Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Celebrating one year under the "iProng" name
I almost missed my own anniversary. No, not my wedding anniversary. I'm referring to the one year anniversary of the name change that was supposed to kill us. And I almost let it sneak up on me without even noticing.
A few weeks ago my mother asked me how long ago it was that we first starting being iProng. Actually, in a testament to just how far cell phone technology still has to go, I initially thought she had asked me how long ago I started having eye problems, but that's another story entirely. But her spidey sense must have been tinging at the right time, because I looked up the date and it turns out that on May 8th it'll be precisely one year since we stopped being iPod Garage and started being the iPod website with the funny name that everyone still stops and asks us about.
It's a date that doesn't mean a lot to me. When it comes to this publication, the date of significance was in January when we celebrated iProng's third birthday in San Francisco with a few hundred of our closest friends (and for the record, I still have no explanation for what was going on in those photos from the party). The day we first started publishing this site was January 20th, 2004, and those who wish to do their homework will discover that we were called neither "iProng" nor "iPod Garage" on that day, so what's in a name anyway?
But now seems like a good time to take a look back and see how things have worked out in the past year, if only because so many people (including some close friends) told me that we'd never survive if we stopped using the word "iPod" in the name of our publication. But rather than try to do some kind of then vs. now comparison, I thought I'd just make a list of some of the more interesting things we've accomplished since we started publishing under the name "iProng" a year ago. In no particular order:
- Published our four hundredth hands-on iPod accessory review
- Exhibited at Podcast Expo and MacGathering
- Covered the Voodoo Music Experience as credentialed music journalists
- Sponsored, attended, and/or presented at four different PodCamps
- Covered iPod accessories from seventy-five companies at the 2007 Macworld Expo
- Launched a podcast which has included interviews with Grammy winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, and Olympic gold medalists
Looking over the above list, it occurs to me that much of the new territory we've covered in the past twelve months doesn't relate to the iPod directly, at least not from a technological standpoint. On the day we announced the name change I said that the iPod universe was no longer just about the iPod, and I meant it. And when I launched this site three-plus years ago I said from day one that the goal was to be at least as much about the content as it is about the technology. It's taken a little while to get there. But if I've got anything to say about the past year, it's that we're getting there.
The other day I was trying to explain to an old friend in layman's terms what it is I do for a living, and I ended up settling on saying that I'm a journalist who drifts between the tech and entertainment industries. Still not quite sure how we got here. Right now there's a link to iProng on the front page of the website of a music label owned by Kiefer Sutherland, and if you'd told me a year ago that it was going to happen, I'd have thought you were playing a game of MadLibs. Three of the guests we interviewed on iProng Radio in the month of April have made appearances on the David Letterman show in the past year. So much for the idea that no one would pay attention to an "iPod site" that tried to focus on the content you can put on your iPod.
I'm not particularly inclined to postulate on where iProng might be a year from today, as this isn't the anniversary I care about. In the scheme of things we're about three and a quarter years into this journey, and when we gather in January 2008 for iProng's fourth birthday I'll be happy to step back and take another look at where we are. In the mean time, on behalf of all nineteen of us who collaborate on getting iProng out the door each day (including the two newest staff members who haven't been publicly announced yet), I want to thank all you for reading (and listening and watching) what we've had to say about the iPod universe over these past few years.
And for all of you who have asked "what is an iProng anyway?" I'm just glad you're still asking.
Much thanks,
Bill Palmer
Publisher and Founder of iProng, voice of the iPod generation
I almost missed my own anniversary. No, not my wedding anniversary. I'm referring to the one year anniversary of the name change that was supposed to kill us. And I almost let it sneak up on me without even noticing.
A few weeks ago my mother asked me how long ago it was that we first starting being iProng. Actually, in a testament to just how far cell phone technology still has to go, I initially thought she had asked me how long ago I started having eye problems, but that's another story entirely. But her spidey sense must have been tinging at the right time, because I looked up the date and it turns out that on May 8th it'll be precisely one year since we stopped being iPod Garage and started being the iPod website with the funny name that everyone still stops and asks us about.
It's a date that doesn't mean a lot to me. When it comes to this publication, the date of significance was in January when we celebrated iProng's third birthday in San Francisco with a few hundred of our closest friends (and for the record, I still have no explanation for what was going on in those photos from the party). The day we first started publishing this site was January 20th, 2004, and those who wish to do their homework will discover that we were called neither "iProng" nor "iPod Garage" on that day, so what's in a name anyway?
But now seems like a good time to take a look back and see how things have worked out in the past year, if only because so many people (including some close friends) told me that we'd never survive if we stopped using the word "iPod" in the name of our publication. But rather than try to do some kind of then vs. now comparison, I thought I'd just make a list of some of the more interesting things we've accomplished since we started publishing under the name "iProng" a year ago. In no particular order:
- Published our four hundredth hands-on iPod accessory review
- Exhibited at Podcast Expo and MacGathering
- Covered the Voodoo Music Experience as credentialed music journalists
- Sponsored, attended, and/or presented at four different PodCamps
- Covered iPod accessories from seventy-five companies at the 2007 Macworld Expo
- Launched a podcast which has included interviews with Grammy winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, and Olympic gold medalists
Looking over the above list, it occurs to me that much of the new territory we've covered in the past twelve months doesn't relate to the iPod directly, at least not from a technological standpoint. On the day we announced the name change I said that the iPod universe was no longer just about the iPod, and I meant it. And when I launched this site three-plus years ago I said from day one that the goal was to be at least as much about the content as it is about the technology. It's taken a little while to get there. But if I've got anything to say about the past year, it's that we're getting there.
The other day I was trying to explain to an old friend in layman's terms what it is I do for a living, and I ended up settling on saying that I'm a journalist who drifts between the tech and entertainment industries. Still not quite sure how we got here. Right now there's a link to iProng on the front page of the website of a music label owned by Kiefer Sutherland, and if you'd told me a year ago that it was going to happen, I'd have thought you were playing a game of MadLibs. Three of the guests we interviewed on iProng Radio in the month of April have made appearances on the David Letterman show in the past year. So much for the idea that no one would pay attention to an "iPod site" that tried to focus on the content you can put on your iPod.
I'm not particularly inclined to postulate on where iProng might be a year from today, as this isn't the anniversary I care about. In the scheme of things we're about three and a quarter years into this journey, and when we gather in January 2008 for iProng's fourth birthday I'll be happy to step back and take another look at where we are. In the mean time, on behalf of all nineteen of us who collaborate on getting iProng out the door each day (including the two newest staff members who haven't been publicly announced yet), I want to thank all you for reading (and listening and watching) what we've had to say about the iPod universe over these past few years.
And for all of you who have asked "what is an iProng anyway?" I'm just glad you're still asking.
Much thanks,
Bill Palmer
Publisher and Founder of iProng, voice of the iPod generation
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