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Can we expect the Samsungization of these brands? Should we be on the lookout for locked-down audio ecosystems, ever more extraneous features, phone apps, and s

Can we expect the Samsungization of these brands? Should we be on the lookout for locked-down audio ecosystems, ever more extraneous features, phone apps, and smart appliances? Ewww.

jen20 1y ago
I'd be particularly worried about the ones with screens [1]. [1]: https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-confirms-smart-refrigerator-ads-are-coming-3598848/ https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-confirms-smart-refr...
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- 63stack 1y ago
  I wouldn't put it past Samsung to find a way to inject ads into gadgets even without screens. Like mandatory open the samsung app every time you connect your headphones and such. They are scummy as fuck.
  - catlikesshrimp 1y ago
    Why not an audio ad? They can buffer the next couple ads when connected to the internet. You can also have the app, monenitazion is not picky.
koolba 1y ago
Why wouldn’t you want your speaker to automatically play ads when your music is paused? We can even have them be relevant ads by having them covertly listen to your conversations to analyze for context sensitive keywords.
JKCalhoun 1y ago
I was in a Target yesterday and saw a Samsung TV with a "warning" label on the box. Essentially: "some features not available without consent to tracking of viewing habits". I should take a photo and post.
- vincnetas 1y ago
  this would be express ticket to court in EU.
  - sejje 1y ago
    The agreement, or posting the photo?
  - drnick1 1y ago
    Ah yes the EU, that country aggressively trying to pass encryption backdoor laws.
    - tavavex 1y ago
      It's not self-contradictory at all. Proponents of Chat Control want to be able to spy on their own citizens, and have the technological wiggle room to expand their powers to collect data in the future. At the same time, they generally don't want customers to be abused by large companies that strong-arm them into increasingly lopsided contracts by moving in unison and using the average person's technical illiteracy against them. For people like us, these two things are related because we don't want every bit of our data collected, examined and studied for either tracking or profit - but for them, companies and governments operate on entirely different levels of rights and expectations. Also, the EU isn't even remotely like "a country".
      - theandrewbailey 1y ago
        > Also, the EU isn't even remotely like "a country". The EU has a currency, parliament, elections, laws, presidents, courts, treaties, and is thinking about forming an army. That sounds an awful lot like a country to me.
        tavavex 1y ago
        Many multi-national organizations and alliances have some of these aspects, does that make them into countries too? In practice, being a country isn't just about filling out some checklist. The EU neither claims to be a country, nor does any country on Earth see it as a single sovereign state. It has democratic and political processes that are similar to a country's, but its sway over member states is limited. Also, its members aren't forced to stay in the EU, unlike the individual regions that are part of your country. And if you truly, unironically believe that the EU is a single country, what do you think of its member states? By extension of this argument, is Spain not a country? Or is Poland a country that's contained within another country, being equal and unequal in status at the same time?
mkozlows 1y ago
Samsung has owned Harman Kardon and its stable of brands for a long time, and they've been mostly fine. Mainly, I think Samsung doesn't care about them except as names to license in "exclusive" partnerships with automakers.
- RossBencina 1y ago
  Harman Automotive does a lot more than license names.
Jackson__ 1y ago
I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab recently. Of course I was well aware of the death of the 3.5mm headphone port, but as I plugged in my 3.5mm to usb-c adapter I was greeted with a new message: "Analog USB C Audio Unsupported.". I tried a pair of regular off-brand usb-c headphones too, which too resulted in the same, with no audio output. How this is not behavior deserving of some kind of EU fine is a complete mystery to me.
- Kirby64 1y ago
  The message you’re describing sounds like it (and most devices) telling you nicely it doesn’t support the legacy, now removed from the spec, function to do direct analog audio over USB-C. I.e., the DAC is built into the phone instead of being built into the dongle. Most devices do not support analog USB-C audio, and frankly I understand why given how affordable DAC based dongles are these days.
  - Jackson__ 1y ago
    All of my cheaper chinese devices without 3.5mm do support it though. It is only this premium tablet that I paid triple what I'd normally spend on which does not work.
    - Kirby64 1y ago
      And your point? Samsung is likely more adherent to the USB-C spec than cheap Chinese devices. Audio Accessory Mode (the technical term for the analog audio mode in USB-C) was removed as an optionally supported mode from the specification last year. Adoption among flagship phones was basically nil for years. It's basically the worst of all worlds in terms of complexity: you still need a DAC/ADC in the phone AND you need a muxing switch to switch between data pins and analog audio. For context on why it was removed: it was replaced with a moisture detection functionality, which can be used to monitor and protect the USB-C port against shorts from moisture ingress into the charging port.
    - NetMageSCW 1y ago
      Just buy the $9 Apple adapter and you will have a better setup than those old Chinese cheap tablets.
kurayashi 1y ago
I recently had to setup my Denon Home Smart Speaker again after I moved. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t need a HEOS account the first time I set it up. On the second setup it was required to configure the WIFI. But the Ethernet Port worked fine without an account. I bought the speaker together with a Denon receiver ~3.5 years ago.
kwillets 1y ago
I worked at Samsung and saw plenty of enshittification (including losing my own job in some kind of sketchy power struggle), but oddly their audio stuff didn't seem like a bad deal. In TV's they support the higher quality home theater scenario while still making most of their audio money from soundbars that can't compete on audio quality. They're well aware of that fact, and their strategy seems to be to keep all options on the table. One of the TV execs is an audiophile FWIW.
- aucisson_masque 1y ago
  > saw plenty of enshittification you can't say that and not share some sample of that :)
  - kwillets 1y ago
    I built the ads audience system. Most of the effects of that are already known here; Ads became a big trophy within the org; everybody had to have ads and post-sale revenue, even the fridge people. Sometime around when the CEO got out of prison a bunch of weirdness occurred. Good managers left, bad managers got hired, and everything became top-down. The group head "retired" but last year un-retired in a different position; I didn't know you could do that. Engineering-wise it went from technical free rein to "only use this suspiciously chummy cloud vendor" in a few months. I never got to the bottom of that deal, but costs exploded, and revenue flattened.
    - aucisson_masque 1y ago
      I have the feeling that Korea has quite an issue with corruption. You don't need corruption to make bad decisions, though.
subscribed 1y ago
And *ads*.
notatoad 1y ago
technically samsung didn't buy these brands, Harman did. And samsung has owned Harman (including JBL and AKG) since 2018. so you should probably expect that these brands will continue operating the way that Harman, JBL,and AKG have since they were acquired. which is to say, pretty independently of anything samsung does.
- NewJazz 1y ago
  Fwiw after Harman bought AKG, the Austrian engineers were laid off or left the company. There is a company called Austrian Audio that is more of a spiritual successor to AKG. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Audio https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Audio

