Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Bad apples


I've never been a big fan of Apple. I think their products are ridiculously over-priced, and I don't care much for the lock-in effect you get when you buy Apple. For instance, why do Apple insist that you use iTunes to manage your iPod? Why do they struggle so hard, constantly making undocumented changes to the iPod firmware, to keep the far superior Winamp or Media Jukebox from working together with their products? And why the heck is it impossible to move music from the iPod and on to the computer? Oh, and why are Apple so cheap that they don't even include a battery charger with the iPod - you actually have to go and buy one yourself!

Anyway, Apple's last scheme to make more money is to put a hardware authentication chip in the headphone jack of the new iPod Shuffle. Any headphones that are to be used with this iPod need to be certified by Apple, meaning a manufacturer who wants to make iPod-compatible headphones will have to pay a licence fee to Apple... When will the insanity end? When will people stop bying over-priced products with poor functionality just because they look cool?

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