Pemi Rocks

Pemi Rocks

Friday, June 22, 2007

Clamourous Cliche Resounds as Instruments go Silent

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I know we all have heard this, but lately it's been bouncing around my head a lot.

"They sure don't make them like they used to."

The above items are officially dead.

It is disturbing how much we are pushed to purchase items that we "can not live without" yet are made to discintegrate just after the warranty period. Damn you Henry Ford and your Planned obsolescence!!!!!

I guess I am not being fair to Zoom. The GFX 8 served me well. So well, as you can almost see from the picture, I used it after almost each button was destroyed. What peaves me, is that though it could work for a year or so like that, all of a sudden, the computer is going crazy. Now it really is time to put it to bed. However, I still was able to get one last session out of it. Its giging days are over though. Anyway, after six hard years, I am just annoyed it had to check out on me. I am also annoyed at how everything always goes at once. Again, I guess I am not being fair.

As far as M-audio is concerned, there is no excuse. This piece is technically under warranty and has been babied its entire life, but since I have misplaced my receipt, I need to pay them what practically amounts to the price of the piece to have it serviced. It does not even work as a preamp anymore. The lights come on, that's about it. The kicker, is if I want to even access my protools sessions again, I have to give Avid (M-audio's parent company) more money to replace or fix it.

I apologize for this general malaise, but it seems to be aimed at not just these products, but to some degree, the whole structure of our society.

"I want to be successful, in order to do that I need things...
Okay, so I will buy things, but in order use them I need more things...
And now those things break, but I have invested so much, I must buy more things..."

It is a vicious cycle and within each step, the consumers are being pushed led blind and the companies are getting greedier and greedier.

And who finishes last? The planet. We need more things, which are made using more resources, and they break so we throw them away, and buy more things.

I guess the solution is, buy less, and when you do buy something, make sure it will last. One thing that is nice, it looks like the new version of my pedal has steel buttons.

Who knows, maybe it will last ten years.

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