@mahler123 Technology. Computing. I have found that one either gets it or one does not. The issue is some do not understand the underlying concepts of operation—Hierarchical menus, storage locations, data structures etc. These are abstract concepts, and if not absorbed, every function of every device remains a ungraspable mystery.
Is the microwave the perfect model for audio marketting?
I remember the first time my mother got interested in a microwave oven. They were brand new, full of promises of fast, convenient cooking and baking. She ended up with a Toshiba with a built in magnetic card reader. You could put in a recipe card and automatically program it, or you could get additional cards and program your own "recipes." This was decades before the Internet, home routers or anything like Wifi.
Last week installers took away my 19 year old Maytag and replaced it with a brand new LG. Full of "features" where it automatically guesses the power and time based on buttons such as "potato" or "popcorn." These are not even very smart features. They don’t weigh the potato or take the temperature of the item you are heating or listen for the popcorn to stop popping. They just look up settings from a table and away you go.
Honestly of the hundreds of features in this microwave I need the light and fan the most. Then the power and time. The first two features are never very good in any microwave. The latter two are the only one’s most of us end up using out of sheer frustration with the automated features.
Is this a model or metaphor for modern audio marketting? Are we constantly being sold a list of features which in the end don’t really matter so long as the light turns on and the frozen Tandori chicken meal is safe to eat?
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We were chatting over in a car forum about a user’s $60k SUV that locked up at a T junction and hit a wall. The technicians at the shop had no idea what happened. On further discussion, we all more or less agreed that we would prefer vehicles with no computers and their hundreds of features. Just give us power mirrors, power windows, heated seats, instant startup without 8 secs of bong bong bong, and a location to hang one’s phone to use for navigation. |
@erik_squires - that's interesting - for me, I need the light some manual temp and time controls and a revolving platter; I've got a Sharp Carousel II that I've had for almost 35 years, and it still works fine, though sometimes I have to wack it on the side to get the platter to start turning. |
Streaming software can be a steep learning curve, probably why some won't embrace streaming. I went diy route with the hardware, custom nearly everything, loved the challenge. Plug n play route also available on hardware side, can't avoid the software issue. Still, I'd rate the smartphone as a far more feature laden appliance vs the streamer. And modern cars, menus and sub menus on screens to control all manner of useless features, did we really ask for this? |
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