Comments on: Why Japan didn’t create the iPod http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/ Wed, 9 Jul 2008 01:27:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Brian http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-800 Tue, 27 May 2008 03:59:37 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-800 The "initial" success of iPod (as opposed to its becoming a "mainstream" brand, after the release of iPod mini / nano), I believe, had more to do with its strong emphasis on metadata (which, in turn, was possible because of its close tie-in with PC counterpart, iTunes), than with its design / marketing (again, at least initially); iPod offered a very effective way of enjoying a large song collections, without having to manually compile many different playlists (which could become quite tedious and frustrating). On the contrary, other disk-based MP3 players at that time were conceptually identical to the flash-based ones, only with larger storage space: in other words, they were basically external storage devices, which happened to be able to play media files stored on them. Of course those players did support MP3 tags as well, but (a) they didn't provide as much incentive to "tag" your songs as iPod (which not only practically required properly tagged songs to operate, but also provided a unique way of utilizing tags, a.k.a. Smart Playlists) and (b) there was (arguably) no other media organizer software that was as intuitive and easy to use (in terms of tagging a large collection of songs) as iTunes, let alone well-integrated with the player. In short, I think one of the major differentiator for iPod was its "hub" a.k.a. iTunes; so yes, I agree with this article in the sense that the difference in people's attitudes toward "home computer as a hub" (which was, at least partly, resulted from their historical / cultural differences) played a certain role in keeping the success of "Walkman" from being repeated in digital generation. The “initial” success of iPod (as opposed to its becoming a “mainstream” brand, after the release of iPod mini / nano), I believe, had more to do with its strong emphasis on metadata (which, in turn, was possible because of its close tie-in with PC counterpart, iTunes), than with its design / marketing (again, at least initially); iPod offered a very effective way of enjoying a large song collections, without having to manually compile many different playlists (which could become quite tedious and frustrating).
On the contrary, other disk-based MP3 players at that time were conceptually identical to the flash-based ones, only with larger storage space: in other words, they were basically external storage devices, which happened to be able to play media files stored on them.
Of course those players did support MP3 tags as well, but (a) they didn’t provide as much incentive to “tag” your songs as iPod (which not only practically required properly tagged songs to operate, but also provided a unique way of utilizing tags, a.k.a. Smart Playlists) and (b) there was (arguably) no other media organizer software that was as intuitive and easy to use (in terms of tagging a large collection of songs) as iTunes, let alone well-integrated with the player.
In short, I think one of the major differentiator for iPod was its “hub” a.k.a. iTunes; so yes, I agree with this article in the sense that the difference in people’s attitudes toward “home computer as a hub” (which was, at least partly, resulted from their historical / cultural differences) played a certain role in keeping the success of “Walkman” from being repeated in digital generation.

]]> by: Scott R http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-792 Mon, 26 May 2008 12:10:16 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-792 Interesting story. Thanks. Interesting story. Thanks.

]]> by: Martin F http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-720 Mon, 19 May 2008 09:33:33 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-720 Great article with an interesting point of view. What you missed is that the first MP3 player that appeared in the market was the MPMan F10 by Saehan Information Systems from South Korea. So, Newsweek might ask, why Apple is not Korean? Anyway, it is getting a bit silly to put a national slant on technology, when we all go to colleges that teach more or less the same stuff. I mean, why did Newsweek want to ask the question in the first place? Great article with an interesting point of view. What you missed is that the first MP3 player that appeared in the market was the MPMan F10 by Saehan Information Systems from South Korea. So, Newsweek might ask, why Apple is not Korean?

Anyway, it is getting a bit silly to put a national slant on technology, when we all go to colleges that teach more or less the same stuff. I mean, why did Newsweek want to ask the question in the first place?

