8 Replies to “Music of the Future, from the 1930s (Mike Ippolito)”

  1. Michael,

    What a fascinating slidecast! I really appreciated your explanation on the evolution of music devices from the record player to the iPod (also loved the Back to the Future reference). The devices that you have mentioned such as the Walkman and the portable telephone play such a large role today and have come such a long way from their inception. I found your discussion on retrofuturism to be particularly enthralling. It seems normal after viewing so many mediums of the past depicting futuristic inventions that have never come into existence today just by seeing a glimpse of inventions in this field. One thing I would suggest for the next slidecast is you should state the name of the comic strips that you use. Regardless, I learned a lot about the changes in portable music players and what retrofuturism is and how it applies to the people of the past. Overall, fantastic slidecast Michael! Keep up the great work!

  2. Mike,

    I learned a lot from your slidecast, like how vinyl disks used to be so expensive! You did a good job of explaining the prevailing themes of retro-futurism and portability. I also liked your overall format of beginning with the history of music technology, highlighting specific devices like the phonograph, and then moving on to talk about visions of the future that stemmed from technology in each time period. Specifically, I liked the image of the radio of the 1950’s from Radio-Craft magazine because it reflected a lot of what we talked about in class. To make your slidecast even better I would organize the first half when you’re giving the history of music technology in chronological order. Maybe its just me, but I think its a little easier to follow that way. Also, the volume of your slidecast was a little uneven throughout. Trust me, mine was way worse. Nice job overall!

  3. Mike, you have a very good broadcasting voice, which made it very easy and intriguing to listen to! I thought that this was a very unique topic to choose, and you did a great job explaining how the context influenced “music of the future.” I never realized how expensive that vinyl records were. I like that you showed how much the cost would be in today’s economy. I loved seeing the futuristic images of the Apple Ipod. It is funny looking back from today (where we have seen the progression of the ipod), and seeing that this is how people predicted what portable music would look like. However, this would be presentist on my part. I think that it is interesting that efficiency of portability was a key theme seen throughout the predictions of future music. In reality, their visions were not necessarily wrong. Music on cell phones exhibits how portability has been achieved. I really enjoyed this, great job!

  4. This slidecast was very well done! I really liked how you referred back to your original image several times, and you clearly have a good grasp of how to speak in such a way as to keep the attention of your listeners. On that note, however, one little nitpick I would have is that while on the whole your speaking speed was relatively even, you would occasionally speed up dramatically over the last couple of seconds in order to fit in your whole thought. I know I had the same issue, but having a consistent speed of speaking can really help to maintain the tone. In addition, I didn’t really like how you jumped around to other only tangentially associated topics, like retrofuturism. Finally, I feel like you ended somewhat abruptly, and I wish that you had had a final slide to better wrap up your thoughts. On the whole, though, I really liked this slidecast and thought that it was interesting and well done.

  5. Mike,
    The first thing that stood out to me in the video was your tone of voice. It is not too loud or too soft and you enunciated clearly. That being said there was a bit of stumbling in the entire video. This stands out a lot in a non-live video and you might want to consider this in your final project. I also enjoyed the way you took us through history in a very organized chronological manner. I like the examples that you chose to explain the music of the future. I like the introduction of a new concept as well (retrofuturism). The image of the robot and the singer is very powerful- I’m glad you chose it!
    Overall, I enjoyed your video and I think there were good examples, but you seem to only touch on overall aspects and not get very detailed. Lastly, the citation screen lasts for only 4 seconds. The topic is really cool and interesting. I’m glad you chose it and gave us a view of the music of the future from the past!

  6. Hey Mike, I enjoyed your presentation on the development of portable music devices. Your description of the original environments necessary for people to listen to music and the high prices of early music equipment really help the viewer understand why we as a society pushed the development of a portable music device. One thing that I would include in your future presentations is specific dates, or at least reference time periods, so that the viewer can use his own knowledge of history to better understand the topic of interest and its context. The ad for ipod really caught my eye. I did a little research on the topic and it was a fake ad created to represent what an ipod would have looked like if it was introduced back in the 1950’s. I think that is something important to mention in the presentation. You did a great job of tying the together retro futurism to your topic. Creating the illusion that you were straying off topic and then wrapping it all together into something relevant to the main subject is a very imaginative way to structure the presentation.

  7. Hi Mike, I really enjoyed listening to your slidecast about the evolution of portable music devices. I thought you presented your information in a manner that was easy to listen to and understand, and also kept the listener engaged in the topic. I like how you were able to bring in different examples from different time periods in order to show the progression of music I especially liked how you compared the Apple iPhone of today with the original walkman from the 1930s. It really shows how far technology has come in really short amount of time, and it really is true that people of the 1930s could not have imagined music technology that is so prevalent today. If there is one thing I would focus on next time, it would be to focus a little bit more on the context of the walkman and why it was in the 1930s that this idea of a portable music device started to come about. Overall, I think you did an excellent job, and really accomplished the task set out for us.

  8. This slide cast started out really strong. You did a great job contextualizing the idea of portability in the mid 20th century. What might make this argument a little more compelling is to include some context on music’s importance to society, particularly American society. This might set the stage better for the second half of your slide cast where you talk about the tie between music and transportation/mobility. I would be careful with the slide that contains the IPod advertisement, as that is an advertisement from the late 1990s, not the period. It could be used as an interesting talking point focusing on the public idea of the transistor in the 1950s. At the end of the presentation, the connections you make are a little lofty; you might be able to find some other examples that provide more concrete connections. Overall, the story you tell is intriguing and flows well.

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