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Steamboat Springs — "Witness the evolution of the revolution" is the iPod's tagline. If you haven't heard it, maybe it's time for you to evolve.

Apple's digital music player now is in its fifth generation, and the MP3 player is changing the way people buy, store and listen to music. Remember vinyl, 8-track and cassette tapes? It may not be long before CDs join them on music's technological scrap heap.

According to the Billboard Information Group, 89 million digital tracks were sold in 2005. Nearly double that number -- 164 million -- have been sold so far in 2006.

"It's totally changing the way people are buying music," said Joe Kboudi, owner of All That Jazz. "The younger generation has no sense of what music and albums are about. People like to know about artists and lyrics, which is being lost on the younger generation -- which is a shame."

For the few people who haven't yet joined the revolution, the iPod is by far the leading brand of MP3 players. The devices are small and light enough to slip easily into a shirt pocket, yet they can store up to 15,000 songs. The songs are downloaded -- usually for $1 or less -- from a variety of music Web sites. For those worried about their massive CD collection, there's no reason to worry -- you can transfer them onto your computer and then load them onto your iPod.

Not to pronounce the death of the CD prematurely. Although sales of digital tracks have increased 84.3 percent, according to the Billboard Information Group, CD sales have decreased by only about 1 percent since 2005.

"The quick death of CDs is just not happening," said Kevin King, All That Jazz manager. "Piracy is a million times worse (for CD sales) than the iPod."

King is in the market for a personal iPod. "I'm in a unique position where I listen to music 40 to 50 hours a week. I've got 10,000 CDs at my beck and call," King said. "I don't need it, but I want something portable and I want to learn another language."

King plans to download programs to learn Spanish while he is driving, walking or on vacation, he said.

Generational split

Music for traveling purposes is a large appeal of the iPod. Jerry Buelter, assistant principal at Steamboat Springs Middle School, owns an iPod shuffle and has encouraged his son to buy an iPod.

"When we drive to Denver, we can listen to our music in the front," and he can listen to his music in the back, he said.

Buelter relies on his children to stock his iPod. "I'm just not sophisticated enough to do the downloading," Buelter said. "The kids do it for me."

Middle school Principal Tim Bishop owns an iPod nano, which was introduced to him by his students.

"Their technology knowledge is amazing and so advanced," he said.

The students' iPods occasionally get them in trouble. The middle school's policy is that the students can use them before and after school and during lunchtime, but some use them during class. "Students can sometimes succeed in hiding them in their jackets and up and underneath their long sleeves," Bishop said. "They feel like they are pretty tricky about it."

Policies for students

Steamboat Springs High School has not yet established an iPod policy, assistant Principal Kevin Taulman said. He said that out of the 640 students, about 250 to 300 of them have iPods, and he has one. "I like it because I have my entire music collection in there, and I can take it wherever I go," Taulman said.

He doesn't see the iPod as posing a threat to students' academic achievement.

"As far as the studying part, people have listened to stereos and radios forever when they study," he said. "Instead of doing it at home, they now have the portability to do a whole lot more at more locations."

Eighth-grader Brant Crossan, who owns a 30-gigabyte iPod says that it helps him study. "It's a great thing if you have a song stuck in your head and need to get it out to better concentrate," he said.

iPod, shmiPod

Since the fifth generation of iPods was released, their popularity has increased among everyone from children to baby boomers. But generally, they aren't yet compatible with seniors.

"If it doesn't say 'On' and 'Off,' forget it. Everything has to be complicated," said Ann Miller, 85.

Her son bought her a computer, a cell phone and an answering machine. "Guess where they are," Miller said. "They're under my cupboard, still in their boxes."

Grace Dubendorf, 83, thinks most seniors cannot afford iPods. "If we got them, we wouldn't know what to do with them," she said.

Although technology is more familiar to younger generations, older generations think much more has been lost in the conversion.

"God forbid if the power went out," Miller said. "They wouldn't even be able to think, let alone add or subtract."

-- To reach Allison Plean, call 871-4204

or e-mail aplean@steamboatpilot.com