How Many Songs Are In Your Pocket?

The portable MP3 player continues to be the hot item for those who want music on the go. I was talking to a teen the other day wearing a wristwatch MP3 player she takes on her walks. She showed me how it stores & plays about 60 songs and does everything but tell time.

"Cool", I said, "That's a lot of music."

"Yeah, it's not an iPod, but good enough for me now." She explained apologetically.

Why was the 60 song capacity such a disappointment? I can't even name 60 songs.

Well, the iPod is the undisputed king of all MP3 players and it holds a lot of music. I got my first real demo from my 16 year old niece last Christmas. Her cute and wanting little sister threatened to enter the work force early to obtain her own. Every kid wants one bad, but read on, these gizmos aren't cheap!

The iPod has caused the rebirth of Apple Computer, Inc., which has sold over 10 million units as of Q1 2005, with annual sales growing at a respectable 525 percent! I haven't seen that kind of growth since the invention of toilet paper. Apple has also become an industry-leading innovator in selling music online from their iTunes website.

Take an iPod Tour

The iPod Shuffle is the baby of the family, offering 512MB of space, which can hold about 120 songs and set you back $99.00. But everyone must ask themselves in the mirror, "Can you show your face at a party packing only 99 songs?" If you're not sure, better buy a little insurance in the form of the 1-gigabyte Shuffle, which can hold 240 songs. ($149.00) Your peers will recognize that you're in the iPod game, albeit entry level.

For some, 240 songs barely scrapes the surface dust of their collection, coercing them to consider the iPod Mini which can hold 1,000 songs ($199) or the 6GB Mini, which holds 1500 songs. ($249) I noticed that Apple is still using diminutive adjectives for this product level, and I guess the message is that the "Mini" is for a puny music collection that is tiny and rather small-ish. So be careful when giving this one as a gift.

"Here son, I got you an "iPod Mini" for your birthday!"

"Thanks Dad, but what do I look like, a baby? It only holds 1500 songs! They'll laugh at me! "

"But son, my generation needed a moving crane and a 3 man crew to bring in a machine that could play that much music."

"I thought you loved me..."

If your unsure of the size of your child's music library, the "regular" iPod is the way to go. ($299) Everyone on this level is "normal" and "common" and no one can be singled out for ridicule. Perfect for a young teen! And 20GB of space gives you that benchmark 5,000 songs, which is probably considered usual and customary in a world economy that had a ten-year run at emptying the product off the digital shelves of the record industry for free.

Granted, there are many who would beg for death rather than leave the house with so many songs left behind on their 'big' computers. The 60GB iPod Photo ($449.00) would be the choice for them. It can hold 15,000 of your favorite songs, or 25,000 of only your best looking photos. I keep my 25,000 photos in bins out in the garage. (Admittedly, they're a little bulky to carry around, and I have difficulty with retrieval when I desire to look up a particular birthday or holiday memory.)

But if you're buying any of these for your kids birthday, better up their allowance, or put them to work down at the mill because these iPods are specifically designed to download from the iTunes website for 99 cents a track.

Napster

Napster began hollering "Do the Math!" from the sidelines with a spot during the Superbowl. They spent $2.2 million to ask the question, "How much does it cost to fill up your player?" The spot is no longer on the company website, but it showed a guy in the Superbowl stands holding a sign that read, "Do The Math"

iTunes + 10,000 songs = $10,000.00

Napster + MP3 player = $15.00 per month

It appears like Napster wins the championship of MP3 players hands down! Napster has a million songs that you can download day and night for only $15.00! (I wonder if they paid for all those.) But there was a sentence printed in the ad, that was so small I didn't catch it on my father-in-law's big screen which takes two houses to contain. They only flashed it for a moment so it must not have been important. I looked it up later: "Subscription must be maintained to continue to access songs downloaded from service." Turns out, with Napster's service, you're not buying, but rather, you're renting the music. You can't burn them onto a CD and you can only use them on certain MP3 players. When you quit paying the $15.00 per month, the music disappears...no matter how long it took you to download it all. If you want to buy a song from Napster, it will cost you... drum roll please... 99 cents!

So is the real math?

iPod = Napster?

So my music loving friends, here is how I add up the numbers:

For $9900 you can download 10,000 songs from either Napster or iTunes and own them. Or for the same price you can download an unlimited amount of songs from Napster for 55 years, but you can't leave them to your children.

Rick David writes a humor column called, "Don't Laugh It Could Happen To You" for http://sandiego.merchantamerica.com

