Spend an hour watching students navigate their way between classes on the Norman campus, and you will likely see dozens of ears adorned with the iPod's signature white headphones, providing a walking soundtrack to their school day.

Stand at a crosswalk on Lindsey Street, and you can see drivers use their time stopped at a red light to select a track to play through their iPods outfitted with FM transmitters. Even in the silent halls of the Bizzell Memorial Library, students pore over textbooks as music pulses from their iPods to their ears.

The ubiquitous iPod has become a staple on college campuses in Oklahoma and nation-wide, with models and functions as diversified as the students who use them. In fact, many claim that the iPod has revolutionized the way people listen to their music and media.

They have stored and played music files since their release in 2001, but the iPod has far outgrown its original version to include a wide array of styles, each type with different storage sizes and special features. The official Apple iPod Web site invites browsers to "witness the evolution of the revolution."

In a year when two new models, iPod nano and iPod video, have been introduced to a frenzy of media attention and consumer demand, these words could not be more true.

"[iPod nano] uses a different kind of memory," said Quinn Davis, business consultant for the Apple Store in Penn Square Mall. Davis owns every kind of iPod made so far. "Lots of people like to carry the nano when they are running. There are no moving parts inside, so it is less likely to skip when exercising."

The most recent edition of this revolutionary device brought video to the world of the iPod. Users can download and watch videos on a full-color and newly widened screen, including the latest episodes of popular television shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives.

These videos, along with audiobooks, podcasts and a myriad of musical genres can be downloaded using iTunes, the compatible software included with every iPod.

Joel Deardorf, a music education junior, enjoys the simple, straightforward nature of iTunes. He said much of the music on his 20 gigabyte, third-generation iPod was burned from the CD collections of his friends and family.

"It's cheaper to buy a CD on iTunes than it is in the store," Deardorf said.

Beyond the appeal of what they can hold, the attraction of the iPod has largely come from its portability. According to Davis, the real revolution of the iPod has been "being able to take mass amounts of media with you in a small package."

Political science freshman Nikhil Malhotra said he uses his iPod to tune out extraneous sound while he is studying between classes.

"I can study in [the union] even though there's talking because I can just turn on my music, in this case classical," he said.

Ryane Keith, religious studies sophomore, also said she has her iPod on hand at any given moment, though she warned against riding a bike while listening to it.

"Once I had it on while riding my bike, and I hit a car," she said. "I hit right between the wheel and the bumper, on Campus Corner nonetheless...I guess [having the iPod on] wasn't a good decision."

Deardorf conceded that those who listen to their iPods on campus often are trying to avoid stopping to talk to other people, though he said that is not the case for him.

"It's just a companion on the road," he said. "You've got mood music for what kind of day it is - sunny music, rainy music, cold music, you know."

The iPod has quickly shot to the top of the market for mp3 players, outperforming and outselling its competition and acting as a catalyst for the Apple brand.

"It's the current thing, and it's just cool to have one," said Deardorf. "There are some that offer the same specs at cheaper prices but it's just not an iPod."

Some students find the iPod an intriguing product because of its novelty, some because of its functionality and others because of brand loyalty to Apple. Davis, however, attributes its popularity to the sheer quality of the product.

"It was the first one on the market and other people tried to copy it but didn't do a good job," he said. "It stood its ground as the best on the scene."

What's next for the iPod? Even Apple's employees are kept in the dark.

"It's always totally a surprise to me just like it is to everybody else," Davis said, though he said that Apple is going to continue to press the iPod into places where no similar product has ever been.

Whether the iPod will continue to stand its ground as a major player in the market or fade out like past fads cannot be determined for certain. What is sure is that the iPod has started a revolution in the way music is experienced and that Apple will continue to push the boundaries of its golden-child product.

This article taken from Sooner Yearbook. For more information please click the link below.
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