Atwood and Apple
In his post Why Apple is more expensive than Amazon Reg Braithwaite says the record labels are giving Amazon better terms. Jeff Atwood writes about Reg’s post:
But to argue that the competition is ‘unfair’ smacks of the absolute worst kind of Apple advocacy. Unfair? Unfair to whom? The customers who are getting DRM-free music officially blessed by the major record labels?
Yeah, that’s terrible. Just awful.
— Jeff Atwood, Supporting DRM-Free Music
Whoa. Apple advocacy is a bad thing? And Reg’s argument ‘smacks of the absolute worst kind’?
Jeff tells us “I’ve been emotionally involved with companies before, and it rarely ends well.” So he’s taking a high road and trying to save us from heartbreak.
A lot of what moves the world is someone getting passionate about something. We are fans of whatever we are fans of at our own risk. Some of us don’t want to be saved. Some of us would rather be passionate and risk losing than not be passionate at all.
But actually Jeff is being disingenuous. He’s very selective in applying his own advice. The ‘don’t advocate for any particular company’ rule is really only applied to Apple.
Jeff could have made a post along the lines of ‘while the titans struggle, the customer benefits.’ But he didn’t stop there. Apple is a villain and deserves to be colluded against — apparently.
I think Jeff has an emotional problem with Apple. He goes all right-brained when the subject is Apple. Maybe he’s a jilted Apple II lover. (Apple ][ forever!)
Postscript: Concerning DRM, I have a much harder time believing Apple will renege on Jobs’ public statements about DRM than that the recording industry will try to stuff the DRM-free genie back in the bottle.
Post Postscript: I was conflicted about posting this. The intent was humorous criticism but I understand I may have missed the mark. I also understand some will receive this post as an attack regardless.
Ah well. You, the reader, will decide.
