Why don't iPods enable us to share music? (No Such Weblog)

Why don't iPods enable us to share music?

On a train ride the day before christmas, I observed a group of four people sitting around a table: A mother with her two teenage sons, and a not-too-geeky twentysomething. The teenagers had an MP3 player, one of the cheap USB-stick-like things; the twentysomething had a laptop and a bunch of CDs. Within relatively short time, the twentysomething and the boys had connected, and started talking about music, and started sharing it -- or, attempted to share it, going through various technical problems. The story these four people tell is about the social dimension of music and culture, and more specifically, about the social dimension of sharing it.

This dimension is not about positioning some product as a cultural movement, marketing-wise: Rather, it is at the very basis of the culture we live in.

If anyone was to design a truly cool (as in, cooler than iPod) portable music player, that gadget wouldn't just be a player that is made a "cultural movement" by marketing. Instead, it would be desinged to connect people by letting them share the music stored on it. It would be designed to strengthen the social fabric that sharing of culture can be. It would be easy to extract stored music. It would be easy to share music between devices, wirelessly. It would be easy to share whatever you listen to currently, by broadcasting (podcasting?) a stream over a local wireless network. It would be easy to tune in to whatever music the others at the table (in the room, on the train, on the plane, ...) listen to, if they want to let you in.

Obviously, the iPod isn't that kind of device today, and the social fabric that culture provides is alien to its "cultural movement" of cool, white-headphone-wearing solitude. Apple doesn't even want you to extract the music stored on it, and the headphones won't make it easy for you to share whatever you listen to with your seat neighbour. (Nevertheless, iPods are rather nice and quite addictive gadgets.)

The technology you need to build the music-sharing gadget I'm dreaming of is there today. But, unfortunately, culture's social dimension is thoughtlessly denounced as "piracy" these days, so I don't expect to see that cool device I imagine in the marketplace any time soon.

In particular not if the studios get what they want next year.

Posted by Thomas Roessler on December 26, 2004 10:00 PM | Permalink

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Comments (7)

Jay:

I don’t think Ipods were designed to share music, but they should have been. Because ipodders have something to share now! That's what's cool about podcasting....you can share them any time without breaking any laws. So whay wait? The technology you desire exits…. It’s just not in the “device” you want. The big hurdles we face when trying to share media is the device or software not being compatible. To many different formats and devices. The key is to have a device that will give you multiple opportunities to exchange data/information. For example I listen to podcast on a Pocket PC. I can exchange data a few different ways. Via wireless network (Wi-Fi or Bluetooh) or direct physical exchange (swap memory card’s). I can plug in headphones for my own listening or hook it up to a PA system from the headphone jack. I can also broadcast it over a specific frequency so I can tune it while driving my car. The device enables me to share/enjoy my podcast just about anywhere I go. Then if my friends want to listen to one it’s easy to include them by picking one of the way’s I described.

Posted by Jay | December 27, 2004 1:34 AM

Posted on December 27, 2004 01:34

stephen bates:

It's harsh having hardware and software firms whose market is you and I dictated to by RIAA and MPAA what a device can do. When I am unable to share media I create myself on a device I purchased I realize how skewed the logic of this market economy has become. When the itunes update broke the ipod, Apple was saying to everyone who had built the Apple brand only RIAA creates content worth accessing and until we (Apple) finds a way to harvest dollars from that content - no more sharing. But now community media is growing and it isn't about futherering piracy it's about creating a finer grained social ecosystem. Apple, RIAA, and others with the same "sell community short" attitude - will in the end be left with ideals no one cares for and a business model outpaced by social demands.

Posted by stephen bates | December 27, 2004 4:19 AM

Posted on December 27, 2004 04:19

Everdred:

http://www.livejournal.com/~everdred/317031.html I somewhat elaborated on something just like this not long ago.

Posted by Everdred | December 27, 2004 5:01 AM

Posted on December 27, 2004 05:01

Dave:

I sympathize with your feelings on this as much as the next guy, but still, why stop there? Why can't I share my ticket to a movie with someone? Dammit, I did pay for it legally. You know, it's a shame that my subway tokens get eaten up every time I use it - it prevents me from sharing it with my wife. Hey, you know what? There's 5 days to go until the end of the year. I didn't max out my medical coverage this year. Do you think I might be able to let my buddy use it up? . . . Again, I do side with what you say - somewhat. But only to the point that there has to be a better middle ground. The RIAA does not speak for all artists. But all artists also are not willing to remove ALL restrictions to their material. Until you come up with something more equitable, you are going to have these restrictions. As long as you have these restrictions, you will have already answered your own question about sharing music on your iPod. And since you already know the answer to your question, we now come to the REAL point of your inane post: you just wanted to whine.

Posted by Dave | December 27, 2004 2:14 PM

Posted on December 27, 2004 14:14

jwb:

The iPod does allow you to share music. It's just there's no interface for it. If you load Linux onto your iPod (yes, I'm serious, see http://www.ipodlinux.org/ ) you can enslave a regular iPod, and transfer music back and forth. I have a first-generation iPod with this software loaded, and I can take any other iPod, and a firewire cable, and trade music. I have done this on trains, planes, etc. Someday, everybody will have Linux on their iPod :)

Posted by jwb | December 27, 2004 7:31 PM

Posted on December 27, 2004 19:31

Nicole Simon:

"Until you come up with something more equitable, you are going to have these restrictions. " They are coming up. And they are widely accepted. Plus make it easier to share - and at the same time make clear which rights are wanted and which not. I find big joy in the fact how many pdocasters try to find music from artist which have not sold their soul to riia and equivilants - and still not only make some breadcrumbs from their own gigs. btw this whole crap is reason enough not to play any music on my podcast unless I am absolutly sure that it is not sold to devil. I don't need to come up with new regulations - I just use the new, totally legal possibilites to share and spread. Nicole

Posted by Nicole Simon | December 27, 2004 9:22 PM

Posted on December 27, 2004 21:22

Thomas Roessler:

Dave: You miss the point, or rather the points. In very simple words, I'm saying this: (1) There is a socially accepted -- in fact, socially important -- amount of sharing going on. (2) This sharing creates a market for cool devices that I'd like to see served. (3) Technology companies should be allowed to serve this market. jwb: You and I may be able to extract songs from the iPod. You and I may be able to run Linux on it and share files through a firewire cable. The people on my pre-christmas train ride won't be able to do it. These people are the market I'd like to see served by companies like Apple. Incidentally, they are also the collateral damage in the entertainment industry's "war on piracy."

Posted by Thomas Roessler | January 3, 2005 1:05 PM

Posted on January 3, 2005 13:05

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