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

by Tomte • 7 years ago

111 65 7 years ago

roryrjb2• 7 years ago

A pretty good collection in fact. Of course the stuff here is popular, but mostly for good reason, and varied, naturally. Thinking about music and Apple always makes me think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer

8draco85• 7 years ago

Spotify playlist of all 20 CDs https://open.spotify.com/user/1168552961/playlist/7D4SVuRHKn...

RandomGuyDTB• 7 years ago

Beat me to it. I was creating one just now.

duxup3• 7 years ago

Something to listen to on the commute home, thanks.

Viker• 7 years ago

Thank you

malvosenior5• 7 years ago

Just because someone is at the top of their field (consumer electronics) doesn't mean that they know anything about other, non-related fields (music). I was actually at this event and I remember rolling my eyes so hard they almost fell out of their sockets as this was the most trite, baby boomer-centric music selection I'd ever seen.

Not to mention the cringe worthy Bono/Jobs relationship:

https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/10/07/bono-calls-steve-...

roryrjb2• 7 years ago

I thought the same thing when I saw the title of this, but rolling your eyes at Glenn Gould playing Bach, Bob Marley, Nirvana or the Beatles? Come on! This is some of the most influential and culturally important music there is. This isn't just popular it's good. Of course it'd be more interesting if they chose Gamelan, late John Coltrane, Jordi Savall, Karlheinz Stockhausen or Merzbow, but seriously what else would you expect?

malvosenior5• 7 years ago

Glenn Gould playing Bach, Bob Marley, Nirvana or the Beatles

One of these things is not like the others :) Yes, there's some great music included but it's a very cliche and unsurprising collection. Certainly not "think different" style.

AdmiralAsshat3• 7 years ago

Not to mention the cringe worthy Bono/Jobs relationship:

The more interesting relationship, IMO, was the Joan Baez/Jobs relationship.

8draco85• 7 years ago

A lot of music on that list is not specific for baby boomers. Even those baby boomer era artists like Bob Dylan and The Beatles are regarded as very important and influential figures in popular music. Not to mention that Mozart, Nirvana, Faith Hill and Bach are definitely not baby boomers era artists

malvosenior5• 7 years ago

Bob Dylan and The Beatles are regarded as very important and influential figures in popular music

This was the assumption through the later half of the 20th century, but I don't think it's the case at this point. I haven't even heard The Beatles in a commercial context in about a decade (something unthinkable as early as 2000). Hip hop clearly had a large influence on the pop culture of today and (totally unrepresented in this collection). Plus there's really no excuse for including The Dave Matthews Band :P

munificent• 7 years ago

Sure, but if you had to winnow all of the world's (or just US's) best music down to only 20 CDs, do you really need to include two Beatles albums and Simon and Garfunkel ones? Is Faith Hill really the best you can do for country?

I would ditch those three and consider replacing them with:

* Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

* Michael Jackson - Thriller

* Wu Tang Clan - Enter The Wu Tang

Some punk and metal representation would be good too. And, honestly, Play hasn't held up well over the years. If you want something more representative or influential, maybe Orbital's brown album or Underworld's dubnobywithmyheadman.

johnnycab• 7 years ago

Just because someone is at the top of their field (consumer electronics) doesn't mean that they know anything about other, non-related fields (music)

Apple was not exactly at the top of their field before betting on the iPod. The curated collection was not only personal, it was also as iconic as the device it was meant to show off. You would probably balk at the idea of Karlheinz Brandenburg's choice of Tom's Diner too.

duxup3• 7 years ago

Just because someone is at the top of their field (consumer electronics) doesn't mean that they know anything about other, non-related fields (music).

So?

I think the article is just a geewiz kinda article that looks back and lists the CDs. It's interesting, I don't think it is declaring Jobs or anyone else some sort of status as defining music in anyway. Most of that music is highly thought of by lots of people anyway.

The rest of your post I think says more about your preferences than anything else.

m4633• 7 years ago

You're not the target market.

As a matter of fact, that's how just about everything apple works. They are "for the rest of us" and they don't pander to professionals (no matter if they name their products "pro")

scarface743• 7 years ago

Just because someone is at the top of their field (consumer electronics) doesn't mean that they know anything about other, non-related fields (music).

