November 27, 2007 - iDecline

In 2005 when the iPod craze was an eye-popping, ear-budding phenomenon on a level with hula hoops and mini skirts - and the price of Apple Computer stock was $51/share - the dedicated staff of edhat.com visited the local Junior College to get the beat on how popular these electronic music devices really were with kids those days. On the same visit to City College we also called out the popularity of cell phones with the same crowd.

In 2006, when the iPod craze was about as mainstream as the middle part of a big river, and the price of Apple Computer Stock was up to $72/share, the dedicated staff of edhat.com did a follow-up visit to the same Junior College to see if the iPod generation still had ears plugged with music and gigabytes of songs in their pockets. At that time we found that while phone usage at the college was as steady as a job at Starbucks, the music was not so upbeat for iPods. Usage had declined 45% in just one year.

In 2007 (yesterday) with the iPod craze bordering on been-there-done-that, and with the price of Apple Inc Stock (they dropped the Computer part from their name) at $172/share, the dedicated staff of edhat.com journeyed once again to the same Junior College to count the same electronic things. What we found this year was the same as last. While phone usage is as steady as a High School sweetheart, iPods are looking like a Junior High crush.

Only 4% (8 out of 200) of the students walking around Santa Barbara City College yesterday were plugged in to music - that's a 38% drop from last year, and a 67% drop from two years before. Fifteen percent (30 out of 200) of SBCC students were found to be using their cell phones. That's 15% higher than last year, and 7% higher than the two years before. And for comparison (an Apples to Oranges comparison?), the Apple stock price has risen 139% since last year, and 231% in two years!

Notes from the field: this year's phone count included a few people who were just texting. We don't remember seeing students texting while they walked in previous years. Also this year, all of the music players were iPods, and all were equipped with ear-buds. There were no Mission Control ear covers like we had seen in the past.

One thing that has declined as much as iPod listeners at City College is the number of people entering the Edhat contest. Yesterday only 38 subscribers submitted guesses, and the guesses were high - particularly for iPod use. Bitchin' Bob got the closest numbers. He wins a bitchin' Edhat t-shirt available for pickup at Highlights Salon.

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