My first experience of iTunes plus is somwhat lacking in the usual finish that we have come to expect from apple. I put an album for download at 12:00 its now 16:10 and only 4 out of the 41 tracks have successfully made it to my computer. It would seem the pipes are all clogged. Maybe its time for Apple to get bigger pipes.
Update: Apple got some new tubes and now all is well.
I have a ever growing iTunes library, but sometimes when importing stuff, the ID3 tags go all wrong, or in the in Japanese/Non-English Characters. So like many geeks I hate having to mess with each ID3 tag individualy even if iTunes makes it easy. Solution CDDB and a little script from dougscripts.co. You simply go to the playlist, run the first script which searches CDDB to find the album your playing, then you run the second script that then copies the page details and puts them in your ID3 tags. Voila! your library is nice and perfectly formed.
"Unfortunately, many schools have turned a blind eye to piracy," Berman said. "I don't doubt that there are legitimate issues that universities must grapple with, including privacy and cost concerns. However, when a university such as Purdue tells the AP that it rarely even notifies students accused by the RIAA because it is too much trouble to track down alleged offenders—such inaction is unacceptable."Congressman Hollywood: Universities a wretched hive of scum and villainy
This is what happens when a person in power, brains' get turned to jelly and is spat out by the cat. It never occurs to these people funding researching and going around screaming disaster and catastrophe from the hill tops, to actually look what is right in front of them.
The Music/Movie Industries is Inherently, poor at adapting
So what exactly does this mean well its quite simple. When Napster came along the Music industry looked at it and said "We still good it will all blow over in a couple of months" Then a couple of months later they had a problem. The same goes for the Movie industry. They are arrogant enough to dimiss a technology that will quite clearly effect them in the money making department and try to place the sole blame on the cosumer. The consumers pay them money in the first Place
Solve not Sue
Anyone with a slight business interlect and brain cell(s) would look at the current situation within the Music/Movie industry and start working on solutions, put the money were it is well spent. The industry will never change the habits of the youth of today, they have spent to long in the courts increasing the resentment for that. They need to start working to give the consumer product they want in the form they want, this by no means free.
The idea that forcing your consumers to do something because the man companies say it should be is completly stupid and cause more illegal downloading, just so you as a consumer feel happy your pissing the said companies off. Everybody knows that downloading music and not paying for it is wrong, but when the labels offer no better alternatives, what else are your options.
The Other Options
iTunes Store, has a big market share and a big catalog of major labels and indie music, look deeply at the Store and you see just what a miracle it is, its there, and in the same moment why it doesn't give what a p2p client gives. The simple matter of choice is what it now starts to boil down to, what could be classed as the catalyst to this whole thing in the first place.
People want choice they want to choose how they consume media and where, iTunes limits you to the iPod and your PC/Mac, there is a simple solution get rid of DRM and completely and open the whole thing up, and I would never illegally download again.
However, there is one place that iTunes excells at apart from providing a seamless UI experience. Our friend the Longtail, p2p only really is a good distribution system for popular tracks, when you get to less popular tracks you quickly find nobody sharing things.
To cut a long story short we need a solution, that the consumer is happy with and we need it fast else we could see everybody going down to court.
Whether you believe that it was an elaborate publicity stunt or actually Steve Jobs own hand that wrote the "Thoughts on Music" there is one important feature that we all need to take action upon.
The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
Lets see if the people of the internets will prevail and get rid of DRM, or at the very least start the removal process. Sign the Defective Design Letter Here
A Vista ad i saw at Microcenter, I just thought it was kind of funny that they decided to use a mac in the ad.
Its obviously a stock image but you would think Microsoft with a marketing budget that could dwarf Dells would spend a little money in getting images of laptops that actually Run Vista, and Bill Gates has once again shot himself in the foot with this along with the fact Vista is now cracked the suposably most secure operating system windows has ever made...
