Today my Itunes store connection stopped working.
Flashing across my screen, with no alternatives available but to click on the "Download" button, was the "Upgrade to the new iTunes Store!" option. Except it wasn't really an "option" because no alternatives existed.
Naturally, I clicked. And I soon discovered what an i-dinosaur I am.
You see, while the rest of the world have apparently long since upgraded to flashier Macs, and bought iPads, iPhones, and other i-tems guaranteed to enlarge their social standing and genitalia, I'm still running a dusty 6 year old Mac.
Bought secondhand. At half price.
And it won't run the new iTunes store.
I guess that's Apple telling me i-Suck.
Planned obsolescence - what it is, and why we buy it
Planned obsolescence is "an industrial policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period." [Wikipedia]
We don't buy that new laptop because we need it - not usually. We don't get a new flat screen TV because the old one really did break down.
Nor do we usually buy that iPhone because the landline stopped working and our paper diary exploded in a fit of self-loathing.
We're all susceptible to marketing and advertising, and that's why planned obsolescence works so well.
No-one wants to think they're a daggy relic, or left behind while all their friends have something they don't have.
No-one wants to feel poor, or like the odd one out.
And let's face it, having new stuff that's so clean and shiny and coffee-stain-free and pretty is - nice! It's an electronic ego-stroke.
Are you hip enough to be in the Apple Club?
Apple are the Princes of Planned Obsolescence. They're at the top of the (ahem) apple tree when it comes to making people feel inferior inless they buy the next Big Item and its associated apps.
It all looks so sleek and cute and friendly, but there's a wealth of sneaky design and evil gollum-esque precious psychology behind those little "eat me!" "drink me!" buttons on the iPhones and iPads that just make you want to be a part of it all and go pressssssss!
In my case, they've stopped making their own product (iTunes store) available to those of their customers (PowerBook G4 owner, me) who have failed to buy their own products fast enough (must...buy...new...laptop...now...must regain...coolness...!).
Do you spend enough to be part of the cool crew?
I'm not upgrading my laptops fast enough, obviously, so I'm out of the iTunes "club".
And I'm using the word "club" on purpose. The whole of the iTunes and iPhone and i-everything marketing strategy is designed to feel like a club.
You're in, and trendy, and very sexy and "with it", if you own the right Apple items. You're part of the cool set. You're in the Apple club.
But - here's the rub - you can only stay in the club as long as you continue to buy Apple products at a high enough pace to validate your membership.
I guess I'm at the end of the line, with the poor kids, serving drinks.
My membership has lapsed, because I didn't buy enough recent, expensive, unnecessary products. My credit card may be healthy, but my Apple Cred is trashed.
The real cost of products with short shelf lives
Planned obsolescence is bad news. It costs you, the consumer, far more than you might think it does.
- That $2000 laptop used for a lifespan of two years, even without interest on the repayments, will cost you $84 a month.
- That shiny new iPhone will cost you approximately $140 USD a month, once again not including any interest repayments, for a plan plus phone.
Ipads have been shown to break when dropped from as little as six inches. - That neat-looking 64 GB iPad, designed to break when dropped from a height of just six inches, will set you back $829 USD if you want wifi. That's about $1.15 a day, or USD$34 a month, given a two year life expectancy (don't drop it!)
The cost of running your three gadgets per month? USD$258 a month.
If there are two of you (or more) in a family, you could be looking at a sizeable portion of your budget spent on short lifespan gadgetry.
New does not necessarily mean better!
At my parents' home the other day I watched a video for the first time in years. And what surprised me was how I really couldn't see much difference between the quality of the screen and the DVD we'd watched the day before.
Yet when DVDs came in, do you remember being sold on the fact that the picture was going to be so much better? I do.
Same goes with blu-ray. I've watched movies in blu-ray, and I honestly can't see any difference. I really can't.
Same with big screens, compared with the old box TVs. Sure, they're bigger, but I don't think the picture is any better. Sometimes it is worse - it can be grainy and digital.
Yet in every case, the new version seems to be less robust than the old version. It costs more, and lasts less time.
I've bought DVDs for the kids that have lasted one viewing before they've started to skip and jam. Have you?
And a friend of mine's kid broke their brand new flat screen TV (same problem as those iPads - very brittle and fragile) when playing in their living room. Acording to the guy at Harvey Norman's (the TV shop), that's really common - they don't recommend them for families with young children. Yet I've never heard of any kid breaking the screen of an old box TV.
Eery time we "upgrade" we seem to be buying something designed to last less time, be more breakable, and cost more. I don't think the consumer is winning here. I think the consumer is being taken for a ride.
