iPod: technology’s ever changing beat - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
FT商学院

iPod: technology’s ever changing beat

Enduring love of retro will ensure portable music device’s survival even as US tech group discontinues it

RIP iPod. Apple’s pioneering music-in-your-pocket has gone the way of the BlackBerry, the 244-year-old Encyclopedia Britannica and the dodo. The Cupertino-based tech group this week said it was discontinuing the iPod Touch, its last remaining portable music device.

At 20 years, the iPod had half as long a run as Sony’s Walkman, its clunkier predecessor. The Walkman allowed 1980s cool kids to listen to music cassettes while rollerblading or doing aerobics.

Sony moved with the times, transitioning to the CD Walkman when compact discs sounded the death knell for those sticky tangled tapes. But the Japanese conglomerate initially balked at devices for streamed music, fearing cannibalisation of its record label business. All told, Sony sold some 400mn Walkmans, not far short of estimated iPod sales.

CDs, too, are virtual toast. Kicking off at the dawn of the 80s, the shiny discs peaked in the years spanning the millennium. The heydays were relatively brief but certainly longer than the blink-and-you-missed-it season of the laser disc, which briefly vied with video for viewer eyeballs.

Nostalgia and the enduring love of retro mean the iPod will not die from the collective consciousness. The Walkman survives in the Smithsonian and on online retailer eBay. A new generation of cool kids rediscovered vinyl. Even CD sales blipped up last year.

Some countries have stronger attachments to analogue technologies. BlackBerry phones enjoyed a brief renaissance in Indonesia. Outsized faxes continue to whirr across China and Japan. The latter, home to some of the most cutting-edge technology on the planet, struggles to wean itself off museum-era gadgetry. Sony stopped making Betamax tapes — the technology trounced by the VHS format — only in 2015. Local authorities and banks were still using floppy discs last year.

Of course, it’s just possible that this is more about quality than sentimentality. After all, the US military, reliant on floppy discs for its nuclear arsenal, pulled the plug on those only a couple of years ago.

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

依视路陆逊梯卡估值达千亿欧元,押注眼镜将取代智能手机

该眼镜巨头的首席执行官米勒里表示,与Meta公司合作开发的可穿戴技术将促进增长。

欧洲病夫?德国企业老板针对高病假率发出警告

一项研究称,如果不是因为病假率高于平均水平,德国经济去年将增长0.5%,而非收缩0.3%。

朝鲜向俄派兵后,韩国考虑直接援乌武器

韩国认为,朝鲜向俄派兵和可能的俄朝技术转让对韩国的安全构成直接威胁。

再次陷入危机的大众汽车能走上改革之路吗?

欧洲最大的汽车制造商正与工人和政界人士交战,试图渡过痛苦的电动汽车转型期。

哈里斯的另一个大选对手:通货膨胀

美国选民对高昂生活成本的不满可能决定下周谁将赢得白宫。

Lex专栏:Meta和微软通过季度理智检查

科技巨头今天吹捧真正的胜利,以证明明天的巨额投资是合理的。投资者对此是支持的,但程度有限。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×