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RE: Portable Disk based Music Players, Menu Wheel and on-line shopping for music all predate Apple's iPod...(nt)

Posted by rick_m on August 15, 2012 at 07:28:55:
Well, yea...

But while portable CD or cassette players work well for me because I mostly listen to longish music like classical or opera they aren't much for pop music fans. Remember 45's? That what-tune-next paradigm got lost with the rise of the LP as did that of having listening booths in record shops where you could prehear individual 45's and 78's.

They virtualized the experience, at least I suppose they did, I've never bought any music from Apple but I have from HD Tracks and there you can listen to excerpts before buying. On top of that they charged a lot more for it but you no longer had to pay for sorry songs or balderdash back-sides.

Invention is really about seeing the possibilities, and the extant possibilities are a function of the fabric of society and technology at a given time. Arguments that amount to nothing being "new" because of that are specious, we build on generationally acquired knowledge. That's how humans progress, we record the past and don't need to rediscover it. True, we may learn to understand it at a deeper level but that's because we don't have to keep starting over.

If you want to see what happens by failing to learn over time just look at politics or economics and compare it to engineering of almost any ilk, it's a sorry sight...

As far as Apple wanting to defend their design patents, assuming that they have them, why shouldn't they? However SW patents in general shouldn't exist, they are simply a terrible idea and were from the get-go and I believe were created solely to funnel money to the legal profession. Originally we just had copyright coverage and that, on the other hand, does make sense.

Enough... Too much?

Regards, Rick