As in: Design

Apologies: this is a bit of a ramble. In a response to my new music habits post, Laurie echoes others in recommending iTunes:

...When you rip CDs directly into iTunes, you can choose MP3 or other formats, so it's just a click of a button and then everything is really easy, intuitive, and--almost uncannily--beautiful from there on. Sorry to sound like an advertisement; iTunes is just awesome and it's one of those programs that inspires love, like Emacs:)

Having read some of CBD's work, I'm always alert to the use of the term easy, but I'm particularly struck by its use in this case. My curiosity comes as I wonder if people unfamiliar with emacs might think that program is also "easy, intiuitive" and so on. Of course, we all know it isn't. It's complex, clunky, and hard to get used to. Once you do, though, you can be blisteringly fast and do so much.

My question, then, is about brand loyalty. Do both ease and complexity inspire brand loyalty? I'm enjoying iTunes, but I also feel slightly disconnected--there are things I instinctively want to see but can't, such as a file-system display. Complexity often seems to offer control at the expense of ease.

Mostly I was just amused by the comparison of emacs and iTunes. A new marketing slogan: "emacs and iTunes, your digital workhorses."

PS: I like the party shuffle mode, which just randomly plays songs from throughout your library.

Posted by briley at September 1, 2005 5:58 AM