iPod Docks: The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius?

2 July 2007

It is the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, which means it is also a time for some deep reflection. Ok, so I wasn’t born yet, but I am still able to recognize the importance of that summer and what it means for us today. That being said, I think iPods have a much greater social impact than we realize. Can you imagine a Human Be-In like the used to have in San Francisco with iPods? Ten thousand people all grooving on the same message, but listening to their own music? Ipods are the antithesis of hippie culture. Hippies shared everything: food, music, drugs, even partners. The iPod does not promote singing along to an acoustic guitar. An iPod is for drowning out the guy on the subway who plays his accoustic guitar. You can’t have a “community” when everyone is listening to their own thing. That’s why those psychedelic ipod commercials are a joke. A hippie with an iPod? No way, man.

On the other hand, things have come full circle, in that after all the time Apple’s engineers spent trying to get music onto the tiniest gadget possible, people still want to be able to listen to their iTunes library without headphones. Therefore they invented the iPod dock, which is a device that allows you to dock your iPod and listen to your MP3s on speakers. The iPod dock comes in various forms, including clock radios and colored “orbs” to match your nano. The most interesting one would have to be the iPod docks that come with vacuum tubes–these are supposed to make your MP3s sound like vinyl, which works out pretty well, since the disputes between Apple Recoreds and iTunes have been settled. Now you can download Srgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from iTunes, rip it onto your iPod and put it in this dock–it will sound just like the vinyl that first dropped in 1967. Even the biggest hippie technophobe would have to admit that that’s “pretty groovy.”

Peace and Love,

Roxie

iPod Docks: The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius?

Twitter: TheStylishCity