Getting Album Artwork for iTunes is a Mundane Choice That Ultimately Wastes Consumers’ Time.

Most users of Apple iTunes know that album artwork for iTunes is readily available and can be accessed and viewed in a variety of ways.

Many users also regard this feature as a nicety that is not essential to their use or experience of iTunes for music. T

he appeal of having choice in how artwork is managed comes from the sense that the consumer has some degree of control over their aesthetic experiences.

Those who care less about the appearance of that artwork, however, regard the choice as a waste of time, or even a hindrance to the music they seek to enjoy.

Apple may soon market a plug-in or application that allows consumers to design their own album artwork for iTunes, which would be even more time consuming than current features are.

With all the options that are available surrounding the same basic feature, consumers can spend time learning the options and then selecting one that they like.

They can also mindlessly switch amongst the options and constantly update their iPod’s appearance.

These distractions give the illusion of meaningful choice while the forces that are in charge of more important issues march their agendas on the American people.

Wars rage on in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Americans are shielded from the impact of the fighting and detached from the conflict.

The separation occurs by design, not because the government wants to protect the people, but because the government wants to protect itself from the unrest that the people might otherwise express.

iTunes Among the Youth

The proliferation of iTunes has been so far-reaching that public schools have found it necessary to adopt disciplinary policies for the use of iPods.

Students walk the halls with one ear stuffed with an earphone bud, talking to each other at the same time.

The picture painted by this behavior is disheartening. It says that students do not want to listen to others, but they want others to listen to them.

When the day ends, these students are the ones who suffer the most of loneliness.

The recourse for these youths might be to look for album artwork for iTunes, instead of finding something more meaningfully constructive to do. In this case, entertainment value is derived from escapism.

Here again, the role of entertainment has been changed from a pastime for refreshment into a medium for escape form the problems that people are facing.

This is an example of how entertainment can be destructive. It breeds an emotionally helpless youth culture.

Choice and Non-Choice

Album artwork for iTunes is an example of a non-choice masked as a choice. Consumers think that they can choose what they see or what their aesthetic experiences will be like.

The truth is, however, that once a consumer chooses to engage in those choices, their broader choice has already been made.

Apple controls the choices that are available, and the company can continue to provide more choices to occupy their customers.

Those customers who choose to make a choice are the ones that are at risk for getting sucked into a black hole of endless choices, none of which are significant.

The proper role of entertainment is one of refreshment. If it becomes an obsession or an escape, then its role has become destructive.

The target of that destruction is the Americans’ ability to think.