Much detail about the Gulfstream IV jet incident comes from a 2,150-word,
unpublished memoir by Paul Vidich, a prolific fiction writer and member of the Poets
& Writers board. “Do military jets fly that close to normal airplanes?”: Author interview with Kevin Gage.
Detail about Brandon, the airport, and the police forces, as well as photo of police cars: From Pritchard, Dean, and Rod Nickel, “Hijack Scare Grounds Jet,” Brandon Sun, October 27, 2001, p. A1. Confirmation Gage is the figure in the photo with his hands up: Author interview with Gage.
“It was a trip” and “We’re an old crowd”: Author interview with Al Smith.
The talks were code-named “Digital Media X”: Author interviews with Kevin Gage, Paul Vidich, Al Smith, and William J. Raduchel. Talks breaking down due to Sony Corp. problems with AAC format: Author interview with Gage.
There were other problems, too, Jobs-Idei tension, and “You know Steve, he has his own agenda”: MacWorld staff, “Apple ‘a nightmare’—Sony CEO,” MacWorld U.K., macworld.co.uk, March 11, 2003.
Al Smith…was caught in the middle: Author interview with Smith. “There was a
certain sense that we have done 99 percent of this work”: Author interview with Gage.
Barry Schuler–Steve Jobs talks: Author interview with Schuler. Jobs’s remarks to Paul Vidich on the phone: Author interview with Vidich.
Steve Jobs biography: From Young, Jeffrey S., and William L. Simon, Icon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business (New York: Wiley, 2005), pp. 9–57.
“FUCK NIXON” detail: From Butcher, Lee, Accidental Millionaire: The Rise and Fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer (Paragon House, 1988), p. 37.
“We didn’t build the computer in a garage”: Steve Wozniak quoted in Goodell, Jeff,
“The Rise and Fall of Apple Inc.,” Rolling Stone, April 4, 1996, p. 51.
“Apple stopped creating”: Steve Jobs quoted in Goodell, Jeff, “The Rise and Fall of Apple Inc., Part Two: The Techno Dreamers vs. the Marketing Pods,” Rolling Stone,
April 18, 1996, p. 59. Jobs refused interview requests for this book.
Background on Saehan and MP3Man: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, p. 49. Depiction of Rio’s attorneys: From author interview with Ron Moore, then general counsel for Diamond Multimedia. “We were a small company”: Author interview with David Watkins.
“They were just shocked when they lost”: Watkins interview.
“where the Mac was the center of your lifestyle” and early digital-music discussions at Apple: Author interview with Jonathan Rubinstein.
Background on Bill Kincaid: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, pp. 48–49. Background on SoundJam: Ibid., pp. 49–52.
“We got that to pretty much be the premiere MP3 player on the Mac”: Author interview with Robin Casady.
Background on Nomad Jukebox: From Kahney, Leander, “Straight Dope on the iPod’s Birth,” Wired.com, October 17, 2006. “just awful”: Author interview with Jonathan Rubinstein. Background on Tony Fadell: Author interview with Fadell.
“I basically stalled for a while”: Author interview with Jonathan Rubinstein.
“We had a very sexy player”: Sim Wong Hoo quoted in Sloan, Paul, “What’s Next for Apple: Steve Jobs Won’t Ever Tell You—But We Will. Here’s What a Trail of
Intriguing Evidence Reveals About Where the World’s Hottest Company Is Going,”
Business 2.0, April 1, 2005, p. 68. Background on Toshiba drive and FireWire: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, pp. 56, 58. “Once I saw all those technologies”: Author interview with Rubinstein.
Rubinstein, Fadell, and their teams building the iPod prototype and presenting it to Jobs: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, pp. 58–62.
“These suppliers were like, ‘Apple is calling, that’s great’”: Author interview with Tony Fadell.
Background on PortalPlayer: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, pp. 64–68. “Apple wouldn’t even show us what it looked like”: Author interview with Paul Mercer.
Jobs was vague: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, pp. 68–69. Vinnie Chieco’s version of the iPod story: Author interview with Chieco.
Texas Instruments engineers and “It just looked cool”: Author interview with Randy Cole.
Paul Vidich and Kevin Gage at Apple headquarters detail: Author interview with Gage.
“It was almost as if for the first time he was given an audience”: Author interview with Vidich. Jobs’s tirade and “It was kind of awkward”: Author interview with Gage.
“Steve, that’s why we’re here”: Vidich quoted in Sloan, Business 2.0, April 1, 2005, p.
68.
$399 and “Idiots Price Our Devices”: From Burrows, Peter, “Show Time!: Just as the Mac Revolutionized Computing, Apple Is Changing the World of Online Music,”
Business Week, February 2, 2004, p. 56.
Paul Vidich and Roger Ames: Author interviews with Vidich and Ames.
“Sort of a mogul-to-mogul thing”: Author interview with Jonathan Rubinstein. “He never reacted to Roger”: Author interview with Kevin Gage.
“That’s a great piece of software”: Author interview with Roger Ames.
99-cents-per-song and “We were looking at a hook”: Author interview with Paul Vidich.
Jim Caparro’s opposition, breakdown of iTunes wholesale price, and “Ultimately, we could have constructed a far different deal”: Author interview with Caparro. 172 Roger Ames–Doug Morris conversation and “I don’t think we’re going to make a lot of money”: Author interview with Ames.
