More than a tale about the birth of the iPod, this entertaining book is a twelvehorn hallelujah chorus celebrating how this 'perfect thing' is propelling music from the past into this century and beyond, Add it to your Readlist.

The iPod has become a full-blown cultural phenomenon, giving us a new vocabulary (we shuffle our iTunes on our nanos), revolutionizing the way we experience music and radio through the invention of podcasting, opening up new outlets for video,and challenging the traditional music industry as never before. The design itself has become iconic: there is even a shade of white now called iPod White.

Steven Levy has had rare access to everyone at Apple who was involved in creating the iPod--including Steve Jobs, Apple's charismatic cofounder and CEO,whom lie has known for over twenty years. In telling the story behind the iPod,Levy explains how it went from the drawing board to global sensation. He also examines how this deceptively diminutive gadget raises a host of new technical,legal, social, and musical questions (including the all-important use of one's playlist as an indicator of coolness), and writes about where the iPhenomenon might go next in his new Afterword. Sharp and insightful, The Perfect Thing is part history and part homage to the device that we can't live without.

iPod Timeline

Perfect

Identity

Origin

Cool

Personal

Download

Shuffle

Apple

Podcast

Coda

Afterword: iPod, iSaw, iConquered, iPhone

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index