Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Gouged


I recently lost by USB-to-iPod connector cable. I have a back-up, but it's FireWire, which the new iPods do not support. So I had to go buy a new one. 3 1/2 feet. Made in China. $19, plus tax. Go to hell, Steve Jobs.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Was it really that bad? $20 for a unique connecting cable seems a tad bit exorbitant, but not too unreasonable or different from most other companies.

10:35 AM  
Blogger VoteJoe said...

See, where you see a unique connection cable, I see 30 cents worth of metal and wires manufactured in a third world economy. I would feel better it it were made in the US, which has better working conditions and better environmental standards. For $19 a pop, sold directly from one of their flagship stores, it would not be a terrible burden to them to do so. It just galls me that people who put up with Apple's bungling (my latest update of iTunes crashes all the time, forcing me to perform a hard shut-down of my computer) are rewarded with these high prices. I suppose that's the price of fashion and/or lazinesss.

On the plus side, if you buy the Apple Care, you can get everything replaced relatively painlessly, and you can get someone on the phone in Texas to holler at until they figure out how to fix your problem. Hey, iTunes is part of the iPod software, and I have Apple care for that. I think I will call them and yell at them about the new iTunes and the cost of my cable.

I did once pay $10 for a four foot ethernet cable from a Radio Shack in Richland Center, WI, but I figured in this case, I had no other choice besides Wal Mart or I could drive 60 miles and buy one for less.

11:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Joe, you should have consulted your round table readers. There are ways to get that cable for cheaper without lining the pockets of Mr. Jobs.

Take for instance a local retailer for you. J&R audio. They sell this little convenient USB cable for 9 bucks and it has a retractable cord. Take that Steve Jobs.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4043099&JRSource=nextag.datafeed.CTA+IP-USBR

11:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you've got lists of stupid albums you've wasted money on in this blog, yet you complain about paying for an item you need.

if you paid full apple retail, you got what you wanted. but walk around NYC and even in chinatown and within a few minutes you'll find similar cables being sold for $9 or less.

laziness is the main reason people pay an apple tax.

12:01 PM  
Blogger VoteJoe said...

Anonymous, you are certainly right, although tbach said it far more nicely.

12:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You could have also hit up your friendly neighborhood in-house art director who's had more iPods than decent thoughts and would have gladly passed a spare cable over... for fweeeee!

next time,

rick

6:56 PM  

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