iPod sighting in SpaceRef: is it just me, or...

....does that whole report stink of "product placement"?

Istr, a few years back, when a Shuttle crewman was photographed during
off-duty hours hanging by his sleeping cube listening to a portable CD
player, the caption did _not_ report extensively on what brand of CD
player the crewman was listening to, nor what kind of headphones the
player was connected to, nor the performer recorded on the disc, nor the
record label that released the disc, nor did NASA issue any big, grand
press release with the foto, stating that it shows "Crewman X in
off-duty hours, listening to Tangerine Dream's 'Stratosfear'-- now
available on Virgin Records -- on a Sony Discman Pro with Bose
Ultra-Light Noise-Canceling headphones." I don't think Steve Jobs is
****ting his pants with unexpected delight as much as congratulating the
Apple marketing department for doing such a good job at "slipping one in".

Nor do I recall any big deal being made about the make and model of
handheld cassette machines the Apollo crewmen used to listen to music
and record notes on.



A minor thing, I suppose, in the whole scheme of things, but still
symptomatic of something that's thoroughly infested US media these days
-- advertising or marketing messages disguised as news.

It happens a lot on most of the local channels in DC. The NBC affiliate,
WRC/channel 4, is probably the worst in town. There've been a sizeable
number of times where I've heard the early-morning (pre-"Today" show)
news anchors reading copy that flat-out sounded like advertising copy
while looking us all right in the eye with that dead-earnest anchorman
look and reading it as if it were an actual news item. It's usually at
its worst around Christmas.


--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org