RIAA misreads Jobs open letter on DRM, thinks hes offering to license FairPlay - Engadget
Yet again the RIAA is on the train to nowhere, seen as Steve Jobs said in his "Thoughts on Music" Apple would not be licensing fairplay, its either no DRM or Apple owns there system, the RIAA says "Apple your thinking like us, lets start licensing FairPlay DRM" (they didn't say it like that, but you get the idea)
Gotta love em, they just can't help making a fool of themselves whilst spending millions suing people.
It certainly has been a big afternoon/morning (depending on where you live) for Apple. Finally the iPhone sees the light of day and my god was it worth the weight, more information on the Apple TV (iTV) and all the usual fanfare.
I wasn't expecting the keynote to end without the usual iLife and iWork Updates (though it does save my wallet) I was already and prepared to shell out for it. I can only imagine that some sort of update will be coming with Leopard to entice me, not that I Really need that much enticing.
Apple Inc. Well done, you still manage to prove the rumors right about something but wrong about the actual hardware itself and also have put to bed the most recurring rumor ever.
Parallels have release a new BETA of there Virtualization Application for mac os x with many updates, the biggest of which being "Coherence" this things rocks, so much its untrue.
How about Windows Taskbar at the bottom of the page and mac os x everywhere else, thats right the holy grail of being able to run everything you could ever want has been acheived. Apples' decision to switch to intel seems all but justified now.
Running windows apps as if they were mac apps without have to have a separate window open is genius, how the hell they manage to do it is beyond me. What I do know is Macs are most definitely going from strength to strength and a actually think Parallels would be a welcomed acquisition for Apple, because Leopard could take this stuff and run to such a level were you can no longer tell you are virtualizing windows. For example download a file with safari that happens to be an .exe, double click it and windows opens it. Simple elegant and apple all over.
Come apple this is certainly a feature i would love to see in Leopard (if it isnt already in there)
I though I would take a break and post something else that really gets me.
We all know that piracy has ended up as a monumental PR mess for the record industry, and it is a undisputed fact that the industry in general were far too late and couldn't adopt the same model they do in the shops so invented DRM (lets not go any further into this)
I love music as much as the next man, but when a consumer thinks their being ripped of they will always find a new way, the internet provides such a way. So when Napster and Kazaa came along the consumers went there instead of going to the local music store, by the time the industry realised just how big this was they had only one option left to sue everything and everybody related to this P2P software. As a resulting pissing off there next generation customers and the ones they already had, and along the way giving themselves and P2P developers bad press.
Speaks For itself
Yes thats right, I have decided to do the obligatory post about the Apple Product. Reading this news for the 15th time? Then you now know what the cult of mac is.
The time has come the mac-expo shame I couldn't get to the rest of the event but Saturday should still be good. I will be posting some more stuff related to the Expo over the weekend. You have to love the free BT Openzone account I have.
So Apple have a new (Product) Red Nano, and there has been an uproar against the miniscule $10 apple is giving per iPod, without me getting ranting and annoying.
Where would the campaign be without Apple, fair enough it is a small amount but Apple is Cool and also everywhere, if you haven't got an ipod your nobody, so the upshot of that being free advertising. Its like FCUK putting slogans on the front of t-shirts that you need to read twice to make sure what they actual say. Red iPod, does good and also gives the publicity it needs to get more companies on board, in short never think one sided about these things.
My Dream App » Live Voting Results
College is really messing up my stream of incoming information, I have totally missed MyDreamApp Round 4. If you haven't voated already like me just until a minute ago then do it. Now!
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that the glass Cube Apple erected earlier this year on New York's tony Fifth Ave, dubbed Apple Mecca by many of the Mac faithful, is offensive to Muslims Muslim community offended by Apple's Fifth Avenue NYC Cube - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
We are fast becoming a world wide culture of everything that we do offends somebody or other and that if we moan it will change something. The simple fact is de-railing a project simple because it offends is not good enough.
Also the fact there are so many people/organisations that it becomes a vicious cycle. The internet has gave us many things a place to voice or concerns and a place were everybody is heard, but it also a place were disinformation and exaggeration is rife, using the example above when has any apple Genius Bar every served Alcoholic Beverages.
A Little Knowledge is dangerous. So is a lot. - Albert Einstein
