Fashion breaks

Should we be angry when an iPod breaks after two years? Joe Nocera sent Apple a Nastygram in the Times yesterday (reveries).

I think it's misguided.

"Hey, I bought this suit from Brooks Brothers two years ago! And I just spilled chicken soup all over it, and now they won't fix it or take it back." Even worse, Brooks Brothers doesn't even offer an extended warranty...

There's still a business called the Fountain Pen Hospital. When you buy a pen for $100, you expect that maybe you can get it fixed. But pens are now disposable fashion items, not tools that last a lifetime.

What Steve Jobs has done, brilliantly, is turned the iPod into a fashion item. The very first iPods, the ones you can buy on eBay for $30, those still function fine. If you want a tool, buy one of those. But if you want to show off how cool you are, you need a fashionable one. When you buy a fashion, Joe, realize that this is what you bought... the fashion. Or spring for the $60 and buy the warranty!