h0bbel.p0ggel.org

The title is a bit misleading, I don't hate Apple, but I'm very
critical to the seemingly blind media and general fanboism Apple is
surrounded with, but after resisting the collective hive mind that is
the Apple marketing
machine I finally caved in. I got my non-Apple hands firmly gripped
around a brand new iPod Touch. Black, sleek and very shiny



I am a big music consumer, but I haven't had my own personal portable music player since the Sony Walkman WM-B52 my dad brought home from one of his US trips.
While researching (I actually do that from time to time!) for this
post, I realized something. The Walkman model I had was made available
in 1988, and now 20 years later I just got my second one.Some way to celebrate that anniversary.



Sure, we have a couple of MP3 players that the kids randomly use, but
none of them ever really appealed to me for some reason. They are
small, have a one line display and basically the sound quality on those
devices leaves a lot to be
desired. To be fair, these are very low end, cheap devices that never
promised anything besides what they actually provide.



I was even adement that if/when I were to get a proper MP3 player it
wouldn't be an iPod. The whole marketing machine that Apple employs and
the cult following of all things Steve Jobs really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But due to some rather random events I ended up with an iPod Touch a couple of weeks ago.



This is where I get into trouble and I do have a confession to make.
While I still have the same attitude towards Apple and their disciples
as before, the iPod Touch is simply amazing. There, I said it, I even
did so out in public.



I mean, look at this:






It really does look good, doesn't it?



The iPod Touch is one hell of a device, and I'm falling more in love with it every day. It has even got me actively using music in the same way I used to to when I was a teenager sporting a big yellow brick strapped to my belt wherever I went.
But there is more to it. The touchscreen is fantastic, the video and
photo quality is amazing and the display even works great outside in
the sunshine. The WiFi works great, and in general I'm surprised how
intuitive it really is.



If I had to complain about something, and I usually have to, it would
be that when I connected the iPod for the first time iTunes told me
that there were upgrades available and that I should buy the January Application Update.
I'm sorry, but I bought this in the beginning of March. Shouldn't I be
receiving the latest version? I can understand that the device might
have been manufactured before the update was available but Apple should
really provide a way for me get the updates preceeding my purchase
without expecting me to pay for the updates. After all, I don't think
it's very polite to present a new customer with a "Hi! Glad you bought
one of our products, now pay us a small fee and you'll even get the
latest version". Thats just sneaky.



As for my previous post about the iPhone, I still don't want one.I
still think that the phone components are too weak, and frankly I like
having separate multimedia and phone devices. My music is personal, my
phone is non-personal and work related.

Now all I need is to get into the whole podcasting thing. Any recommendations on what I should be subscribing to?



This post has been written under the heavy influence of Led Zeppelin.

Thank you Anil Dash, you made my day. Your thoughts on the Leopard 10.5 OSX way of illustrating Windows computers in your network. Smug Mug portrays my own perfectly.

http://www.iphatigue.com/

Further comments not necessary.

I thought I posted this last night, but I either dreamt it or Wordpress ate it somehow. I might even have forgotten to hot the publish button for all I know, but for some reason some updates and edits to my response to the iPhone hysteria were never published.

This does give me the chance to do it properly now though. Some people seem to think that I'm attacking the iPhone itself, but thats not the case. I have no reason what so ever to talk it down, as I've never tried or even seen one myself. I'm pretty certain it's a sweet little gizmo that a lot of people will be very satisfied with. My problem is the hype and borderline hysteria surrounding just about every Apple product release, be it hardware or software.

I can understand that people get excited over these things, I do it too.

What gets me is that both people and the media walk right into the the same trap each time. The iPhone is just the latest example of how Apples media handling leads to mass hype and publicity that no money can buy and people seem to follow it blindly.

Apple, like other commercial companies, use this to create a sense of exclusiveness and even trying to pre-plan shortages to further maximize the media coverage of the well planned release event. From a business point of view, that makes a lot of sense. I don't blame them, they only try to do what they are here to do: Maximize profits.

As I've said before, I'm sure the product is great too. Apple is great at doing whatever they need to do to make sure they sell their merchandise. All fine by me.

What I can not understand is that people get so blinded that they don't see that they are being played and used in a huge marketing scheme orchestrated by people like Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs is just doing his job, and he's doing a damn fine one at that. After all, if he didn't Apple probably wouldn't even be around anymore.

As far as I can see, which incidentally probably isn't that much farther ahead than my own nose tip, Apple is turning into some sort of Religion. It's gone beyond Cult, and entered a Religious state where Steve Jobs is the Saviour of all things computerized and electrical.

Sorry, I just don't buy it. I've had problems with understanding the need for religion since I was a kid, this stuff is even harder to digest. I once wanted a Mac, right about when OSX came out. Who didn't? But given how things have progressed since, I've decided to never buy an Apple product. Again, I have nothing against Apple nor their products, it's just how the world behaves that gets to me.

Mundus vult decipi

Of course, this explains a lot.

Seriously, this thing is out of hand.

It's a phone, not the end of world hunger nor the solution to global warming. I thought the intarweb hype regarding Apple products were at it's peak around MacWorld each year, but this thing is completely out of whack.

Sorry, I just don't get it, nor do I ever want one. The hype alone is enough to completely turn me off the idea, and to be honest it turns me off Apple as a company. I might be a virtualization (and VMware in particular) fanboy myself, but come on people this is insane.

Ok, I admit it. The iPod is a good MP3 player (iTunes is not a good player though). I'm sure the Macbooks and whatnot are excellent pieces of hardware, and I would really like to play with one at some point. The (planned) hype surrounding any Apple product release is out of this world, but the iPhone really does excel in this area.

For some reason, Apple and Steve Jobs are canonized and Bill Gates/Steve Ballmer and Microsoft are not even found good enough to be the guardians of the gates to Hell. Why?

Is Apple that fundamentally different from Microsoft? NO.

To be honest, they're both in this game for one reason and one reason only.

To enhance our lives and bring prosperity to all? NO.

Both Apple and Microsoft has one, one, fundamental goal: Fill their stock owners pockets with as much money as possible - it really is as simple and as banal as that.

Stop the insanity, and Don't Believe the Hype

Back Caught you lookin' for the same thing It's a new thing check out this I bring Uh Oh the roll below the level 'Cause I'm livin' low next to the bass C'mon Turn up the radio

EndOfRant.