>The material cost for DVDs make up virtually none of the cost
the DRM nature is a big point but not all of it. DVDs are trivial to lend, borrow and move about.
also materials are nice, or can be. so that's a loss. plus downloads have (higher) storage costs for the end user.
also, I use iTunes for 2 reasons: 1. individual song downloads - doesn't apply to movies. 2. exclusive content (exclusive tracks, individual music videos, out-of-print albums) - doesn't apply to movies.
downloading individual TV shows is where I think this kind of service can be really useful.
my guess is that the people claiming it's great are PC enthusiasts (likely with up to date hardware if they're following new software) and are comparing it to windows xp.
whereas the people claiming it sucks are general computing enthusiasts who are comparing it to all other OS's and/or are considering non-high-end hardware configurations.
I don't have anything but common sense to back up this opinion though.
>To remain up-to-date with Mac would require $129-390, depending on how far you wanted to lag behind all that time.
exactly, with a Mac it's about what YOU WANT. if you want to pay for the latest, you have that choice. with MS there is no choice at all.
btw, Apple releases minor updates for older versions even after new releases. so if you want the new features you pay for an upgrade. if you don't, you don't.
>You can't stay on 10.1 and still be up to date, for free, can you?
this is just the same thing as "You can't stay on Win98 and still be up to date, for free, can you?".
>So what program updates do you mean?
"minor" updates are free, e.g. 10.4.1 -> 10.4.2. (10.4.8 is currently in pre-release testing.) these are the equivalent of MS "service packs". MS service packs are just all their program updates and security fixes bundled together. Apple releases security updates and uses the "minor updates" for program and OS enhancements.
just because Apple doesn't "do a SUSE linux" and go from version 6.4 -> 7.0 for bragging rights, doesn't mean their point releases are "service packs you pay for". 10.3 -> 10.4 was huge. comparing it with XP -> XPSP2 (as many do) is ridiculous.
>That's illegal, actually. They wouldn't sell Family Packs of licenses if that was legal.
AFAIK you can use it on 2 or 3. the family pack is for 5. I wouldn't bet my house on those numbers though.
so I can email all my friends an album so they can be "educated" about what it's like?
no.
even educational fair use is restrictive to specific cases and limitations (e.g. can't photocopy more than 10% of a text book) and I don't think emailing iTMS files to other people is one of them.
>Apple releases an OS, and the service packs as another OS
total BS.
Tiger gives you Spotlight, Dashboard, Automator etc.
are you saying MS gives these "service pack features" for free? NO, that's what you're paying for Vista for (except you don't get Automator).
MS service packs give you features that Apple include in the first place, such as a firewall and the ability to go on the internet for more than 12 minutes.
Apple service packs are free (security updates and "minor" program updates).
Also Apple only sells full OS versions. if 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 didn't interest you then you can go straight from 10.0 to 10.5 for the same single low price (10.1 was free). Apple releasing more often gives users options about when to update. for MS users the choice is between a very expensive OS or a less expensive but feature-crippled version.
Also the OS X licence requires no activation and is legal to use on several computers (not sure the exact number since I only have 1 anyway).
>Try making a backup [shock! that's legal!] or a clip for a class or...
lame examples. with Apple's DRM (the only one I'm familiar with) both of these examples are trivial (in fact Apple encourgaes you to make backups when you buy from them).
on the other hand, if I wanted to start lending my "backups" to other people (or at least more than 4 other people), or if I wanted to email these "educational" clips to everyone in my class then I'd have some trouble. but should I really be able to do those things anyway?
basically with Apple DRM *I* can do whatever *I* want to do, I just can't give the same right to other people. and isn't that what copyright is all about anyway? it has never been legal for me to transfer rights to other people's work and that's all that (Apple's) DRM stops me from doing.
I've heard this mentality before - "the ipod is doomed when mp3 players are as common as $common_product".
the difference between an ipod and a dvd player, for example, is that a dvd player has fixed specifications, i.e. "play dvds", and dvd players built 5 years apart do this pretty much exactly the same.
music players are composed of many hi-tech components (TFTs, small hard drives) which tend to improve in quality rather than decrease in price. the 5G ipod costs about the same as a 1G ipod but with better components. and I don't see any companies having great success by making cheap 1G ipod knockoffs in the present.
