Dell is being smart, they are letting Apple basically test the market for them.
I think Apple's original strategy with iTMS was to create a cool premium service that you coudld get only by buying a Mac...then later launch it for windows in order to capitalize on the whole market.
Trouble is, the lag time waiting for the PC version of iTMS is so long that a smart competitor (Dell) has decided to step in and try to steal the hype.
Regardless how "stupid" this may or may not be the simple fact of the matter is that Apple Computer agreed to not enter the music busines. They are clearly in violation of that agreement. They certainly had the option to fight in past rather than make that agreement...but they didn't which leads us here.
Apple (the record label) is only asking that Apple do the honorable thing and honor their agreement.
If I want a 17" iMac Im basically forced to pay for an Apple SuperDrive? What if I already own a nice external FW/USB DVD burner. Is there really no way to buy a 17" iMac without a SuperDrive?
When Im at work, I work on the things that I get paid for. To keep in shape, I ride a bike to work, 3 miles each way, every day.
On days when the weather is bad, I drive to work and then just hit the gym after work...or skip a day if Im not feeling it.
The kind of exercise that keeps you in shape requires real sweating. I don't know about you, but who wants to be all sweaty and stinky at work?
In the big picture it is very important for me to do things outside the office and away from the computer...it keeps me sane. I fight like hell to keep my work life from creeping into the other parts of my life.
You have to figure that a soundtrack is a pretty profitable item in terms of the cost to create. There is no real new work that needs to be done other than compiling existing music into a nice package.
It is probably a fair generalization to say that soundtracks rarely sell in the same volumes as albums from pop artists. The loss of profit by reducing to such a niche market will probably be mostly offset by the higher profit margin associated with not actually having to create or mfg'r any media or packaging materials.
If they (being the publisher) lose a little money on this, it won't be much and can probably be chalked up as the cost to test this particular market.
Where am I going with this? Nowhere really...just some observations.
"He has stood up to the schoolyard bullies that are pulling this and he's said, 'You are not going to make me say something that's not true,'" Andy said.
There are plenty of ways to say things without verbalizing them. It's a damn shame that it is more cost effective for this kid to empty his bank account than it is for him to stand up to this crap.
1. Find entity with lawsuit that they are likely to win against one of your largest competitors.
2. Acquire competitor during litigation.
3. ???????
4. Profit!
I've been down on Microsoft, but I think this is extremely shady on AOL's part. Not that it's illegal or anything..it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
My point is that the Apple notebooks can only have one battery installed at a time. With these dells its the users options to add a little weight and double the battery life..
PBooks have 4.5 hours max. Non centrino PC laptops run about 4.
A Centrino laptop can get up to 8 hours with both batteries installed.
In your world, 30 minutes = better and 3.5 hours = kinda close...I guess you really are thinking different.
Or we could look at it another way. You are basically saying "Apple's newest tech laptops are better than the last crop of PC laptops". Please stand by while I compare my new Athlon XP system to a Mac Plus.
Both companies have copied each other on several occasions. Innovation is dead. Paradigm shift has become synonymous with re-decoration. Or maybe Im just jaded.
I don't think many people reasonable people will argue that Microsoft has a better (aesthetically at least) desktop than Apple even though it is completely subjective. I also don't think many reasonable people would argue that Apple hardware is a better "value" (price vs perf) than a comparable Windows box. (Bear with me for a second Im going somewhere with this).
I think there is bigger picture that is being missed in this whole Athens thing. PC users tend to place more importance on price vs performance where Apple users generally put aesthetics above performance and price. Microsoft realizes this and is therefore moving towards a convergance of those preferences probably in an attempt to "unswitch" some people.
Fileplanet rocks...for downloading games. It's a shame that they dont host linux distros.
Im currently downloading U2 and it is maxing the incoming bandwidth on my 6mbit DSL connection. 135 megs in under about 4 minutes is nice.
The really really crappy part is that annoying customers DOES sell products.
