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The Perfect Thing

How the Ipod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, And Coolness

By Steven Levy

(10)

| Others | 9780743561259

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Critics

Playlist Is Character

We are all gadget freaks now, our lives defined by our cellphones, our TiVos and especially, according to Steven Levy, our iPods. Apple’s tiny digital music player, ubiquitous only five years after it was introduced — by the end of last year more tha ... (read full critics)

nytimes published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness By Steven Levy

Newsweek technology writer Steven Levy's The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness not only looks at how the notion of downloading and compiling a personal song library has affected the music industry, but how the deman ... (read full critics)

bookpage published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

2 Reviews

Steven Levy's book consists of a series of narrative essays about the ubiquitous iPod, it's genesis, the MP3 music revolution, and the unforeseeable consequences of Apple's amazing iPod.
If you've read my review of Hackers, you know that I am a fan of Mr. Levy's writing. This book is the most on-ta ... (continue)

Steven Levy's book consists of a series of narrative essays about the ubiquitous iPod, it's genesis, the MP3 music revolution, and the unforeseeable consequences of Apple's amazing iPod.
If you've read my review of Hackers, you know that I am a fan of Mr. Levy's writing. This book is the most on-target of the three Steven Levy books that I read.
He takes the reader on an interesting ride inside Apples product design process, through the halting, steps that lead (eventually) to the iPod. Documenting the well-known precedents, the early transistor radios that allowed kids to tune into the young, energetic rock-and-roll, anywhere, and the Sony Walkman that redefined personal music in the 80's. But also touching on important Pioneers like Andreas Pavel's "stereobelt", and DECs PJB.
Other chapters cover the rise of the iPod from its obscure beginnings to it's modern iTunes store ubiquity, the effect of the iPod on our daily commute, the MP3 craze, and the record companies crazy reactions to even the most well-intentioned enterprises, and the sometimes irrational beliefs people hold about their beloved iPods.
I love my iPod, and I definitely love this book. Go buy, borrow or steal it now!

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Dowekeller said on Feb 19, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Bravo! Superb! Rocks!
OK let me confess: I am a die hard Apple fans since the first iMac was born. Before, Macintosh is a legend for designer, as layman as I was (and still am), I just fascinated by the beauty of its OS; afterwards, Mac is a name for user-friendliness.
Jobs is the cowbo ... (continue)

Bravo! Superb! Rocks!
OK let me confess: I am a die hard Apple fans since the first iMac was born. Before, Macintosh is a legend for designer, as layman as I was (and still am), I just fascinated by the beauty of its OS; afterwards, Mac is a name for user-friendliness.
Jobs is the cowboy, you know. He is the legend. He is a man with vision. He is more than just a businessman.
And in this millennium, he presented us THE way to revamp our entertainment habits- iPod. Darn Cool.
This is not a book telling you sociologically, nor cultural critically, nor any-academically how iPod rocks. This is a book written by a tech writer for Newsweek who records what he had been through from the emergence of iPod to the point it has developed till now. Chapters aren't really inter-related. As the promo script this book once used- you may indeed "shuffle" the reading experience as well. Just pick a chapter you like most. I pick "Cool" to read first. Cool, as Levy puts, isn't something you can "create". Apple just got the mystical formula for coolness and it is in its vein.
'Cos Apple products are designed by human who wish another human being used the products, so it's cool. ASAT. As simple as that.
Another fascinating revelation is, the iPod indeed lifts up people's mood, especially in the post-911 era. It is something unexpected yet this phenomena as well showed us how arts change us. Music is arts. Arts is something not "just for art's sake", but as well for human's being. It is a striking experience cause you may actually associate and picture how technology may do human good. Aesthetic, eventually, shall not be excluded from our gadget experience.
It is overwhelming. Striking. Humorous. Perhaps Levy idolized Jobs a little bit, but why not?

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張小張・Cons said on Apr 4, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback