Years of Poems and Spirits

I review I posted on Amazon.com for “Griffin Technology RadioShark AM / FM Desktop Radio with Time-Shift Recording”

I bought this gadget in the hope of recording off-hour radio broadcasts and be able to hear them on my mp3 player later.

The problem with the device is its software: it has a significant memory and CPU footprint while running (as a service process, which means all the time!). And it almost always crashes when woken by the scheduler for the 2nd time.

Furthermore, it records in iPod’s format, to convert it to MP3 can literally stop my desktop. Nor does the software allow you to create a separate folder for each recorded program. The reception is meager to say the best. But unlike my tuner, I can’t even attach a UHF antenna to it.

Not recommended.

I have had a string of bad experiences with Logitech products. First, one of the mouse PS2 connector broke. It was poor workmanship: the metal pins and its plastic casing just came apart.

Later, with another Logitech mouse, there was a sticky scrolling wheel. The latest one was even more screwy. After I replaced the batteries, the left button (click/select) stopped working: buttons on the screen were pressed but nothing happened, as if I pressed down, then moved cursor out and released it.

Similarly, if I click on the Window’s “Start” button, the Program menu pops and disappears all at once. I had to rely on keyboard to open Control Panel. Only after I checked the “ClickLock” box on the Mouse control, did things become partially normal: I was able to click open “Start” menu, but NOT the language settings. Exceed (a X window program) terminal behavior all screwed up too.

I downloaded the latest driver from Logitech and installed it. It did not fix the problem at all. Instead, I was shown a myriad of things I could do with this fantastically advanced multifunctional unit.

This is a typical case of over-engineering. Products like Aspirin, Gillette razors, Oracle database, Microsoft Office and even its OS all have matured and have come to end of natural development cycles. Yet to keep profits coming, product managers just kept “innovating” new “features”, which would add on less values but more complexity and vulnerability.

What I am trying to understand is, if the Market is so efficient, how could this pattern have survived? Lack of feedbacks? If so, someone should start a website and have people, especially insiders, to air out such case.