Apple, Don’t Try to Make the iPod Any “Better”

The days of the iPod being uber cool are definitely in the past, at this point the iPod has gone from accessory of the amazingly hip to default music player of the masses. The white bundle of gigabyte goodness has become virtually synonymous with “digital audio player” as evidenced by a recent conversation overheard at a local eatery:

“Hey, what kind of iPod is that?”
“iRiver”
“Oh, is it any good?”
“No.”

This kind of thing happens fairly frequently, once upon a time there were undoubtedly office managers who yearned for a Xerox machine of there very own. These same folks were “Xeroxing” a few years later on the office Ricoh. For a more germane example one could reflect on the heady years of the Walkman, sure the cool kids had players made by Sony but when the perpetually cash strapped high-schooler’s GPX piece of crap busted they lamented that their walkman just ate there favorite Judas Priest tape. Since the iPod is clearly on the verge of becoming a generic term for any digital audio player one wonders if the moment is coming when Apple decides to introduce an iPod with new features to differentiate the ubiquitous audio gold mine from the encroaching masses. Let us hope they don’t fall into that trap.

The easy thing to think is that any new functionality is an enhancement. That is not always the case, there exists a design maxim that proceeds roughly as follows: “Remove everything that isn’t absolutely necessary and then you will have an excellent design.” Which is a questionable mantra when you’re talking about the second hull on an oil tanker but applicable to the iPod. One example might be a Video iPod. Adding support for video would seem to be a logical next step but what is easily forgotten is the associated baggage that comes with adding video. With the addition of video Apple would not only be compelled to add extra connectivity ports (or yet another dock) but add to the interface as well. Every addition to the iPod is another opportunity for confusion or, at the very least, another menu item. It is easy to think that one more choice accessed via the thumb friendly scroll wheel isn’t a big deal, and in truth it isn’t, but forging ahead using the fallacy of the slippery slope we realize that one more menu item is likely to begat several menu items as the iPod slowly morphs into the Portable Hard Disk for Everyone (that happens to play music)^TM.

To which a lot of people might say “So what?” The argument is not unfounded but these people seem to forget that one of the most outstanding feature of the iPod is that nearly any moron can master the iPod while playing with a display model. Attempt the same trick with any number of competing players and you will likely be left befuddled. The Olympus mrobe provides an excellent test subject. The mrobe MR-100 features exquisite aesthetics, a similar shape and size to the iPod but the deal is busted as soon one attempts to interface with the thing. The ease of use just isn’t there when compared to an iPod. That advantage will be the first thing to suffer if the iPod suddenly becomes a Sirius, FM enabled, video streaming, cell phone, TV remote, PDA amalgamation.

Some will point out that the iPod is already more than just a digital music player. The iPod, they will note, plays a few simple games, features a rudimentary calendar and can even be used as an alarm clock. These additional features are all listed under the “Extra” menu and, as even a cursory glance will reveal, are things people are already very familiar with. A new user faced with a game of Breakout will probably understand the concept fairly quickly but when prompted to weave several cords betwixt the VideoPod and the component in jacks of a high definition television there is a large probability that the concept won’t be grasped so quickly. At this point one could successfully argue that the iPod photo is already going too far, that there is no inherent reason that a digital audio player should capture and store photos. It is a valid point but it is also crucial to remember that people taking advantages of the iPod Photo’s capabilities are obviously digital camera users and hence intimately knowledgeable about the how-to of photo storage.

None of that should be taken to mean that the iPod should avoid change at all costs. Sure the hard drive is already ridiculously large for a music collection (20 GB? That’s enough to hold every song Bruce Springsteen ever wrote about cars!) Hence many users expect functional enhancements. Yet sometimes less is much more therefore apple should turn a deaf ear to the plaintive cries of users who think they want more and only add features that do not compromise core functionality or ease of use.