The Shuffle Generation

Happy 5th Birthday, iPod!

Beyond our music-listening habits, the ipod and iTunes Store have revolutionized how we consume and control our entertainment.

"But to me, the iPod's biggest legacy will be the shift it symbolizes by its signature feature, the shuffle. In the simplest sense, this refers to the way iPod users can randomly reorder the contents of their music libraries to create instant radio stations stocked with music they chose. So although you don't know what song will come next, you know it's one you'll almost certainly like....

This reflects the experience that the Internet offers in other categories. Instead of buying an entire newspaper, you can cherry-pick articles from a vast virtual newsstand (shuffle the news!); instead of being stuck with the offerings in a department store or mall, you can engage in a focused global shopping spree in which even the most obscure goods are a mouse click away (shuffle the shopping!). And instead of being stuck in the covers of a book, or the contents of your local research library, Google promotes the prospect of typing in a few words in a search field and getting page after page or relevant results from books, videos, research reports and Web pages (shuffle all of human knowledge!)."