“Of course, we have to rely on Steve Jobs”: Author interview with Albhy Galuten.
Galuten went to Cupertino, negotiation detail: Ibid.
“We had all the leverage in the world” and “Doug called and said, ‘Just close’”: Ibid.
“We just hit it off”: Jimmy Iovine quoted in Levy, The Perfect Thing, p. 151.
Phil Wiser’s Apple negotiations: Author interview with Wiser. “I don’t think it was more than a fifteen-second decision in my mind”: Andy Lack quoted in Leonard, Devin, “Songs in the Key of Steve,” Fortune, May 12, 2003, p. 54. 174 Sony Corp.–
Sony Music politics and “We do not have any plans for such a product”: From Rose, Frank, “The Civil War Inside Sony,” Wired, November 2003, p. 100.
“Now Sony Music was going and empowering Steve Jobs”: Author interview with Phil Wiser.
“Our smaller market share turned out to be an asset!”: Steve Jobs quoted in Levy, The Perfect Thing, p. 150. Jobs told Albhy Galuten about $15 million to $30 million
marketing budget: Author interview with Galuten. “A lot of people at Microsoft”:
Author interview with Hadi Partovi.
“I’ve said ‘no’ to all of them”: Irving Azoff quoted in Tam, Pui-Wing, Bruce Orwall, and Anna Wilde Mathews, “Going Hollywood: As Apple Stalls, Steve Jobs Looks to Digital Entertainment—His New Online Music Service Faces Tough Competition;
Pixar’s Prickly Disney Ties—Courting the Eagles, No Doubt,” Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2003, p. A1. “The black iPod is something I coveted”: Bono quoted in Levy, The Perfect Thing, p. 106. “Somebody finally got it right”: Dr. Dre quoted in Leonard, Fortune, p. 54.
Ted Cohen and Apple battles: Author interview with Cohen. Sex Pistols details: From Monk, Noel, 12 Days on the Road: The Sex Pistols in America (Harper Paperbacks, 2002), pp. 132–133.
“This industry has been in such a funk”: Sheryl Crow quoted in Leonard, Fortune, May 12, 2003, p. 54.
In 2003, total iTunes sales and Apple revenue: From Wingfield, Nick, and Smith, Ethan, “Apple Sells Over 25 Million Songs on the Internet,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2003, p. D5.
“People think we knew the iPod was just going to be a success”: Author interview with Tony Fadell.
Vince Carter, Dick Cheney, Aaron Brown, George W. Bush using iPods: From Levy, The Perfect Thing, pp. 26, 28–29, 31, 33.
Bob Dylan and David Bendeth quotes: From Levine, Robert, “The Death of High Fidelity,” Rolling Stone, December 27, 2007, pp. 15–18.
sold more than 4 billion songs: NPD Group retail study, from apple.com.
Record executives privately started likening Apple to MTV: Confidential source.
“[Jobs’s] stock went from $8 billion to $80 billion”: Author interview with Roger Ames.
“He feels they got cheated”: Confidential source.
“Stealing music is not [what’s] killing music”: Author interview with Robert Pittman.
181 “Who Let the Dogs Out?” vs. “Stacy’s Mom”: Author interview with Steve Greenberg.
Big Music’s Big Mistakes, Part 7: The RIAA Lawsuits
Charli Johnson background: From author interview with Johnson as well as Knopper, Steve, “RIAA Will Keep on Suing: The Music Industry Has Targeted 11,456 Illegal Downloaders—Has It Done Any Good?,” Rolling Stone, June 9,2005, p. 26.
More than 38,000: From RIAA, as of late 2008.
“But I know one thing”: Scott Bassett quoted in Knopper, Steve, “261 Music Fans Sued: Record Biz Busts Everyday People,” Rolling Stone, October 16, 2003, p. 25.
“My stomach is all turning”: Brianna LaHara quoted in Mongelli, Lorena, “Music
Pirate: N.Y. Girl, 12, Sued for Web Songs Theft,” New York Post, September 9, 2003, p. 1.
“We knew that the press would find poster children as a result of this program”: Cary Sherman quoted in Knopper, Rolling Stone, October 16, 2003, p. 25. Settlement
figures, from RIAA.
“These are very nasty one-sided cases”: Author interview with Ray Beckerman.
BigChampagne.com peer-to-peer numbers courtesy of Eric Garland.
Roger Ames’s opposition: Author interview with Hilary Rosen, confidential source, Leeds, Jeff, “Warner Strategy Set Pace for Action on Downloaders,” Chicago
Tribune, September 14, 2003, p. 9. Series of meetings in New York and Sony Music headquarters: Author interviews with three confidential sources.
“I think everybody was on board with the lawsuits”: Rosen quoted in Knopper, Rolling Stone, June 9, 2005, p. 26. “Everyone felt like it was too bad”: Confidential source, Ibid. Chelsea and Cindy Lundstrom, Ibid.
“It’s effective—at trying to bully people”: Jason Schultz quoted in Knopper, Steve,
“RIAA’s Campus Crackdown,” Rolling Stone, April 5, 2007, p. 15.
“It seems like the punishment is way disproportionate to the crime”: Confidential source.
“The answer would have been so easy”: Author interview with Thomas Middelhoff.
“The lawsuit stopped me from downloading music”: Charli Johnson quoted in Knopper, Rolling Stone, June 9, 2005, p. 26.