The article is interesting but a little bit exaggerated, IMHO.
If the playlist on an IPOD (or any mp3 player) is a window to one's soul, then the concept of soul has to be oversimplified to the extreme.
I do not think that the music preferences on the playlist reflect actually anything more than that: preferences (and availability of free music, more below). And in many cases they reflect more the marketing success of a group or a record editing company than freewill choice.
Sometimes I wander whether some of those heavy users with several thousands of songs on a mp3 player have downloaded them legally.
Even at a few cents per song, this amounts to lots of money. I hope I will not annoy anybody here, but my answer is a "probably not". IMO the huge success of portable mp3 devices is in a good part due to its ability to "share" songs on the Internet -for free.
And this new, widespread and tolerated attitude is a kind of new "soul" as my concept of "soul" also contains the concepts of what is good and what is wrong and other related values.
My personal playlist reflects just what I am currently studying in singing, some MIDIs for the choir and what I am practising on the flute (I keep most of the accompaniments I made with Finale there). But I know I am an exception for this particular use of the device.
And when I travel for long distances (by train or bus), I still carry my prehistoric Diskman with me. I listen to the CDs I prefer and I already have or bought recently (I do have a nice collection).
Old-fashioned? No doubt. But at least it gives me 20 hours playing with two AAA cells and also makes me feel a little different...
