Lab1

==== Sony’s breakthrough product in 1980s change the way people listened to music. Technology allowing people having the ability to carry music with them was astonishing for its time and users have embraced this ability to this day. Various companies have produced similar products over the course of 30 years since the first walkman was introduced. Sony’s walkman used a bulky frame with all the mechanism of a cassette stereo used at people’s house at the time. It used audio cassettes to play the music and had rewind, forward, volume control and for most models, a recording feature. Most standard models required AA batteries to operate and did end up consuming the battery life fairly quickly. For its time it left no feature left out for people to experience listening to music anywhere given the technological restrictions of its time. It had no screen in terms of user interface and ended up being a play and listen device. The most popular device that is used to listen to music these days is the apple’s iPod which has revolutionized the way people listened to music and very likely has singlehandedly destroyed the competition. iPod’s main objective remains the same as sony’s walkman. It allows people to carry music portably and listen to it anywhere. However, it is a lot lighter than the walkman and uses digital music files in an AAC format which are stored on a solid state hard drive just like they would be on a big computer. Instead of using external batteries, it uses a built in rechargeable battery which lasts a lot longer than the AA batteries did while using a walkman. The current generation of iPods use a 2.5” backlit screen with a 320 by 240 pixel resolution which provide magnificent detail to the user in terms of what song is being played, its artist, the album cover, the lyrics and how the user rates that particular song. The iPod further allows users to have custom equalization settings which allows for better sound. Its user interface in terms of controlling the iPod was revolutionizing and had never been seen before. It uses a touch wheel with some clickable buttons which allows full control with mere swipes of fingers. The iPod offers such satisfaction in terms of listening to music on the go to its user at every level, that needless to say that it has become the epitome of what a music player should be and more than that it has become part of youth culture. ====

