Apple iPhone (news, info, general chat)

I don't use the MS version either.. The Zune is utter crap and so is the software in all its DRM loaded glory...
I don't use Media Player either.. Only VLC as it plays everything and doesn't need extra CODECS. MediaPlayer
always complains about not having the right CODEC and tries to download it, but it never finds the correct one..

Really? I've got in on my hot shit work computer and my old and busted G4 laptop and the laptop runs rings around the former from a performance standpoint; no bogging, no iTunesHelper B.S., no stability issues, etc.

Nope, that is the Music store bowser. You can close that pane if you choose

That gets tough with big libraries.

Yup. When you open iTunes for the 1st time (at least in OS X) it asks you if you want to go to your library or the ITMS and I think it defaults to the latter.

iPods work on any system. Most other brands of MP3 players don't even bother with OS X compatibility, so some of us "have" to use an iPod

OK, this I understand. I think it's a funny way to decide what software to run, but that's my problem, not yours. BTW you can turn off the 'banner thing' with 1 click.


I suppose I'm just a lazy bastard. I want things easy. I want to be able to find podcasts, preview music, subscribe to podcasts, rate music, create wacky playlists etc. without having to drag and drop things. Set up a smart playlist once & that's it never touch it again etc. etc.

Exactly my point. Get stuck with Apple OSX and you have some hardware issues as well. I have an IPOD Nano now, but also burn tunes to my Sony phone, Sonos system at home, my Garmin Ique on the motorbike, and separate MP3 headphones for sport.

I think people really underestimate the amount of software out there for Mac. I think that the software that is available on the mac is also generally of a higher standard than Windows, especially noticeable with free/shareware.

Yeah. I use some proper pro stuff like Adobe, Macromedia - but I also use loads of other shitty bits of stuff. Like K9 for email filtering - free but excellent.

It's not as bad as I made out as there is always a third party solution to hook your device to OS X. Just really shit on behalf of the manufacturers to not include OS X natively, lazy cost cutting design

@Tim: Again learn to read. This doesn't mean, they don't offer a good product, only means, the others just offer a better product.

Apple offers the smallest accesory-package with their "Ipod-Pack", is known for having problems with the harddrives, is one of the most expensive players around and simply loses on the audio-qualitiy. Still you get a good product, which will be well fitting for most customers, but still this doesn't mean that there can't be something better around.

I'm still in shock that this thing isn't compatible with Vista or OS X...what a fucking joke

Agreed. Check out iusethis.com. With Windows there usually dozens of applications that do basically the same thing but only a few of them are good. With OS X there are fewer apps in total but you can almost always guarantee that they're top-notch. I actually find it refreshing; rather than trying out tons of apps (sometimes at cost) I just download whatever is available for OS X and go with it. Save for a few simple, free Mac apps I've never been disappointed.

Didn't know about iusethis. There is also Versiontracker and Macupdate.

Actually It is now.. MS rushed out a vista patch and an update to the Zune software.
However, knowing MS, a Ver.1 "Rushed out" fix is still going to be very buggy. This added
to all of the other "Features" that make the Zune suck ass, makes it a POS and not worth
spending $ on..



Not if your library files are named correctly and stored in named folder correctly with all the MP3
ID tags filled out.. I have an 8GB plays and I have never had problems playing or finding songs...
But to be honest most of the time I just put the thing on Random/Shuffle..

But the complete package (iPod, iTunes, iTunes Store) is streets ahead of the others.


Don't get the accessory package point. There are more iPod add-ons produced by more companies than for any other product, the market is huge. The hard drives are from the same manufacturers as the other companies use so I don't see how they can more problems.

Audio quality - you could be right.

But the hardware and software compatibility is a problem you know when you go for a Mac! Still might get a Mac as my next computer... these days I only need a machine at home to surf, write, edit a few photos and movies and nothing more. Why not a Mac?

If you need to use weird and wonderful hardware or software you can use Parallels Desktop in coherence mode to run Windows apps seamlessly. The Windows apps appear right on your desktop as if they were Mac apps. It's very good.

