Recently, I have been meeting more Americans that are passing through Berlin. This has coincided with more instances of me hearing about a device called the iPod.
For future reference, spending time getting an earful about what bands you have on your shiny new portable- overpriced- industrial- design- wonder- 8-track-player at the very least bores me to tears, and I will avoid commenting on attempts to start such a conversation like a bad rash. I am consistently amazed at how this marketing phenomenon has tapped into the concept of identity for a very large group of consumers, and frankly this fetishism irritates me.
A guy from BoingBoing has written a very good article for Salon laying out the many ways that "Digital Rights Management" software locks are bad for the distribution of digital media and how Steve Jobs continues to be pleased to have these written into every product he sells.
"If you rip your own CDs and load them onto your iPod, you'll notice something curious. The iPod is a roach motel: Songs check in, but they don't check out. Once you put music on your iPod, you can't get it off again with Apple's software. No recovering your music collection off your iPod if your hard drive crashes. What's more, Apple prevents copying indiscriminately. You can't copy any music off your iPod. Apple even applies the no-copying measure to audio released under a Creative Commons license . . . which prohibits adding DRM."
"At the end of the day, DRM is the biggest impediment to a legitimate music market. Apple doesn't sell music because of DRM -- it sells music in spite of DRM. The iTunes Store proves that you can compete with free. People have bought billions of dollars worth of music from Apple because it offered a better user experience. But no one bought for the DRM. Some people bought in spite of it, some bought in ignorance of it, but there's no customer for whom DRM is a selling point. No one woke up this morning wishing for a way to do less with her music."
"A weird little no-name from the wildly imaginative entrepreneurs of Malaysia" sounds like a much better set up to me, especially considering it costs ten percent of the price. But I do not walk around drowning out the world with pop music 24 hours a day either, so I guess the point is moot. I wonder if this makes people feel invincible and smooth like Shaft as they have catchy theme music available for even the most mundane of tasks . . .
For future reference, spending time getting an earful about what bands you have on your shiny new portable- overpriced- industrial- design- wonder- 8-track-player at the very least bores me to tears, and I will avoid commenting on attempts to start such a conversation like a bad rash. I am consistently amazed at how this marketing phenomenon has tapped into the concept of identity for a very large group of consumers, and frankly this fetishism irritates me.
A guy from BoingBoing has written a very good article for Salon laying out the many ways that "Digital Rights Management" software locks are bad for the distribution of digital media and how Steve Jobs continues to be pleased to have these written into every product he sells.
"If you rip your own CDs and load them onto your iPod, you'll notice something curious. The iPod is a roach motel: Songs check in, but they don't check out. Once you put music on your iPod, you can't get it off again with Apple's software. No recovering your music collection off your iPod if your hard drive crashes. What's more, Apple prevents copying indiscriminately. You can't copy any music off your iPod. Apple even applies the no-copying measure to audio released under a Creative Commons license . . . which prohibits adding DRM."
"At the end of the day, DRM is the biggest impediment to a legitimate music market. Apple doesn't sell music because of DRM -- it sells music in spite of DRM. The iTunes Store proves that you can compete with free. People have bought billions of dollars worth of music from Apple because it offered a better user experience. But no one bought for the DRM. Some people bought in spite of it, some bought in ignorance of it, but there's no customer for whom DRM is a selling point. No one woke up this morning wishing for a way to do less with her music."
"A weird little no-name from the wildly imaginative entrepreneurs of Malaysia" sounds like a much better set up to me, especially considering it costs ten percent of the price. But I do not walk around drowning out the world with pop music 24 hours a day either, so I guess the point is moot. I wonder if this makes people feel invincible and smooth like Shaft as they have catchy theme music available for even the most mundane of tasks . . .
7 comments:
I wrote a email to Steve Jobs about a great ideea for the iPhone. He didn't answer....Maibe he's busy :((...
any way.....
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Jason, do you want me to fill you in as to who i have on my iPod?
You always have been the coolest kid on the block in my book. Please proceed . . .
*Jason stabs head with iCEPick(tm)*
I'm not particularly pissed off about any of the mp3 players. Sure, i have an iPod but they're all really the same if you think about it. It's all people trying to convince you that you can't get through life without it. It's also not that hard to trade music files. That's what flash drives were invented, weren't they? As for not being able to pull stuff off your iPod... ah well, if anyone needs a file I'll bring my external hard drive.
The pros to having my iPod, i don't have to carry around CDs or cassettes, i dont' have to deal with batteries, and i can rip episodes of the Young Ones (or whatever other DVDs i have) and watch them during my train ride to and from work.
The cons? nothing so far. i'm not saying it's changing my life or anything, but it's convenient having 6666 songs in my pocket.
Oh, and i have some Public Enemy on my iPod. you're jealous, i know.
From what I've read, the downside of owning an iPod is when it dies. As you can't back it up, it is unique. So it's probably a little like having a pet die.
I own an off brand mp3 player. I tend to buy cheaper electronic devices in the name of frugality only to envy those who have the shiniest stuff. Yeah, I have a niche in the marketing schema, but at least I know it. I'm a used car kind of guy.
my iPod IS backed up though, on an external hard drive. As i said before though, I don't have a preference regarding mp3 players. My lady wanted one, so instead of running tracks through iTunes for hers and a different program for mine I opted to get one for myself and save the headache.
I probably would have gone with a different brand, had i been in the market for one. As a matter of fact, i received it as a gift for my birthday. Now if you'll excuse me, i have some obnoxious silhouette dancing to tend to.
That's cool that it is backed up; I guess I have no idea how the high society lives. :)
Jason, I don't think your problem is as much with the iPod fetish as it is with the run-of-the-mill conversation about music.
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