You noticed the bottom line of that, right? "3 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone". Fucking tremendous. Swear to god, if I had any disposable income
right now, I'd be on my way to the Apple Store for an iSomething right this
very minute.
Unfortunately, the Westboro Baptist Bozos don't quite have
an exclusive on dipshit-ness where the late Apple head is concerned. Elsewhere on the web, in a forum populated by
the lamest of record-collector shut-ins, I came across this gem: some dude
would like to make it known that he will not mourn Mr. Jobs because he was
responsible for the death of the music industry. You know, damn kids and their iPods and all
of that. (I'm deliberately neglecting to
provide a link; behavior this idiotic and callous really shouldn't be rewarded
with a traffic bump.)
Not only is this CD-spinnin' cousin of the Simpsons' Comic
Book Guy a reprehensible human being ("you took my record stores, you deserve to die!"), he's also
factually 100% incorrect. Jobs - via the
iPod and iTunes - didn't kill the record industry at all. The record industry committed hari-kari, the
end result of decades worth of price gouging on substandard products. Quite the contrary: Jobs and Apple were the business
end of the music industry's only success story of the past decade. Apple was the only company to meet the future
head-on: first, they developed a portable new-media player that was both better
constructed and far more user-friendly than any of its competition, and then
they built an online sales portal that seamlessly integrated with their new
devices. Casual music buyers - always
the backbone of the industry, no matter what the collector types would like to
believe - flocked in droves, and why not?
iTunes offered a nearly unlimited selection at reasonable prices, all
completely hassle-free. Look, I miss the
visceral, human experience of old-school music shopping as much as the next
nerd, but let's look logically at the facts for a moment: with iTunes, Apple
created an alternative to that experience that meshed well with the lifestyle
of the average, occasional music buyer.
The fact that iTunes remains essentially without serious competition, no
matter how hard Amazon tries, a decade later should really tell you all you
need to know. It was a brilliant,
visionary idea executed with flawless precision, which is no mean feat in any
industry.
Third and last point: I seriously understated something in
last night's post. I don't just love my iPod; I have no idea how I
ever lived without it. Given even the slightest bit of thought, the Walkmen and
Discmen of yore just seem so much more archaic than things that really only
checked out of common usage within the last decade. Literally thousands of albums live in my
pocket at any given time, all in a device no bigger than an old cassette case. Seriously: what more could a music geek want?
Mr. Jobs, you have my sincerest gratitude. Rest in peace.
EDIT: And then, there's this. Funny because it's true? You be the judge.
EDIT: And then, there's this. Funny because it's true? You be the judge.
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