How Many Times?
I have a problem, admittedly a first-world problem, but a problem, nonetheless. This weekend I discovered the battery on my iPod wouldn’t hold a charge; it was dead and uninterested in my efforts to get it to cooperate. I understand I can replace the battery; a search of Google has confirmed that; but it will be a hassle; not because I lack basic skills necessary to accomplish the simple task; okay I should be truthful, it will be a pain because historically I am poor at projects like this, therefore the outcome is in doubt.
My initial annoyance at my iPod not working got me thinking about the music that resides on this handheld device. Essentially, it is every song I have ever owned; that may be an overstatement, but not by much.
It wasn’t always this way, growing up I had a fine collection of albums that played beautifully on my record player. I had a player in my room, and we had a family stereo in our great room. The family turntable was “nicer”, but not to me. There was something cool about having my own system and the freedom to play whatever I wanted, as many times as I wanted, in the privacy of my ten-by-ten-foot bedroom. I remember saving money to buy the latest, hottest album from my favorite band or the new group that everyone was listening to; it was a magical time.
It didn’t last, searching for a more portable option for music listeners, cassette tapes became all the rage; and why not, you could play music anywhere; without being connected to a power outlet in the wall. You could get a hand-held cassette player, with a cord attached to ear plugs; you could go anywhere and jam to your tunes, it was awesome. Oh yes, you could also play your music on a boom box; this was great for a day on the beach at our local lake, and for those off the record parties that we hid from our parents; those were awesome too. At the time, I didn’t see a problem having to rebuy the same music I had stacked neatly in my room. It felt like progress, and I had a job at Wendy’s so spending money to buy another copy of the same albums didn’t register as a problem.
Next came CDs; they were billed as better quality and frankly they did sound better. However, the equipment needed for my cassettes wasn’t useful anymore, I now needed a CD player, and of course, I had to replace all my cassettes with CDs. If I loved the album before, I felt compelled to own the fancy CD version, so I bought it.
You know what happened next, Steve Jobs couldn’t leave well enough alone; in his view, what we had wasn’t good enough; we needed to have all our music on his platform, residing in a tiny, slim, cool-looking device. You guessed it, I either had to begin buying every song or album again through iTunes or somehow register what I had in CD form through Apple to confirm I had bought it before. There was of course no way I transferred everything I owned and not every CD found its way to my new iPod; to make matters worse, because I could hold so many songs on this little fella, I had to buy more songs; it didn’t take long to add up.
Today, looking back, all the devices from the past seem so cute, so novel. Now, to listen to music I must pay a monthly fee; this is to hear the same songs I previously listened to and owned for decades. Streaming music isn’t my favorite; it opens you up to their algorithms that influence what you hear and narrows your exposure. It is supposed to broaden options, but unless you work hard at it, you’re hearing what the streaming service’s agent thinks you should hear; again, and again.
Thinking about the evolution described and how much effort goes into listening to music is exhausting; it is also expensive. Just how many times have I bought the same album? The words haven’t changed, Bohemian Rhapsody is the same as it was the first time I heard it; awesome. But I have owned the album, cassette, CD, had it downloaded on my iPod, and now I stream it.
I spent some time trying to think of another product, that isn’t a consumable or a depreciating asset, that you must continually buy to use; it was a struggle to find other examples. Once you buy a book, you don’t have to buy it again, when it comes out in audio version, you still own the original book; I fail to see another obvious example, like repurchasing music; maybe you have one I missed?
You have to hand it to the music industry; they find a way to monetize the same product over and over again. It is true that the distribution of new revenue isn’t allocated identically as it was previously, different people are making money off the song, but that’s not my problem. My problem is I distinctly recall buying Boston’s debut album for my record player, and it now rests on my iPod; I may never own it again—I’m still not certain I will get the battery to work.
Technology improvements have changed the world for the better and we have likely only scratched the surface. Sometimes, however, technology is a pain in the butt. Have you noticed that when there is a new way to receive a product or a new model, it requires you to spend money beyond the core product? Today I saw where Apple is debuting their new iPhone 16. I am sure it will have the best features, never thought possible, that you must go out and buy. What it will likely also mean is you have to buy new chargers or something to make it work. I know, I had to buy a whole new setup when I went from iPhone14 to iPhone 15.
I recognize complaining about this newfangled technology, I can sound like an old curmudgeon, and maybe that is what I am becoming. However, I don’t think I am being unreasonable to question why every time I get comfortable with what I have and how to use it, I must invest more money to consume the same product.
Recently, I was at my son’s house when I noticed he had a new turntable on his credenza; stacked next to it was fifteen or so albums. He was so excited to play Ed Sheeran’s new album and to tell me how cool his record player was; I smiled and thought to myself, maybe I could find the hundred or so albums I had from the 70’s.
Back to today’s problem, I am sure I can figure out how to get my iPod to work again. I sure hope so, there are several thousand songs, I paid for, trapped in that little thing; just writing that makes me ill; how many times have I paid for those songs?
