“Would you take advice on what is and isn’t cool from a guy who still thinks black turtleneck sweaters are the height of sophistication,” Andrew Thomas asks for The Inquirer?
“What finer example of the Apple marketing machine’s power over the gullible could there be than the launch of the ‘HiFi’ ghetto blaster add on for the iPod? After years of flogging overpriced products on the grounds that they were technically superior, Apple now launches an overpriced product so demonstrably inferior to a genuine HiFi system that it would be laughable were it not for the power of the Apple Marketing Juggernaut,” Thomas writes. “Make no mistake, the same gullible saps who think an iPod is cool will rush out and snap up these useless things and push up the level of credit card debt around the world to new heights. Because the battery-powered cereal packet with a couple of tiny speakers in it carries an Apple logo, they’ll fondly imagine it sounds great, but as they’ll only be listening to James Blunt and Coldplay anyway, who cares?”
“Once upon a time, expensive Macs were, arguably, more stable than the WinTel equivalents, but those times are long gone… Apple’s given up and gone over to Intel processors. It’s given up its own operating system and bolted a pretty GUI on an ancient OS called UNIX. Steve, it seems, likes both his clothes and operating systems to come from the same decade,” Thomas writes. “Now what rational person can doubt that rumours of a wholesale move to Windows are founded in fact? The bottom line is that Apple doesn’t care about computers any more. It never sold very many in real terms, which is why the price tags were so eye-watering. Today it makes its money by selling music online and by launching a constant stream of ‘must have’ iPods and accessories that the gormless Jobs worshippers slavishly buy.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Articles about Apple from people who don’t use Apple products are always funny. They look at things through the perspective of their own sad situation. They always look at the highest priced Mac compared to the lowest priced piece of junk Windows PC they can find. They don’t do a fair price/performance/features comparison because that would clash with their warped perspective. They never factor in the value of their time. They can’t imagine that Apple’s way could just be better and more cost effective, so they invent the fantasy of an entire class of Apple fanatic Steve Jobs worshippers who will buy anything with an Apple logo simply because it looks nice, or because they’re gullible, stupid, brainwashed or whatever – anything they can think up except that Apple’s products are actually genuinely better. That idea they cannot admit to themselves because it would mean they they chose wrong with their Gateway Windows XP PCs, discontinued Dell DJs, Napster 2.0 subscriptions, Internet Explorers, and the like. They like to pretend they have choice, but their choice is always shackled to Microsoft; Windows or Windows Media regardless of whatever PC or media player that buy then try and fail to use effectively. Some “choice.” Or they’re just trolling for hits. The facts are, as those who’ve used both Apple and non-Apple products know, that Mac OS X is remarkably better than any other competing operating system, the iPod+iTunes+iTunes Store is remarkably better than any other competing hodgepodge of digital media player and online service.
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Related article:
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003
might even be the first…
I do agree with the statement “an overpriced product so demonstrably inferior to a genuine HiFi system.”
I am pretty amazed at the gall of Apple’s Hi-Fi and its pretension of being “Home Stereo. Reinvented.”
Please.
“Because the battery-powered cereal packet with a couple of tiny speakers in it carries an Apple logo, they’ll fondly imagine it sounds great, but as they’ll only be listening to James Blunt and Coldplay anyway, who cares?””
LOL. That’s brilliant
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…this guy is gonna get some hatemail.
agreed, but there’s a market for it. Look at B&O for the answer to whether it’s true!
Read some of the discussion on the Mac Mini, jeeez, what kind of problem do these people have. Same as with this ‘boombox’, the cool-factor outweighs the quality- and price-factor by far.
People who don’t realize that are not any better then all these bad season homebrew analysts.
“I am pretty amazed at the gall of Apple’s Hi-Fi and its pretension of being “Home Stereo. Reinvented.””
You must have some sort of magical web browser that allows you to hear the sound quality of this device. Have you even seen this thing in person before spewing off at the mouth about how bad it sounds?
…the guy thinks ipod hi-fi is overpriced and inferior to full blown stereo system….and IMHO, it is….but how he makes the logical leap about the entire computer line is beyond me…
…this is akin to complaining that the pop-up camper that Porsche sells as an SUV accessory is overpriced and won’t let you survive on Mt. Everest and thus this means the ultimate doom for the company and all its vehicles are crap.
I think this is normally called taking advantage of the “brand” strength with accessories. You either need the $300 designer brand handbag or you can settle for the $13 Walmart knockoff. NBD!
…and if moving to Intel means doom and trash, just what is it that the Inquirer writer has been using all these years?
