LEE Seungho

Feels good (or bad).

I sold an iPod JBL speaker dock via Huuto.net to someone who lives in Naantali, yes, the Moomi‘s home town. The reason I feel good is hardly because I made little money, but it will be used by someone for a little longer. Technically this JBL iPod dock is not mine. My ex-flatmate left it behind at my old apartment on Fredrikinkatu (Fredrik’s Street) when she moved out abruptly. When I asked if she wants me to bring this over to her new apartment, she said no because she thought it was out of order. As it was bought in the US I had a hunch that it was only the adapter not working not the actual dock and I could revive it by replacing the power adapter.

One years and two movings later, I happened to find a universal adapter at an electronics store, and got it for € 39 with a promise that I could get it refunded within a month for any reason. Brought it home, hooked it with JBL, and it worked perfectly. Got it refunded, and went to Valtteri, one of the largest flee market in Helsinki. Three visits and 10 minutes of bargain later, I could get an old IBM power adapter for € 15. The seller did not want to sell it cheaper because he could easily sell it for more as laptop owners are ready to pay more. I couldn’t find anything from cheaper and lower voltage adapters commonly used for micro electronics.

Ready to go

Later I realized that the remote was missing. I visited my old apartment where no my ex-flatmates live any longer, and found the remote. It doesn’t work, which my ex-flatmate also thought out of order but I was sure that it was again just the battery. I bought a new one for € 3, then everything works perfect. I put it on Huuto with a great help of one of my best friends Masaich, because I do not speak as fluent Finnish as to handle it alone myself. After three trials on Huuto, I sold it for € 30 including the poatage which was €8.50 to Naantali. Taken all thing into consideration, I made € 3.50. Yeah, three and a half Euros.

In the end it ain’t that bad. I have found really lovely porcelain for daily fruits, a wind breaker and useful 2nd hand tools during my visits to Valtteri. What is more I have got to learn the problems of too many standards. Not only plugs and input voltages are different, but also are the plugs–input plugs vary from country to country, while output voltages and power consulption greatly vary and there are at least as many as 12 different DC plugs which you connect from the adapter to the electronics. Even worse, some of the manufacturers use two or three different types.

The dock and the remote.

Planned obsolescence. Is your charger broken, you won’t be able to use your product again unless you are ready to pay for an expensive universal power adapter, let alone the possibility that you won’t be able to use your charger for another electronics. It’s not that I am saying everything should use the same standard which is of course impossible will diminish evolution and efficiency of the individual products even if possible, but we can at least reduce the number of kinds, by which we can also reduce gigantic amount of e-waste in theory. Yeah, I know that the bigger problem is the globalization and too cheap products, but still.

Then what about Apple and its authorized accessory makers ? My iPhone 3Gs doesn’t get charged with most of docks that were released only three years ago. Newer iPhones in coming years will probably not be compatible with the docks you buy today. You’ll throw it away in a few years because it doesn’t play music from your new phone. What a scary idea–especially because most of these problems can be solved by simple firmware upgrade and a little more considerate attitude of hardware manufacturers to lengthen the obsolescence cycle of cables, which is why I am so happy that I could sell the old JBL dock to a guy in Moomi’s home town. Stay strong with legacy iPod. Please.

Huuto.net page