
CDs Curated by Steve Jobs and the iPod Team (2016) - Tomte
http://nobi.com/entry-1239.html
======
8draco8
Spotify playlist of all 20 CDs
[https://open.spotify.com/user/1168552961/playlist/7D4SVuRHKn...](https://open.spotify.com/user/1168552961/playlist/7D4SVuRHKnJ96Z7NtLWV6L?si=f2xsEcBkRs6heVqI-v5-AA)

~~~
duxup
Something to listen to on the commute home, thanks.

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roryrjb
A pretty good collection in fact. Of course the stuff here is popular, but
mostly for good reason, and varied, naturally. Thinking about music and Apple
always makes me think of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer)

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gkarthik92
Playlist with all 20 albums on Apple music:
[https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/20-cds/pl.u-4JomX69uaZa1...](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/20-cds/pl.u-4JomX69uaZa1gpE)

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teh_klev
I thought I was going to roll my eyes at the selection, but there's something
for everyone here given the year and they allow listeners to dip into genre's
they may never actively listen to.

Quite nice to see Miles Davis' "Kinda Blue" and the Dave Brubeck Quartet's
"Take Five". Those were the two albums (along with Coltrane's "Blue Train" and
Thelonius Monk - [don't remember the record]) that gave me an entry door into
jazz back in the mid-90's and ever since jazz has been such a joy in my life.
Davis' "So What" still stands up the hairs on the back of my neck even after
25 years each time I play it.

That said I have a fairly wide taste in music ranging from Napalm Death to
Philip Glass, from 60's psychadelic to 21st century analogue electronica.

~~~
microtherion
The omission of Hip Hop is rather startling from today's perspective (and even
for the time). Having only a single rock album, on the other hand (and no
Metal), might look prescient today.

~~~
rasz
How many big caliber trend setting high society "journalists" invited to this
shindig would be hiphop/rap connoisseurs you think?

    
    
       Fuck the police! Comin' straight from the underground
       A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I'm brown
    

might not go down well with NYTimes, publishers of "N.W.A.is deliberately
provocative, and the songs on ''Straight Outta Compton'' are vicious, sexist
and stupid;"

~~~
microtherion
While those journalists surely would be delighted to hear their profession
depicted on the Dylan CD:

    
    
       You try so hard
       But you don’t understand
       Just what you’ll say
       When you get home
     
       Because something is happening here
       But you don’t know what it is
       Do you, Mister Jones?
    

[https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/ballad-thin-
man/](https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/ballad-thin-man/)

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ebg13
> _Today, you can watch that historical event on YouTube_

> _Video unavailable_

sigh.

~~~
LeoPanthera
archive.org to the rescue. They are a charity. Give them money.

[https://archive.org/details/Apple_iPod_Introduction_2001](https://archive.org/details/Apple_iPod_Introduction_2001)

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rezmason
On a related note, Macs came with the following music before iTunes gained its
music store.

It includes a song by Snake River Conspiracy about polyamory! Bet you no one
expected that from Apple back in 2000.

[https://open.spotify.com/user/rezmason/playlist/0mWEVPaZDH2Y...](https://open.spotify.com/user/rezmason/playlist/0mWEVPaZDH2YGEcjPNdeo7?si=UKQSZ7N_Sp-
GiPGJxqbnRQ)

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AdmiralAsshat
It's a pity they couldn't continue to pack those into production iPods (I'm
sure it would've been too costly). There's a handful of albums within that
group I already own, and a good number that I wouldn't necessarily buy, but
would definitely listen to if it were freely included.

~~~
joezydeco
Apple Computer was continuously in legal battles with Apple Corps (the record
label owned by the Beatles) over staying out of each other’s business (easy
for the Beatles, hard for Steve Jobs)

Shipping iPod with Beatles content would have been a really nasty legal knot.
Or it would have made the universe implode. One or the other.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer)

~~~
favorited
When Apple and Apple settled their differences and you could finally get the
Beatles on iTunes, Apple Stores played only Beetles music over their sound
systems for _months_. I can only imagine what it was like working there at
that point.

~~~
nothrabannosir
> I can only imagine what it was like working there at that point.

Amazing?

~~~
favorited
Working in any environment where you listen to the same 2-hour loop of music
for months at a time is rough, when it is the same loop _of the same artist_?

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ekingr
Too bad I cannot manage to find Crash by Dave Matthews Band in Apple Music.

All the other are available (at least in France).

~~~
idlewords
You don't know how lucky you are.

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malvosenior
Just because someone is at the top of their field (consumer electronics)
doesn't mean that they know anything about other, non-related fields (music).
I was actually at this event and I remember rolling my eyes so hard they
almost fell out of their sockets as this was the most trite, baby boomer-
centric music selection I'd ever seen.

Not to mention the cringe worthy Bono/Jobs relationship:

[https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/10/07/bono-calls-
steve-...](https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/10/07/bono-calls-steve-jobs-
the-hardware-software-elvis/)

~~~
8draco8
A lot of music on that list is not specific for baby boomers. Even those baby
boomer era artists like Bob Dylan and The Beatles are regarded as very
important and influential figures in popular music. Not to mention that
Mozart, Nirvana, Faith Hill and Bach are definitely not baby boomers era
artists

~~~
munificent
Sure, but if you had to winnow all of the world's (or just US's) best music
down to only 20 CDs, do you really need to include _two_ Beatles albums and
Simon and Garfunkel ones? Is Faith Hill really the best you can do for
country?

I would ditch those three and consider replacing them with:

* Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

* Michael Jackson - Thriller

* Wu Tang Clan - Enter The Wu Tang

Some punk and metal representation would be good too. And, honestly, Play
hasn't held up well over the years. If you want something more representative
or influential, maybe Orbital's brown album or Underworld's
dubnobywithmyheadman.

~~~
Rebelgecko
Giving everyone a copy of 36 Chambers would be a very un-Jobs thing to do.
Imagine, you put your product in the hands of a journalist, they put the
earbuds in, and the first thing they hear is a 2 minute description of torture
and testicular mutiliation

~~~
cholantesh
The first thing they'd hear is a contextless monologue about rival kung-fu
schools.

~~~
Rebelgecko
The scroll wheel demonstration took them down to track 9

