Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Is iPod News still considered Mac News?
A funny thing happened on the way to iPod domination: it stopped becoming a Mac product. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's not that the iPod doesn't work with the Mac anymore; it's as fully functional as ever. It's just that, at this point, somewhere around eighty percent of iPod users are Windows users. And for that matter, the majority of iTunes users are probably Windows users as well. And here in my own little world, three out of every four visitors to the iPod Garage is now using some version of Windows.
Seems hard to believe that the iPod was merely a Macintosh peripheral just three years ago. Of course, the entire iPod universe has existed for just a shade under four. It's like I told a reporter yesterday: within the iPod universe, anything longer than a year is considered an eternity. But I got to wondering today, with all the big headlines out of Apple, ranging from new iPod models, to iPod shuffle price cuts, to iPod firmware updates, to a new version of iTunes. And I had to ask myself: is any of this really Mac News?
And you know, I had a bit of trouble coming up with an answer.
When the iPod first came on the scene, various Mac sites mostly treated it as if it were just another part of the Macintosh universe, and with 100 percent of iPod users being Mac users, it more or less made sense. After Apple opened the iPod to Windows, and as the iPod user base began to shift heavily toward Windows, most of the Mac sites continued to cover the iPod as if it were a part of the Mac scene. Part of it was, I'm sure, just habit; they'd already grown accustomed to doing so. But I think there's more to it, and I think it has a little something to do with the rather massive popularity of the iPod. All a "Mac site" has to do to make itself instantly quasi-relevant outside of the Mac user base is to pay regular attention to the iPod: visting Windows users will focus in on the iPod stuff and ignore the Mac stuff, while resident Mac users who don't have an interest in the iPod will excuse the iPod stuff because, after all, it's fully relevant to Apple.
But I often wonder how readers of such Mac sites look upon the iPod coverage, which sometimes seems a bit implanted just for the sake of having it there. You know, when a "Mac News" site posts a story announcing the launch of a new third-party iPod case. Is this Mac news? Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily knocking them for doing it. I just wonder what Mac-using readers think of it when they see it. Because if I were a Mac user without an iPod, I think I just might get put off by the overfocus on the iPod. But then again, it's tough to say, since I'm obviously not in that position.
Last year I faced the issue internally myself, as I found myself spending at least as much time on billpalmer.net writing about the iPod as I did the Mac. I didn't like the idea of trying to juggle the two things on one site, so I launched the iPod Garage as an iPod-only site, kept billpalmer.net as a Mac-only blog, and the rest is history.
Or so I thought.
When MacMischief had its first serious launch earlier this year, with its theme being a "Mac News" site, we struggled a bit about how much or how little to cover the iPod when the story didn't specifically relate to the Mac. But since iPod Garage wasn't set up to do up-to-the-minute news, it seemed logical to use MacMischief to do both Mac news and iPod news. But that was never the intention of MacMischief. And to me, the iPod news stories on MacMischief feel like some kind of interruption to me. It's one thing when there's a major announcement such as new iPods, the kind of news that only comes once or twice a year at most. But I said, I've struggled with it, because I really didn't have anywhere else to put my iPod news -- until now.
Some regular readers are aware that the iPod Garage has been in the process of having its guts ripped out and replaced with a customized dynamic php-based infrastructure that will allow for not just the daily commentary and reviews, but also up-to-the minute news stories, reader comments, and the whole shebang. It's soon (really soon), just a couple of sunrises away, for that matter. In fact, the new version of the site has been up and running in simulation for the past two days now, and even though no one's been able to see it, we've been publishing all the columns and reviews there each day. And for that matter, we've been posting up-to-the-minute news, for no one to read I guess, so we could push the new system hard enough to identify any of the remaining larger glitches.
The new iPod Garage is just a few days away from officially seeing daylight, and in fact, if you want to take a look right now, you can see it right here. Read the news, post comments, do whatever you want with it. Just keep in mind that it's still pre-beta, things aren't supposed to be perfect yet, and you're not really supposed to be there. Don't tell the new webmaster I let you in early; he's still in the trenches working feverishly on the finishing touches. But feel free to prounce around the new digs and get comfortable with them. I have a feeling some of you are going to be spening a lot of time there soon enough.
The thing is, though, now that I've got iPod Garage as my primary iPod news outlet, I'm unsure as to just how much or how little "iPod news" to post to MacMischief. I'd actually like to hear from some of you on this, in terms of what actually qualifies as "Mac news"...and whether the fact that you are or aren't an iPod user had anything to do with your verdict. Y'all know how to reach me.
