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iPod Idiocy
Apr. 1st, 2004 01:52 pmhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/36649.html
West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price.
Fashion-conscious music lovers are apparently being targeted by muggers. The Times tells the sorry tale of 22-year-old language student Roland Baskerville, who lost his 20GB model on the mean streets of Birmingham: "I was walking down the road near to my home when a man who was walking the other way pointed at my headphones."
The thief then asked Baskerville if he was listening to an iPod and, receiving an affirmative answer, he "pulled a knife out and started waving it at me, saying: ‘Well hand it over, then.’ I gave it to him and he ran off. He must have known I was wearing an iPod because of the white headphones."
The police are advising iPod junkies to use less distinctive headphones, something which is apparently akin to asking Victoria Beckham to shop at Oxfam. The Sun quotes one iPod representative as saying: "There are guys who’d rather be robbed than change the colour of the headphones."
Quite right. What's the point of buying a must-have fashion accessory unless everyone within a 300-yard radius can enjoy it too? As one poster to an Ipodlounge.com forum puts it: "I always pick out the iPod people when I'm walking down the street. I know who all the cool people are."
Yes, it's certainly lovely to stand out from the crowd. ®
Now I have an iPod, and I'm considering switching the standard white earphones on them. I've considered this since day one, because first of all they are hideously visible when I wear them thanks to my predominantly black wardrobe, and secondly that mugging thing is a concern as well. I most certainly don't want this expensive piece of gadgetry taken from me.
I'm also really glad that unlike the person in the above article I don't feel the need to show off this piece of gadgetry and try and "belong" to some group. It's like being the kid on the playground with the newest marbles or other fad toy... I wasn't interested in that when I was a kid either.
Yes, I too can pick out who the iPod owners are when I'm on the train to or from Grand Central or walking around Manhattan, and most of those people are definitely not the "cool" people... they're executives or business people with large expendable wads of cash, or fashion victims. It's also not like I'm going to walk up to them and start up some conversation because we both have an iPod. I could care less what kind of music device people have, and I could care less whether people see if I have one or not, in fact I'd rather they didn't see, mostly because I am a tad paranoid about theft. While my iPod is "teh purty" I'm not interested in showing it off to the great wide world, I'm more interested in it doing what I have it for... playing music.
And so I'll be switching out my standard iPod headphones for the headphones I had on my Walkman, they're slightly molded too and as a result fit my ear better than the standard round iPod headphones anyway.
West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price.
Fashion-conscious music lovers are apparently being targeted by muggers. The Times tells the sorry tale of 22-year-old language student Roland Baskerville, who lost his 20GB model on the mean streets of Birmingham: "I was walking down the road near to my home when a man who was walking the other way pointed at my headphones."
The thief then asked Baskerville if he was listening to an iPod and, receiving an affirmative answer, he "pulled a knife out and started waving it at me, saying: ‘Well hand it over, then.’ I gave it to him and he ran off. He must have known I was wearing an iPod because of the white headphones."
The police are advising iPod junkies to use less distinctive headphones, something which is apparently akin to asking Victoria Beckham to shop at Oxfam. The Sun quotes one iPod representative as saying: "There are guys who’d rather be robbed than change the colour of the headphones."
Quite right. What's the point of buying a must-have fashion accessory unless everyone within a 300-yard radius can enjoy it too? As one poster to an Ipodlounge.com forum puts it: "I always pick out the iPod people when I'm walking down the street. I know who all the cool people are."
Yes, it's certainly lovely to stand out from the crowd. ®
Now I have an iPod, and I'm considering switching the standard white earphones on them. I've considered this since day one, because first of all they are hideously visible when I wear them thanks to my predominantly black wardrobe, and secondly that mugging thing is a concern as well. I most certainly don't want this expensive piece of gadgetry taken from me.
I'm also really glad that unlike the person in the above article I don't feel the need to show off this piece of gadgetry and try and "belong" to some group. It's like being the kid on the playground with the newest marbles or other fad toy... I wasn't interested in that when I was a kid either.
Yes, I too can pick out who the iPod owners are when I'm on the train to or from Grand Central or walking around Manhattan, and most of those people are definitely not the "cool" people... they're executives or business people with large expendable wads of cash, or fashion victims. It's also not like I'm going to walk up to them and start up some conversation because we both have an iPod. I could care less what kind of music device people have, and I could care less whether people see if I have one or not, in fact I'd rather they didn't see, mostly because I am a tad paranoid about theft. While my iPod is "teh purty" I'm not interested in showing it off to the great wide world, I'm more interested in it doing what I have it for... playing music.
And so I'll be switching out my standard iPod headphones for the headphones I had on my Walkman, they're slightly molded too and as a result fit my ear better than the standard round iPod headphones anyway.
