iTunes Cell Phones??
When Apple announced the release of the new iTunes compatible cell phone it confirmed for many people what they had been suspecting for some time. Rumors had been buzzing around the net for a while about an impending release of a new mp3 player technology, and many surmised (correctly) that apple was about to release a cell phone capable of downloading and playing songs from the iTunes music store. Furthermore it was rumored that a special version of iTunes would be released for this phone. These rumors turned out to be true.
When I heard about it I was less than excited. Here in Australia everyone’s got these great phones that do everything from video to pocket pc. I’ve seen mp3 players in phones cameras, video games, GPS, Internet, and more. I even had a Kyocera Smart Phone that had a Palm Pilot in it for a while.
These days, I couldn’t care less about mobile phone technology. I need my phone to make a receive telephone calls, and I do rely on the SMS capability quite a bit. My phone is for calling people, and outside of that I do not need something that can remote control my car, or communicate with the Space Shuttle. All I need is calls, SMS, and that’s about it. I don’t care about stereo ringtones or decorative wallpaper displays. Does it ring when people call? Can you hear people on it? Can they hear you? Then it’s a good phone.
I don’t need a mobile phone that has an mp3 player in it. That’s why I have an iPod. Sometimes I miss calls on my phone because I have the iPod on too loud and can’t hear or feel the ringer. I think that’s great. If I had my iPod in a phone, then it would interrupt my sole source of relaxation and isolation and I would have to take those calls. I don’t like the fact that people expect you to answer the phone like a trained Pavlovian dog. Sometimes at home I let the phone ring and I won’t answer it, content to let the machine get it. It drives my friends crazy and they want to answer it for me because I wont. I really couldn’t care less. Same with email. I have email on my computer. If need be I have a laptop and can connect via the wireless network at school. That’s good enough for me- I don’t need to be contactable 100% of the time, 24/7. That just spoils other people, and they get upset when they cannot get a hold of you.
The other thing I really don’t like is this idea of “planned obsolescence”.
When I was a kid, my grandfather took me out to his tool shed. He showed me a saw he had for over 60 years. He still used it and it looked as new on that day as it did the day he bought it. It occurred to me that they don’t make tools like that anymore. These companies are interested in finding ways to make you buy things that you have already bought.
Take for example computer companies- if they made a computer that lasted 60 years they wouldn’t make any money. Everyone would buy one, and then you’d be set. After they sold everyone a computer they would have to go into some other business. These companies sit around and ask questions like “How can we make people buy these things again that they have already bought?” Hence planned obsolescence. I bought my new G5 Mac in January and by March they had replaced my line with a newer faster computer. 3 months, that’s all it took. I bought the Logic Audio software at the same time and by February they already had an upgrade that cost $30 to get. These companies want to sell you the same item two and three times over. What a great racket! You spend $2000-3000 on a new computer every year or every other year, sometimes, like in my case, you have two or three computers. Then there’s the software upgrades. I got the latest Finale upgrade (software that lets me do professional music sheet music notation) in January as well. They called it “Finale 2005”. In March they came out with “Finale 2006”. Is it just me, or is this thing getting a little out of hand?
I know no one wants a 60 year old computer, but let’s say for the sake of this argument that if they could build a computer that was just as powerful and fast 60 years after you bought it, wouldn’t you consider buying it? Never in a million years, even if they could, would they produce such a unit. It isn’t profitable enough for them.
In this day and age corporations are out to make billions upon billions and top record profit margins, so they want you buy a new cell phone every year, and a new computer and a new car, and a new TV and a new video player unit (now it’s DVD, but soon it will be something like an iPod,..Let’s call it a vPod- you’ll just take it to the video store, plug it into a kiosk and download the movie you want to watch and you wont need to take the movie back to the store- it will just expire after a certain amount of time and the file will delete itself). The list is endless. It’s this great curve that just keeps building and building and building. It’s unbelievable the amount of money that people are spending on technology and the curve just keeps increasing.
But it keeps us willing to be “happy little drone workers” now doesn’t it? We freely indenture ourselves into servitude for this never ending stream of luxury that just gets more and more expensive. We commit ourselves into willing slavery to pursue the latest and greatest technology, which is priced just-out-of-reach, but not completely. It keeps us working and willing to slave for the profiteers, because people can’t just roll into some faraway nation now and enslave people as their servants anymore. These days, they need your permission, but it’s still the same concept.
So, you can see why I am happy with my little piece of shit Nokia cell phone. I can hear people on it, they can hear me, and I can send and receive text messages. That’s all I need.