A funny thing happened on the way to iPod domination: it stopped becoming a Mac product. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's not that the iPod doesn't work with the Mac anymore; it's as fully functional as ever. It's just that, at this point, somewhere around eighty percent of iPod users are Windows users. And for that matter, the majority of iTunes users are probably Windows users as well. And here in my own little world, three out of every four visitors to the iPod Garage is now using some version of Windows.
Seems hard to believe that the iPod was merely a Macintosh peripheral just three years ago. Of course, the entire iPod universe has existed for just a shade under four. It's like I told a reporter yesterday: within the iPod universe, anything longer than a year is considered an eternity. But I got to wondering today, with all the big headlines out of Apple, ranging from new iPod models, to iPod shuffle price cuts, to iPod firmware updates, to a new version of iTunes. And I had to ask myself: is any of this really Mac News?
And you know, I had a bit of trouble coming up with an answer.
When the iPod first came on the scene, various Mac sites mostly treated it as if it were just another part of the Macintosh universe, and with 100 percent of iPod users being Mac users, it more or less made sense. After Apple opened the iPod to Windows, and as the iPod user base began to shift heavily toward Windows, most of the Mac sites continued to cover the iPod as if it were a part of the Mac scene. Part of it was, I'm sure, just habit; they'd already grown accustomed to doing so. But I think there's more to it, and I think it has a little something to do with the rather massive popularity of the iPod. All a "Mac site" has to do to make itself instantly quasi-relevant outside of the Mac user base is to pay regular attention to the iPod: visting Windows users will focus in on the iPod stuff and ignore the Mac stuff, while resident Mac users who don't have an interest in the iPod will excuse the iPod stuff because, after all, it's fully relevant to Apple.
But I often wonder how readers of such Mac sites look upon the iPod coverage, which sometimes seems a bit implanted just for the sake of having it there. You know, when a "Mac News" site posts a story announcing the launch of a new third-party iPod case. Is this Mac news? Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily knocking them for doing it. I just wonder what Mac-using readers think of it when they see it. Because if I were a Mac user without an iPod, I think I just might get put off by the overfocus on the iPod. But then again, it's tough to say, since I'm obviously not in that position.
Last year I faced the issue internally myself, as I found myself spending at least as much time on billpalmer.net writing about the iPod as I did the Mac. I didn't like the idea of trying to juggle the two things on one site, so I launched the iPod Garage as an iPod-only site, kept billpalmer.net as a Mac-only blog, and the rest is history.
Or so I thought.
When MacMischief had its first serious launch earlier this year, with its theme being a "Mac News" site, we struggled a bit about how much or how little to cover the iPod when the story didn't specifically relate to the Mac. But since iPod Garage wasn't set up to do up-to-the-minute news, it seemed logical to use MacMischief to do both Mac news and iPod news. But that was never the intention of MacMischief. And to me, the iPod news stories on MacMischief feel like some kind of interruption to me. It's one thing when there's a major announcement such as new iPods, the kind of news that only comes once or twice a year at most. But I said, I've struggled with it, because I really didn't have anywhere else to put my iPod news -- until now.
Some regular readers are aware that the iPod Garage has been in the process of having its guts ripped out and replaced with a customized dynamic php-based infrastructure that will allow for not just the daily commentary and reviews, but also up-to-the minute news stories, reader comments, and the whole shebang. It's soon (really soon), just a couple of sunrises away, for that matter. In fact, the new version of the site has been up and running in simulation for the past two days now, and even though no one's been able to see it, we've been publishing all the columns and reviews there each day. And for that matter, we've been posting up-to-the-minute news, for no one to read I guess, so we could push the new system hard enough to identify any of the remaining larger glitches.
The new iPod Garage is just a few days away from officially seeing daylight, and in fact, if you want to take a look right now, you can see it right here. Read the news, post comments, do whatever you want with it. Just keep in mind that it's still pre-beta, things aren't supposed to be perfect yet, and you're not really supposed to be there. Don't tell the new webmaster I let you in early; he's still in the trenches working feverishly on the finishing touches. But feel free to prounce around the new digs and get comfortable with them. I have a feeling some of you are going to be spening a lot of time there soon enough.
The thing is, though, now that I've got iPod Garage as my primary iPod news outlet, I'm unsure as to just how much or how little "iPod news" to post to MacMischief. I'd actually like to hear from some of you on this, in terms of what actually qualifies as "Mac news"...and whether the fact that you are or aren't an iPod user had anything to do with your verdict. Y'all know how to reach me.
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