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Is the microwave the perfect model for audio marketting?

I remember the first time my mother got interested in a microwave oven. They were brand new, full of promises of fast, convenient cooking and baking. She ended up with a Toshiba with a built in magnetic card reader. You could put in a recipe card and automatically program it, or you could get additional cards and program your own "recipes." This was decades before the Internet, home routers or anything like Wifi.

Last week installers took away my 19 year old Maytag and replaced it with a brand new LG. Full of "features" where it automatically guesses the power and time based on buttons such as "potato" or "popcorn." These are not even very smart features. They don’t weigh the potato or take the temperature of the item you are heating or listen for the popcorn to stop popping. They just look up settings from a table and away you go.

Honestly of the hundreds of features in this microwave I need the light and fan the most. Then the power and time. The first two features are never very good in any microwave. The latter two are the only one’s most of us end up using out of sheer frustration with the automated features.

Is this a model or metaphor for modern audio marketting? Are we constantly being sold a list of features which in the end don’t really matter so long as the light turns on and the frozen Tandori chicken meal is safe to eat?

erik_squires

Showing 1 response by jonwolfpell

jonwolfpell
432 posts
 

It’s interesting to note that most high end audio equipment, other than newer combo preamp, streamer , DAC offerings is generally very simple & easy to use albeit may require some patience & tweaking to sound their best. 
 

Wrong forum but here goes: Cars today can be challenging to initially understand all their features but other than their higher prices & lack of individual, unique styling, are generally much better is just about every way. The plethora of safety features generally work very well & definitely save lots of lives & accidents. They don’t need tune ups every 30 K miles, oil changes every 3K miles, get much better gas mileage, handle better & stop shorter. I’m sure this will get some push back  & we all remember our favorite car from years ago but other than a few iconic muscle cars fro the 60’s & 70’s, most were mediocre at best. 
 

That said, the auto start / stop feature today sucks & a terrible idea. It should either be set at 5 minutes or go away. Excessive Starting & stopping an engine or motor of any kind is bad for it as well as the battery, starter motors etc. 

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