Apple thinks that if you want to listen to All Things Considered then you'd just download the podcast of it and put it on your iPod. I mean, why listen to live radio when you can listen to another version of it that's posted for your downloading convenience anywhere from minutes to days after the actual broadcast? I mean it's not like things such as traffic, weather, or breaking news exist.
No, Apple can't figure out how to create their own proprietary system of frequency modulated radio transmissions.
Ah, now it makes sense.
Thanks, Apple, but I'll pass on the Kool-Aid for now.
Long story short: you can add FM capability to your ipod with the
iFM from Griffin Technology for $20.
Apple doesn't like radio because it's a messy, static-y, 19th century relic whose heyday was in the 1950s, whose downfall through disco and shock-jockery has been long and painful and whose main proponents are hobbyists. I'm sure some people inside Apple do listen to the radio, but as a company they don't want to enter a market where the leader is a "Shack".
Me. I love NPR. Love it TO DEATH. I'd like a music player with an FM tuner, but that's totally not Apple's bag, and there's a good reason for it.
Apple isn't in the business of selling technology. Apple is in the business of selling little pieces of the future. They try to get things as clean and simple and beautiful as possible. Then they say "we have clean, beautiful, exciting, quality products," and they're right. Then they say "our products are the fastest on the market and do well in price comparisons" and they're lying, but I'll forgive them. I like the iPods and OS X because they are beyond "easy to use". They are FUN to use. Just interacting with an iPod is fun.
When I introduced the relatively simple Sansa player to my computer-using father and brother, I had to type two pages of instructions. I'm sure my father has 'lost' his Sansa after staying up one hour trying to figure it out. When we gave the much more full featured iPod touch to my non-computer-using sister-in-law, she needed no instructions at all. I don't even know that there were instructions in the box. She spent the first two nights staying up late PLAYING WITH IT. That's wonderful. I don't care if you have to pay Apple $50 in two years to replace the battery, that's two years of enjoying your life a little bit more.
BACK TO RADIO. All these feelings of coolness and fun come at a cost. You have to deal with Steve Jobs' little prejudices. Mainly he despises messy things. He hates all buttons, physical media, non-controlled hardware, and things that aren't input or output devices. (He also doesn't mind if products get dangerously hot as long as they are very small and assumes you've got disposable income and want to keep buying new stuff every few years.) Radio is a very messy thing. The stations are strange fractions that aren't listed in a central place. It's location-based, so if you drive to a new town, you have to figure out a new set of fractions. You can't escape its static forever, and the static is sometimes better based on WHERE you HOLD your radio. Also the content is mostly dreck. Most of the podcast content is dreck too, but you can filter through that BEFORE you start listening. Basically it came down to:
"Mr. Jobs, if we added FM radio to the iPod, people could listen to the radio."
"That's nice. But?"
"But people would have to deal with radio."
"Hmm.. that sucks. Leave it out. Most people already have radios where they'd want to listen to them. If they absolutely need to listen to their radios through headphones, I'm sure Belkin or Griffin will hook them up."
"Yes sir. And might I say, sir. That's a nice custom turtleneck you've been wearing for the last couple of decades."
"What this old thing? Why thank you."
My iPod is five years old. The coolness has worn off, and I had to replace the battery by cracking it open with a screwdriver, but it's by no means disposable. I don't own an Apple computer, but I borrowed a PowerBook from my company for three years. I don't like pretension, needless expense, or sticking to goofy wrong turns (like a one-button penis). I adore Apple products, and continue to recommend them to most of the people who ask me.
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Topic: I hate Apple (Read 26555 times)