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CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

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Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#51

I thought I was going to roll my eyes at the selection, but there's something for everyone here given the year and they allow listeners to dip into genre's they may never actively listen to. Quite nice to see Miles Davis' "Kinda Blue" and the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five". Those were the two albums (along with Coltrane's "Blue Train" and Thelonius Monk - [don't remember the record]) that gave me an entry door in…

The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even for the time). Having only a single rock album, on the other hand (and no Metal), might look prescient today.

> The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even for the time).

That's a really good point, and well spotted. I'm amazed I hadn't noticed that being a fan of NWA et-al from that era.

[edit]

Upon further thought, I'm also wondering if there may have been objections from certain artists and/or they couldn't get contractual releases for this purpose - up until then I guess the rights were for CD/Tape/Vinyl/SACD etc, digital music may have been viewed with suspicion by some bands - e.g. Metallica. Just a thought.

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#53
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a pretty big difference between something that autodownloads a list retrieved from a database-backed web service and remote code execution (a “backdoor”).

OS updates are remote code execution. We trust them because it's in the best financial interest of the company not to abuse them.

You would think, but that doesn't correlate with the behavior of Microsoft.

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even for the time). Having only a single rock album, on the other hand (and no Metal), might look prescient today.

> The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even for the time). That's a really good point, and well spotted. I'm amazed I hadn't noticed that being a fan of NWA et-al from that era. [edit] Upon further thought, I'm also wondering if there may have been objections from certain artists and/or they couldn't get contractual releases for this purpose - up until then I guess the rights were…

As the article says, Apple bought 1 physical copy of these CDs for each iPod they pre-loaded to be on somewhat more solid legal footing. Digital rights would have had to be negotiated on a case by case basis, and at least for the Beatles records, Apple had a bad relationship with the copyright holder at the time.

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Apple and Apple settled their differences and you could finally get the Beatles on iTunes, Apple Stores played only Beetles music over their sound systems for months . I can only imagine what it was like working there at that point.

> I can only imagine what it was like working there at that point. Amazing?

Working in any environment where you listen to the same 2-hour loop of music for months at a time is rough, when it is the same loop of the same artist?

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#56
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was fairly well established at this point (Jay Z, Outkast...). My somewhat snarky point though was that the iPod was obviously a very forward thinking and revolutionary device that was the direct predecessor the iPhone. Jobs had great vision and could practically "see the future" of consumer electronics, yet this music collection is like the most generic suburban backyard bbq playlist for middle age people…

>If Jobs had the same insight into music as he had into tech, we'd see way more hip hop, electronic. You can be on the cutting edge of music without liking hip hop or electronic music. The problems wasn't the genres he picked, but the incredibly generic band choices within those genres. I do like hip hop (and electronic is slowly growing on me), but that doesn't mean that everyone that doesn't is out of touch. There'…

Totally. The choices were bland within the genres they represented. Still, as a music player with, at the time, incredible storage it seems like having a bunch of genres represented would have showcased the iPod's capabilities better.

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even for the time). That's a really good point, and well spotted. I'm amazed I hadn't noticed that being a fan of NWA et-al from that era. [edit] Upon further thought, I'm also wondering if there may have been objections from certain artists and/or they couldn't get contractual releases for this purpose - up until then I guess the rights were…

As the article says, Apple bought 1 physical copy of these CDs for each iPod they pre-loaded to be on somewhat more solid legal footing. Digital rights would have had to be negotiated on a case by case basis, and at least for the Beatles records, Apple had a bad relationship with the copyright holder at the time.

Or maybe rap/hiphop just wasn't Job's bag.

But it's not beyond the possibility that given the new format (yeah I know), there were possibly contracts explicitly for certain mediums (CD/vinyl) and some artists either didn't respond to contractual updates, or just plain said "no way".

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#58

I thought I was going to roll my eyes at the selection, but there's something for everyone here given the year and they allow listeners to dip into genre's they may never actively listen to. Quite nice to see Miles Davis' "Kinda Blue" and the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five". Those were the two albums (along with Coltrane's "Blue Train" and Thelonius Monk - [don't remember the record]) that gave me an entry door in…

The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even for the time). Having only a single rock album, on the other hand (and no Metal), might look prescient today.

How many big caliber trend setting high society "journalists" invited to this shindig would be hiphop/rap connoisseurs you think?

   Fuck the police! Comin' straight from the underground
   A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I'm brown
might not go down well with NYTimes, publishers of "N.W.A.is deliberately provocative, and the songs on ''Straight Outta Compton'' are vicious, sexist and stupid;"

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#59
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a pretty big difference between something that autodownloads a list retrieved from a database-backed web service and remote code execution (a “backdoor”).

OS updates are remote code execution. We trust them because it's in the best financial interest of the company not to abuse them.

OS updates, if not automatic, do not remotely execute code.

Re: CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016)

#60
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was fairly well established at this point (Jay Z, Outkast...). My somewhat snarky point though was that the iPod was obviously a very forward thinking and revolutionary device that was the direct predecessor the iPhone. Jobs had great vision and could practically "see the future" of consumer electronics, yet this music collection is like the most generic suburban backyard bbq playlist for middle age people…

>If Jobs had the same insight into music as he had into tech, we'd see way more hip hop, electronic. You can be on the cutting edge of music without liking hip hop or electronic music. The problems wasn't the genres he picked, but the incredibly generic band choices within those genres. I do like hip hop (and electronic is slowly growing on me), but that doesn't mean that everyone that doesn't is out of touch. There'…

I can’t think of any good hip hop that came out before 2001 that wouldn’t have been too controversial for the sensibilities of corporate America.
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