Welcome to the Cult of Apple
Feb. 17th, 2003 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikThe Element has a very silly "marketing to GenX" feature: on the dash is a little pocket that's purpose built to hold a portable MP3 player, just below an AUX-IN jack and a power jack. Honda made sure that of all the players out there this pocket would best fit the Apple iPod.
I've avoided getting an iPod even though I've wanted one since they came out. Reason: price. You can get the same storage amount from folks like e.Digital or Archos for 25-40% less. None of the non-apple products do the same task with as much style, as good a UI, or as small a size, however. In paying the "Apple tax" you at least get rewarded with elegance. Last year I bought a microdrive-capable cheapie-brand player to get me by as I have a stock of microdrives I use for my digicam. 1GB of music was usually enough, and the player worked great on the motorcycle for multiple long trips -- but it only barely did the job right.
Between the Element whispering [get me an iPod] and the overwhelmingly large number of motorcycle-board recommendations (the iPod is by far the choice for mounting in motorcycles for a number of reasons), I dropped by the Apple store over the weekend to pay the tax. I now have one of the 20Gb windows-version models. Since I'm stuck at home with the flu I've dumped my 5GB-or-so of collection to it, but I've not yet tried it in the car where it's eventual intended use is.
As for the cult reference... well, am I the only one that finds the society that hovers around the Apple stores to be vaguely unsettling? Peoplewatching while I was in line revealed a parade of trendier-than-thou drones wearing tiny-slim-glasses, expensive sweaters, Abercrombie and Fitch shirts, Dockers pants, and impeccably cut poseur-beards. They walked around "musing" about software they might buy, and occasionally posing next to the 17" powerbook to see how they looked with it. Accompanying most of them was the over-exposed odor of the inside of a Starbucks. My stereotype-amplification system went into overdrive and I could just imagine one of them trying to figure out just what kind of Apple product would look best for carrying around, latte in hand, while seeking the best seat on the coffee-shop porch. It was like teenage girls going through a fashion magazine.
What amused me the most was the attention I attracted. While the salesmen were helpful and proper, the one who rang me up definately had this "are you SURE you meant to come into our store?" look the whole time. Without trying, my presence destabilized various peoples' grooves. They'd wander from shiny-metallic display to shiny-candybutton-display to iLamp, and then get this GAAH! type of look as they saw me in their path. I was in no way socially unacceptable; heck, I was stylin' pretty good even. It's just that I was the epitome of 'does not fit here'. Sometimes it's fun to be the neon-and-paisley wallpaper slapped across trendy normality. :)
I've avoided getting an iPod even though I've wanted one since they came out. Reason: price. You can get the same storage amount from folks like e.Digital or Archos for 25-40% less. None of the non-apple products do the same task with as much style, as good a UI, or as small a size, however. In paying the "Apple tax" you at least get rewarded with elegance. Last year I bought a microdrive-capable cheapie-brand player to get me by as I have a stock of microdrives I use for my digicam. 1GB of music was usually enough, and the player worked great on the motorcycle for multiple long trips -- but it only barely did the job right.
Between the Element whispering [get me an iPod] and the overwhelmingly large number of motorcycle-board recommendations (the iPod is by far the choice for mounting in motorcycles for a number of reasons), I dropped by the Apple store over the weekend to pay the tax. I now have one of the 20Gb windows-version models. Since I'm stuck at home with the flu I've dumped my 5GB-or-so of collection to it, but I've not yet tried it in the car where it's eventual intended use is.
As for the cult reference... well, am I the only one that finds the society that hovers around the Apple stores to be vaguely unsettling? Peoplewatching while I was in line revealed a parade of trendier-than-thou drones wearing tiny-slim-glasses, expensive sweaters, Abercrombie and Fitch shirts, Dockers pants, and impeccably cut poseur-beards. They walked around "musing" about software they might buy, and occasionally posing next to the 17" powerbook to see how they looked with it. Accompanying most of them was the over-exposed odor of the inside of a Starbucks. My stereotype-amplification system went into overdrive and I could just imagine one of them trying to figure out just what kind of Apple product would look best for carrying around, latte in hand, while seeking the best seat on the coffee-shop porch. It was like teenage girls going through a fashion magazine.
What amused me the most was the attention I attracted. While the salesmen were helpful and proper, the one who rang me up definately had this "are you SURE you meant to come into our store?" look the whole time. Without trying, my presence destabilized various peoples' grooves. They'd wander from shiny-metallic display to shiny-candybutton-display to iLamp, and then get this GAAH! type of look as they saw me in their path. I was in no way socially unacceptable; heck, I was stylin' pretty good even. It's just that I was the epitome of 'does not fit here'. Sometimes it's fun to be the neon-and-paisley wallpaper slapped across trendy normality. :)
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 02:04 pm (UTC)The trouble with the Apple stores in this respect is where they're located. The one here is in Valley Fair, with an Abercrombie and Fitch literally right upstairs from it. Go fig. :) I still rather liked the old ComputerWare stores before they went out of business, since they were computer stores instead of boutiques.
no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 08:39 pm (UTC)I always feel vaguely out of place in the Glendale Apple store, too. Here I am, androgynous, t-shirt referring to a cartoon, long purple hair... I guess I fit the 'artist' stereotype well enough that I don't look completely alien. Or else I'm so used to looking alien that I really don't notice it.
Urf...
Date: 2003-02-17 10:56 pm (UTC)"Should Apple reduce its price on any shipped product within 10 calendar days of shipment, you may contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 business days of shipment."
Keep your fingers crossed that it comes soon. You really should check with members of the cult before jumping into something like this. ;)
Also...I know I'm a minority of one when I say this, because everybody else seems to love it (but then, few are as immersed into usability issues), but I just need to rant to someone that the iPod wheel and menu system are a grotesque abomination of user interface principles. Fortunately, once it gets going, all the important controls are available on the headphone remote.
iPod People
Date: 2003-02-18 01:55 am (UTC)Still, it ain't cheap, but by golly, 20 gigabytes!!!! (pulls at hair like Christopher Lloyd in Back To The Future).
Zrath (Who would probably look out of place in an Apple boutique)
no subject
Date: 2003-02-18 12:37 pm (UTC)