YOU are the idiot, clearly with some agenda. you aren't making any sense.
iTunes gives you complete control over what goes on the iPod, what doesn't, and what format it has. Jesus f'ing Christ, try using it once before you talk BS FUD about it.
>new, completely different program I used iTunes on Windows before I got an iPod because its library is the best. then I got an iPod. then I got a Mac.
>take over their collection wtf? iTunes is one of the few programs that DOESN'T start scanning my hard drive when loaded searching for content to take over. but you have the option of letting it import you old stuff (any format), and an option of whether it should keep that stuff organised or just link to it in its current place.
>take over ripping iTunes has optional ripping functionality. oh NOES!!!!11 the horror!!!
>convert everything to its own format you can choose your format. anything imported can be converted to AAC IF YOU SO WISH.
>and make the decisions as to what goes on the player iTunes assumes that you want ALL your music on your player. you can make advanced selection of what to ignore so you can keep the benefit of auto-sync.
>Or do you think they want to just take their existing collection and copy whatever they want onto the player? no I think they (like me) want organisation to be as simple and powerful as possible. you can manually rename, retag and copy files if you want, but I'm constantly making changes to song ratings in iTunes, changing playlists, making new ones etc. etc. and all of it is automatically synced to my iPod.
oh yeah, and it does exactly the same thing with my photos. my entire photo collection optimised for iPod screen and synced. and when I crop an old photo I'm not searching through hundreds of files on my iPod to find which one needs to be replaced.
if you object to to evolution because it means humans aren't God's most special project hand-crafted from mud and ribs, then it's more likely you'll also come up with convoluted reasons to object to things that can help people e.g. no gene therapy because God injects your soul when a single cell splits.
also, it's pretty bad when people cannot accept something as provenly true as evolution. for example consider the following: do these people who don't accept evolution also believe DNA evidence should not be used in criminal (e.g. rape) cases? what about paternity tests? it's the same science. the molecular evidence for evolution is so staggering, yet most debates only talk about fossil records because they are by their nature less precise and less complete and hence easier to attack.
because you don't know the very first thing about evolution.
humans did not evolve from apes. humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor.
apes are just as evolved as humans. evolution does not have a goal. apes are not trying to become human. everyone is just trying to survive in their environment as best as they can.
go watch the developer keynote. they ARE competing on price.
Apple is slightly cheaper or equivalent to Dell on same spec machines. the only difference is that Dell also sells cheap shit that Apple wouldn't dignify with their logo.
>While both events take place they are indenpendant of each other.
Bush gives government funding to churches because he's a hardcore christian. Bush denies government funding for stem cell research because he's a hardcore christian.
nice definition of independent you've got there. go ask him yourself - it's not like he's afraid of admitting he's acting on his religious beliefs.
Slashdot Mirror
>is Zune a Plays For Sure device or is Plays for Sure going to the scrap-pile?
Microsoft(TM)(R)'s Zune(TM)(R) will NOT be compatible with Microsoft(TM)(R)'s Plays For Sure(TM)(R) standard.
Microsoft(TM)(R)'s Plays For Sure(TM)(R) standard MAY be playable with Microsoft(TM)(R)'s Zune(TM)(R).
>The material cost for DVDs make up virtually none of the cost
the DRM nature is a big point but not all of it. DVDs are trivial to lend, borrow and move about.
also materials are nice, or can be. so that's a loss. plus downloads have (higher) storage costs for the end user.
also, I use iTunes for 2 reasons:
1. individual song downloads - doesn't apply to movies.
2. exclusive content (exclusive tracks, individual music videos, out-of-print albums) - doesn't apply to movies.
downloading individual TV shows is where I think this kind of service can be really useful.
No Mac support == dead to me.
No support for iPod == dead to the market.
iTunes movies will probably be dead to me too since I live in !USA.
DVDs are cheaper anyway. the entire concept of movie downloads priced the same, or more expensive, as DVDs is retarded.
my guess is that the people claiming it's great are PC enthusiasts (likely with up to date hardware if they're following new software) and are comparing it to windows xp.
whereas the people claiming it sucks are general computing enthusiasts who are comparing it to all other OS's and/or are considering non-high-end hardware configurations.
