I know that iPods are ingenious, but I am always thinking to myself about this sort of unarticulated theory that the Walkman, and in turn, the move towards mass customization, fundamentally altered the way that we organize our society.
It's all sort of neocon now, as opposed to buying into the idea that in order to hear what you'd like on the radio, you have to call the station and request a song and also listen to what everyone else wants to hear.
Someone far more articulate than me has a truly fabulous essay on the idea that the portability of the Walkman removed an essential feature of listening to music - context. [via Arts & Letters Daily]
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