]]> by: Steve http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-706 Sun, 18 May 2008 03:51:47 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-706 I owned a Creative MP3 player before the iPod. The iPod made it when Creative and others didn't because the iPod was a quantum leap in usability - like many things Apple, the iPod was uniquely intuitive while Creative was just a CD player (same size, same controls) with a hard disk. iPod succeeded because it is better. A question on the language thing. If language is so limiting, why can the cell phone be so successful as a a text based chat device and internet device? What can a phone do that a PC (or a thin client terminal) couldn't do years earlier? I suspect that the difference is that the young users of the cell phone found a different way to communicate and the phone was just the tool of choice for those creative kids. If the same creativity had been applied to use of the PC it too would have been viable. I owned a Creative MP3 player before the iPod. The iPod made it when Creative and others didn’t because the iPod was a quantum leap in usability - like many things Apple, the iPod was uniquely intuitive while Creative was just a CD player (same size, same controls) with a hard disk. iPod succeeded because it is better.

A question on the language thing. If language is so limiting, why can the cell phone be so successful as a a text based chat device and internet device? What can a phone do that a PC (or a thin client terminal) couldn’t do years earlier? I suspect that the difference is that the young users of the cell phone found a different way to communicate and the phone was just the tool of choice for those creative kids. If the same creativity had been applied to use of the PC it too would have been viable.

]]> by: Adrian Havill http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-653 Sun, 11 May 2008 07:17:06 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-653 Two minor sticking points: the 94 × 94 kuten matrix for Japanese character sets has no direct connection with the telegraph; it has a direct connection with ASCII, which has 94 printable characters. By choosing a 94 × 94 matrix, Japanese characters could be easily transported and converted onto protocols designed for 7-bit ASCII. Also, it should be pointed out that early versions of western 8-bit computers, much like the Japanese half-width katakana brethen, had no value for serious language-based applications like word processing. Why? Because early 8-bit computers, including the Apple II and Apple II+, did not support lower case. Two minor sticking points: the 94 × 94 kuten matrix for Japanese character sets has no direct connection with the telegraph; it has a direct connection with ASCII, which has 94 printable characters.

By choosing a 94 × 94 matrix, Japanese characters could be easily transported and converted onto protocols designed for 7-bit ASCII.

Also, it should be pointed out that early versions of western 8-bit computers, much like the Japanese half-width katakana brethen, had no value for serious language-based applications like word processing. Why? Because early 8-bit computers, including the Apple II and Apple II+, did not support lower case.

]]> by: RedWhite&Brooklyn http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-636 Fri, 09 May 2008 20:28:30 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-636 ATT: "from there home " Yeah... like spelling lessons, genius. ATT: “from there home ”

Yeah… like spelling lessons, genius.

]]> by: Gray Lensman http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-616 Thu, 08 May 2008 02:37:20 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-616 I remember a Canon stand-alone Japanese word processor in Denver in the mid-80's. The keyboard was really complicated, with multiple nested shift keys and many character keys. I watched the person use it but he did most of his business on the telephone. I remember a Canon stand-alone Japanese word processor in Denver in the mid-80’s. The keyboard was really complicated, with multiple nested shift keys and many character keys. I watched the person use it but he did most of his business on the telephone.

]]> by: links for 2008-05-08 « regeneration links and tweets http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-615 Thu, 08 May 2008 02:35:16 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-615 [...] GT!Blog » Why Japan didn’t create the iPod Interesting article on how the Japanese writing system influenced the design of computers in Japan. (tags: Japan Japanese Kanji language technology computers computer ipod apple computing linguistics) [...] […] GT!Blog » Why Japan didn’t create the iPod Interesting article on how the Japanese writing system influenced the design of computers in Japan. (tags: Japan Japanese Kanji language technology computers computer ipod apple computing linguistics) […]

]]> by: Boffdors http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-614 Thu, 08 May 2008 02:24:38 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-614 Great text!, brother Great text!, brother

]]> by: Richard http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-612 Wed, 07 May 2008 23:50:38 +0000 http://blog.gatunka.com/2008/05/05/why-japan-didnt-create-the-ipod/#comment-612 Actually there is an 'earth' (illusion) because of the language, in that Earth can perceived as a solid object in certain languages. But not all languages. Japan is a variant of Indonesian for 'Nippon - Nihon' meaning something like 'Sun Origin' (Land of the Rising Sun). Actually there is an ‘earth’ (illusion) because of the language, in that Earth can perceived as a solid object in certain languages. But not all languages.

Japan is a variant of Indonesian for ‘Nippon - Nihon’ meaning something like ‘Sun Origin’ (Land of the Rising Sun).

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