My disdain for all things Mac is well-documented. Although I always have problems with mine at work, this week has been particularly frustrating with InDesign and InCopy crashing every half-hour. (My loud cursing would probably have gotten me fired anywhere else, but everyone else working on the Macs in my section is yelling too, so I kind of blend in.) But this isn't even about that. As regular readers know, Michael (sweetly) got me an iPod for Christmas 2005. It died after 10 uses and Apple promptly sent me a new one. But even though I only travel three stops on the subway with it, every time I dare to use it something goes wrong. Each time, I've ended up bringing it home and putting it on the speaker-station my mom got me and it seems to be working fine again, so I convince myself that the problem is me (I hadn't charged it enough, I hit the wrong buttons, etc.). So Michael and I leave for Rome last month and I make sure my iPod is fully charged (the little green battery indicator assured me I was good). I ended up reading and sleeping on the plane ride there, so I didn't pull out my iPod until five days later on the way home. Lo and behold, it's completely dead. The screen lights up and hieroglyphics appear for a second and then BAM! Nothing. Back when I was "slumming it" I could bring my portable CD player and listen to as many CDs as I wanted. If the batteries died I always made sure I had some backups. For reasons that are unclear, Michael's older iPod was working fine even on the way home, but when I asked an iPod enthusiast at work if he had any idea what was going on with mine (did I get another lemon?) he said that the batteries frequently lose their charge even if you don't play it. HUH??? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having an MP3 player with you on a trip? I don't carry around a computer with me (can you imagine?) and even if I had had the station, the plugs are different in Europe, so I still wouldn't have been able to play it. Again: when it comes to Mac products, I just don't get
9 comments:
Kenneth, the Mac gods are watching.... They see your disdain for all things Macs and are, therefore, cursing you. If you would just embrace the Mac, then everything would be fine.... You will be assimilated....
It's just funny - how we all have our preferences. I have had 3 PC's - one desktop and 2 laptops (different brands), and have had major trouble with all of them. I switched to MAC's, and have had 2 laptops with no issues at all, and two i-Pod's, also long lasting. I'd swear by Apple Products, and I live in the land of Microsoft (a company that I don't have much respect for, either). I am anticipating my new i-Phone in June!
Why don't you stop using Mac products so we don't have to listen to your whining?
I don't know why I take perverse pleasure in seeing another Mac horror story -- maybe it's because I, too, have had to use them at work and watch them crash. Not that PCs don't, but PCs also don't have a cult of people swearing that they NEVER CRASH.
I was relatively slow to get into computers, given that I'm such a geek, but my first really positive experience was when a co-worker showed me how to do my resume on a Mac in 1991 or so. Shortly thereafter I played around with a PC at Price Club and realized just how much of a Mac rip-off the Windows interface was. Of course I bought the Windows machine, because they're so much cheaper and had so much software. I felt a little guilty about that until that Mac experience at work. I also think there's an odd tortured-artiste vibe to the Mac and its software -- I guess it's a left-brain-vs.-right-brain thing, but I'd rather, for example, position a piece of text exactly where I want it using a numerical point of reference than "eyeballing" it, which seems like more of a Mac thing.
On the MP3 player front, I'm basically anti- -- I have a certain disdain for people who want music in their ears 24/7 and who choose to block out the sometimes lovely, sometimes annoying but always real sounds of the world. But I have a lot of admiration for the technology that can pack an entire record collection into something smaller than a Bic lighter, and I've finally found a place where I really like to use my not-an-iPod -- and that's on my urban patio on a warm night when my wife is already in bed and I'm getting ready to turn in myself. No significant "real" sounds to block out, and so I enjoy my eclectic mix -- a little heavy on the '70s and '60s oldies for that occasion.
I don't like the fact that my Creative Zen Nano lacks the iPod "playlist" features, but I like the fact that it just keeps working.
Mark --
Point well-taken, but I HAVE to work on a Mac. Sadly, I'm not independently wealthy! As for the iPod -- it was a $300 gift. I'm just trying to enjoy it!
:-)
Kenneth, I want to apologize. It's your blog, you can do whatever you want. If it sounds like whining to me, then I don't have to read it. It annoys me when people complain that there's too much this or that on TV--I want to say, "Then don't watch it!" I realize I'm guilty of the same thing by criticizing something you write here. Hope you have a good weekend!
your gripes about apple are boring
I don't dispute their boring-ness although one might argue everything on an average person's blog is pretty boring. I'm only human, after all.
But I'm fascinated that these $300 gadgets are flying off the shelf year after year yet you can't take one of 'em on a vacation and expect it to work four days later -- even if you never used it once!
I guess I continue to write about it because I'm completely confused slash mesmerized by Apple loyalty!
I am certainly not a "Mac Cult" person as some call anyone who likes Mac products. I could really care less which brand I use as long as it works. I happen to use a Mac and have an Ipod and have never had a problem. Sorry 'bout yours - it's sort of weird.
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