Name: Anonymous 2006-04-14 13:11
Many people supported the dead as we knew it Napster as it allowed for the diffusion and distribution of information and the arts, which in this case would be music in the form of MP3s.
The music industry, at that time, was denounced for providing declining quality in CDs, as albums had one or two in-demand songs surrounded by unwanted fillers. The industry also added insult to injury by raising the price of CDs.
Difficult to obtain songs that were otherwise unavailable were made availble through Napster.
Radiohead enjoyed the promotional power of Napster, as it actually stimulated sales since the album was distributed three months before it was officially released. With little promotion in the traditional, it was expected to hurt sales, but actually allowed Radiohead to beat out heavily marketed artists and attained number one on the charts.
Essentially, the music industry was critized for limiting the spread of information while Napster was hailed for just the opposite.
Now, when we get to the iPod, opinions surprisingly change. There is often ignorant, absolute support iPod. Some people rebuke its critics, claiming such people "don't want to use it because everyone is using it."
But is that the case? If they would actualy think about it, the iPod embodies everything Napster fought.
Restriction of music through the exclusive use of Apple's DRM and iTunes.
In conjunction, incompatibility with other music providers, such as Napster and Yahoo!
Inability to easily convert and therefore share music among different users and digital media players.
Limited functions on a media player that is arguably overpriced for such restrictions.
Sound quality, relative to its closest competition, is among the worst as rated by audiophiles.
And once more, Apple has the plan to perpetually milk you with the bullshit battery replacement service, where you either send it in for about $50 dollars to replace every 18 months, or go out and buy yourself a new one.
Sure, everyone's using one, and shouldn't that be enough? But ironically, doing so would perpetually limit and restrict ourselves - we are selling our freedom to Apple.
Discuss.