iTunes has pissed me off

10 May 2007 | Culture, Internet, Media, Personal, TV & Movies | Comments

Late at night a few days back Kathi and I caught the last few minutes of “The Break Up” (with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn) on cable and liked it enough not to click away. Why this click was marketed as a COMEDY is beyond me, but that’s beside the point of this post.

The point is that iTunes has pissed me off and I’m frustrated, even though the rational part of me knows that it’s not Apple’s fault.

The story: at the very end of the credits the music suddenly shifts to a lovely a capella version of “The Rainbow Connection”– a standard by Paul Williams that, to my knowledge, debuted in the first Muppet Movie and has been covered by The Carpenters, Willie Nelson and many others.

I sat bolt upright on the couch. I’ve always loved the song. The fact that it’s now an interesting cover only amplifies the pleasure and cognitive capital attendant to that particular song in my head (more on this in a subsequent post).

Some patient Googling revealed that the a capella version is by “John Michael Higgins and His Symphony of Guys.” I rushed to iTunes and found that I could NOT buy only the single but would have to buy the ENTIRE SOUNDTRACK.

Isn’t the whole POINT of iTunes that its a musical salad bar where you don’t have to eat the Brussel Sprouts?

At this point “Rational Brad” taps me on the shoulder and suggests that the real blame here lies with the studio that refused to license the single track. Blaming iTunes is like blaming the supermarket for Saran Wrap that doesn’t wrap securely when its clearly the manufacturer’s fault.

However, Frustrated Brad isn’t buying it– although I do seem to be suffering a psychotic break if I’m now talking about myself in the third person… twice!

THE MEDIAVOROUS MORAL: Apple should not have taken that contract. The company should have stuck to its guns and its business model: either you can buy things a la carte or not at all. Screwing with your customers for short term economic game is not smart. Apple is thinking about its budget when it accepts this, not about its users.

Note: I should confess that Kathi, ah, satirized the fact that I recognized the tune from “The Muppet Movie.” I defended my Muppet-loving masculinity from this broadside.