Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Jay-Z + Samsung = fail

I just bought a brand-new phone. Like it's so new, you may not have even seen one yet. It's called the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active and it's different from the original S4 only in the sense that it's built more durably: There's more metal in the body, there are three more sturdy buttons at the bottom for home, menu and return and apparently it's water resistant. Whatever.



I was just sitting here reading my RSS feeds and I saw a post about Jay-Z's newest album, "Magna Carta Holy Grail" and how it's going to be available tonight (a few days early) to owners of select Samsung phones including -- gasp -- the Galaxy S4. I'd seen a billion posts about this fact in the last few weeks, but it didn't really register with me until today that now I have a phone that should be able to download this free app and thus be among the first in the world to hear Jay-Z's newest work.



I'm not the biggest fan of Jay-Z's. I think he did his best work several years ago as a rapper, but I recognize that he's still an important artist. I will eventually hear his new album one way or another just because to not listen would be kind of odd for a hip-hop fan of my caliber. I don't have super high expectations, but I realize he has the potential to return to greatness because he's been great in the past.

So I went to Google Play Store and searched "Magna Carta Holy Grail" and ... nothing. Hmm, there's an app called Samsung Owners Hub, maybe that's it. No, that's not it. Huh, let me go on my PC and see what I can find. What's this?


Not compatible? How could this b-- ... ohhhhh ... I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 ACTIVE, which, despite it being identical to the Galaxy S4 Original Recipe in every technical way, is not a supported phone for this app.

You know what? Never mind, Jay-Z. I'll just catch you on Spotify next week or whatever.