Done with iPods
Being an Evil Empire, you would think Microsoft would have better things to do like, fight EU litigation, improve their Product "Where are your papers?" Activation program or simply continue their plot to Take Over the World.
But, no, they've apparently found the time to start issuing memos to employees who dare show up at stately Redmond manor with an iPod.
Seriously.
The folks in the Evil Empire's Macintosh division get a pass, but apparently those poor souls in their Media Player and Digital Rights Management (aka, their "We Control What You See, When You See It, How You See It and You'd Better Be Damn Thankful For the Privelege" group) who are caught with one risk serious career advancement stoppage.
I'd find this even more laughable if I weren't so done with iPod's.
At the risk of offending some iPod fans, I've got some news: they're just mp3 players and not terribly great ones at that. Their battery life is marginal (and they're specifically designed to prevent you from replacing it yourself) and there's an actual after-market for iPod-amps to boost their paltry volume. I own a media jukebox that a) cost $150 less b) has just as much space and c) can be treated as a simple USB harddrive, allowing me to literally drag-n-drop music onto it without the need for some piece of bloatware to handle the proprietary music format (of which they'll sue you, such as they did Real Networks, if you attempt to load non-Apple approved music onto it. Apple likes suing. They're going after some poor guy who used basic journalism techniques to suss out what Apple had on the stove and posted it on a site. They're claiming he's violating their trade secrets or some such nonsense and he had to get a free-press lawyer type to work pro-bono to defend him.).
But I can't really blame Apple, who've done a simply marvelous job at marketing the thing to the point where it's the next great must-have. It's another one of those "gee, I wish I'd thought of that" things. But when institutions of (supposedly) higher-learning start handing them out to all incoming freshmen (hopefully the ones destined for art/music-majors have Britney Spears loaded as a cautionary lesson on the quickest way to set mankind's art culture back decades), I have to draw the line. The iPod has officially reached a sufficiently pretentious status symbol level to trigger my dislike for it.
iPod, meet the SUV.
But, no, they've apparently found the time to start issuing memos to employees who dare show up at stately Redmond manor with an iPod.
Seriously.
The folks in the Evil Empire's Macintosh division get a pass, but apparently those poor souls in their Media Player and Digital Rights Management (aka, their "We Control What You See, When You See It, How You See It and You'd Better Be Damn Thankful For the Privelege" group) who are caught with one risk serious career advancement stoppage.
I'd find this even more laughable if I weren't so done with iPod's.
At the risk of offending some iPod fans, I've got some news: they're just mp3 players and not terribly great ones at that. Their battery life is marginal (and they're specifically designed to prevent you from replacing it yourself) and there's an actual after-market for iPod-amps to boost their paltry volume. I own a media jukebox that a) cost $150 less b) has just as much space and c) can be treated as a simple USB harddrive, allowing me to literally drag-n-drop music onto it without the need for some piece of bloatware to handle the proprietary music format (of which they'll sue you, such as they did Real Networks, if you attempt to load non-Apple approved music onto it. Apple likes suing. They're going after some poor guy who used basic journalism techniques to suss out what Apple had on the stove and posted it on a site. They're claiming he's violating their trade secrets or some such nonsense and he had to get a free-press lawyer type to work pro-bono to defend him.).
But I can't really blame Apple, who've done a simply marvelous job at marketing the thing to the point where it's the next great must-have. It's another one of those "gee, I wish I'd thought of that" things. But when institutions of (supposedly) higher-learning start handing them out to all incoming freshmen (hopefully the ones destined for art/music-majors have Britney Spears loaded as a cautionary lesson on the quickest way to set mankind's art culture back decades), I have to draw the line. The iPod has officially reached a sufficiently pretentious status symbol level to trigger my dislike for it.
iPod, meet the SUV.
posted by The Doctor at Wednesday, February 02, 2005
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