By which I mean, “The consumer market does not produce the results – and therefore the products – that I would prefer.”

It’s mildly frustrating to me when people don’t make what I consider to be the ideal product. They don’t include features that it would seem relatively easy to implement.

It’s more than mildly frustrating when I watch things move away from what I want. Or when I have what I want, and the market moves away from that.

The latest two instances I have run into have to do with Bluetooth earpieces and wireless remotes and keyboards for smartphones.

In the former case, I have recently purchased an obscene number of Bluetooth earpieces because it’s really, really hard to get a precise combination that I want (single-ear, AVRCP-compatible). And the industry is moving away from providing me what I want. So when these people stopped offering the model that I used, I ordered 20 from one of the few outfits that sold them (not exactly a wholesaler, but very much priced to order in bulk). The problem occurred when this place didn’t actually have them in stock. So they’re going to ship them as they get them.

They’ve stopped making the part in question, so it may take a while. The fact that they haven’t made it and none of the major manufacturers produce it gives me the impulse to stock up. So I found one other model that does what I want. Like the C&D, it’s low-end. It’s ironic that it only appears to be low-end makers that produce this. Indeed, I have found a number of producers that do it, but they’re all Chinese countries and I can’t plug them into US power jacks. Anyhow, so I ordered one of these to see if it did in fact do what I wanted to do. Except it didn’t work at all. It cost $12 or so, but returning it for a refund cost $6. So I only got half of my money back. Actually, I just ate the $6 and got a replacement. The replacement works, though it’s not comfortable in the ear. I have since ordered a large number of replacements.

None of this would be an issue if people would just make a point to buy the products I believe they should buy.