Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

Apple announced this week that it has sold 100 million iPods, its MP3 player that came on the market back in 2001. What’s amazing about this is that, at the time the iPod was launched, there were already numerous MP3 players in existence, none of which managed to capture either the share of the market nor the collective imagination of consumers. But Apple’s ingenious design, as well as its iTunes software interface, have made it a must-own item for more than half a decade. And what’s also amazing is that something that started within a very select group (early adopting Mac owners, once only a tiny community) is now nearly ubiquitous (both the president of the United States and the Pope own iPods). But this is much more than just a great gadget; the iPod has also shuffled the music business — directly leading to the death of the CD and, to a lesser degree, the format of the long-playing album — and the iPod’s success means both big trouble and tremendous opportunity for other entertainment industries.

As reported by MSNBC, the success of the iPod and iTunes will have far-reaching consequences, not only in music but for almost every entertainment medium: “‘It’s pretty clear to me, as to most people who have watched it, that the record label business is just the canary in the coal mine,’ said Phil Leigh, an analyst with Inside Digital Media who has followed the digital music business for years. ‘The Hollywood studios and the TV production companies — they need to pay attention because their businesses are going to change just as rapidly, and they need to adapt.’” And so what has happened in terms of the death of the CD could also lead to the end of various other entertainment formats and business models. “As downloading television and movies becomes more popular, Leigh expects those industries to have to grapple with the same major changes,” according to MSNBC. “That could mean job cuts, changes in product lineups or any number of other moves.” The success of the iPod will also have an impact on publishing and the “print is dead” debate. Of course, whether publishing will have its own iPod moment, with a singular, killer device drastically changing the playing field, remains to be seen. But there’s no longer any doubt that these changes are coming.

An Apple milestone: 100 million iPods sold