05 September 2006

country mouse


in Starbucks' new move to capture synergistic markets, they have installed (at least in Seattle) multiple terminals in their stores at which you can browse music, create a playlist, and burn your own CD. the effect when you walk into one of these Starbucks, in combination with the 20 folks already using their own computers, is that somewhat surreal. Something about the comfy-chair-20-inch-monitor-on-a-mechanical-arm combo is disconcerting. more so when someone's using it, plugged into the machine with huge headphones. I experienced a moment of full country-mouse/city-mouse culture shock, as if I'd travelled into the future of Starbucks.

the irony? portable media is dead. get over it. CDs? really? futuristic? not at all. let me make a playlist, download it to my iPod and somehow (because this currently isn't possible) transfer it to my digital music collection when I get home. sheesh. circular bits of metal? how 1999 can you get? gimme something really exciting, already.

1 comment:

Tarn said...

What? You mean, no little usb/thumb/flash/stick connector? And I bet they make you pay a full music price for that CD, don't they?