First off, I don't have an iPod. I haven't really had a need for a walkman since I used to cut my Parents' grass when I lived at home.  That didn't stop me from buying a PSP though.  I would say, "This is my mp3 player," and it is, but that's not why I bought it.  Does come in handy on the train though.

Anyways, I was never big on iTunes, even though I can buy my stuff from there if I had to.

Then Steve Jobs dies and all I hear is that he revolutionised music.

Really?  Steve Jobs did that?

That's amazing because, for one thing, Apple didn't even create iTunes, they bought it.  iTunes isn't really a bad idea; it's an online record store.  Why major labels don't have their own setups like that is unbelievable.  Too slow and too dumb.  I don't know this for sure but major labels probably sell their artists thought iTunes.  It seems like their kind of thinking.  You're in the music business but you outsource the way you sell it.  Bright.

But I'm not sure how it's revolutionary.  The only revolution I see (meaning, going 360 degrees) is that music is still over priced, only you don't have to leave the house to get ripped off.  If you can tell me with a straight face that $1 a song with pretty poor audio quality, and a $1 for a computer file (proprietary format, no less), is fair, then you're an idiot.  In a Bono sort of way.

This sums it up: "He was a true visionary who forever transformed how fans access and enjoy music," Recording Industry Assn. of America Chairman and Chief Executive Cary Sherman said Thursday in a statement. "With the introduction of the iTunes software and other platforms, Steve and Apple made it once again easy and accepted to pay for music."

They neglected to mention using iTunes captures and collects users' real-time location information and will sell it to third parties.  Because that's related to music.

But let's get back to the "accepted to pay for music"/price of buying something through iTunes.  On average, $1 per song.  That'd be great if it was the 70s when you'd get 8 songs on an album, but since CDs came along, if you don't have 12-14 songs, people think they're getting ripped off.  Now a CD with 12-14 songs is under $10 at the record store, but iTunes at a $1 a song... you do the math.  I, as in me, can't even set my own price for how much a song will cost through there.  I have a big problem with that.  I don't remember agreeing to letting Apple hike the price of mp3s up.

Revolutionary, to say the least.

Another comment was: "In addition, iPods impacted the format of the musical experience.  The user could now purchase individual songs and subsequently shuffle through a several-thousand song library.  We could hear any given song at any given time with the click of a button.  Therefore, records in their classic sense were deconstructed.  No longer was the album a mandated listening requirement – playing the duration of a full-length release became an option, not a necessity.  As a result, the iPod empowered the single track more than ever before, simultaneously diminishing the impact of the full-length album."

Yeah, you wouldn't want to listen to a whole album.  Heaven forbid you do any of that.  Dink.  You know what the best songs on albums used to be?  That's right - not the single.  It was the album cuts that made you like a band.  It's guys like this who would listen to Van Halen's Jump over Sinner's Swing because all he'd know is what was on a Greatest Hits CD.  People like this are irrelevant.  I wish I didn't close that article where I got that quote from or I would have named names.

The only thing great about an iPod was the advertising for it.  It seemed to work.  It seems everyone has one.  Well, most kids.  You can usually spot them with the earphones in, looking very awkward and not making eye contact with people.

Then there's the "Without Steve Jobs, would digital music have caught fire?".  Short answer: probably.  And it'd probably be Sony that would have done it.  Maybe a little later, maybe a little sooner, but with or without Apple, there would be mp3 players today.  Somebody would have thought of the online music store.  Trust me.  It would be impossible for that not to happen.  There might even be real music listeners buying mp3 players too, and not your average clown that only buys Greatest Hits CDs.

Would I blame the lack of CD sales to iTunes?  Nope.  CD sales, in that light, are only referring to the major labels.  Have a look at their current rosters.  That's why CD sales are down.  There's nothing new worth buying and that's a real shame.  I'll bet most older artists do better sales than anyone new.

I can't knock the fact that people are at least are somewhat more interested in music.  That's a good thing.  But I think a lot of comments people make are misplaced.  Or maybe the word Revolutionize has a different and less of important meaning now.  It does have a lot of syllables though.

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