Grrrrr! Bose Grrrrrr!

[kenny]

I've been loving and buying Bose products since the 1970s.
This is the first time I've returned a Bose product that pissed me off.

Their noise canceling Quiet Comfort Earbuds retail for $259.
Amazon Prime Day had em for $199 so I bought a pair.

The only thing I have ever used use my smartphone for is talk, text and Sigaleart's live Los Angeles traffic maps.
Sigaleart is not an app.
It's just a website with no registration or terms and conditions to agree to.

I have never downloaded an app, any app, ever!
Why? Take a few hours and actually read their terms and conditions.

Well you'll never guess what ...
To use most Bose earbud features, such as noise canceling, you MUST download their Bose app, register, giving them all your personal info, and enable your phone's GPS so they can keep track of where you are. Really?
Bose doesn't even offer that app on their website.
You can only get it at GooglePlay and apple store which both require privacy-stealing ugly terms and conditions making you their Bitch as they get Rich.

After downloading the app you can ONLY use your smartphone as the control panel to operate the earbuds.
You can't control the earbuds from your desktop computer.
Bose does not bother to write the same software for desktop computer.

I have no music on my computer, and no spotify no cloud or anything requiring a data plan.

I can't count how many hours I wasted trying to get them to work on my 27" iMac puter.

I can understand assuming customers have electricity but not a smartphone with an Internet connection.

I refuse to sell any more of my soul to Big Data, so I'm returning them.
I can have a happy, peaceful, low-frustration life without all this optional fluff.
GRRRR!

Hey Bose ...

 

[TooPatient]

I have a smartphone and am very unhappy at how many demand gps location. I give very few (maybe one?) access to that and check every couple of months to make sure none snuck past. I would return them too!
(As a side note, DH reminded me that some apps are forced into requiring gps location due to android or apple requirements to keep processes running. Fine, but I still don't have to like it or use things that do so!)

 

[kenny]

I have a smartphone and am very unhappy at how many demand gps location. I give very few (maybe one?) access to that and check every couple of months to make sure none snuck past. I would return them too!
(As a side note, DH reminded me that some apps are forced into requiring gps location due to android or apple requirements to keep processes running. Fine, but I still don't have to like it or use things that do so!)

Fk apple and android.

I rebel and will live very happily without tech I don't absolutely HAVE to have, such as electricity and a live Los Angeles traffic map in my pocket as I navigate the LA's Freeway Jungle..
That freeway thing is the only reason I pay $20/mo for a data plan on my phone.

Why does we feel we MUST have everything that is possible to have, regardless of how crazy it drives us?

 

[Rockdiamond]

I'm with you Kenny.
I have an older Bose speaker....simple, sounds amazing....cost about $300 when I bought it maybe 8 years ago- it was expensive.
The bluetooth stopped working so I started shopping for a new one.
Bose no longer makes the model I bought......
I've been through 3 different models and none are as good as what I had- and ALL require to use an app....crazy.
I even tried out this one.....it's big...not worth the money

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/bose-s1-pro-portable-bluetooth-speaker-and-pa-system-black/6223400.p?skuId=6223400&ref=NS&loc=101

 

[kenny]

I bought that Bose speaker in your link, the S1Pro when it first came out.
It's intended use is as a PA for small venues like a coffee house, or for busking on battery power.
That's what I bought it for, but COVID pretty much ended all that in-person musician stuff.
Its sound quality, room coverage, and high freq disperson blow away its competitors as a small PA.
It has 3 tweeters pointing in different directions so, unlike most other speakers, you don't have to sit in the sweet spot to get all the texture and detail from the highest freqs.
IMO it's totally worth $650!

Now I use it as a bluetooth speaker for my desktop computer and the clarity of sound is outstanding!!!!

Mine, the first version, does not use a phone app.
All the circuitry needed to use it is in the unit.
Unfortunately (for me) this is a dying thing.
It's much cheaper for manufacturers to take advantage of hardware that 99.9999.9999999% of customers already have in their purse or pocket, the smartphone.
Then pay once to make an app and let applestore and gooleplay sell it to a billion users.
I'd say 99.9999999% of customers prefer using their phone for as many things as possible.
Their phone is their best friend and constant companion.

I don't know, the current revision of the S1pro may require a smartphone app to use all the features.

Of course I realize the real problem isn't Bose, or apple, or technology.
I get it; It's Kenny's fault.
I should have named this thread, "Grrrrrrr Kenny Grrrrrr".
I refuse to "keep up' because of the downsides of much of today's technology.

But, no biggie; I'm not really heartbroken that my smartphone-hate means I don't get to enjoy much of the latest technology.
I got used to being society's oddball and outcast around 62 years ago when the world rejected me for being gay.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I totally see your point about the S1Pro.
It does blow away anything in its class.
Listening to it, in a large Room, in Guitar Center, wow. It did blow me away. And so much of the $400+ competition is just flashing lights, etc. The S1 is serious.
If I was going to play in the park, absolutely, very cool as a PA for busking. (IMO, there are better cordless alternatives for Guitar , but I digress)
My experience in a smaller room was why I knocked it...
On my desk, I have yet another great older, discontinued Bose product https://www.bose.com/en_us/support/..._and_computer_support/companion3_series2.html

This system has a tiny footprint and sounds great at a low level ( which is a weak point IMO for S1).
It gets really as loud as you'll need on the desk. Not as loud as the S1, but loud.
Then the size..the S1 is really too big to lug from room to room...
So- I guess I too harshly condemned it....and in the context which you put it, the price is fair-

IN terms of it being a "fault" of someone who resists giving in to the extreme pressure to add all these apps to a device- or avoiding "smart" phones entirely..... honestly, I respect that a lot.
I bet pretty much everyone reading this hates to be asked the name of their first pet, yada yada....it really has gotten way out of hand.
It's weird- I'm totally addicted to the damn phone because of how much easier it makes life- and yet I wish it was never invented.
I feel really bad for younger people who never got to experience this world before smart phones came along....
Now who's the "get off my lawn" guy?

 

[yssie]

Earbuds want your location?
Yeah, F no.
I turn all location services on my phone off for most of the time.

 

[Rockdiamond]

What about Google Maps?
Isn't that all "they" need......

 

[chemgirl]

I stopped using Bose because of their wireless sport earbuds. They claim to be sweat proof, but they died on my first run.

The replacement pair died on my first run.

The next replacement pair died on my first run.

I took the loss and bought some cheapies that I had to replace after a year, but at least they worked for a while.