iPod for Windows (again)

beckett writes "Yahoo is reporting that TrentSoft has released EphPod, software that allows Windows users to use all the features of the iPod. I'm suprised that it took a third party to provide support." Also note the previous story on the XPlay, a similar software package.

Comments

The meaning of ":ephPod"

[EyesWideOpen]

"EphPod is named after my alma mater, Williams College. Our mascot is the Eph, pronounced EEF, after the school's founder, Ephraim Williams."

~Source

Re:Where's Bill in all this?

[Lysander Luddite]

I'll tell you where Bill is. Out in the cold. MS doesn't "own a big chunk of Apple". I wish people would quit believing this. MS bought $150 million of NON-VOTING stock 5 years ago. Most if not all of it was sold when Apple's stock price was very high. MS even made a profit out of it. MS has no voice on Apple hardware/software development.

So what if you have to have 3rd party support to use i-Pod on Windows? I bet you use 3rd party apps to make your MP3s. You should be glad Apple isn't preventing 3rd parties from making compatibility software. Apple's usual course is to just sue people who use their products in ways they don't like.

Rumors are Apple itself will come out with Windows compatible software or hardware. But since it's Apple there's no way to know for sure.

Be thankful you have the money to burn. Why anybody would buy a Mac just so they can use their i-Pod is beyond me. I own a Mac and simply can't afford to buy anything beyond food and rent. So please, quit your complaining about having to get a 3rd party app to run your 1st class hardware and how you no longer need to buy a Mac.

Yes, I'm frustrated ATM. Nothing personal.

Correction: MacOS X is UNIX not *nix

[toupsie]

some of the other nice details that come w/ owning a Mac (iMovie, Office on *nix, etc)

According the Open Group (owner of the UNIX trademark), MacOS X is UNIX and not a Unix-like operating system (like Linux and BSDi). MacOS X follows the Single UNIX® Specification as set by the Open Group allowing Apple and its users to call MacOS X UNIX and not *nix. So feel free to call MacOS X for what it is, pure, certified UNIX -- just a real fruity version of it.

Oh yea, I LOVE my iPod. The best MP3 ever made for the UNIX platform.

Re:Correction: MacOS X is UNIX not *nix

[Jordy]

Once upon a time, AT&T was UNIX®. They shifted the trademark inside the company to a dozen different subsidiaries (Unix Support Group, Unix System Laboratories, etc.) AT&T then sold UNIX® to Novell who donated it to X/Open. X/Open then became The Open Group.

Simply following the Single UNIX® Specification doesn't not entitle you to use the UNIX® trademark, you must be certified or have been granted a license to use the trademark from one of the AT&T companies.

As it stands, Darwin doesn't follow the Single UNIX® Specification. It is missing a number of commands in the specifcation (fuser, gencat, hash, etc.), several missing API calls (poll, pthread_rw*, etc.) and even some headers (utmpx.h, wchar.h, strops.h, etc.)

Re:Shameless plug

[Zoop]

A different "stink" is the lack of Macdrive support for other OSses.

Huh? Macs have supported Windows file formats for YEARS, like since at least '92. The Mac CD Burner supports different formats, even. This is just Windoze FUD.

A favorite trick of mine was to recover files for people when their Windows machine could no longer read the disk, but pop it into my Mac and it would open it beautifully. It's the Windows world that cuts itself off from anything but Windows formats. In the Mac world it comes standard with the OS.

This oldschool MacFreak is helping transition his office and customers back to Macs.

Re:Where is Microsoft ?

[damiam]

There is no floating point math necessary for Vorbis. The standard library uses it, but it's perfectly possible to write a fixed-point implementaion. In fact, Xiph does have a fixed-point version, which they are planning to license to player manufacturers.

However, if you (or a player company) wanted to write your own free fixed-point Ogg player, there's nothing to stop you.

Quicktime 6

[hotsauce]

Before you babble nonsense, why don't you try Quicktime. Download Quicktime 6, click on WGBH Boston's Mango Blue link, and tell me with a straight face that Network TV should not be very afraid. Not to mention QTSS, Broadcaster, VR, etc.

Do you even know the history of Quicktime and how instrumental it was to multimedia?

Re:Questions

[aedan]

You don't need to have the iPod mirror iTunes, that's just the default position. You can set it to manually select the tunes you want to transfer and it would be quite possible to have more storage space on the iPod than on your computer. You can also use the tunes on your iPod from within iTunes if you leave it connected.

aedan

Re:Why are you surprised?

[SandSpider]

If you have an OS9 PPD for the HP LaserJet III, try adding the printer OS X using that PPD. If it connects in a way that OS X supports (i.e. not serial), then you will probably be able to use the LaserJet III. I've had success using that method for several printers that haven't explicitly supported OS X.

=Brian