This guy is a sad, sad excuse for a journalist. He says that once upon a time, Macs were more stable than Windows, but that was before they “bolted a pretty GUI on an ancient OS called UNIX.” Oh, so Mac OS9 was rock solid, and built on totally modern technology?
The last line of his article says it all: “Ten years ago, Apple had a reputation similar to that of IBM – good, reliable products you could rely on.” Oh yeah, in 1995/1996 Apple had a great reputation. And great grammar by the way, reliable products you can rely on? I think he is an untrustworthy journalist that you can’t trust.
It’s true. The black turtleneck does make him look like a putz.
I think the comment about Unix shows complete ignorance.
Am not!
Time to go buy an iPod HiFi.
>”I am pretty amazed at the gall of Apple’s Hi-Fi and its pretension of being “Home Stereo. Reinvented.””
>>You must have some sort of magical web browser that allows you to hear the sound quality of this device. Have you even seen this thing in person before spewing off at the mouth about how bad it sounds?
That goes for every comment too. I’m sure it doesn’t sound like a high end stereo, but have you even heard it yet? How can you comment on it?
The assumption is always that we, Apple fans, love Apple products so much only because we love the company, but it’s really the other way around – we love the company because the products are so great.
That being said, until I get to hear the iPod HiFi, I won’t really judge it, but I’m not impressed yet. Even if I give them the benefit of the doubt, and it really does sound amazing, I still wouldn’t be interested because all it does is iPod. If it could truly replace my home stereo, meaning I could plug in a tuner, or my TV, and DVD into it I might be a little more interested, but my home stereo is used for much more than just my iPod.
With regards to this article, all I can say is wow!!! This guy has vitriol coming out of his pores! I love his comment about how Steve Jobs couldn’t possibly be the conductor of cool because he wears turtle-necks! If this guy was any shallower, he’d be floating! Don’t bother to flame him. With all his hate frothing about like it is, he’s bound to explode before we even get the chance.
Sounds like someone wants an iPod but can’t afford one. Poor guy.
I think this guy has just passed his MCSE and thinks he’s qualified.
I personally don’t like the iPod Hi-Fi. The iPod should blend into it, not stick out like a bolted-on after thought.
My $0.02.
Why is Andrew Thomas’ photo cropped so tight to his face in the article?
Because he’s wearing a black turtleneck sweater.
Macromancer, et al:
I don’t need to hear the product.
Its called physics or acoustics. Its called the ability to read a spec sheet. Its called 30+ years in the audio field.
It is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for the iPod Hi-Fi to actually produce high fidelity sound. This is not an opinion. It is a fact.
Read Apple’s published specs: “Frequency response: 53Hz to 16kHz ± 3 dB”
That isn’t even remotely high fidelity. By DEFINITION!!!!!! And the “overpriced” observation is also true. It is a fact: the iPod Hi-Fi costs more than the already overpriced Bose system. What more do you need to know?
A more detailed discussion of the product’s complete lack of high fidelity is in this thread:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/8744/
What finer example of the Apple marketing machine’s power over the gullible…
I’m just going to play devil’s advocate (or devilled avocado) for a moment.
There are around sixteen million machines out there with OS X.
Apple will have sold around 50 million iPods by the end of this quarter.
Does this mean that Windows users are more gullible than OS X users?
Help me avoid the obvious conclusion.
Some people have a different perspective.
How many people are judging the hi-fi before they hear it?
NEARLY EVERYONE.
People are idiots. No wonder advertising works so well.
“I think this guy has just passed his MCSE and thinks he’s qualified.”
It’s more like I think this guy just passed a kidney stone and cannot think at all…
Andrew Thomas thought he had a pube until he pissed out of one…
I have a comment about the so-called “ancient” Unix. Just because something is a number of years old does not make it less than world class, as OS X obviously is. To use only one example, which is not meant to be political in any way, is the F-14 fighter plane. It was designed in the 1970’s. Over 30 years ago. It’s now being replaced (slowly) by a carrier version of the F-22, but do you think anyone ever considered the F-14 to be “ancient”, and by inference no good? The guy’s simply an idiot.
I kinda wish that they would re-introduce the L-1011 again. I miss that plane….
the picture is tightly cropped b/c he’s a fat load…
The s–t’s not even on the market yet. how can it be “demonstrably inferior” if you can’t test it.
It doesn’t have to be better than everything, only the other ipod specific products that are in its range, such as Bose system and maybe the Klipsch system.
The guy is trolling for hits on his page. (and I fell for it, oh well). its full of misinformation like macs being 50% more expensive.