Walk away from the club...
Getting back to my original gripe with Apple, I've decided to walk away from the Apple club. I reckon it is for suckers, and I am not a sucker.
I'm going to run my old computer here into the ground, and when it finally dies, I'm going back to windows. And I'll probably give running Ubuntu a try.
I think computers should be for users. Novel thought, that!
I think it is great when computer companies create great products and make profits, but I disagree completely with designing products that will be quickly redundant, break easily, and send people spiralling into debt. That's not fair or ethical trade practices.
What can you do about it?
Here are some suggestions:
- Refuse to automatically upgrade.
- If your electronic item breaks, fix it if possible.
- If your electronic item can't be fixed, complain!
- Buy based on need rather than want.
- Keep electronic products beyond their anticipated shelf life.
- Replace electronic products with alternatives (e.g. paper diary, landline phone).
- Refuse memberships, mail outs and junk mail e.g. clubs, benefits and "updates" - these make you feel like you are being left behind if you don't purchase more regularly.
- Complain when products fail.
- Complain about being forced to follow brands. If your school / university / college only offers windows support, or requests students purchase only Macs, COMPLAIN. You have rights. This is akin to forcing students to eat only at McDonalds, and fails to teach students how to deal with different operating systems and hardware. In short, it's a cop out.
- Be prepared to switch brands and try alternatives. You don't have to have a Mac just because you always have had one. Alternatives exist.
- Ignore brand "loyalty". Brand loyalty just means they get your money easier, for less work, at higher cost to you. You earned your dollars - why shouldn't they?
Other reading on the issue of planned obsolescence:
- Sayonara Geek Diary! - I decided to say goodbye to electronic PDAs after realising that I'd been upgrading every 2-3 years and spending as much as $800 per upgrade. Four years later, I still use a paper diary, and don't miss the PDA madness one bit.
- Planned obsolescence: How to get the better of it! - I discuss why we're so willing to be sold complete garbage - and why we'll buy the same, slightly-modified garbage a few months later, at an even more elevated price.
- The Good Consumer" - A Youtube presentation.
- The Story of Stuff - A Youtube presentation.
Have a lovely day!
13 comments:
I'm clearly in the non-cool club, my TV is an 8yr old non-flat screen, we still watch videos lol, and I refuse to buy a new dishwasher because my last one lasted us only 4yrs and can't be fixed (grrr) and therefore cost me $250 per year. I think I'd rather go buy an old one off TM for $100 and even if it lasts only 6mths I'm still better off!
I'm currently fighting my school over the requirement that all term papers be submitted in Microsoft Word (we are emailing them in). Google Docs is FREE! word processing software, an all they would have to do is copy and paste a URL. So far, they aren't allowing it. It's silly.
great article! i had my purple iMac from 1999-2009 and finally realized my phone had more memory in it. it died a proud death and i proudly donated it to freegeek.org for recycling here. but because of the cost of apples, i replaced it with a $250 netbook and realized that while the screen is small, it's just fine and (except for the fact it doesn't have a cd drive) it does everything i need :)
I'm a little like Nikki. My washing machine used to belong to my late grandma, and I got it when she moved into a nursing home. 4 years ago when i got it serviced, the guy said don't replace it for a while, because it was made from the made to last era. It was working fine until a year ago, when the timer stopped working. The service people said that it couldn't be fixed because the parts are no longer made. Grr! Meaning I have to buy a new one when I eventually get sick of manually turning it to the spin cycle.
The only reason I have a flat screen TV is because the same grandma died, and I took hers. Mind you, my previous one had been my other grandma's cast off. Actually, my family's consumerism has been great for me, because I have bought very little furniture and few gadgets.
I mentioned on your fb page how I am having a similar problem with my pda, my perfectly functional pda, which is no longer supported by the operating systems and therefore cannot be backed up properly. Grr!
Ubuntu itself has a form of planned obsolecence, but because it's free, it's more like a bonus than a hindrance.. They release a new distribution every 6 months, which is supported for 18 months. Every 2 years they release a long term support distribution, which is support for 3 years.
Nowhere is planned obsolescence more embraced than in the refrigeration industry.
Remember that old pigeon pair your mum and dad bought in the 70s before you were even a thought in their minds? Remember how they chugged along merrily throughout your childhood, never once experiencing a fault? And whenever you go home for a visit despite now being almost 30, there they are, still in the kitchen. And there they'll continue to be for the next 10 years.
