Beer News Blog

Need proof that digital media is on the rise?  Consider this - for only the second time ever beer has been dethroned as the coolest thing to do in college.  A recent survey of “in” things amongst college students has shown that the digital media player from Apple is more “in” than activities involving the consumption of beer.  Of the 1,200 students polled, 73% said that iPods were “in”, narrowly beating out beer drinking with 71%.  Tied for second with beer is the popular collegiate social-networking site FaceBook.com, a site similar to MySpace.com but only for college students.

The survey, conducted by marketing research firm Ridgewood, is in its 18th year.  This is only the second time beer has been knocked off the top spot.  The first came in 1997, when students voted using the internet as the most “in” thing to do.  Interesting that the only two activities seen as more popular than beer have been digital media.  Remember when many of you struggled against the burgeoning frontier of the internet?  Maybe its time to get out there and buy an iPod.

Apple has seen profits explode over the last eight quarters due to the popularity of their Mp3 playing goliath (and now digital media player since adding video playback last year).  Apple currently offers the low-priced iPod Shuffle, the medium-range iPod Nano and the fully-loaded iPod which features video playback.  Prices range from as little as $69 up to $399.  Additionally, Apple has seen their Mp3 playing program iTunes enter the world of cellphones.  Last year Motorola launched two phones that included iTunes, the Rokr and the Slvr. 

As a recent college graduate and owner of an iPod, I can say with certainty, that I would gladly throw my iPod from a moving vehicle before I said it was cooler than beer.  Sorry Apple, but until I can download a Budweiser from iTunes, my loyalties remain to my local watering hole.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Matt's Beer News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.