Apples and Pears

I hate the new iPod. It's not because I'm against portable media players. It's not because its forced the reconciliation of Pixar and Disney. It's not because even with their new H.264 codec, the movies are still low resolution and of fairly crap quality. It's not because its even harder than the PSP to watch anything other than overpriced iTMS videos. And it's not because, after pointing at other portable video devices a year ago, Steve Jobs said "there's no market or content for them, and the screens are too small anyway" (but announced at the same time the iPod would support photos, even though they're often 3 or 4 times the size of the current iTMS videos).


No. It's because, although I'm perfectly happy with my iPod mini (which has been swiftly and very subtlely replaced by the iPod nano) and I have no need for nor the money to buy a new iPod, I want one. I want one more than any other portable device I can think of.

And this is my major gripe with Apple in general. They produce an entire warehouse-filling array of what can be only be described as entirely useless products, that serve no purpose for more than 99.9% of the average desktop user population. Unless you're some kind of sound studio technician, who has an absolute need for all £699-worth of Logic Pro 7, you'll end up paying 2 or 3 times as much for an Apple computer that is 1) slower, 2) supports pretty much bugger all REAL software and 3) will cost you a fortune in Microsoft Office software because you'll actually have to buy it for once.

Once you push past all the gimmicks that Apple throw right in your face (the widgets you'll play with for 10 minutes or so, the fading icons and folders that you just get used to, the fancy camera thing they've shoved in so all your internet girlfriends can really see how ugly you are) there's not much there anymore. No more downloading random trials of things and lengthening their lifespan thanks to Referat, no more demos of games you'll never buy, and no more Half-Life 2. Even though they've been kind enough to throw in an ATI Radeon X600 Pro in the new iMac G5's.

But that doesn't mean I don't want one. To have just a 20" bright white flat panel screen sitting on my desk begging me to turn it on gives me the chills (I need a girlfriend). It shouldn't do, it really shouldn't, but it does. And even though I have no need for GarageBand I'd still spend hours writing random songs just wishing I had the money to upgrade to Logic. Unfortunately the £1,200 Apple want from me for a 20" iMac G5 is going to have to come mainly from selling my body. And unfortunately, I'm picking up a lot of mileage.

Bugger.