Re: Apple Computer changes its name

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Scott Alfter wrote:
> In article <eo4qlq$1mtd$1@merope.saaf.se>,
> Paul Schlyter <pausch@saaf.se> wrote:
>
> > Anyway, choosing something other than iPod as your mp3 player can
> > bring you several advantages.  Such as:
> >
> > - a build in FM radio receiver
>
>
> Who cares?  The whole reason behind carrying your music collection with you
> in an iPod (or whatever) is that 99.999% of what's on FM today sucks.  I'd
> find an AM tuner more useful than FM (AM, after all, is where talk radio
> lives), but nobody ever seems to include one of those.

PBS provides a pretty rich talk format on FM (YMMV).

> > - recording capability
>
>
> I don't know that I'd ever use that feature, if present.  There are add-on
> microphones for the iPod, so I suppose you can add it if you need it.  Most
> people don't need it, so it isn't built in.

That's like saying most people don't need a camera.

If you have audio recording capability wherever you are, you find
many opportunities for useful or interesting recordings.

Apparently what's missing is "awareness of the need".  ;-)

> > - the mp3 player's memory appearing just as a plain disk drive, with all
> > your mp3 files readily accessible  (they're there on your iPod too, true,
> > although with the 'hidden' bit set, and also obfuscated behind obscure
> > file names).
>
>
> Accessing the files is trivial, and once you've read them into your
> computer, it's trivial to use iTunes to give the files more sensible names
> based on the metadata stored within (you did tag all of your files, right?).
>
>
> > I wonder why Apple insist on denying their users these features.....
> > Nowadays you can even get an FM transmitter to your iPod (as an addon,
> > but it's available).  But an FM receiver?  No.....
>
>
> Do you think they don't periodically check with users (and potential users)
> to see what features they want?  Is it conceivable that there's not much
> overlap between what they want and what you want?

And is it also possible that people haven't the faintest idea what
they really want?  They certainly never wanted an iPod until they
had one!

Asking people what they want is a useless exercise.  What works is to
watch them and see what they might want if they had it, then do the
experiment.

-michael

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