---

Google News Updated : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:51:51 GMT Obama to demand more from Europe in Berlin speech - Reuters BBC News Obama to demand more from Europe in Berlin speech Reuters - 26 minutes ago By Caren Bohan and Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - US presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to call on Europe to do more in hotspots like Afghanistan when he speaks in Berlin on Thursday in his only formal address of a week-long foreign tour. Berliners welcome Obama as they did JFK Christian Science Monitor Obama Starts European Trip With Stop in Germany Wall Street Journal Voice of America - The Associated Press - AFP - Washington Times all 686 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:25:11 GMT Finding Bale's dark side - Chicago Sun-Times Times Online Finding Bale's dark side Chicago Sun-Times - 3 hours ago BY BILL ZWECKER Sun-Times Columnist 'The Dark Knight'' star Christian Bale's alleged ''assault'' in London against his mother and sister is part of a long-simmering family feud. Batman star stays silent in Spain BBC News Christian Bale's lady sidekick: Sibi Bale Los Angeles Times E! Online - hecklerspray - Times of the Internet - New York Daily News all 2,556 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:08:50 GMT Sudan's president boogies on last Darfur pit stop - AFP BBC News Sudan's president boogies on last Darfur pit stop AFP - 36 minutes ago EL GENEINA, Sudan (AFP) - A dancing Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir paraded as a man of peace on Thursday during a heavily protected tour of Darfur defying accusations that he masterminded genocide in the region. Sudan counters charges with diplomacy Los Angeles Times Al-Bashir in Sudan peace pledge The Press Association Bloomberg - Monsters and Critics.com - New York Times - Workers World all 1,767 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:15:43 GMT Aurilia, Vizquel help Giants rally for win - San Jose Mercury News Washington Post Aurilia, Vizquel help Giants rally for win San Jose Mercury News - 4 hours ago By Andrew Baggarly It would be difficult to claim that the Giants improved their playoff hopes when they rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night. Aurilia gets key hit, makes pitch for old guys San Francisco Chronicle Giants rally in eighth to edge Nats Sports Network Washington Post - The Associated Press - Washington Times - BlueRidgeNow.com all 455 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:43:04 GMT US cancer boss in mobiles warning - BBC News CTV.ca US cancer boss in mobiles warning BBC News - 2 hours ago The director of a leading US cancer research institute has sent a memo to thousands of staff warning of possible higher risks from mobile phone use. Cell phones: The next cigarettes? The Week Daily Group sees possible link to brain cancer Baltimore Sun ABC News - Los Angeles Times - dBTechno all 549 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:35:11 GMT Day After, WNBA Untangles Brawl - New York Times ChattahBox Day After, WNBA Untangles Brawl New York Times - 7 hours ago By MIKE OGLE Some of the WNBA’s biggest stars commanded national attention Tuesday night and into Wednesday - but not in a way their teams or the league wanted. Don't count on fights becoming WNBA trend USA Today WNBA may have a fighting chance Los Angeles Times ESPN - Detroit Free Press - Hartford Courant - Denver Post all 876 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:06:48 GMT Hunt begins for Karadzic helpers - BBC News BBC News Hunt begins for Karadzic helpers BBC News - 1 hour ago Officials investigating captured Bosnian Serb ex-leader Radovan Karadzic say they will track down and punish those who aided his false identity. Video: Karadzic plans to defend himself in The Hague RussiaToday Kenya: Karadzic's Fate a Lesson AllAfrica.com AFP - Telegraph.co.uk - International Herald Tribune - Hartford Courant all 5,884 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:47:45 GMT Make Money From Home RSS Feed Reader

PARLOT::Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

Repetition is the Key to Learning Something Deeply

Repetition is the key to learning something deeply. It works... Read More

Health Insurance for Creative Artists -- A Multi-Talented Health Investment

For the Creative Artist -- Good Health Insurance is Truly... Read More

Downloading MP3s Made Easy

The MP3 movement started out with a huge audience of... Read More

Be Your Own DJ - Digital Audio Processing Tools Overview

SoundEdit Pro http://www.deprice.com/soundeditpro.htmSoundEdit Pro is a digital audio editor for... Read More

Jazz Yatra

Jazz is arguably the most argumentative form of music (even... Read More

Creating Within Limits

When I first started playing the piano I wanted to... Read More

The Time Machine Exist!

We call it music, ever noticed how vividly music triggers... Read More

5 Sure Fire Ways to Get Radio Play for Your ?Independent? Music!

You have to find radio airplay time if you're going... Read More

Piano Chords and New Age Music

There are basically two ways you can compose a piece... Read More

Legend Vega Releasing New Pop CD

Legend Vega is scheduled to release her newest CD this... Read More

Quick and Easy Violin Mute

One of the reasons I picked up the violin was... Read More

Piano Playing and Performance Anxiety

I'll never forget the first time I played the piano... Read More

How to Create Hip, Mature, and Lush Harmonies [correction]

Rarely is a chord played with its tones contained in... Read More

Story of 50 Cent

G-Units 50 Cent , was born 6th of July 1976... Read More

How To Overcome The Lyric Writing Hurdles That Are Keeping You Behind

The lyric writing side of songwriting is known to create... Read More

Creating Your Own Unique Music

Have you ever dreamed of penning your own compositions? Writing... Read More

Music and Healing: The Power of Meaningful Words and Music

We All Have a Favorite Piece of Music that Moves... Read More

Art of the Recording Engineer: From Michael Jackson to Mutant Radio, Matt Forger Speaks Out

Interviewed by Scott G (The G-Man)G-Man: When people think of... Read More

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME - Eliminate Throat Tension

As a vocal coach, I hear it all the time.... Read More

Living Life Loud

Change is good. Just ask the millions of unsigned artists... Read More

Music Industry Secrets Revealed - How To Become Succesful The Music Industry Without A Record Deal

Before the internet, unsigned music artists couldnt make a living,... Read More

Jealous Again - Jealousy Among Musicians

Jealousy ? do you feel it? Do you sense it... Read More

Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles?

Why jazz piano improvisation?Why not gospel piano improvisation?Is it not... Read More

To Record or Not To Record - At Home, That Is

I will be honest. I am addicted to music recording.... Read More

The Ostinato - What It is and How to Use It

Ostinato means "repeating pattern" and is used frequently in all... Read More