Tim Bray asks whether we have reached the time I foretold a couple of years ago, when an iPod is inexpensive enough that a customer could intelligibly buy an iPod and fill it with music as a casual present (on the scale of a mix tape). Of course, there are the obvious digital-restrictions impediments for people who have bought recordings from iTunes or other limited-use vendors (as opposed to ripping from CD, for example). Still, $50 for a one-gig iPod is reaching the point at which I could be tempted to prepare a distinct “Working on your dissertation” iPod present for Margaret.
And perhaps as close, the day when we buy an iPod pre-filled with legally purchased music. Say an iPod already stocked with a mix of contemporary Christian hits from the 1980s (Brian Duncan, Stryper, Petra, The Choir…). 🙂