Seriously though, having been an ipod user for years, there has never been a reason for me to look at the others. If it aint broke dont fix it. As for the next computer issue, well, Apple seems to have addressed that concern since I can now dual boot. Does that mean I will be using my MS ipod on my mac only when it is booted with windoze? Ouch.

For Sale: 60 Gb MS Ipod video...

Here are some screen shots of the most recent version of itunes on windows... the traditional look and the new layout with album art.

Oh yeah - other other reason I did not run with Apple OS is 'cos at the moment when using the Intel chips it needs to run thru some emulation cack called Rosetta or something?

I am not tekkie enough but it means that it runs stuff like Adobe Photoshop dog slow when compared to the identical software running on the MAC using Windows XP. You can read all the test results if you google a bit.

This issue should be addressed I think in the next release of the MAC OS so it can talk direct to the Intel chips same as Windows XP.

So I have no interest in my software running slower on the same machine - bugger that.

That's where I see the strength of the others! You are not that tied into the whole company... M$ did this with Windows+Explorer+Outlook etc. etc. for years - just dislike these practises.

If I'm not totally mistaken, you get a charger a some crap (and yes Tim this time I mean crap) earphones with your Ipod these days (package used to contain more). Nearly every other player comes with more (more or less of course) usefull accesories, but at least not with some cheap €2,-- earphones for one of the most expensive players on the market.

Generations 3+4 (1+2 for battery problems by the way) were known for having major harddrive problems (don't ask me why), went through all the media and the affected people on the Apple-owned-forums were going balistic (thought about getting one these days), because of the bad service.

The audio got improved on the new generation, but still loses out to the other "big" players in the market, eventhough it must be at an acceptable level now.

Correct non native apps run through Rosetta, but there are very few non Intel native apps now.
It's not OS X that runs slowly, it's the non native apps within it, such as Photoshop, the latest version of photoshop is now Intel compatible and shits on photoshop for windows and the previous photoshop on the PPC for mac. It is SCREAMING fast

Apple= leopards and spot changing.
I-Phone does not exist, it is still promo.
I-pod =1 year life before breakdown this device will be the same. Nokia/Samsing and Sony Erikson will not stand still. They are already attacking the music in phone.

Lets see.

Dyson washing machine does not clean any better than say an AEG or Bosch or an electrlux for example

I just want to make phone calls me! Press a button and just talk to someone! What do you need all that multimedia crap for? Can't people just talk to each other these days without SMS this and 3G that and megapixel somethin' else!

Oh all right, I'll take one. As long as I can run Doom 3 on it!

Well, can't argue that logic, you got me there.


Ok, it will exist soon tho and there is still no competition for this device from Nokia or sony or whoever, it's a different kettle of fish all together.


Ummmm, do you know something that no one else does? Please share.


The ONLY one that Apple have to worry about in my opinion is Sony, they have a massive media empire at their finger tips which they can use to leverage customers away from the iPod format if they wish by incorporating it seamlessly into their product the way that iPod and iTunes does.

Nokia/Samsung...pfft give me a break


Handy to know. Thanks.

iTunes is too big now. Also Sony playing silly games like that will just fuel the illegal download market.

iTunes is big, but Sony's media empire makes it look like a little drop in the ocean. I was meaning more for video content anyway as that will be the next big thing I reckon

Could Sony really afford to lose all those sales of content in order to push a hardware product? If they could they would be doing that now with Blue Ray. As far as I know they are not doing Blue Ray only films at moment.

Last time I checked, hardware was the loss-leader and the money was in the software. But maybe I misread the post...

This is true for game consoles as a licence fee is earned by the games. But Apple isn't a content provider so makes its money on its products (HW).

Don't you think that someone who is a hardware manufacturer as well as a content supplier could probably undercut Apple then?

Apple is expensive they don't compete on price. It would be a very high risk strategy for Sony to lock any of its new multimedia content exclusively to a specific HW platform , it may even lose big name Artists if it tried.

I dunno about that. That's exactly what Apple and Microsoft have been doing successfully for a while now

Please explain. Is there any content that is only available for the iPod?

