It's easy to say that what Apple's doing here is about marketing. But it's not, even though clever marketing is involved. See, marketing is about influencing markets. It's about spin. In the mass-market millieu where Apple lives, it's about maintaining the fully saturated Matrix-like habitat we call Consumer Culture. That culture was built by those who own and control the means of production. So, what we call "consumer electronics" is really producer electronics. It isn't about what you and I invent and contribute to the marketplace. It's about what Sony and Panasonic and Nikon and Canon produce and distribute through retailers for us, the mass market, to consume constantly. It's producerism, really. As a label, "consumerism" is a red herring. Talking about "consumerism" takes the conversation off into victimville, where the poor consumer needs to get better stuff and less abuse from the big bad producer.

Apple is giving consumers tools that make them producers. This practice radically transform both the marketplace and the economy that thrives on it.

....Want to see results? Check out Bush in 30 Seconds, by MoveOn.org, the left-wing, grass-roots issue advocacy organization. These are first-rate TV ads produced mostly by amateurs, in a short period of time. Regardless of your politics, you have to agree that they're equal in quality to anything put out by a high-priced agency or production house.

We're seeing the same thing happening in journalism, with weblogs like those powered by Rael's Blosxom, and the music business, with Magnatune, subject of a big piece in this month's Linux Journal). Soon we'll see it in movies. How long before some low-budget, high-quality movie becomes a huge hit on DVD without any help from Hollywood? How long before Apple starts a movie store? How long before Disney buys Pixar, like Apple bought NeXT, and Steve Jobs takes over Disney? (Trust me, it's a good bet.) Then what?

....What Apple's doing with "i" apps like GarageBand isn't about the computer industry; it's about the entertainment industry. That industry lately has become vigilant about threats from its customers, which it still thinks of as consumers. Instead it should be watching how Apple transforms those consumers into producers. Because the next challenge will be finding ways to turn those producers into partners. The old gig is up. They'll never be just "consumers" again. [Linux Journal] All aspects of this revolution touch upon us here: we are all availing ourselves of instant worldwide self-publishing made possible by the Internet to create, read, and interact on Blogcritics and the blogs of all our writers and readers. Unlike the traditional print media, blogs are a dialogue rather than a lecture. In addition we have writers and readers who are using new digital tools to create and distribute music and video. With freedom comes responsibility and the kind of disruption that currently has the recording, and to a lesser extent, film industries in such a lather.