Free Stuff

It's not everyday that you get something for free. Earlier this week Apple gave every iTunes account holder a free copy of the new U2 album. First off, I want to say thank-you. I would have bought the album but now I don't have to. I know a lot of other people are grateful because there are a lot of good people in the world.

There is some backlash. 

I can understand if you are not a U2 fan, you probably don't want their new album. However, if you don't want it on your devices, you can remove it. Apple doesn't use personal space in iCloud to store music downloaded from iTunes. There is no cost there to the user. That being said, there are some people who are outright angry that Apple has done this.

This morning on the radio one tweet was read that if a U2 song started playing on one person's iPhone, they were switching to Android. Apple devices are the easiest to use in the world. If you can't figure out how to not have a song play and are willing to switch to another product because of that, I feel sorry for you. You are probably not smart enough to use an Android device. I do believe in choice and that would be your choice. (I tried to find the tweet but since I can't remember the name given on the radio, I was not successful.)

Some people didn't like how the album was delivered. I don't agree that having it available in  iCloud for everyone is creepy but some people seem to think it is. Data and updates are pushed to devices and computers all the time. New icons appear on my work computer's desktop without any input from me. So, an icon to download music isn't so bad in my mind. Maybe a different deployment would have worked better. The 12 Days of iTunes through a free app worked well last Christmas and nobody would have received music they didn't want.

You can't change the past. I'm sure everyone has learned from this activity and if a company  decides to give away something for free in the future, they will do it even better.

I like free stuff and I appreciate the free album I received from U2 and Apple, as I am sure most people are.