iPod continued
Paul Thurrot: "The fact that Posen's post is so long should alarm people. I think it proves that Winer has a point." — Of course I have a point. I've been using iPods for three years. These are not casual comments by a newbie. I've also used competitive products, and know it doesn't have to be this way.
Context & Ripple Effects
Dave Winer's iPod broadside lands at the end of a bad stretch for Apple's usability story among veteran users: Paul Thurrott had already opened the question of whether iTunes is actually easy to use the day before, and Jeremy Zawodny's November Thanksgiving run-in with Apple showed even committed buyers hitting friction they didn't expect.
What changes today is coalition, not evidence: Thurrott publicly endorses Winer's critique, arguing the sheer length of the post proves the point, and Winer stakes his credibility as a three-year iPod owner who has used competing products. The same day, Between the Lines carries both the story and its own warning that iTunes-bought music collections will bite the DRM dust — pulling the argument away from interface polish toward lock-in.
First-order effects
- Thurrott's endorsement converts a single blogger's grievance into a two-name critique with reach among Windows enthusiasts, and Apple cannot dismiss it as newbie error since Winer explicitly grounds it in three years of ownership.
- Winer's framing that competitive products show 'it doesn't have to be this way' hands rival portable-player vendors a ready-made talking point at no cost to themselves.
Second-order effects
- Fused with the same-day DRM warnings, the critique shifts from 'the software is clunky' to 'your purchased library is hostage,' which is harder for Apple's marketing to absorb because it attacks switching costs rather than taste.
- Competing device makers get an opening to position openness — plays-anywhere files versus iTunes-only collections — as the default answer whenever Apple's usability is questioned.
Third-order effects
- If prominent users keep converging on lock-in rather than design as the complaint, the durable fight over digital music moves from which device wins on the shelf to who controls the accumulated library — a contest where Apple's own success at selling music becomes the liability.
The trend: The digital-music debate is migrating from device superiority to DRM-controlled libraries, with long-time users supplying the most damaging testimony against Apple.