Apparantly, there are just enough "unconcious" consumers out there to keep these places in business. I personally make a point to never purchase anything advertised via popup or UCE.
a Via EPIA-M 9000 mobo + cpu can be had for about $110. Add on 128mb ram for $21.99 from crucial. A 40gb HDD at todays prices, $70. A slim cdrom drive, $40.
Which gives you a grand total of $260..Hell lets throw on an extra $40 for misc cables and crap and make it an even $300. 645 euro comes to almost 720 USD, which means you are paying $400 for a case?
Perhaps I just don't understand the way phone calls are routed, or I am oversimplifying the matter...but don't phone number prefixes belong to the phone companies that "originate" the numbers? Thats problably the wrong term..
That is to say that, isn't requiring these companies to make phone numbers portable comparable to asking ISP to make email address portable...technically speaking?
I have, for the longest time been a huge PC/x86 zealot. After actually using OSX for some of my day to day tasks I could almost see myself switching completely. The only niggling thing in my mind that keeps this from being so is my perception that with Apple, you get less bang for the buck. If Apple can get the performance and perceived value up to par with Intel and AMD offerings, I may find myself with a Mac before long.
I want to switch, I just can't justify the premium in my mind.
Slashdot Mirror
The headline on Apple's homepage is about right.
I, a traditionally rabid anti-mac zealot have just download and installed iTunes for Windows and used it to buy some music. It does kick much ass!
I think Apple's original strategy with iTMS was to create a cool premium service that you coudld get only by buying a Mac...then later launch it for windows in order to capitalize on the whole market.
Trouble is, the lag time waiting for the PC version of iTMS is so long that a smart competitor (Dell) has decided to step in and try to steal the hype.
From a Houston Chronicle article:
"Apple has said it will make the program available for the Windows operating system by the end of the year"
It looks like there will be some interesting competition by the end of the year. That's never a bad thing for consumers as far as I can see.
"How many drives does Apple support inside a case"
If you buy a G5, the answer is 2.
Regardless how "stupid" this may or may not be the simple fact of the matter is that Apple Computer agreed to not enter the music busines. They are clearly in violation of that agreement. They certainly had the option to fight in past rather than make that agreement...but they didn't which leads us here.
Apple (the record label) is only asking that Apple do the honorable thing and honor their agreement.
If I want a 17" iMac Im basically forced to pay for an Apple SuperDrive? What if I already own a nice external FW/USB DVD burner. Is there really no way to buy a 17" iMac without a SuperDrive?
Does most of the new stuff that falls under the RIAA's control qualify as "arguably unique"?
To me it's just one long blur of pseudo-musical masturbation.
Because, as Apple so cleverly put it, Opterons are for workstations and not desktops. Or something like that.
"WORMWOOD"
Wow, I read this as WORMFOOD. It took a couple tries for my brain to correctly process that name.
The same way that we pay for TV content. By watching advertising and purchasing products from said advertisers.
"its no different to walking out of a nightclub and then trying to sneak back in."
I think a better analogy would be
"This is no different than David Geffen visiting you in your new, non-US home and breaking all of your CDs in half".
When Im at work, I work on the things that I get paid for. To keep in shape, I ride a bike to work, 3 miles each way, every day.
On days when the weather is bad, I drive to work and then just hit the gym after work...or skip a day if Im not feeling it.
The kind of exercise that keeps you in shape requires real sweating. I don't know about you, but who wants to be all sweaty and stinky at work?
In the big picture it is very important for me to do things outside the office and away from the computer...it keeps me sane. I fight like hell to keep my work life from creeping into the other parts of my life.
You have to figure that a soundtrack is a pretty profitable item in terms of the cost to create. There is no real new work that needs to be done other than compiling existing music into a nice package.
It is probably a fair generalization to say that soundtracks rarely sell in the same volumes as albums from pop artists. The loss of profit by reducing to such a niche market will probably be mostly offset by the higher profit margin associated with not actually having to create or mfg'r any media or packaging materials.
If they (being the publisher) lose a little money on this, it won't be much and can probably be chalked up as the cost to test this particular market.
