While the vinyl record is considered obsolete as a medium for music since the 90's, the record was invented back in 1900, starting off as a 78rpm 10" disc. Later on 45rpm and 33rpm records came out, however a good majority of later record players could play even the earliest 78rpm records. While vinyl has pretty much done away with in most music stores today, it was one of the longest running popular means of carrying music. The cassette had a shorter life, which was introduced in 1963 by the Philips Corporation and began dying out as medium for pre-recorded music in the late 90's. The MiniDisc had an even shorter lifespan of about 8 years before it got taken over my MP3 players, at least as portable player for music.
Now, we are already seeing many MP3 players becoming obsolete. For example, consumers are ditching their 1 to 2 year-old models for shiny new models, just like most consumers replace their mobile phone. A lot of the early versions do not support DRM, which makes them unsuitable for most music download stores. While Apple now allows users to send in their iPod for a battery replacement, not that long ago, Apple expected consumers to fork out on a new iPod once the battery gave up after about 1.5 years of average use.
Finally, Sony which has only launched their Sony Walkman Bean just six months ago has already discontinued it. The Bean was well featured with a 50 hour battery life, 45g weight, but with poor sales, Sony decided it will discontinue this model in April.
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Sony's Walkman Bean had the basic specs for success: it is well-designed, smaller (just 45g) and cheaper (£79-£99) than the celebrated iPod, and has up to 50 hours of battery life. But after less than six months on the market, Sony has announced that the Bean will be discontinued in April. The reason behind this can be traced back 40 years to one Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel. He predicted that the number of transistors on a chip - and so its performance - would double roughly every two years. "Moore's law" is what drove the quick growth of computer processors in the 1990s. Now cameras, TVs and music players have also "gone digital", a similar theory applies. The industry says that the quickening pace of technological change, and more importantly, the growing influence of fashion, means that most mobile phones and digital cameras are discontinued within nine months. The full article, which also discuses about the short lifecycles of TVs, VCRs, mobile phones and digital cameras can be read here. |
With Apple coming out with a new iPod every couple of months, all it takes is for a couple of months to go by and before their new model to become discontinued. While there are a few improvements that can be made to the iPod, it will be interesting to see what Apple will come out in the next generations. At least for now, their iTunes store is still compatible with their earliest iPods, however it will be interesting to see how long this lasts. Even though a new pre-recorded cassette will play back in cassette player made 40 years ago, chances are that the iPod may become obsolete over the next couple of years, particularly with how quickly technology is changing and the music industry constantly trying to impose tougher DRM measures.
Source: Independent Online Edition
