Of all the inventions of the past decade, the most culturally consequential just might be the iPod, Apple's proprietary name for the MP3 player, that stores and plays the audio files used to transmit recorded sound over the Web.
Today, audio professionals are custom-tailoring their product to sound best on iPods, the same way that pop record producers of the early 1960s are said to have tailored their product to sound best on car radios. The near-miraculous convenience of MP3s, that can be stored and retrieved with the greatest of ease, make it easy to purchase music over the Web via services like Apple's iTunes.
Like a third of Baby Boomers, I'm experiencing one of the more predictable consequences of growing older, which is the mild but noticeable case of presbycusis, the medical term for age-related hearing loss. The sensory cell receptors in my inner ear are gradually degenerating as a result of advancing age and sins of the past (listening to loud music in my youth).
But I can still enjoy music of all kinds, even though I don't hear it quite as well, on the trusty iPod in my iPhone.
Source: The Deaf Audiophile by Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2007
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