Where am I going with this? Nowhere really...just some observations.
For myself, and AFAIK everyone else at my office IE works quickly, never crashes, works with almost all web pages and comes with Windows.
Software updates are handled automatically by windows update.
Aside from OSS idealism, there is absolutely no reason to go out of our way to use anything else.
There are plenty of ways to say things without verbalizing them. It's a damn shame that it is more cost effective for this kid to empty his bank account than it is for him to stand up to this crap.
1. Find entity with lawsuit that they are likely to win against one of your largest competitors.
2. Acquire competitor during litigation.
3. ???????
4. Profit!
I've been down on Microsoft, but I think this is extremely shady on AOL's part. Not that it's illegal or anything..it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
My point is that the Apple notebooks can only have one battery installed at a time. With these dells its the users options to add a little weight and double the battery life..
PBooks have 4.5 hours max. Non centrino PC laptops run about 4.
A Centrino laptop can get up to 8 hours with both batteries installed.
In your world, 30 minutes = better and 3.5 hours = kinda close...I guess you really are thinking different.
Or we could look at it another way. You are basically saying "Apple's newest tech laptops are better than the last crop of PC laptops". Please stand by while I compare my new Athlon XP system to a Mac Plus.
Both companies have copied each other on several occasions. Innovation is dead. Paradigm shift has become synonymous with re-decoration. Or maybe Im just jaded.
I don't think many people reasonable people will argue that Microsoft has a better (aesthetically at least) desktop than Apple even though it is completely subjective. I also don't think many reasonable people would argue that Apple hardware is a better "value" (price vs perf) than a comparable Windows box. (Bear with me for a second Im going somewhere with this).
I think there is bigger picture that is being missed in this whole Athens thing. PC users tend to place more importance on price vs performance where Apple users generally put aesthetics above performance and price. Microsoft realizes this and is therefore moving towards a convergance of those preferences probably in an attempt to "unswitch" some people.
Fileplanet rocks...for downloading games. It's a shame that they dont host linux distros. Im currently downloading U2 and it is maxing the incoming bandwidth on my 6mbit DSL connection. 135 megs in under about 4 minutes is nice.
"What is QuickTime?
At its simplest, QuickTime is software that allows Mac and Windows users to play back audio and video on their computers. "
That quote from the quicktime faq plus the word "Movie" peppered about the page really make it sound like a "FUCKING MOVIE PLAYER" to me.
The really really crappy part is that annoying customers DOES sell products.
Apparantly, there are just enough "unconcious" consumers out there to keep these places in business. I personally make a point to never purchase anything advertised via popup or UCE.
The suddenly changing the size of the window isn't even new.
I've seen this sort of tactic in pop-ads for at least a year now if not a lot longer.
Perhaps this is news because it is moving out of the porn/warez advert popup scene into the mainstream.
Thats pretty steep. Lets do the math.
a Via EPIA-M 9000 mobo + cpu can be had for about $110.
Add on 128mb ram for $21.99 from crucial.
A 40gb HDD at todays prices, $70.
A slim cdrom drive, $40.
Which gives you a grand total of $260..Hell lets throw on an extra $40 for misc cables and crap and make it an even $300. 645 euro comes to almost 720 USD, which means you are paying $400 for a case?
Thanks...Ill pass.
Perhaps I just don't understand the way phone calls are routed, or I am oversimplifying the matter...but don't phone number prefixes belong to the phone companies that "originate" the numbers? Thats problably the wrong term..
That is to say that, isn't requiring these companies to make phone numbers portable comparable to asking ISP to make email address portable...technically speaking?
I agree.
I have, for the longest time been a huge PC/x86 zealot. After actually using OSX for some of my day to day tasks I could almost see myself switching completely. The only niggling thing in my mind that keeps this from being so is my perception that with Apple, you get less bang for the buck. If Apple can get the performance and perceived value up to par with Intel and AMD offerings, I may find myself with a Mac before long.
I want to switch, I just can't justify the premium in my mind.