Just want to comment also how funny i think it is that while most consumers are short sided and selfish ("If apple had really done it's research, it would know what we REALLY want is a pda!")... the people in charge of it all were thinking years ahead... Without iTunes, I don't know where we'd be... iTunes paved the way for iPod, which basically lets you take iTunes with you wherever you go, and the combination of storing all your music, coupled with the ability to listen to it everywhere (essentially making it a big part of your life), puts apple in a good position (at least on the mac side of the market) to dive head first in to the stormy music industry/consumer issue (which is a pretty big issue, especially if you are slim shady or some other rap/pop-moron's agent and feel that your mediocre music isn't taking the money of as many genXers as it could...(okay off on a tangent but real music is dying (dead?)...) ANNNNNYWAY... apple is now on the verge of setting the standard for how buying media will most likely go down in the future. I know in my town a number of CD stores have gone out of business (like warehouse music) and I am sure it is in no small way related to the fact that I (like many other people) will never buy another Compact Disc.... ITMS is by far the best all-encompassing music purchasing idea yet (although they still need to get a lot more record companies on board...) I would bet anything that this format will be followed for decades to come... And soon, every company will copy iPod's avant garde thinking, a lot already have tried. Apple's 'digital hub'/'digital life' idea seems to be making more and more sense with each passing day. I can easily envision a product (the descendent of iPod) which is an extension of all the media/organization on our computer (music, movies, pictures, PDA functionality and (please god) Cell Phone/wireless internet integration) that ties it all together. the first iPods left a lot to be desired, they were a first step. But mark my words, some day everyone will have a device in their pockets that is part of their "digital life" and iPod will be the great grandfather of them all. ("It's Evolution, Baby!" -Ed Vedder)
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