New iPod Shuffle-Death of the Live DJ?

In case you missed it, Apple just released the new iPod shuffle. The new shuffle appears to be leaps and bounds better than the original –which was basically a fancy memory stick with a 99 dollar price tag. The new shuffle has a lot more going for it- including the ability to tell you the name and title of each song played, in fourteen different languages. Over the past few days I have read a few blogs and emails from friends and associates who are saying that this marks the end of the live DJ as we know it. Their point of view is based on the thinking that iTunes and the iPod are direct competitors of radio, and since the iPod now can do what radio doesn’t seem to want to do, and that is give out song title and artist information, the writing is on the wall. Interesting argument, but as I see it not the case. First off 99.9 per cent of people who load songs onto their iPod load them up with their favorite songs and already know the name of the song and who the artist is. They don’t need their iPod to tell them that what song was just played – when they put it there themselves in the first place. Now of course let's say someone stole mine - then it would become a whole different story, as they might not be familiar with my seventy six different tracks from Jason and the Scorchers. So…while this new app on the shuffle is cute- it does not mark the beginning of the end of the live DJ as we know it. That already happened a long time ago.