Journal: News & Comment

Intentional frustration and your music player

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I'd like you to note that all the problems Ponzi had trying to get music, podcasts, and audiobooks that she owns onto three different music players that she also owns did not arise from any mistakes on her part. Nor are they technical obstacles. Pretty much all her frustrations come from the manufacturers of the media players and software (Apple, Creative, Microsoft) and the content providers (including Audible) considering their customers the enemy.

At a fundamental level, they want her money—our money—but they don't respect us. Here's my example for today: I had some stuff on my iPod shuffle when I left home this morning, and now at work I want to add some additional material to listen to. But the shuffle only wants me to replace what's on it from home with whatever I have from work. There's no technical reason for that. It all comes from paranoia that I might steal some music. And much as I like my iPod (on balance, it works much better than other players I've owned), because of that limitation, I like it quite a bit less than I otherwise could have.

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