Why does everyone hate U2?

Bono and Geldof are self-aware enough to have appeared in this classic bit of comedy. http://youtu.be/5DgIRjecItw

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I really like some of U2’s songs. Especially Auchtung Baby, and even though I don’t own it, several things off of Joshua Tree. Some wonderful stuff.

But Bono is just a giant shit.

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How about The Edge’s long running humanitarian fight to build himself FIVE (5) mansions in Malibu in spite of environmental regulations and not needing five mansions in the least? They’re rich white Hollywood hypocrites who talk a good talk (and Bono does even do some good charity) but their lifestyle belies it as cosmetic.

Mostly, though I think it comes down to embarrassment. At Joshua Tree a hell of a lot of people though U2 was really cool, and now they’re just boring middle age schlub music of the sort that gets played at Apple events. It’s like liking Air Supply or go to Neil Diamond concerts. And a lot of that embarrassment by people who were really into them shows up as anger now.

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It wasn’t given, it was shoved. It was a strong reminder that Apple owns your music library, not you, and they think your tastes are pedestrian enough to want a boring new U2 album. Some people feel very strongly about their music lists and want to feel they have ownership of it.

Didn’t affect me, because I manage my own music, but I would be extremely annoyed if Celine Dion started randomly popping up in the middle of it, so I can relate.

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Because people are whiny a-holes that need to be offended by something all the time.
They didn’t even have to delete it, it was “in the cloud” as they say.
Christ on a pony, the complaining about that was unreal. Talk about #firstworldproblems That really took the cake…

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I am offended by your comment that I must be offended all the time! It is offensive that offended people should hide their offendisness when offended by yet another in a string of offenses!

…

I said good day sir!!

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Don’t worry, that one is self-correcting. Just give it time.

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If you purchase music from Apple, you do indeed own it. It’s DRM-free. When they gave out the U2 album, as sdmikev notes, it was part of the iTunes cloud. It was free music you could take or leave as you wished. If Apple decided to offer free music from any artist, from Celine Dion to Stryper, that seems like a net plus, no matter what your tastes. But I guess some folks really enjoy being offended by companies they have decided are Bad.

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Wait, wait! I know this one! Is it because they suck?

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Just being DRM free doesn’t mean you own it, though it certainly means you can at least keep a backup copy. If you’re using iTunes or Apple Music they’re in control. Never have your library wiped out by iTunes being clever? I have (thank goodness for the backups), and that’s why I gave up on it. This is becoming especially clear with the new cloud stuff in Apple Music, where they’re trying to wean you off the idea that you have it at all.

And it’s not a dislike of Apple, I’d be pissed at anyone else adding or deleting things from my music library. That’s 30 years of loving care that I don’t want or need the thoroughly mediocre new U2 album dropped into the middle of.

deleting, yes. adding to the cloud? who cares.
it’s much ado about U2.
not sure how itunes wiped out your library. maybe a database issue that messed up your library, but if you’re saying that it literally wiped out copies of all your songs on your HDD, I find that very hard to believe.

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I keep backups of the music I’ve purchased from iTunes. You don’t?

iTunes doesn’t just choose to delete your library. Things can be moved around on your HD, and make it hard for iTunes to find your library, but it creates backups for you.

And I don’t think you can blame Apple for the idea of streaming music.

I showed up on my phone and I sure as shit didn’t ask for it or want it weaving into my “random mix” music for my fucking hikes.

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I care. I guess this is the disconnect. My music collection is one of the most personal things I own. That and my print library are 30 years of discovery, some hard work tracking stuff down and are intimately tired to my best and worst memories. It angers me when suits fuck with it for their marketing stunts.

For deleting songs, itunes is infamously glitchy. It happened (and a quick Google shows it still happens). And, well, there’s this: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-deleted-non-itunes-music-from-ipods-2014-12

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I saw them early on, around 80 (I will Follow just came out). Bono acted like a idiot on stage, AND they ran out of songs so they started repeating them. Ever since then, not a fan. Today I just think they are a little too pretentious.

Obviously I do. I said so. Which is why I didn’t lose anything. Because I protected myself from iTunes.

Stop being a tool and mansplaining to us why we can’t possibly be annoyed at the U2 thing because you’re fine with it. As attrocities go it’s waaaay down the scale, but it was dumb and angered people for real reasons and it never had to if only they’d given a little thought for their customers.

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The reasons you and others gave are literally “because I don’t want a U2 album”.

I seriously don’t care if anyone likes or dislikes U2, and sure, if you’re already wary of iTunes, I can see that having an album suddenly appear would set off major paranoia alerts. I totally get that.

But the anger towards U2/Apple for finding a new way to give people free music seems very misplaced. Not sure why observing that makes me a tool, but, okay.

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No, it angered people -
a) with too much time on their hands
b) who take this crap way too serious
c) all of the above

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Because even after everything I’ve said here (uncharacteristically open about how much my music means to me) you still think that other people should also like what you like, which is not coincidentally what most video game threads come down to too. Free is not always good. In fact it usually isn’t. You got a free album, great. We had corporate marketers crapping in our backyards.

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