My Brother the Mac Hater Pt II

My brother eventually decided to pay $130 for a 1Gb iAudio music player, and I couldn't resist telling him he could have had a 1Gb Nano for only $10-20 more. His response? A complaint about how the iPod is overwhelming anything else on the market, with too many accessories, and how this status is detrimental to Apple's image.

Below is what he emailed me. I find it interesting, as it delves deep into the psyche of someone that can't see the forest for the trees. :-)

"But... I am severely annoyed with the craze. On principle alone, I feel like I need to refuse the iPod craze because its just gotten completely out-of-hand. This little article below is a good example: http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/2887

It is extremely frustrating now when trying to look for accessories and you have to literally wade through hundreds of iPod accessories to find the one or two non-iPod ones. I mean, what happened to Apple's rebellious, anti-establishment, nature? They have very nearly become the "Microsoft" of the Digital Audio world and they have lost one of their biggest selling points by becoming the de-facto standard. Its become the norm in customer reviews of non-iPod MP3 players for every 3rd or 4th review to mention, "beats the iPod", or "iPod can't touch it", etc. This is the type of angst previously reserved for the Microsofts of the world.

If I were a die-hard Apple-ite, I would like to think I would refuse to jump on the bandwagon, or at least write some nasty grams to the people cashing in on the insanity. Next thing we'll be hearing that Apple has a government contract and is actually putting GSM in the iPods and tracking everything we do and say via iTunes bugs and iPods. Maybe the 1984 Orwell reference in their commercial was a strange foreshadowing of their own future.

Anyway, rant off, just had to get that off my chest."

I'll email my response to his rant in my next post, today or tomorrow.