Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Music is Following Me Around
Have you noticed that more and more devices are being aggregates? You no longer have your walkman, your phone, your computer, your TV, your home stereo, your kids' dinky home stereo, VCR, etc. Now we have a variety of catch-alls.
I know many people who use their computers as stereos and movie-players (thanks to DVD, since VHS is effectively dead--this is, incidentally, another thing that will keep Blu-Ray from every taking off). I watch TV on my computer. I recently replaced my 6-piece component stereo with a 5-disc combination CD/DVD player with it's own surround amplifier and speaker set.
Many modern cell phones now are pocket computers that play music and video and can access the internet. It's interesting to me, because now it's no longer about finding the peripherals that do what you want. Back in the component-stereo days, you got eight devices that each did one thing. It was easy to customize, easy to upgrade. If your record-player broke, you didn't have to fix the whole system, just the record-player. But now you get two or three devices that each do three or four things. The consequence of this has been a move towards a more disposable view of electronics, for good or for ill.
So what's next? Maybe a single, central entertainment system for your home, and each member has their own interface, which grants access to certain features (e.g., you wouldn't want your 6-year-old to be able to watch Pulp Fiction). You could even fancy-it-up by pairing it with personal phones using BlueTooth (because Pulp Fiction aside, your 6-year-old will inevitably have a cell phone).
Seriously though, posit this. You're in the kitchen cooking, listening to Bob Marley. You get a call. Your phone sends a message to the stereo to pause it if it's an mp3 or to attenuate it if you're streaming audio from an internet radio station. You finish your call, the music comes back. You go off to the bathroom, and the system knows about where you are because of where it's picking you up via BlueTooth. Your spouse is in the living room watching a movie, so the music stops when you walk through there, but it starts up in the bathroom when you arrive there.
Etc, etc, etc. You could, feasibly, use the same system to keep track of your movies/television/games/etc. Maybe you could even tie it to your car--have something in your garage that allowed you to upload/download movies and music to your vehicle.
In my humble opinion, this looks to be the direction we're headed. Portability, ease of use, flexibility, and I think more and more we're going to see a lack of physical media. Of course, the downside is this: if your record player breaks, do you have to replace your whole house?
I know many people who use their computers as stereos and movie-players (thanks to DVD, since VHS is effectively dead--this is, incidentally, another thing that will keep Blu-Ray from every taking off). I watch TV on my computer. I recently replaced my 6-piece component stereo with a 5-disc combination CD/DVD player with it's own surround amplifier and speaker set.
Many modern cell phones now are pocket computers that play music and video and can access the internet. It's interesting to me, because now it's no longer about finding the peripherals that do what you want. Back in the component-stereo days, you got eight devices that each did one thing. It was easy to customize, easy to upgrade. If your record-player broke, you didn't have to fix the whole system, just the record-player. But now you get two or three devices that each do three or four things. The consequence of this has been a move towards a more disposable view of electronics, for good or for ill.
So what's next? Maybe a single, central entertainment system for your home, and each member has their own interface, which grants access to certain features (e.g., you wouldn't want your 6-year-old to be able to watch Pulp Fiction). You could even fancy-it-up by pairing it with personal phones using BlueTooth (because Pulp Fiction aside, your 6-year-old will inevitably have a cell phone).
Seriously though, posit this. You're in the kitchen cooking, listening to Bob Marley. You get a call. Your phone sends a message to the stereo to pause it if it's an mp3 or to attenuate it if you're streaming audio from an internet radio station. You finish your call, the music comes back. You go off to the bathroom, and the system knows about where you are because of where it's picking you up via BlueTooth. Your spouse is in the living room watching a movie, so the music stops when you walk through there, but it starts up in the bathroom when you arrive there.
Etc, etc, etc. You could, feasibly, use the same system to keep track of your movies/television/games/etc. Maybe you could even tie it to your car--have something in your garage that allowed you to upload/download movies and music to your vehicle.
In my humble opinion, this looks to be the direction we're headed. Portability, ease of use, flexibility, and I think more and more we're going to see a lack of physical media. Of course, the downside is this: if your record player breaks, do you have to replace your whole house?
Labels: technology
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