19 posts tagged “apple”
Microsoft, please cease all efforts to compete in the portable music player/online music store space. You're embarassing yourselves.
I remember a time, early on in the iPod's domination, when some bigwig or other at Microsoft slagged off the iTunes Store ecosystem, saying it didn't give customers choice. It didn't take them long to release the Zune and the Zune Marketplace, effectively copying the Apple model wholesale... albeit totally ineffectively.
Oh, and by the way, early on the Zune couldn't play files from Microsoft's partners' stores that used their similar but incompatible PlaysForSure DRM. Oopsies! Needless to say, the devices didn't sell well, but that may be because they were only available in the US, and looked like they were fashioned out of Bakelite.
Then when Apple announced that it was trying to get rid of the DRM the record labels had insisted on, Microsoft were caught on the hop and fumbled a response.
And now their latest bullshit. Now they're trying to put the boot to the iPod by saying their Zune Pass allows you to fill your Zune for less than iTunes allows you to fill your iPod:
http://www.zunepass.net/?WT.mc_id=Display-MMN#/videos
Many, many, many things they neglect to mention here.
1. If you cancel your Zune Pass membership, you do not own that music. You get ten songs free every month, and that's that.
2. They suggest that you can only fill an iPod with music from iTunes. I pay just ten bucks more than their Zune Pass and get 100 DRM-free MP3s from eMusic every month. I also buy CDs, with prices as low as $7 a disc - far less than the $1 per song they quote for the iPod.
3. Not all of the songs in their library are even available with the Zune Pass.
4. Song purchases are slightly cheaper with the Zune Marketplace, but you have to buy fucking point cards in blocks of 400 at a time to shop on their store. You can't use a credit card directly.
I'm not an Apple fanboy. I have many criticisms about their devices and software. However, Microsoft are constantly ragging on them while totally glossing over their own more abundant flaws. The Zune HD looks like an attractive piece of hardware, certainly compared to its siblings, but it is far too little, too late.
Parties, dinners, pageants and more. How does technology help you survive the hustle and bustle of the holidays?
Sponsored by Best Buy.
If I get invited somewhere I've never been, Google Maps on my iPhone shows me the way. If I get bored, Facebook and NetNewsWire on my iPhone give me something to do. If I want to take a photo, my iPhone lets me snap one without carrying several devices. iPhone iPhone iPhone. Sorry, but that, my laptop and my Xbox 360 are my favourite widgets right now.
Why are you loyal to certain brands/stores? What keeps you coming back?
Sponsored by Microsoft Small Business.
I would say Apple gets more of my money than anyone else. It almost wasn't to be.
I used my first Mac back in 1996 - I think it was a Performa 6300 - for work and wasn't all that impressed. The classic Mac OS (version 7 I think was the latest one) was extremely slow, I think we only used it for Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark Express.
When the iPod got popular, I refused to buy into it. Partially because what is popular in consumer electronics isn't always what is best, and also because at the time I used a PC for which Creative's software integration was second to none. I got their Zen Jukebox Xtra.
It was around the same time that, recording my own songs as a hobby, I started hearing about Mac exclusives Garageband and Logic Express being worth my attention. Not wanting to spend too much on a system I may not use, I went for the low end Mac mini system.
It was this that kick-started my love affair with Apple.
My Zen Jukebox Xtra started to show a few weird behavioural traits as I filled it - it, being hard drive based, skipped and went crazy if I walked too fast. I decided to get a flash memory MP3 player for my daily commute, and now using a Mac, an iPod Nano was the best choice. Plus Jess had one and loved it.
I have bought...
- A 1.42GHz PPC Mac mini
- A 4GB iPod Nano
- A 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro
- An 80GB iPod Classic
- A 16GB iPhone 3G
- A 500GB Time Capsule
- Numerous accessories and programs
... and been extremely happy with all of them. They might cost slightly more than their rivals in some cases, but the build quality of their hardware is superb, and their software is designed for people who don't want to dick around during set up or hunt for options in obscure menus to do simple things.
I do think the "They just work" mantra is a little inaccurate, as I have still had issues, but having used every version of Windows since 3.1, as well as different distributions of Linux, I feel I have a good grounds for comparison when I say Mac OS X is the best consumer OS out there.
Other than Apple, my spending habits are as you'd expect of a 28 year old guy with a decent job and no kids - my clothes all come from GAP, Old Navy and band merchandise stands; I drink Starbucks; I eat a lot of Subway and Chipotle; I get a lot of my entertainment items from Amazon.com. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.
Just over a week since we waited in line to order them, Jess and I finally got our iPhone 3Gs. Or rather, I went and got them while she got her hair cut as I was so impatient.
Within the space of half an hour, the sales assistant at the AT&T store had set up our account, transfered our numbers from T-Mobile and activated the phones, then I was out the door and shuffling home as fast as I could to play with mine.
I think I was playing for like five hours, before taking a nap.
For all the hype, for all the waiting, I am actually impressed. It effectively renders FOUR of my existing devices obsolete. It plays music every bit as well as my iPod (being, essentially, the latest generation). It can make calls, send text messages, take photos and do almost everything a phone can (MMS remains oddly absent). I can play games that look better than anything on my Nintendo DS, albeit with more limited control options. And, oddly, I feel it's going to reduce my time on my laptop, too - between the built-in apps and those you can already download from the new app store, I can surf, email, blog, manage photos, watch YouTube videos and generally piddle away time.
