The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness

I've been obsessed about the iPod. It's just an MP3 player, so why am I so smitten by it by my own 3rd Gen iPod nano. This book was made to satisfy that question, going into the history of how it's made, plus its impact on the world. Plus it's nice to see the occasional small snippet of that man Steve Jobs. Great read if you're interested in this particular bit of Apple history, written shortly before the iPhone changed everything, again.For the record, my iPod nano was green, survived a fall, and two hours in a washing machine, was a high point in what was a dark few years in my life, and I can't seem to find it anymore. I love my iPhone 7, and the iPad 2 I'm typing this on, but I do miss that tiny, perfect thing.

This book is an interesting reading in 2022 when the iPod is phased out and to compare cultural impacts from that time with today's 15 years later.Steven Levy has been able to not only tell how the iPod was come to be what it was originally, the challenges with portable players before, with the music labels resistance to new technology that could affect revenues but to show how people were impacted by white box device and its offsprings. It offers insights on how only by very insistence of Steve Jobs the labels were convinced to try selling the music on a 3rd party store, the original iTunes Store with a not crippling Digital Rights Management (DRM) mechanism.Also, it is very interesting seeing how people would start comparing songs they held on their devices, how shuffle pseudo randomness became an issue and the start of the Podcast movement. Above all it, how we can see some parallels with todays influencers TikToks's dance and Instagrams reels Steven could never forsee in their current form but the behaviour still have been imagined on the book. Or think of music streaming being possible.It is kind a sad feeling having iPods retired and in essence an enjoyable reading revisiting how things have changed and great new developments we have.

I read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it greatly - I found it an interesting read full of small insights into the industry in general and Apple specifically. As someone that has been a casual user of iPods and other MP3 players for years (first was a Diamond Rio 500), as I read the book (and saw Steven Levy on Charlie Rose) it explained why certain things are they way they are with the iPod. I enjoy history of technology books, and this one is well-written.

I have read Mr. Levy's book "Hackers" several times. I found the information he supplied regarding the early days of computing very entertaining and of interest to me. This new book just hasn't grabbed my attention. I stopped after about 15 pages as it seems more like an Apple advertisement than an historical presentation. I realize there is not as much meat here to write about, but I really don't know why he bothered. It is not that interesting a subject, and probably was done just to cash in on his previous successes.

I had no idea how much fun this book would be. I expected to learn how the iPod was developed, and I did. I expected to read about how cool the iPod is, and I did. I expected to read about the way the iPod changed both Apple and the music industry, and I did.I did not expect to laugh out loud every few minutes, but I did. Steven Levy is a great writer - his knowledge of Apple combined with his knowledge of popular music makes the book great fun to read. Levy is simply an excellent writer, writing about an excellent product.As a bonus, this is a valuable book to read if you design products of any kind, because it provides insights into how exceptional products are created - i.e., fanatical attention to detail, and an inner drive to make not just a good product, but a great one.If you like music and technology, I guarantee you will enjoy this book. Of course, I own a couple of iPods, so I am biased. If you own a Zune, you may disagree. But even Zune owners might find it interesting to see how great products are designed.

Steven Levy has written an excellent book that I didn't want to put down. It not only traces the development of the iPod over the last five years, but the book is filled with independent chapters that can be, and in fact should be, read in any order. Indeed, when looking at multiple copies of this book, you'll find only chapter 1 is in the same place--other chapters are "shuffled" and appear in different orders. I found myself enjoying this feature as much as the iPod--first I read about Podcasts, then Downloading, then how the iPod remains so "cool" for such a wide range of people.I chose to read this book not only because of how amazed I am at how people (including my teenaged kids) love their iPods so much, but also because I'm curious about the future of music as we know it, the disappearance of the CD and along with it the album cover and lyric booklet, and the explosion of songs available for purchase through the iTunes store.The writing in this book is terrific--informative and provocative. I highly recommend it!

If I have one complaint about the Steve Jobs' biography from Walter Isaacson, it's that certain topics could be not covered in sufficient depth. I understand why; the book was about the life and times of one of the most influential people in the last fifty years. Yet, while reading it, I couldn't help but want to know more about many things, not the least of which was the iPod.Enter The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness. This is a book about one thing and its cultural impact: the iPod. While the iPhone has arguably made its predecessor obsolete, Levy's book is a compelling trip down memory lane and a fascinating examination of Apple's first blockbuster, non-computer product.While caught up in the iPod craze, I somehow missed interesting things Levy calls out, like the fact that The Pope actually used one. Levy is an excellent writer and I'll be buying his other books after this posts. The Perfect thing allows us, in retrospect, to appreciate Apple's truly game-changing product and its remarkable run. Buy it.

I bought this book for my IT fan husband LAST year and i am now myself engrossed in it. A great account of the development of the ipod; design , naming, branding and why it's cool. Odd layout of paragraphs but the font and the cover make it almost as touchable as the thing itself. Loved the chapter on the random ness ( or not) of the shuffle.

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