nice, small and techno looking. But they don’t have the same feel and lightness as the iPod Nano. Apple took a lot of care into creating and upgrading the iPod. The company doesn’t simply design something to look pretty, but also cares about its functionality and operation. Something many tech companies don’t get.

The book gave many examples of how iPod boosted or renewed its owner’s love for music. Some owners treat their iPods like people or pets. One owner mourned the passing of her original iPod even though she replaced it with a new one.

No matter how the industry feels about Jobs, his fanatical attention to Apple’s products turns them into hits. And in the case of the iPod, Apple changed music and all Apple set out to do was sell iPods. That’s the power of marketing and attention to a product’s detail.