Can we expect the Samsungization of these brands? Should we be on the lookout for locked-down audio ecosystems, ever more extraneous features, phone apps, and smart appliances? Ewww.

jen20 1y ago

I'd be particularly worried about the ones with screens [1]. [1]: https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-confirms-smart-refrigerator-ads-are-coming-3598848/ https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-confirms-smart-refr...

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
63stack 1y ago
I wouldn't put it past Samsung to find a way to inject ads into gadgets even without screens. Like mandatory open the samsung app every time you connect your headphones and such. They are scummy as fuck.
- catlikesshrimp 1y ago
  Why not an audio ad? They can buffer the next couple ads when connected to the internet. You can also have the app, monenitazion is not picky.

koolba 1y ago

Why wouldn’t you want your speaker to automatically play ads when your music is paused? We can even have them be relevant ads by having them covertly listen to your conversations to analyze for context sensitive keywords.

JKCalhoun 1y ago

I was in a Target yesterday and saw a Samsung TV with a "warning" label on the box. Essentially: "some features not available without consent to tracking of viewing habits". I should take a photo and post.

vincnetas 1y ago
this would be express ticket to court in EU.
- sejje 1y ago
  The agreement, or posting the photo?
- drnick1 1y ago
  Ah yes the EU, that country aggressively trying to pass encryption backdoor laws.
  - tavavex 1y ago
    It's not self-contradictory at all. Proponents of Chat Control want to be able to spy on their own citizens, and have the technological wiggle room to expand their powers to collect data in the future. At the same time, they generally don't want customers to be abused by large companies that strong-arm them into increasingly lopsided contracts by moving in unison and using the average person's technical illiteracy against them. For people like us, these two things are related because we don't want every bit of our data collected, examined and studied for either tracking or profit - but for them, companies and governments operate on entirely different levels of rights and expectations. Also, the EU isn't even remotely like "a country".
    - theandrewbailey 1y ago
      > Also, the EU isn't even remotely like "a country". The EU has a currency, parliament, elections, laws, presidents, courts, treaties, and is thinking about forming an army. That sounds an awful lot like a country to me.
      - tavavex 1y ago
        Many multi-national organizations and alliances have some of these aspects, does that make them into countries too? In practice, being a country isn't just about filling out some checklist. The EU neither claims to be a country, nor does any country on Earth see it as a single sovereign state. It has democratic and political processes that are similar to a country's, but its sway over member states is limited. Also, its members aren't forced to stay in the EU, unlike the individual regions that are part of your country. And if you truly, unironically believe that the EU is a single country, what do you think of its member states? By extension of this argument, is Spain not a country? Or is Poland a country that's contained within another country, being equal and unequal in status at the same time?

