Why Apple, the iPod, and iTunes Are So Freakin’ Brilliant

Aug 28th, 2009 by Carlos

Want to know how I downloaded my very first MP3? It was The Devil Goes Down to Georgia, I downloaded it through mIRC, and I played it on my RIO PMP 300 player. Which let you listen to around seven songs at one time before you had to hook it up to your PC and switch the music out.

I know, I’m totally old school.

Downloading an MP3 back then was a real hassle.

Then Napster came along and changed everything. But it wasn’t legal, and a lot of people were still very skeptical. If you were in college, you got it, but everyone else didn’t trust MP3s. They had a “pirate” label attached to them.

Well, now MP3s are a part of our culture and the music industry itself has changed dramatically because of it.

But it had little to do with the MP3. It’s all Apple’s fault.

Apple Killed the Radio Star

I remember when I told people about my MP3 player and how I got music on it: they weren’t impressed. And for the longest time, I didn’t think MP3s would ever hit the mainstream.

Then iTunes came along and changed the whole game.

iTunes made it so anyone, and I mean anyone, could easily download music, pay for it, and listen to it on their computer/iPod in a way that was legal and cool.

All it cost you was a buck.

That was no small feat.

What Can We Learn From Apple?

I was thinking about all of this after reading this post on Apple and it hit me that what they did wasn’t terribly creative. They took an existing idea and made it better.

The thing is, they made it much better.

I spend a lot of time trying to come up with brand new ideas that no one else has come up with before. It’s really hard to do and it takes its toll. But what Apple proved with iTunes is that creating a better way to do something that’s already out there can be just as valuable. It’s not always about new and fresh, it’s about more efficient and better.

Look around your job/life and see if you can’t take an existing process or task and make it better. Or look at your budget and see if you can make it more efficient somehow.

Better doesn’t always have to be new or creative, but it can make a world of difference.