As far as I am aware (dunno this for sure as I aint an iPod owner) iTunes purchased content is only playable on an iPod?
Zune doing a similar thing with their downloadable content

Ah! We are talking at cross-purposes. You are right that the iTunes service is locked to theiPod, but the iPod can play the same content either ripped from a CD or downloaded from some "other source" in MP3 format, at least for audio. I doubt the iPod would have been so successful if it only played iTunes AAC format or it only worked with the Mac.

Now Sony could start its own download service and make its content exclusive to that but it really is too late. How many artists want to be told "nobody with an ipod will be able to listen to your music".

I agree that it's too late for that in terms of music due to the iPod's market domination, but for video media they could be in the equivalent position as iPod is now with music, if they played their cards smartly and also manage to design that "must-have" product (Sony already has a massive headstart over ever other portable media producers with their Walkman name which was the equivalent of the iPod name in the 80's and 90's)

iTV available in February, €299

I have an original ipod 4 gb with a real scroll wheel and it runs as perfect as ever. It is at least four years old. My brother has two or three nanos and an 80gb video for his son (18 months). It gets spit on thrown around and everything else you can imagine and it and the nanos run perfectly, so I think your information is just wrong.

I still think it was a poor decision for apple to jump in the mobile phone market, but there computer system is great and their ipod is by far the top in the market. They demonstrated what people wanted. Small, compact, huge storage space and simplicity of use. No one else comes close. People don't care about sound as much as convenience, proof of the mp3 market. All the other brands of mp3 players out there just don't have a chance it isn't about being a cultural icon, it is about what I already wrote.

Apple stock is up over 10% in the last two days. Guess they're fooling most of the people most of the time...

Lets see how long that stock stays up...

- Link

And you're quite wrong. All you have to do is rip it to a cd as an mp3 file and then import it to that poo brown zune.

I've had my iPod for 2.5 years now. It's traveled thousands of miles, been immersed in water, buried in mud (fell out of my pocket while in the garden ) and while it's pretty scratched up, it works like a charm. I almost wish it would give up the ghost, then I could justify getting a nano!

As far as the iPhone goes, it's too early to tell. While it won't be introduced with 3G capabilities, Apple would be stupid not to have it 3G capable when it goes on sale in Asia or even Europe for that matter.

The interface is bloody amazing! I bet Steve J. sells twice as many as he thinks he will when it debuts. He rarely backs losers.

The fact you can circumvent the locking using either tools or use workarounds does not change the fact that iTunes is locked to the iPod. Just that the locking is ineffective.

I suspect that the DRM mechanism had much more to do with recording industry than Apple.

You don't need to use tools. In iTunes, create a playlist and burn it to CD. You can burn each playlist 5 times. After that there's a workaround: create a new playlist.

You are correct about the DRM. They'd never have got the music store off the ground otherwise because the record companies would not have signed up.

Is anyone else sick of the iEverything?

iGiveup.

Apple are being sued by Cisco cos the name iPhone is trademarked.

The sueing is a publicity stunt by both parties. They both stand to gain. Karen Kittermann, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, is on the books of both Apple and Cisco. Yesterday her webpage listed Apple as a representative client. Although as of today the "Apple Computer, Inc." has mysteriously disappeared from that list. Too bad the webpage has a "noarchive" robots tag otherwise you could see the previous version in the Google cache.

A trademark has to be used within three years of registration otherwise it becomes invalid. Cisco registered the iPhone trademark in 1996, but they didn't use it. They've only decided to use it since November 2006 - once they became aware that Apple might be about to launch an iPhone. But it's already too late for Cisco, they lost the trademark by not using it within three years of the original registration. The "iPhone" trademark effectively became associated with Apple in the minds of the public since well before the announcement this week. So Apple has ownership, both legally and from a common sense perspective.

It doesn't harm Cisco to file a lawsuit though. The publicity gained for their iPhone will be more than what could be bought via "conventional" promotional channels. Meanwhile Apple has probably expecting the lawsuit, all along knowing that they'll win and that the publicity will do them more good than harm.

Yeah - methinks that Apple maybe, just maybe, already sorted out any naming trademark issues before this time.

Apparently Apple isn't going to be called "Apple Computers anymore, just Apple. This was part of Steve jobs speech I believe. Haven't got a link sorry.