Ed Colligan former CEO of Palm in 2006 on rumors that Apple was releasing a phone.

“We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone, PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.“

AdmiralAsshat3• 7 years ago

It's a pity they couldn't continue to pack those into production iPods (I'm sure it would've been too costly). There's a handful of albums within that group I already own, and a good number that I wouldn't necessarily buy, but would definitely listen to if it were freely included.

joezydeco• 7 years ago

Apple Computer was continuously in legal battles with Apple Corps (the record label owned by the Beatles) over staying out of each other’s business (easy for the Beatles, hard for Steve Jobs)

Shipping iPod with Beatles content would have been a really nasty legal knot. Or it would have made the universe implode. One or the other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer

duxup3• 7 years ago

I remember that. Seems like a simple idea, but at the time seemed about as doable as cold fusion.

wlesieutre• 7 years ago

A funny tidbit from this saga:

When new sounds for System 7 were created, the sounds were reviewed by Apple's Legal Department who objected that the new sound alert "chime" had a name that was "too musical," under the recent settlement. The creator of the new sound alerts for System 7, Jim Reekes, had grown frustrated with the legal scrutiny and first quipped it should be named "Let It Beep", a pun on The Beatles' "Let It Be". When someone remarked that that would not pass Legal's approval, he remarked, "so sue me". After a brief reflection, he resubmitted the sound's name as sosumi (a homophone of "so sue me"), telling the Legal Department that the name was Japanese and had nothing to do with music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosumi

favorited2• 7 years ago

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.

m4633• 7 years ago

People would complain (remember the pre-loaded U2 album?)

AdmiralAsshat3• 7 years ago

I've never had an iPod (even as a kid, I had to be "that guy" being different, with my Creative ZEN mp3 player), but my understanding is that the U2 album was something that was pushed out to everyone, not pre-loaded, correct? Maybe I'm misremembering.

FWIW, I'm also a Kobo user, and I've never heard of anyone complaining about the 100 public domain eBooks that were preloaded onto early Kobo devices.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobo_eReader#Kobo_eReader

striking• 7 years ago

I don't think people would complain if it came with the product, just like no one complained about the few tracks that came with Windows 7 (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Tuna).

The problem with the U2 tracks is that 1) they were delivered automatically by surprise and 2) you couldn't refuse them. They were just dropped onto your phone without warning. This is especially egregious when you consider the fact that Apple has been charging an arm and a leg for storage space on phones, so people were left without storage as this album auto downloaded. (see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2794347/oops...)

Preloads are fine, especially when done tastefully or unobtrusively. Apple didn't do that with the U2 tracks.

ekingr• 7 years ago

Too bad I cannot manage to find Crash by Dave Matthews Band in Apple Music.

All the other are available (at least in France).

idlewords• 7 years ago

You don't know how lucky you are.

teh_klev3• 7 years ago

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 into jazz back in the mid-90's and ever since jazz has been such a joy in my life. Davis' "So What" still stands up the hairs on the back of my neck even after 25 years each time I play it.

That said I have a fairly wide taste in music ranging from Napalm Death to Philip Glass, from 60's psychadelic to 21st century analogue electronica.

microtherion4• 7 years ago

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.

teh_klev3• 7 years ago

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.

rasz• 7 years ago

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;"

JudgeWapner• 7 years ago

Difficult to find hip-hop devoid of profanity, violence, lewdness, misogyny, or drug use (primarily marijuana, which was actively prosecuted back then).

ebg13• 7 years ago

Today, you can watch that historical event on YouTube
Video unavailable

sigh.

LeoPanthera• 7 years ago

archive.org to the rescue. They are a charity. Give them money.

https://archive.org/details/Apple_iPod_Introduction_2001

asadlionpk• 7 years ago

Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAU5lY4oxeU

gkarthik92• 7 years ago

Playlist with all 20 albums on Apple music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/20-cds/pl.u-4JomX69uaZa1...

rezmason• 7 years ago

On a related note, Macs came with the following music before iTunes gained its music store.

It includes a song by Snake River Conspiracy about polyamory! Bet you no one expected that from Apple back in 2000.

https://open.spotify.com/user/rezmason/playlist/0mWEVPaZDH2Y...

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

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