WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
Posted on 11/01/2006 11:10:25 PM PST by Swordmaker
The New York Times is at it again, literally. We're struck by the similarities between two separate New York Times articles regarding Apple iPod. So struck are we, in fact, that we can't let it go without first analyzing the formula that NY Times writers seem to have concocted.
The formula:
1. Find a disaffected anti-iPod voice from the appropriate age group.
2. Quote lone anti-iPodder liberally in order to make their sentiment appear important.
3. Highlight alternatives to Apple's iPod in-depth.
Let's compare, shall we?
From the New York Times: October 5, 2006 by Wilson Rothman:
When Max Roosevelt wanted to rebel, he got a Dell laptop and a SanDisk Sansa MP3 player. It wasn't a rebellion against his parents, who had been buying Dells for years. It was a rebellion against his peers, Mac-toting iPod addicts one and all.
From the New York Times: November 1, 2006 by Roy Furchgott:
Iman Hayward is an 18-year-old college student and self-confessed contrarian. She likes to mix Cyberdog T-shirts with platform boots. She prefers vintage horror movies to modern remakes. And she does not like the Apple iPod.
NYT, October 5, Rothman:
“I just didn't want to have the same MP3 player as everybody else and felt that there had to be equivalent or better players out there,” Roosevelt, an 18-year-old from Chappaqua, N.Y., said recently in his freshman dorm room at the University of Maryland.
NYT, November 1, Furchgott:
“I was kind of anti-iPod because everybody had it,” said Ms. Hayward, who lives in the Bronx.
NYT, October 5, Rothman:
“It's not that I don't like it; I just don't like the whole cult mentality toward Apple. I don't like how everyone gravitates toward it immediately.”
NYT, November 1, Furchgott:
That is not to say she dislikes portable music players. In fact, on Nov. 14 she will wait in line, if needed, to be among the first to own Microsoft’s iPod alternative, the Zune — in the fudge-brown case, no less. “I’m going to be waving it in front of my friends’ faces,” she said. “They all have iPods.”
NYT, October 5, Rothman:
While it may seem as if Roosevelt is the only one not buying Apple, the iPod's domestic market share in flash-memory players actually amounted to 68 percent during the first eight months of the year, according to the NPD Group, a research firm. In other words, nearly one-third of the flash-memory MP3 players sold were made by someone else. SanDisk's products accounted for 14 percent of sales, and the remainder was shared by Creative, Samsung, iRiver and a few others.
NYT, November 1, Furchgott:
The people at Microsoft are hoping that people like Ms. Hayward will give them reason to gloat this holiday season, too. They are not the only ones. Other makers of portable media players have also introduced new products, hoping to grab a big piece of the market that the iPod dominates.
NYT, October 5, Rothman:
The iPod Nano may represent an irresistible combination of enticing design, futuristic technology and sledgehammer marketing, but does Roosevelt have a point? Are other players more advanced or more fun to use? An examination of four non-Nanos suggests there are praises to be sung outside Apple's realm.
NYT, November 1, Furchgott:
In trying to break iPod’s dominion, manufacturers are trying out new features and revamped services to fill their devices with music and give buyers more choices than they have had in the past. The most notable addition is the Zune.
NYT, October 5, Rothman:
The four all had features not found in a Nano, such as larger screens, built-in FM receivers and microphones for dictation. Each can play videos, provided they're converted to an appropriate format using PC software.
NYT, November 1, Furchgott:
Physically larger than the iPod, the Zune has a hard case finished in a rubbery matte coating. Its 3-inch color screen is larger than the 2½-inch screen of video iPods, but the biggest difference is the built-in Wi-Fi transceiver that lets Zune owners (Zunis?) share music, photo and video files. It also has a radio receiver, and users can choose any photo from their files to put on the color screen.
Both writers then delve into the respective devices they are covering, citing both pros and cons, while comparing and contrasting with Apple's iPod models along the way.
NYT, October 5, Rothman's wrap-up:
For more than a year, Roosevelt used a Rio Carbon player and listened only to MP3 files that had no copy protection. When the Carbon broke down, he learned that its manufacturer had left the business, unable to compete with Apple. Determined to steer clear of Apple, he bought his 6-gigabyte Sansa last June. “It may look a great deal like an iPod Nano, but it isn't one, which is all that I really cared about,” he said.
NYT, November 1, Furchgott's wrap-up:
Sadly for iPod bashers, it doesn’t look as though these products will overtake Apple this year, said Debra Russell, who heads the portable media player department for Best Buy, which is starting its own online music store with SanDisk and Rhapsody. “If we think about our go-to, it’s the Apple,” she said, adding that people still like Apple’s colors, designs and will buy more than one iPod. “With Apple,” she said, “people come back in for the latest, greatest products.”
Rothman's article, reprinted in full by The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday here.
Furchgott's article via today's New York Times here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, at least they had somewhat different endings, even if the basic conclusion is the same: people who quixotically choose inferior solutions solely to be different won't threaten Apple's iPod+iTunes, even if they do seem to be assured of getting quoted by The New York Times.
Think Different only works when different is better. Get a Mac.
We'd like to see The New York Times examine the origins of these so-called "Zune enthusiast" websites that have sprung up recently - magically without a shipping device about which to be enthused (Furchgott's article even mentions that "Zune has inspired several fan Web sites" and includes their URLs without a question as to why they exist). Microsoft doing more than a little astroturfing, perhaps? But, then again, examining and possibly exposing something like that would require actual work by journalists from an organization with financial clout that's capable of finding and breaking real news.
Interesting comparison of anti-iPod articles... PING!
A quick check of most NYT issues will reveal *many* Microsoft or Microsoft-linked ads, and maybe one or two Apple ads - and those are usually iPod ads.
Bias? The NYT? Never. /sarc
Should they keep receiving free advertising from FR?
LOL! The wittle iPod people are upset!
If you don't want to read any article that refers to an Apple product, Echo, then stop reading them.
If you are offended... GO AWAY!
Ignore the Mac posts and iPod threads. You've made your point... you don't like Apple, Macs or anything that Steve Jobs has ever touched.
Leave us in our blissful ignorance of all things wrong about Apple... we do not need you to correct us and show us the pathway to true enlightenment at the feet of Microsoft.
There are currently 216 members of FreeRepublic who have requested to be informed about things relating to Macs and Apple... and another fairly large number who are interested in iPods in a list separately maintained by Martin_Fierro... they are NOT interested in your biased and ignorant opinions nor in your self appointed campaign to ruin every Mac, Apple or iPod discussion with your snide commentary, denigrating remarks, or just plain obstinate intent to be irritating.
I would think that you might start getting the message that you are NOT welcome from the number of Freepers who rail at your childish antics and post insulting comments to you. No one appreciates a skunk at a picnic.
You constant drumbeat of negativity is a real downer. It is not funny. Stop it.
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no need for name calling.
Probably did a Jayson Blair---wrote the story in a coffee shop after doing a Google.
I did not call you any names except "Echo."
If this was a patented Jayson Blair format used by the NySlimes, it would have been a "joint" endeavor in the reporters hot tub with connections to Gay Planet.
LOL-----they play and work all at the same time.
they are NOT interested in your biased and ignorant opinions
I promised Jim VIA freepmail in response to him that I wouldn't post to any more technology threads... goodbye.
Aside from the fact that I don't like the over-priced iTunes and feel I can get much more for my money (and I did), I have expressed each of the following sentiments towards the iPod myself at one time or another:
I think this may be a cross post from their sister website iPod Daily News... which is targeted toward all iPod users.
Ahh. I didn't follow the link and delve that deeply into it.
That would explain their pique.
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