That doesn't exist anymore. Anywhere. Ever. No matter what the brand, your fridge is designed to last the three year warranty period and then break down. Repairs are expensive as fridges are all electronic nowadays (a $180 thermostat replacement is now a $400 mainboard replacement) and often fridges are simply unrepairable.
Considering the price tag (more than any iProduct), this industry definitely takes the cake when it comes to planned obsolescence.
I couldn't agree more. My eldest son is 16 and his best mate got given an Iphone for his 16th birthday last year. Six months later he was selling it,,,,why you ask? Because the Iphone4 came out and he wanted that one. I recently heard that Iphone5 is coming out, I guess there will be an as new Iphone4 for sale very soon.
My 16 year old thankfully is like me and plays by the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" lol.
Hi NIkki - *waves Non-Cool Club membership back at you!*
Me too, in case you can't tell by the post. And my husband, a serious uber-geek (like, he's a head of geekiness in his profession), is also a Non-Cool non-upgrader. We're all clued in to the fact that instant upgrading is for Dumbarses.
Yes, working out cost per use / per wear / per day is a real eye-opener. When you work it out, it helps you understand where your money is going, and why we're all so damn poor! No wonder our generation has debt problems - we're spending all our money on short lifespan i-Junk and items designed to fail.
I've decided NOT to buy a Mac for this reason - they cost more, and I simply can't guarantee, based on Apple's current practices and strategies, that it will last any longer for me to get better value from a Mac. So I'm heading back to a Windows machine, which is something this previously very happy Apple-addict thought she'd never do!
BTW, re dishwashers. I did a calculation on cost of those "powerball" dishwasher cleaning products versus powder, and that was a shock. I'll do a post on it, with cost breakdowns, but in short, don't use them! Very, very expensive.
Hi Fragmentary Green - Ask your school how much of a kickback they're getting from Microsoft!
Sounds to me like if they're promoting Microsoft products so vehemently, they should be getting paid for it as a sales representative, don't you think? ;-)
Hi EcoGrrl - Sounds to me like you're smarter than the system :-)
Unfortunately I'm stuck with a computer, because I compose music, and need at least a decent sized screen to see what I'm doing. But now I've thrown the "must have a Mac" out the window, I'll be looking for something a lot cheaper, and am not necessarily ruling out secondhand machines.
Hey - I might even get lucky and buy a six month old machine (like I did last time) from some doofus who wants to upgrade every few months to keep "up to date" hehehehe!
Hi Pennie - it was actually PDAs that first alerted me to planned obsolescence a few years back. I used to be a keen Palm Pilot fan, but realised than I was upgrading every two years.
When I worked out how much I'd spent on the bloody things, I went back to paper diaries, and stopped buying them.
I wasn't even buying just to "upgrade" either - the bloody things were dying on me, after just 2 years of use, in which I did NOT drop them or treat them harshly.
Paying $2-3 a day for the "privilege" of owning a Palm Pilot was too stupid for me, no matter how strong the geek gene. I've used paper diaries ever since, and not looked back.
That's why I'm also so wary about embracing the iPhone craze - I'm absolutely convinced the life expectancy on them won't be any longer than on those old Palm Pilots - I'm expecting 18 months at best in most cases.
In short, I'm simply not gullible enough to buy one. Once bitten well, several times actually, via several versions of Palm Pilot), twice shy.
I write about converting from Palm Pilots back to a paper diary on this blog in the post titled Sayonara Geek Diary!.
Hi Megan Leslianne - I've heard refrigerators are pretty bad. I think most electronic gizmos and gadgets are just plain shocking.
Same goes for cars actually. Remember the old VW bugs that run forever? They don't make them like they used to.
But still, dollar for dollar, a fridge that costs $1500 and lasts for three years is a better bet than a Mac that costs $2000 and lasts for two years :-(
My money on the crown winner for Planned Obsolescence Princes of Suckydom still goes to Apple.
Hi OurGangOf7 - Isn't it nice to know we're raising such a consumerist generation - right when peak oil and environmental disaster are going to give them a double whammy! :-(
I think the younger generation may well end up hating us - and with good reason :-(
What can I say, except that a few of us tried really hard to turn things around. We really did.
So many people my age and younger have huge debt issues, own nothing, and deal with depression - all of it brought about and exacerbated by a consumerist culture that sees value only in what people have, rather than in what people *are*.
Okay, I'd better stop ranting now.
My 'puter is around 7 give or take a bit. It is a composite critter running Ubuntu. Thats what this family does - rebuilds old (and new) computers for us and for anyone who asks.
I think the stereo/cd player ranges from 35 to about 10 and my music is open source.
I don't think I own anything under 5 years old:)
viv in dunedin
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