Everyone knows about Disco, right? It’s another beautiful app by the guys who brought us AppZapper. Unlike AppZapper, however, Disco is using a completely custom interface. It also has gee-whiz stuff like emitting smoke as it does its burning.

Doesn’t anyone else find all of this to be completely useless? I mean, I could without the whole smoke thing. It does nothing for me. It’s a neat effect the first few times but it does nothing for the actual functionality.

Also, why are there completely custom UI elements? Sure, they look nice in the way that they look different from everything else but they’re also pointless. Apple provides some nice-enough-looking widgets that the Disco guys simply re-painted. Does that do anything for the app?

Rory Prior over at ThinkMac Software posted about the same question but also notes a few problems with using Disco. I haven’t used it myself but I’m sure his comments are spot on. I’ve heard them from other people as well. Why is there smoke if the app doesn’t resize? Why are there custom widgets if one of the widgets limits how much you can see/type?

I can’t help but think of the marketing maxim: “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” That’s exactly what’s going on with Disco. It doesn’t offer anything that can’t be gotten in another application. It isn’t the most powerful disc burning application. It isn’t the cheapest. It probably isn’t even the easiest (although I understand that Disco was going for the easiest title) considering the criticisms with it. So Disco distinguishes itself with eye-candy.