idont.com

H

HateEternal

Mac Metal Head
[disclaimer] I searched, didn't find anything. Please don't hurt me. [/disclaimer]

I stumbled across this website today, it's pretty interesting. At first it seems like a site created by a random third party simply hating on the iPod, and the people that have them. Then I hit the "The Alternative" page and realized it's an ad campaign for a SanDisk MP3 player. I didn't believe it at first, it just seemed too radical, but a whois confirmed (yes I geeked out enough to do a whois).

Code: 
 Domain Name: IDONT.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      Administrator, Domain             domains@idont.com
      SanDisk
      111 Java Drive
      Sunnyvale, CA 94089
      US
      408-542-0500

I find it really amusing because in some ways it will probably be successful. There are a lot of people out there that see them selves as non-conformists that would probably say: 'wow! I'm a non-conformist, I want one.' Yea you and a ton of other 'non-conformists'.

Something I realized a long time ago that fighting conformity is a silly battle. Most people just end up conforming to a different group with a smaller population.

Anyways, I'm not going to say a whole lot more about this, it's not worth it. I lot could be said to make these guys look silly, but thats not the point. What is the point? Marketing is fun! (Actually I hated my marketing class, but this is pretty interesting)
 
MisterMe said:
Welcome to last month.
Click to expand...

Hey now. I searched, found no discussions about it, so I decided maybe it would be nice to have one. Besides, according to the site it was launched 10 days ago. I guess thats _technically_ last month... but meh.
 
Yeah, I heard about this new ad campaign. There might be an ad blitz of some sort soon.

I like the idea that it's trying to appeal to one's inner rebel... but for my purposes, the iPod is a great media player. I think, unless you have a specific feature set in mind, it's all about preference. To each his own.
 
I think both Apple's and Microsoft's approach to "open" in this case to be wrong. I really truly wish there'd be some format that allowed DRM and that everyone could and would use. _Then_ one could have a choice of stores and a choice of players - and it'd be good for the market in my opinion (not necessarily for Apple, though...). SanDisk, in this campaign, might appeal to the rebel, but what they're _offering_ is just another player that also just offers a closed environment for buying online music. Of course Microsoft is "more open" here than Apple. They license their technology to others - so there can be competing stores. Apple doesn't. Oh well... I still wouldn't switch to a non-Apple digital music player. The iPod's just too good. :)
 
Personally I thought the site was promoting the product in a poor way. I'm a guy who just liked the iPod. I don't think it's cool, I don't think I'm cool for having one. And I simply don't care about being different when it comes to what I buy. They're trying to say "Be different, be a rebel, don't buy an iPod", and all I can say is "Who cares? You like it - it works for you - you want it - then buy it". Just for sake of argument if MP3 player A was like, ten times better than B, but you brought B because the site said "Be a rebel!" then you'd be a very silly person indeed.
 
Yeah, but I guess it's about the 70% of consumers out there who simply haven't got a player yet. And those may think that it's "cooler" now _not_ to have an iPod, because "everybody" already has one... So from that point of view, they may be on the right track. (Since the "feature frenzy" obviously didn't work for others...)
 
As a longtime Mac user, it's funny seeing Apple on the other side of this kind of attitude. I still think of Apple as "the little guy". And I miss the old Apple, to be honest. Not that I have a problem with Apple selling boatloads of products and being "cool" — I was giddy when the original iMac flew of store shelves in '98, and I'd love to see Macs have that kind of success again.

I guess my problem is that I really just hate the kind of device the iPod is, and wish it weren't so popular. It's awfully easy to look at the dozen or so iPod users on any given subway platform and think "Ahh! Zombies!" (Even if it is terribly closed-minded.)

Of course, this is coming from the last man on earth who doesn't have a cell phone. And close to the last man on earth who reads....books. (*GASP!*) ;) I find iPods and the like far less offensive than cell phones, though, just for the record.


Having said all that, that site is pretty offensive in its own right, too! When I first heard of this about a week ago, I assumed it was one of those activists groups who were against the "de-socialization" that comes with technology (especially portable technology), and I thought "more power to 'em!" Turns out it's just a desperate company hawking their own product with a hipper-than-thou attitude. Great. :rolleyes: So, to summarize their message:

"iPod users are sheep! Buy our product that looks as much like an iPod as we could legally manage, but isn't as popular! That will make you cool! But a good kind of cool! Not the bad kind of cool like with iPods! We must be better, because our earbuds aren't white!"

When did unpopularity become a selling point, anyway? I said I missed when Apple was the underdog, but I certainly never used Macs because they were unpopular. I used them because they were better. And I still do. And I still will if Apple gains 90% market share.

If this company wants to sell me on their product, they should tell me why it's better than an iPod. It's that simple. Really. (Well, that, and design a a web site that's an actual web site, not a Flash animation!) Of course, that's just me. I'm sure a large part of iPod users really do just buy the iPod because it's the popular one.
 
If they're going to act like rebels, maybe they should start by making a product that isn't an exact copy of the best selling music player in history.

"Hi, we think iPods suck. Try our iPod clone that looks and behaves just like an iPod."

In the marketing world it's what we call a "disconnect". They're not rebels at all. They are followers.
 
mikuro, check out this website, i thought of you when i came across it.

www.leoburnett.ca

exactly what i get jealous at. this is the first website to achieve a D&AD Gold award. it's amazing, so fluid, so full of detail, it stands out.
 
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