The Perfect Thing

The Perfect Thing
Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Total Pages : 393
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780743293914
ISBN-13 : 0743293916
Rating : 4/5 (916 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Perfect Thing by : Steven Levy

Download or read book The Perfect Thing written by Steven Levy and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-10-23 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On October 23, 2001, Apple Computer, a company known for its chic, cutting-edge technology -- if not necessarily for its dominant market share -- launched a product with an enticing promise: You can carry an entire music collection in your pocket. It was called the iPod. What happened next exceeded the company's wildest dreams. Over 50 million people have inserted the device's distinctive white buds into their ears, and the iPod has become a global obsession. The Perfect Thing is the definitive account, from design and marketing to startling impact, of Apple's iPod, the signature device of our young century. Besides being one of the most successful consumer products in decades, the iPod has changed our behavior and even our society. It has transformed Apple from a computer company into a consumer electronics giant. It has remolded the music business, altering not only the means of distribution but even the ways in which people enjoy and think about music. Its ubiquity and its universally acknowledged coolness have made it a symbol for the digital age itself, with commentators remarking on "the iPod generation." Now the iPod is beginning to transform the broadcast industry, too, as podcasting becomes a way to access radio and television programming. Meanwhile millions of Podheads obsess about their gizmo, reveling in the personal soundtrack it offers them, basking in the social cachet it lends them, even wondering whether the device itself has its own musical preferences. Steven Levy, the chief technology correspondent for Newsweek magazine and a longtime Apple watcher, is the ideal writer to tell the iPod's tale. He has had access to all the key players in the iPod story, including Steve Jobs, Apple's charismatic cofounder and CEO, whom Levy has known for over twenty years. Detailing for the first time the complete story of the creation of the iPod, Levy explains why Apple succeeded brilliantly with its version of the MP3 player when other companies didn't get it right, and how Jobs was able to convince the bosses at the big record labels to license their music for Apple's groundbreaking iTunes Store. (We even learn why the iPod is white.) Besides his inside view of Apple, Levy draws on his experiences covering Napster and attending Supreme Court arguments on copyright (as well as his own travels on the iPod's click wheel) to address all of the fascinating issues -- technical, legal, social, and musical -- that the iPod raises. Borrowing one of the definitive qualities of the iPod itself, The Perfect Thing shuffles the book format. Each chapter of this book was written to stand on its own, a deeply researched, wittily observed take on a different aspect of the iPod. The sequence of the chapters in the book has been shuffled in different copies, with only the opening and concluding sections excepted. "Shuffle" is a hallmark of the digital age -- and The Perfect Thing, via sharp, insightful reporting, is the perfect guide to the deceptively diminutive gadget embodying our era.


The Perfect Thing Related Books

The Perfect Thing
Language: en
Pages: 393
Authors: Steven Levy
Categories: Business & Economics
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006-10-23 - Publisher: Simon and Schuster

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On October 23, 2001, Apple Computer, a company known for its chic, cutting-edge technology -- if not necessarily for its dominant market share -- launched a pro
iPod: The Missing Manual
Language: en
Pages: 304
Authors: J.D. Biersdorfer
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-10-16 - Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Get the scoop on iTunes 9 and all of the newest iPods with this bestselling Missing Manual. Apple's gotten the world hooked on portable music, pictures, and vid
iPod & iTunes For Dummies
Language: en
Pages: 516
Authors: Tony Bove
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010-11-17 - Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The perennial iPod and iTunes bestseller returns—completely updated! The popularity of iPods is not slowing down—so you need to keep up! Now in its eighth e
iPod and Philosophy
Language: en
Pages: 266
Authors: D. E. Wittkower
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-08-31 - Publisher: Open Court

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The iPod is transforming the lives of millions, changing their relationship to music and to each other. In iPod and Philosophy, 18 philosophers with diverse spe
The IPod Playlist Book
Language: en
Pages: 164
Authors: Clifford Colby
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Whether one needs help burning the perfect mix CD for iPod-loving friends or inspiration for an iPod journey, this compendium of more than 200 essential playlis