Is iTunes Music Store Too Cool For You?

What's hot on iTunes Music Store is not what's hot on my iPod.

I'm an early adopter and bought the original five gigabyte iPod way back when. I purchased and downloaded music from the iTunes Music Store when it opened. Since then, I've lost my mojo. Am I no longer iPod cool?

Yes, I check the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) from time to time. Since the store opened I’ve purchased nearly $1,500 in music, music videos, and TV shows for my Mac and iPod.

Not only did I buy songs from artists that I loved when I was young(er), but iTMS opened me up to new sounds and gave me a chance to celebrate music with a greater selection.

Rock n RollThat’s cool, right? I’ve paid my iPod dues. So, where did my mojo go? It must be gone because I’m having a hard time finding artists that I’ve heard of on iTMS.

No, let me take that back. It’s not difficult to find them. I just don’t know who all the others are.

For example, right now on the iTunes Music Store home page is Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits (I’ve got them), Andrea Bocelli’s Amore (I swoon), Alabama, and Lisa Loeb. Lisa who?

Uh oh. I can also pre-order Jack Johnson’s newest album. Jack who? See what I mean?

I love music videos. The selection at iTMS is anemic. I’m anemic, too, but it’s a medical condition, not a statement of inventory.

iTMS’ Top 100 music videos is a mixed bag of artists I’ve never heard, a few I’ve heard of and never scene or heard, and missing the ones I want.

At the top today is ‘Dance, Dance’ by Fall Out Boy. Uh huh. Ok. Who? At #4 is Jessica Simpson’s ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin.’ Jessica’s hotter than Nancy Sinatra was at the same age. Nancy’s father was a better singer than Jessica’s father.

Where’s Shania Twain’s, ‘Man. I Feel Like A Woman.’ It’ll be a gift for a friend who pines oveer Shania’s toy boys.

TV shows from iTMS are hot and so is Apple’s iPod with video. I’ve managed to pick up a few episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Battlestar Galactica.’ I love Steve Carell, but can’t handle ‘The Office.’

I downloaded a few Saturday Night Live classic skits. ‘Samurai’ anything is great stuff, no matter your generation.

The Top TV Shows? Uh oh. I’m lost. Dane Cook? I need to stay up later and get aquainted with a new generation. It’s tough enough to break in the new kids at SNL. Why is ‘Jackass, Episode 1’ in the Top 10?

What? Lewis Black didn’t even make the Top 10? That’s a travesty. Or an indication of a widening generation gap. Hey, I’m an adult. I have an iPod. I buy from iTMS.

Doesn’t that make me cool? Apparently not. I don’t have one epsidoe of South Park and wouldn’t think of downloading an episode entitled, ‘Catman Gets An Anal Probe.’

If you’re a generation or two removed from the generation that’s hot and hip, does that make you less than cool? No. Apple’s iTunes Music Store is a bridge for all ages.

I can stay in my pajamas and browse all day long. Try that at Wal-Mart or Tower Records or Sam Goody. Regardless, I’ve figured out why more of what sells actually sells to yonger generations.

It’s not because they’re cool. It’s not because I’ve lost my cool. It’s a scientific effect heretofore dubbed ‘The Patricks Reverse Cascading Effect.™’

Cascading downward from older to younger, each generation has more time to browse, shop, and define what’s cool than previous generations.

It’s not that we’re not cool, we just don’t have the time.

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Reader comments...
Nate Porter says:

Even as a young person myself I feel as if I am out of the loop.
I see comercials for NOW 328 and haven’t heard of anything on it.
I like my 90’s music and not this studio edited garbage.

I love the “The Patricks Reverse Cascading Effectô” term
espically the ô!


Wil Gomez says:

I hear you. Keeping up is a challenge, mostly because I refuse to devote the time necessary to know everything there is to know. No matter what, I still kill the young ‘uns on Jeopardy, more than hold my own on Wheel of Fortune. And I knew iPods when they weren’t cool.


LonePalm says:

Hi, Tera, Great name for a site.

Welcome to the Great Generational Shiftô.
I don’t know who 95% of the free iTunes song of the week artists are. What’s more - I don’t care. I’ll take my jazz, blues, fusion and rock any day over most of today’s artists. At least what I listen to has lasting appeal.

Seriously, who is going to be the musical flag-bearer of this generation? Who is the Who, Led Zep or Springsteen of rap?

Can’t name one? I thought so. While there are some who qualify, my thought is that no one is going to be playing golden oldie rap music in twenty years, but they’ll still be playing rock.
 
Cool?  “Who cares?” is my mantra.


Jim says:

My 60Gig iPod has over 5000 songs on it, mostly blues, jazz, classic rock, some new age, classical, and holiday music. I’ve probably got an additional 5000 in my iTunes library.

Be that as it may…Tera I hear you. Thank god I’ve got a 25-year old son, who’s got more songs in his iTunes library than I do in mine. He keeps me somewhat in the here and now, gifting me with the occasional playlist of good current music I might not otherwise listen to.

What’s interesting though is how much classic rock he has on his iPod, stuff that I listened to in the 60s, 70s, and 80s (Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, the Beatles, the Stones, and many others).

What’s the moral of this story? Just that great music is timeless…and personal. The whole point of the iPod/iTunes experience is you’re listening to your own personal radio station, which plays what you want, commercial free, and frequently surprises you with a great old song you haven’t heard in awhile, sometimes eliciting a whole host of good memories. That’s very cool!


trex67 says:

As a general rule, British pop bands are cool (The Beatles, McManus, Gang of Four, Radiohead, etc., etc.) and American bands, well, not so much. There are obviously exceptions to this rule, almost all of which are bands nobody has ever heard of.

This is my opinion, which is correct as well as true. It is also wrong and biased. BTW, I’m a U.S. citizen and musician, ergo a poor source of information and mentally unstable.


John says:

Tune in the local campus station, use iTunes radio and plug into a Hungarian punk station while the Kraft Dinner hydrates, walk into a real store, ask three people who scare you what single CD you should buy ... and do it.

If you only watch CNN you will never learn anything new.

If you only read authours Oprah recommends you will never learn anything new.

Cascade effects result from friction and inertia.

Life is fragile ... experience it all, including music.


Mark Fojas says:

Tera,

Pandora.com is your best friend as far as getting into the mix. Jack Johnson is phenomenal. And since pandora links straight into iTunes, well, you’ll never have to worry about having a zero balance on your credit card.

And I can’t believe you don’t remember who Lisa Loeb is. She was a one or two hit wonder from the 90’s trying to make a comeback.


Tom Coppinger says:

iTunes is undoubtedly cool. My music tastes? No dispute on that score—completely uncool. Just ask my kids.

Nevertheless, for all my adherence to MOR, I find it sad not to find the following on the Ireland iTunes Music Store:
the Monkees
the Bangles
Billy Joel
Elton John
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
MacArthur’s Park by Richard Harris

Mind you, you lot in the USA probably have access. It might be a licensing/rights thing that keep such music out of my iTunes.

The Cascade Effect, as defined, would also empower the Grey generation to say what’s cool, as they have the time and the money, even moreso than the young generation. I would theorise that the younger generations define “cool” because at some point it no longer matters to older generations what is ‘cool’, and we willingly relinquish that right to the young.


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