Rant week entry 1: iPod Shuffle

Last Wednesday, Apple revealed their new iPod shuffle, which is more then half the size of the previous version. They achieved this by moving the buttons to the famous Apple earbuds. This is great and all when you first get the player, but what about the people who want to use their own headphones? Apple said that they would be releasing an adapter to make other headphones compatible, however this will probably cost an extra 20-30 dollars. With this, apple has created a “freedom tax.” Now, I am not going to be buying this player. Lots of people aren’t. However, a few suckers will be purchasing it, which will send the message to apple that this is a good idea. They will move this “freedom tax” across all iPod models and say “Oh wow, we created a winning idea!” Other companies will see this and start to release their own locked in products, and gaining tons of money from their “freedom tax.” I like Apple products like anyone else, but this is a universal thumbs-down to apple. No one should have to pay extra to make the most of a product, and apple has ruined things for everyone.

Ryan