Six Warnings Not To Buy An iPod
Microsoft has posted a hilarious web page warning people not to buy iPods. The page can be summarized as:
- But we won’t make any money and you’ll hurt our feelings if you buy an iPod like all your friends did…
Okay, so maybe it doesn’t say that, but it does say some equally foolish things:
- “Understand the basics”: here they claim that hard drive-based players skip when you jog. What a cheap shot; I may not be a jogger, but I’ve never heard my iPods skip in three years of use, and I’ve never heard anyone else complain about their iPods skipping, either
- “Make sure you’re getting all the goodies”: can’t say I’ve thought of high-quality headphones as extra “goodies”, and I like that I get to decide what accessories I want to pay for.
- “You’ll want a display”: well, I wanted a display, and my 20-GB iPod has a nice one. Lots of people don’t need a display, though, as demonstrated by the popularity of the iPod shuffle.
- “Let a professional make your next playlist”: translation; who are you to be choosing what you want to listen to? Listen to ads for car dealerships and sugar-water all day. Alternative translation; for God’s sake, don’t buy an iPod!
- “Pick the right size for you”: first they’re telling us how to choose an MP3 player, now it’s a Windows Media Audio device. Bet ya hardly noticed the bait-and-switch, there.
- “Don’t get locked into one online store”: Yeah, Microsoft has no history of customer lock-in, like with Windows, Office, Windows Media DRM. Most importantly remember — Microsoft’s proprietary is good, Apple’s proprietary is bad.
