Invasion Of The (i)Pod People

They have little white wires coming out of their heads.

They listen to voices that nobody else can hear.

And every month, another one million people join their ranks. They're the Pod People. Or make that, the iPod People.

Now, if you don't know what an iPod is, then you must be over 25, reports Sunday Morning contributor David Pogue.

The Apple iPod is currently the world's most popular digital music player.

The concept is simple: the pocket-sized device automatically sucks in the entire music collection from your computer.

Inside the iPod is a very tiny hard drive with a very big capacity. It can fit thousands and thousands of songs - far more than most people's entire CD collection.

Apple isn't the only one getting rich. There's a whole iPod economy now: you can buy iPod speakers, iPod car adapters, iPod headphones, iPod radios, iPod microphones and iPod carrying cases.

There's even an iPod car. A BMW, to be precise, with playback controls right in the steering wheel. Yours for the low, low price of only $48,000. (iPod not included.)

"It's just hitting all demographics - all age groups," says Phil Schiller, Apple's vice president of worldwide marketing. "It's really excited people's idea of music again, and made people fall back in love with music. So, it's big in a lot of ways."

IPods may cost from $250 to $600, but those white earbuds are a common sight on college campuses - especially at Duke University in Durham, N. Ca. This year, the university gave every incoming freshman a free iPod. For keeps. Total cost: half a million dollars.

"Well, some people are skeptical. And I think that's reasonable. We've said that the iPod project is an experiment," says Dr. Lynne O'Brien. She heads Duke's Center for Instructional Technology, which runs the iPod program.

"We have foreign language classes where students not only listen to foreign languages, but also record themselves. And they're listening to music all the way from cabaret songs from the '20s up to techno-punk songs for today. So there are lots of things you can do with an iPod that are academic."

If you ask the Pod People at Duke what makes the iPod such a phenomenon, they'll name three key ingredients. First, polished technology - like the famous click wheel, that allows users to do everything with just one hand, and, after practice, without even looking.

The second key ingredient is design. People like the way it looks and feels in their hand, although some complain it gets scratched up easily.

The third key to the iPod's success: buzz.

There's even such a thing as earbud fashion.

"We heard rumors that some of the upperclassmen who were frustrated that they didn't get an iPod were wearing their non-white earphones with pride, to make it clear that they were not a freshman who had just received an iPod," says O'Brien. "One of the cool things is to wear one in your ear and one sort of hanging out. That way, it's clear that you're open to communication from people talking to you as well as listening to your music."

The iPod phenomenon has Apple riding high. It's stock price has tripled in the last 12 months, but Apple's competitors are licking their chops.

Peter Elstrom, the senior technology editor at BusinessWeek, is not so sure that Apple can ride this wave forever.

"I forget the exact numbers, but I think you're going to see about a hundred new music players out this Christmas season. It's a tremendous number," he says. "Sony will keep trying. Certainly Dell is going to keep trying. Virgin Electronics has a device that's pretty cool. And there's a Rio device that's pretty cool, too. So they're beginning to get more momentum. But so far, nobody's been able to capture it. But again, so far."

Elstrom also wonders whether Apple can remain the 800-pound musical gorilla now that Microsoft has entered the jungle.

"One of the key questions right now is whether Apple is going to be able to keep its proprietary model that it's had, where it does both the software and the hardware and combines them. Or whether the alternative model that Microsoft is laying out is going to work better where Microsoft does the software and a whole bunch of other companies do the hardware. In a sense, this is a replay of what we saw in the PC space where Apple tried to do everything itself. And Microsoft and its partners separated out hardware and software - and we saw which model won in that case. The question now is, which one's going to win this time?"

Apple's Phil Schiller says he's not worried.

"Apple has a product with hardware and software - with the Mac - that is a market unto itself. IPod works for everybody. It works for Mac users and Windows users."

No matter how long the iPod craze continues, non-Pod People can be sure of one thing: If it seems like young people just aren't listening these days, take heart. They are listening - just not to you.