Oh Apple, Apple, Apple Apple

So I love my ipods, i dont think the interface is that great though...i would rather have directional arrow than that wheel...mostly while driving, when i glance down and just need to go down one more item, and i get end up moving 5 clicks, then i need to glance down again, very frustrating. but worse is that i can not figure out how to fast forward faster than holding down the forward arrows...it takes over a minute to get into the middle of my podcasts.

that is not why im writing today though. my issue is apple, so i love the hardware..pretty great stuff. as you have seen in my other post my imac is a solid vista performer.

but here is my experience trying to buy the software for my 2 kids. I have a second gen apple mini that the boys use to go onto noggin.com, play a nemo game, and so forth. i wanted to get them Kid Pix Deluxe 3, but it is $40 on apple.com and amazon does not really sell the same version from what i can tell, and the developer's website says there is a "universal version" which has a bunch of upgrades, but i cant tell if i buy the version (Kid Pix Deluxe Studio 3) at BestBuy for $10 if it is the same, it works under mac 8.1 or something, so can i patch it to the newest version which is still called Kid Deluxe 3? There is also a Kid Delux 4, but according the the posts on amazon.com, it sucks.


Apple.com. $40, plus $4 shipping, and 3-4 week shipping time. - so that is out..wtf? Ill pick it up at the apple store right? Stupid 20 miles away, but whatever, i want it in the next few days or sooner. I cant check the store inventory from apple.com??!?! what? why not? how hard is it for apple to do this? maybe all the back end inventory systems that are developed doesnt run on osx ? lame, i keep making the mistake that apple is a technology company. and why 3-4 weeks to ship software?? 3-4 weeks is for buying furniture, not software retail.

so i call the Tyson's Store to ask them if they have it....listen to automated message about early iphone folks who get store credit, and the whole phone tree...need to speak to someone...press 5. ring ring ring ring.... no answer. i hang up after a couple dozen rings. come on. even BestBuy answers the phone, shouldn't apple provide better service than BB? I keep making the mistake that apple stores are real stores, and not just pretentious outposts.

so i just want to get the latest correct version of a popular kids drawing program for the mac. i dont understand why it has to be so confusing and expensive. Universal v. osx v. os 8.1 editions of the same thing?? Is windows software this confusing? i dont think so.