2. misc-audio
  3. 192366-20253

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 mahler123

mahler123
3,481 posts
 

My mother in law died last summer aged 92. Last XMass her children got together and purchased for her an LG TV because her current one had died, and she spent a considerable amount of time in her dotage watching programs like The Crown.
Several of us were staying with her during the Holiday so we set it up and damn, the hardest part was actually operating the software. Not only did it completely flummox mom but the rest of us in our sixties were also struggling. We are mainly Physicians, Nurses, Lawyers, and an engineer for the FAA.. Fortunately our 24 year old Niece was with us and for her it was all intuitive; she spent the bulk of her Holiday visit giving us all tutorials.

Mom really enjoyed her TV during her last few months with the various streaming services at her option, but perhaps the manufacturers should put a basic option on the software package that most alte cockers can use and avoid 99% of the features that just complicate the daylights of general usage

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