a revelation

it came to me this morning that perhaps the value of the ipod is not in the usefullnes of the product-- but in the allowal of the transferral of values. digital music is by it's nature cold and impersonal. normal cd's and records have a definite tie to the artist, and also visual and tactile cues that remind the user of certain things, like the day they bought the album. perhaps ipods allow the user to bond with the music in a way that other mp3 players don't, through the perception of value- no longer are the listeners participating in the act of making music with the artist, they are participating in the passive act of listening, with the ipod. instead of there being a tie between the artist and the listener, a bond is created between the listener and ipod.

think about this. it seems to me to be a start. a beginning of the end for ipods. if this is the reason, then there are ways of emulating this process.