And in case you want to know, the applications downloaded so far...
- AIM
- Aqua Forest
- De Blob
- Facebook
- Last.fm
- MySpace Mobile
- NetNewsWire
- Remote
- Super Monkey Ball
Are you going to be amongst the first people to buy the iPhone 3G? If so, when do you plan on picking yours up and which one will you be purchasing?
I am ashamed to say, I was one of "those" people. You know, those people you see standing in lines that stretch around corners waiting for some hot new technology item to go on sale. Those people about whom you think: "Doesn't that loser have a job?" Yes, that was me, today.
I turned up at my local AT&T store at 7am. I thought, given last night's thunderstorms, the line would be short. It was about 50-60 people deep... and grew much larger after I got there. Jess showed up shortly after me, and kept ducking out of the line to get coffee or pee, but I held strong.
Some time around 9.50am, we got to the corner of the alley and the street the store was on and found out all three versions of the phone had sold out, but that we could still go in and order the phones to be delivered at some time in the near future. So we did that. I ordered a black 16GB, Jess a white 16GB. So this year's bonus bought us both iPhones.
Sure, it's just a phone, not some life-saving, life-affirming big deal. It probably didn't warrant standing in line for three hours when I could have stayed in bed a little longer and gotten to work on time. Still, I worked hard for that bonus, I want something nice from it.
Music is pretty much awesome. This week, Jess bought...
- Boo! Human by Joan Of Arc
- Plague Park by Handsome Furs
... and I bought...
- The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf
- Planet Of Ice by Minus The Bear
- Maplewood by Maplewood (they feature the drummer from Nada Surf)
... and have the following on their way from Amazon at some point...
- Narrow Stairs by Death Cab For Cutie
- I Know You're Married But I Have Feelings Too by Martha Wainwright
- At Mount Zoomer by Wolf Parade
- The Imagination Stage by Eric Matthews
- Saturdays = Youth by M83
Not all of these were released this year. I was in GAP when I heard 'Throwin' Shapes' by Minus The Bear (identified thanks to the awesome Patrick) and 'The Magic Position' by Patrick Wolf, a man I am already a huge fan of. I picked up Maplewood because it was $3 in the place I bought Minus The Bear From. And I think the M83 is from last year, I ordered it because our friend Tim likes them and sometimes raves over bands I also love. We're going to see a band called Assassins with him tonight.
On a related note, right now, I am continuing to rip all of Jess' music. We just picked up an Apple Time Capsule - a wireless hard drive on which I can put all of our music for both of us to access without needing to plug in to anything.
Show us the most important thing on your desk.
Submitted by BlackLime.
It's technically on the Mac under my desk, but...
And no, I don't have any Nelly Furtado.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Because Jess and I are loveless heathens - and because we have our birthdays, our wedding anniversary, and the anniversary of when we started dating all coming up; plus Jess is ill - today is a normal day.
It's been an interesting week.
- On Monday, I was told to pick either Tuesday or Wednesday and take that day off. So I had Tuesday off work. I spent most of the day playing guitar, listening to music and doing sweet eff all.
- Yesterday, I was given an Apple gift card. They'd been giving out iPods and gift cards to people who worked on this project as a motivational aid, and I was the most recent winner. I've spent $40 of it on Warcraft III for PC/Mac, and have $100 left, which will either go on Logic Express 8 or... something else.
- Today, I found out my manager is moving over to another team. For her sake, I am relieved because she's had a lot of crap to deal with lately.
- I have a whole ton of bugs to fix across three different sites I'm working on... I am so tired of bug fixes.
This weekend should be interesting. We're hiring a car and heading out to the suburbs to pick up some stuff from IKEA. As we're not moving for the time being, Jess cleared out a bunch of her crap from our weird office/closet thing. We're putting a bigger desk in there so my gadgets have a permanent home.
If Jess lets me get my own way (USB hub and external hard drives behind the keyboard)...
Show us the gadgets you carry with you.
- An 80GB iPod Classic
- A DS Lite
- A Motorola PEBL
I need a phone upgrade at some point. The PEBL is ultra feature-limited.
So you might hear all these bands talking about how they use Pro-Tools to get that generic, over-produced sound that's really popular with the kids these days. I don't use Pro-Tools for my personal recordings because, well, I can't afford it, but I do use audio devices manufactured by Digidesign sister company M-Audio.
I started out using the Fast Track USB - a small, portable audio device that gives any computer a mic and guitar input. I used it for a while before deciding to upgrade to the Ozone: it's a guitar/mic/MIDI interface housed in a MIDI keyboard... double bonus, as I left my synth back in the UK.
Not long after I got the Ozone, Apple released the latest version of Mac OS X - Leopard. Unfortunately, for some reason the Ozone's driver software wasn't compatible with Leopard. I looked on the M-Audio web site and found a news story that was all "M-Audio welcomes Leopard!" - but it basically said drivers would come at some unknown point in time. Nice welcome.
It happens. I mean, ignoring the fact Apple had been seeding Leopard to hardware and software companies long before it came out... and numerous small, independent software companies got their software working with Leopard at launch... I understand. And heck, Windows Vista came out a whole year before Leopard and the Vista drivers for the Ozone were still in beta.
Anyway, it's three months on and while they've finally released M-Audio drivers for some of their devices, i.e. the most expensive ones, they still don't have drivers for the Ozone or Fast Track USB. And there is no estimated time of arrival or response from their support team when I ask.