mkozlows 1y ago

Samsung has owned Harman Kardon and its stable of brands for a long time, and they've been mostly fine. Mainly, I think Samsung doesn't care about them except as names to license in "exclusive" partnerships with automakers.

RossBencina 1y ago
Harman Automotive does a lot more than license names.

Jackson__ 1y ago

I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab recently. Of course I was well aware of the death of the 3.5mm headphone port, but as I plugged in my 3.5mm to usb-c adapter I was greeted with a new message: "Analog USB C Audio Unsupported.". I tried a pair of regular off-brand usb-c headphones too, which too resulted in the same, with no audio output. How this is not behavior deserving of some kind of EU fine is a complete mystery to me.

Kirby64 1y ago
The message you’re describing sounds like it (and most devices) telling you nicely it doesn’t support the legacy, now removed from the spec, function to do direct analog audio over USB-C. I.e., the DAC is built into the phone instead of being built into the dongle. Most devices do not support analog USB-C audio, and frankly I understand why given how affordable DAC based dongles are these days.
- Jackson__ 1y ago
  All of my cheaper chinese devices without 3.5mm do support it though. It is only this premium tablet that I paid triple what I'd normally spend on which does not work.
  - Kirby64 1y ago
    And your point? Samsung is likely more adherent to the USB-C spec than cheap Chinese devices. Audio Accessory Mode (the technical term for the analog audio mode in USB-C) was removed as an optionally supported mode from the specification last year. Adoption among flagship phones was basically nil for years. It's basically the worst of all worlds in terms of complexity: you still need a DAC/ADC in the phone AND you need a muxing switch to switch between data pins and analog audio. For context on why it was removed: it was replaced with a moisture detection functionality, which can be used to monitor and protect the USB-C port against shorts from moisture ingress into the charging port.
  - NetMageSCW 1y ago
    Just buy the $9 Apple adapter and you will have a better setup than those old Chinese cheap tablets.

kurayashi 1y ago

I recently had to setup my Denon Home Smart Speaker again after I moved. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t need a HEOS account the first time I set it up. On the second setup it was required to configure the WIFI. But the Ethernet Port worked fine without an account. I bought the speaker together with a Denon receiver ~3.5 years ago.

kwillets 1y ago

I worked at Samsung and saw plenty of enshittification (including losing my own job in some kind of sketchy power struggle), but oddly their audio stuff didn't seem like a bad deal. In TV's they support the higher quality home theater scenario while still making most of their audio money from soundbars that can't compete on audio quality. They're well aware of that fact, and their strategy seems to be to keep all options on the table. One of the TV execs is an audiophile FWIW.

aucisson_masque 1y ago
> saw plenty of enshittification you can't say that and not share some sample of that :)
- kwillets 1y ago
  I built the ads audience system. Most of the effects of that are already known here; Ads became a big trophy within the org; everybody had to have ads and post-sale revenue, even the fridge people. Sometime around when the CEO got out of prison a bunch of weirdness occurred. Good managers left, bad managers got hired, and everything became top-down. The group head "retired" but last year un-retired in a different position; I didn't know you could do that. Engineering-wise it went from technical free rein to "only use this suspiciously chummy cloud vendor" in a few months. I never got to the bottom of that deal, but costs exploded, and revenue flattened.
  - aucisson_masque 1y ago
    I have the feeling that Korea has quite an issue with corruption. You don't need corruption to make bad decisions, though.

subscribed 1y ago

And *ads*.

notatoad 1y ago

technically samsung didn't buy these brands, Harman did. And samsung has owned Harman (including JBL and AKG) since 2018. so you should probably expect that these brands will continue operating the way that Harman, JBL,and AKG have since they were acquired. which is to say, pretty independently of anything samsung does.

NewJazz 1y ago
Fwiw after Harman bought AKG, the Austrian engineers were laid off or left the company. There is a company called Austrian Audio that is more of a spiritual successor to AKG. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Audio https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Audio