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

IMHO features = cost, confusion, complexity.

But some people buy on how many features. The more the better.

I was fine with hand crank windows. If the car ever went  into a lake, at least I knew I could open the window. Options? Passenger side rear view mirror used to be optional. AFM, passenger side seat could have been an option too, haha.

The microwave came out of the war ending and the loss of the radar contract from the government.the scientist noted hic chocolate bar got soft thus Amanda I think due to a scientific coincidence was born the microwave.perhaps the next step in audio is artificial intelligence measuring it all and adjusting in nanosecond to compensate for all of it to get the  maximum. Real time correction.the traction control on my corvette has a sole computer just for that.its so good tha lambo and Ferrari bought it from gm.enjoy the music and life,stay healthy

On a more granular level, the Dreo Chefmaker should be the model that audio follows. It does everything rather well, and all in one box.

All the best,
Nonoise

I don’t quite get the connection but regardless of features, the microwave oven that mounts over the stove with the built in fan is the worst kitchen appliance ever invented.