When Apple announced the release of the new iTunes compatible cell phone it confirmed for many people what they had been suspecting for some time. Rumors had been buzzing around the net for a while about an impending release of a new mp3 player technology, and many surmised (correctly) that apple was about to release a cell phone capable of downloading and playing songs from the iTunes music store. Furthermore it was rumored that a special version of iTunes would be released for this phone. These rumors turned out to be true.
When I heard about it I was less than excited. Here in Australia everyone’s got these great phones that do everything from video to pocket pc. I’ve seen mp3 players in phones cameras, video games, GPS, Internet, and more. I even had a Kyocera Smart Phone that had a Palm Pilot in it for a while.
These days, I couldn’t care less about mobile phone technology. I need my phone to make a receive telephone calls, and I do rely on the SMS capability quite a bit. My phone is for calling people, and outside of that I do not need something that can remote control my car, or communicate with the Space Shuttle. All I need is calls, SMS, and that’s about it. I don’t care about stereo ringtones or decorative wallpaper displays. Does it ring when people call? Can you hear people on it? Can they hear you? Then it’s a good phone.
I don’t need a mobile phone that has an mp3 player in it. That’s why I have an iPod. Sometimes I miss calls on my phone because I have the iPod on too loud and can’t hear or feel the ringer. I think that’s great. If I had my iPod in a phone, then it would interrupt my sole source of relaxation and isolation and I would have to take those calls. I don’t like the fact that people expect you to answer the phone like a trained Pavlovian dog. Sometimes at home I let the phone ring and I won’t answer it, content to let the machine get it. It drives my friends crazy and they want to answer it for me because I wont. I really couldn’t care less. Same with email. I have email on my computer. If need be I have a laptop and can connect via the wireless network at school. That’s good enough for me- I don’t need to be contactable 100% of the time, 24/7. That just spoils other people, and they get upset when they cannot get a hold of you.
The other thing I really don’t like is this idea of “planned obsolescence”.
When I was a kid, my grandfather took me out to his tool shed. He showed me a saw he had for over 60 years. He still used it and it looked as new on that day as it did the day he bought it. It occurred to me that they don’t make tools like that anymore. These companies are interested in finding ways to make you buy things that you have already bought.
Take for example computer companies- if they made a computer that lasted 60 years they wouldn’t make any money. Everyone would buy one, and then you’d be set. After they sold everyone a computer they would have to go into some other business. These companies sit around and ask questions like “How can we make people buy these things again that they have already bought?” Hence planned obsolescence. I bought my new G5 Mac in January and by March they had replaced my line with a newer faster computer. 3 months, that’s all it took. I bought the Logic Audio software at the same time and by February they already had an upgrade that cost $30 to get. These companies want to sell you the same item two and three times over. What a great racket! You spend $2000-3000 on a new computer every year or every other year, sometimes, like in my case, you have two or three computers. Then there’s the software upgrades. I got the latest Finale upgrade (software that lets me do professional music sheet music notation) in January as well. They called it “Finale 2005”. In March they came out with “Finale 2006”. Is it just me, or is this thing getting a little out of hand?
I know no one wants a 60 year old computer, but let’s say for the sake of this argument that if they could build a computer that was just as powerful and fast 60 years after you bought it, wouldn’t you consider buying it? Never in a million years, even if they could, would they produce such a unit. It isn’t profitable enough for them.
In this day and age corporations are out to make billions upon billions and top record profit margins, so they want you buy a new cell phone every year, and a new computer and a new car, and a new TV and a new video player unit (now it’s DVD, but soon it will be something like an iPod,..Let’s call it a vPod- you’ll just take it to the video store, plug it into a kiosk and download the movie you want to watch and you wont need to take the movie back to the store- it will just expire after a certain amount of time and the file will delete itself). The list is endless. It’s this great curve that just keeps building and building and building. It’s unbelievable the amount of money that people are spending on technology and the curve just keeps increasing.
But it keeps us willing to be “happy little drone workers” now doesn’t it? We freely indenture ourselves into servitude for this never ending stream of luxury that just gets more and more expensive. We commit ourselves into willing slavery to pursue the latest and greatest technology, which is priced just-out-of-reach, but not completely. It keeps us working and willing to slave for the profiteers, because people can’t just roll into some faraway nation now and enslave people as their servants anymore. These days, they need your permission, but it’s still the same concept.
So, you can see why I am happy with my little piece of shit Nokia cell phone. I can hear people on it, they can hear me, and I can send and receive text messages. That’s all I need.
posted by Jaedyn at 10:36 AM
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