In the process of flogging "Apple Computers" (sic) over the apparent
breach of contact with Apple Records, Fox News correspondent Roger
Friedman displays the following headline: The Beatles Sue
Apple Computers Over IPod, ITunes.
Last time I checked, it was Apple Computer, Inc. (singular) - and
within the article Friedman uses the lower case "i" instead of the
upper case "I" seen in the headline. Not only is this not "fair
and balanced,"™ as it does not respect Apple's trademark
for its products, it's not consistent either.
It'll probably be fixed by the time you read this [it's not - ed],
but nevertheless, it's symptomatic of Fox News' obsession with bashing
anything liberal, especially Apple because (a) Steve Jobs works there
and (b) Al Gore hangs around sometimes.
My own personal take is that I buy Apple Computers because I like
them, not because of the political leanings of the iCEO.
I also am of the opinion that fOX nETWORK is best described as loud,
biased, and incompetent. (Take a look at the story about the moon landing
conspiracy over at www.badastronomy.com if you want to
see what I mean. Astronomy teachers will be battling that unpatriotic,
[expletive deleted] program for generations.)
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm no grammar maven,
but I expect Friedman received a fair amount of flame mail over his
relatively minor, but highly visible, errors.
So far my nitpicking doesn't directly address the real issue that
Friedman brings up about Apple Computer breaching the contract it has
with Apple Records. Specifically, he refers to Apple Computer making
musical playback equipment when it was prohibited from this by earlier
settlements.
This, of course, is something those of us who pay attention to Apple
have known about and worried about for years. I predict that Apple will
lose the suit unless there are conditions on earlier settlements which
have not been made public. Let's hope the new settlement will end these
suits once and for all.
After all, to be honest with you, Apple Records' clientele is aging,
and the new generation is as likely to confuse Apple Computers with
Apple Records as they are to confuse J.Lo with "Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot."
There could come a day when Apple Computer may even sue Apple
Records for trying to release music and play on Apple Computer's good
name as a music provider to boost profits from an aging generation of
people who already own all of the music the Beatles ever made.
And you can bet when that day comes, foXneWs will be there and will
screw up something about the Apple story in the name of "fair
and balanced"™ news.
