[MW Forums]

Steve Jobs reportedly called the family of Christopher Rose, a Brooklyn youth who was allegedly murdered over his iPod last week. Jobs spoke to the boy's father to offer his condolences and support. more

[macnuke]

unfortunate.
nice of steve to call.
my rant would be off topic. so /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
m

[jmincey]

Your rant? Why would you even have a rant about this? It was a very nice gesture by Steve Jobs to make this call -- even allowing that there might be business and image motivations involved as well. Kids have been killed over their Nike sneakers and boom boxes (in the 80s and 90s) and it's nice that the manufacturer of a highly coveted device (like today's iPod) would express his sympathy. (It's a wonder that Apple lawyers even permitted it -- but if they raised objections I'm glad Jobs overruled it.)

[BayGBM]

I can see keeping a lost item (finders keepers). I can even imagine a young person helping himself to an item left unattended, but are kids these days really beating each other up and killing one another over iPods?
When I was a kid (Im 36) I remember hearing my parents generation talk about the good old days. Now, I know what they mean. This world is going to hell in a hand basket if kids are killing each other over music players.
It was nice of Jobs to make such a call; I cant imagine what one says to a family having lost a loved one over something so senseless. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[moose_n_squirrel]

You have to understand what an iPod is to them. To us, an iPod is a cute little noisemaker that is but a fraction of the costs of our Macs which are but a fraction of the cost of our middle class homes.
To them, you take an iPod, you make a couple hundred bucks quick. Apple not only made a music player, they made an expensive one. Snag a few a day and that's not a bad living. Think about a typical college student standing undefended at the bus stop. You give them a quick look...you can tell they have a laptop in their bag, you can see the white earbuds, maybe they're holding a Treo PDA/phone their daddy gave 'em...take 'em out, and you walk away with maybe $2000 of merchandise, possibly much more if you think they're a Mac user. Such an obvious target. That's how you can be seen on the street.

[BayGBM]

I suppose you are correct. I only use my ipod at the gym. Everyone there seems to have one these days. I am fortunate to live in a safe area. I imagine my sense of safety would be quite different were I a young person in the inner city.
Still, kids beating each other up and killing each other over a few dollars? Where are the parents in all this? Arent kids raised with a sense of right and wrong anymore?

[Peter Cohen]

In reply to:

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To them, you take an iPod, you make a couple hundred bucks quick. Apple not only made a music player, they made an expensive one. Snag a few a day and that's not a bad living.

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From what I've learned anecdotally, the folks who have been stealing these things on the subway and elsewhere haven't, for the most part, been fencing them -- they've been keeping them for their own use.

[macnuke]

my rant is the kids that stole..
great gesture on Steves part as I said.
the little murdering errr "kids".
that is the direction of my rant.
and it's not pretty. but then again, I am old school.
as i said, off topic.

[sosumi]

In this thread on the same subject I mentioned it's been suggested that iPod users either use other earphones or spraypaint their earbuds and wires black to avoid being a target. iPods are easy pickings on city streets.
Maybe Steve Jobs could earmark the next few months of iPod profits to start up a scholarship in this kid's memory.

[BayGBM]

As I mentioned above, I only use my ipod at the gym. Where do you use your ipod? Are young people walking around the mean streets of inner cities wearing ipods? That sounds dangerous on a number of fronts.
Having to use different earphones or spray painting the white ones strikes me as silly. If one has to go to such lengths to avoid being robbed, its time to ditch the ipod altogether or move.

[mdawson]

In reply to:

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When I was a kid (Im 36) I remember hearing my parents generation talk about the good old days.

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I am also 36, and this is nothing new. As Jeff stated, this type of stuff went on in the 1980s also. I can remember when I was in high school and these ugly glasses called Cazals, the type worn by D.M.C. of the rap group Run-D.M.C., were all the rage among urban youth. People were being robbed for Cazals all the time and in some instances there were beatings, stabbings or shootings involved. Sometimes these items are taken for fencing, as moosensquirrel mentioned, but more often than not these types of items are stolen because they are status symbols and are therefore kept.

In reply to:

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If one has to go to such lengths to avoid being robbed, its time to ditch the ipod altogether or move.

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No one should opt to not buy the best product on the market because some a-hole may attempt to steal it and if you honestly believe that moving is a real option for most inner-city families you are not living in the real world. This and similar events is the effect of a society that bases success on material gain while creating an environment of increasing poverty.

[jmincey]

"This and similar events is the effect of a society that bases success on material gain while creating an environment of increasing poverty."
Well said.