Before a start this rant, I feel I need to confess that I’m somewhat of an Apple fan-boy. I love Apple products. But there are few things that bug the crap out of me. One being the apparent dwindling generosity of the company where it’s media players are concerned…
I remember a time when Apple didn’t think twice about showering new iPod owners with accessories included with the device. Not to mention keeping all 3rd party accessories compatible through the release of new generations of the media player, and keeping all revisions as up-to-date with each other where it’s feasible.
Now it seems that they are cutting back as much as possible and attempting to see just how much they can squeeze a few extra bucks out of us.
My first iPod was a 20GB 3rd Gen back in 2003. A device that’s still running strong even today (albeit with less and less use as the years role by). With this was included;
- 1.8 metre FireWire cable, with cable clip
- FireWire Wall Charger
- Headphones
- Foam Headphone Covers
- In-line Remote Control
- Protective Case, with belt clip
- Dock
- 2 Port Covers
Quite a list, eh?
Now take the list of included accessories with my 160GB iPod Classic;
- 1 metre USB Cable
- Headphones
- Foam Headphone Covers
… That’s it, not even a frickin Wall Charger!
Come on Apple – Stop being so tight and start making your customers feel like they’re getting great value for money again!
It’s getting like this with compatibility too – I have a stack of video cables, docks and adaptors that will work with almost every generation of iPod going… except the latest.
It’s nice having better features like Component-out, but I’m sure they could arrange the pins in such a way that keeps nearly everything compatible. I can see accessories becoming defunct with every new iPod revision. I feel this cross-compatibility was lost after the 5th (and “5.5th”) Gen iPods, which are, in my opinion, the best iPods to date. Apple even screwed up by changing the audio hardware.
The Firmware doesn’t seem to be immune to this either. The new iPod Classics have the Genius Menu, but Apple will not release an update for the current Classics to add this. WTF?
The iPhone has fallen down this hole too. The 1st Gen iPhone included the Dock, whereas the iPhone 3G does not. again, pointless and Scrooge-like.
I only hope they pull their head from their arse and stop making us fork out for this, that and the other, so we can start enjoying our iPods as fully as we used to.
Anyway, upon looking for more dock port protectors (I lost my handy little slithers of white plastic) I came across the following video from when the 1st Gen iPod was unleashed onto the world. Back then no one knew the impact Apple’s “First Attempt” at an MP3 player would have on the market.
1,200 tunes on something the size of two cassettes? Have you ever imagined such a wondrous thing?
