A Photolog: Snikiddy Eat Your Vegetables Jalapeño Ranch Chips & You’re Old, and I’m Old Pt. 2: The iTunes Icon
Junk Food Nation, I noticed something recently that made me feel old…again. I have used a Mac since 2001, and have been using iTunes for the same time period. Below is a picture that represents the evolution of the iTunes icon in my application bar over the last decade:
The iTunes (icon) Evolution
When the most recent iteration of iTunes came out, the icon changed from the traditional CD plus music note icon straight to this blue circle with music note inside. I didn’t like it, thinking “Why the heck would they do away with the CD picture?” And then I realized a very sobering fact:
CDs are no longer what people think of when they think of music.
I mean, sure – I still have tons of CDs. But when was the last time I bought one? Like, a physical CD? I mean…2008? Almost five years ago? When’s the last time I even bothered BURNING a CD…over a year ago? These days with bluetooth and USB, I can’t remember the last time I used a CD for personal use. I was telling a friend I wanted to buy the new Snow Patrol CD, and I stopped to correct myself: “I mean, the new Snow Patrol album. On iTunes.”
Right now, CDs are still sort of around. But Apple decided to be proactive and dissociate iTunes from the CD icon. Because in ten more years, maybe even just five more years, if they had done nothing, kids would be pointing at the screen, wondering aloud, “What the hell is this silver circle thing, mom?” And THAT makes me feel REALLY old. I WAS AROUND FOR WHEN CDs WERE BORN. Ugh. More after the jump.
Today’s junk food: Snikiddy Eat Your Vegetables Jalapeño Ranch Chips! I discussed Snikiddy, the company, and the packaging style and background of these chips when I discussed their Sour Cream & Onion sibling in an earlier post, so I won’t bore you here. Go read it, come back, and scroll down for my review:
The Money Shot
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Jalapeno & Ranch? I like it, I like it!
Wait, why is jalapeno pepper so far down on the list?
THESE ARE NOT VEGETABLES
Crispy crispy crispy!
Don;t these look the Chinese noodles that go on salad or come with your takeout?
Now THAT's some super powder!!!!
Snikiddy Eat Your Vegetables Jalapeño Ranch Chips, I bought you at my local Wegmans, and lemme tell you: you are a tasty tasty chip. Very crunchy, with the flavor of the veggie dough underneath providing a satisfying feel. Nice and starchy.
Light ranch flavor, and a tiny burn at the end. While it didn’t taste like jalapeño vegetable per se, the tiny sparks of burn were definitely present. The overall taste was very satisfying.
One complaint – these really did taste a LOT like their Sour Cream & Onion counterpart, just with a lil spice added. I still give the chip top marks – but if Snikiddy comes out with additional flavors, I’d like to see more contrast.
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Regarding CDs, it’s true – I remember when they were effing invented. I remember seeing the first Discmen portable CD players, where the prototypes had the disc coming OUT OF the little black plastic box. You’d always have to hold the Discmen horizontal JUST RIGHT so as to avoid constant skipping of your music.
And now? CDs are becoming a thing of the past. Somebody call the AARP, RIGHT NOW.
Thoughts? Tell me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.
Sincerely, Junk Food Guy
Discuss - 11 Comments
I remember the first CD I ever owned. I was (am) a classical music dork and I was playing a piece in a high school orchestra that I just needed to figure out. So it was this recording of Dvorak’s 7th and 8th symphonies by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Andrew Davis. It remains an album I return to when I’m studying, though of course I’ve ripped it to my laptop and I play it off of my phone.
I also remember the last CD I bought, because I bought it last month from the Princeton Record Exchange. Yo-Yo Ma: Elgar Cello Concerto. iTunes works great for some genres of music, but not so much for Classical (also, the way that music can be sorted and classified is also well out of wack in iTunes). So if I’m willing to put in the time to search the bargain bins at used record shops, it’s significantly cheaper to find actual CDs than to buy stupidly priced albums on the iTunes Store.
However, I don’t have bluetooth in my car. I don’t even have a damn tape deck in my car for one of those headphone-jack-to-tape-deck-adaptor things. So the only way to play my music in my car is on a CD. BTW, I think you brought this up over the summer, but how many people who click on the Microsoft Word Save icon have ever held or seen a 3.5″ floppy? Just because the actual format changes doesn’t mean the icon doesn’t hold a separate meaning.
@Shorneys: How are you up at this hour???
@Shorneys – that disk icon is donesky with the next Windows release
I was a little distressed when I saw a friend of mine talking about how she was playing “old school Nintendo” over the weekend, and it turned out she was talking about Nintendo 64.
It got even worse when I teased her about how that wasn’t “old school Nintendo,” and she said, “Oh, yeah, you’re talking about Super Nintendo; I’ve seen those.” Worst part was, she wasn’t joking. That was the oldest Nintendo she knew existed.
@Kel – that IS horrifying. Like a friend of mine who didn’t realize Charlie’s Angels was a series BEFORE the Drew Barrymore movie.
I’m with you. I haven’t burned a CD in at least a year and have a spindle of nearly fifty unused blank CDs to prove it. I do burn a lot of DVDs though.
As for CD purchases, I’m proud to say that I have never purchased a music CD (I did purchase one with Real Men of Genius snippets from Budweiser commercials once) for my own personal use in my entire life. I always have gotten all my music from illegal file sharing services. Now that the government is trying to stop all of that, I may just have to stop music in general.
No big loss though, I’ve still got plenty of protein bars to keep me busy.
@IE: YOU HAVE A CD OF REAL MEN OF GENIUS! I want.
Do you remember when CDs first came out, they were packaged in those double tall flat boxes? Such a waste of packaging – it wasn’t long before the environmentalists put pressure on the music industry to get rid of the, but I remember thinking, “Who came up with this in the first place?” I suppose it was to prevent theft, but whatever…
iTunes is terrible for classical and the compressed formats most widely available make a lot of classical music sound bad. Give me uncompressed digital audio in the compact disc format. Of course, I have 1000+ CDs in my living room, so I may be trying to justify decisions I’ve already made…
The first CD I owned was the soundtrack to The Little Mermaid in 1990. I performed that in my living room countless times and have it to thank for a mean “Under the Sea” at karaoke now.
That said, I had not purchased one in the last several years until I bought a used copy of Death Cab’s newish album. It felt novel again, like a new toy.
@The Candy Fan – haha, The Little Mermaid! YES! I’m pretty sure I have the Lion King soundtrack around here somewhere