I don't have anything but common sense to back up this opinion though.
apple.com is actually a fantastic resource for Apple owners
what is it with you freaks?
you have some sort of a problem with Apple so not only do you NOT block the stories, you actually read them and then post about them.
it's the same on digg.
Apple's is for diagnostics. MS's is, by admission, pure marketing.
Simple really.
yeah I only reboot my mac when apple releases updates that require a restart.
so with the windows startup sound, will it play only on boot (rarely, ideally) or when users log in (imagine the horror in large computer rooms!) ?
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/timemachine.ht ml
not for Windows, but arguably (will soon be) the greatest step forward for "home user" backups.
>Well, the next-gen consoles had a good run... But it looks like PCs are back in the lead...
you mean WILL be.
when it's released.
in 4-5 months.
>To remain up-to-date with Mac would require $129-390, depending on how far you wanted to lag behind all that time.
exactly, with a Mac it's about what YOU WANT. if you want to pay for the latest, you have that choice. with MS there is no choice at all.
btw, Apple releases minor updates for older versions even after new releases. so if you want the new features you pay for an upgrade. if you don't, you don't.
>You can't stay on 10.1 and still be up to date, for free, can you?
this is just the same thing as "You can't stay on Win98 and still be up to date, for free, can you?".
>So what program updates do you mean?
"minor" updates are free, e.g. 10.4.1 -> 10.4.2. (10.4.8 is currently in pre-release testing.) these are the equivalent of MS "service packs". MS service packs are just all their program updates and security fixes bundled together. Apple releases security updates and uses the "minor updates" for program and OS enhancements.
just because Apple doesn't "do a SUSE linux" and go from version 6.4 -> 7.0 for bragging rights, doesn't mean their point releases are "service packs you pay for". 10.3 -> 10.4 was huge. comparing it with XP -> XPSP2 (as many do) is ridiculous.
>That's illegal, actually. They wouldn't sell Family Packs of licenses if that was legal.
AFAIK you can use it on 2 or 3. the family pack is for 5. I wouldn't bet my house on those numbers though.
I bought Tiger. I didn't buy any other OS X updates. I got a student discount.
check. mate.
no, YOU don't understand fair use.
so I can email all my friends an album so they can be "educated" about what it's like?
no.
even educational fair use is restrictive to specific cases and limitations (e.g. can't photocopy more than 10% of a text book) and I don't think emailing iTMS files to other people is one of them.
>Apple releases an OS, and the service packs as another OS
total BS.
Tiger gives you Spotlight, Dashboard, Automator etc.
are you saying MS gives these "service pack features" for free? NO, that's what you're paying for Vista for (except you don't get Automator).
MS service packs give you features that Apple include in the first place, such as a firewall and the ability to go on the internet for more than 12 minutes.
Apple service packs are free (security updates and "minor" program updates).
Also Apple only sells full OS versions. if 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 didn't interest you then you can go straight from 10.0 to 10.5 for the same single low price (10.1 was free). Apple releasing more often gives users options about when to update. for MS users the choice is between a very expensive OS or a less expensive but feature-crippled version.
Also the OS X licence requires no activation and is legal to use on several computers (not sure the exact number since I only have 1 anyway).
>What if you were the teacher? (dumbass)
then I'd show the clip during CLASS you freaking retard, not email it to students.
do you know what classes are? ever been to one?
>Try making a backup [shock! that's legal!] or a clip for a class or ...
lame examples. with Apple's DRM (the only one I'm familiar with) both of these examples are trivial (in fact Apple encourgaes you to make backups when you buy from them).
on the other hand, if I wanted to start lending my "backups" to other people (or at least more than 4 other people), or if I wanted to email these "educational" clips to everyone in my class then I'd have some trouble. but should I really be able to do those things anyway?
basically with Apple DRM *I* can do whatever *I* want to do, I just can't give the same right to other people. and isn't that what copyright is all about anyway? it has never been legal for me to transfer rights to other people's work and that's all that (Apple's) DRM stops me from doing.
I've heard this mentality before - "the ipod is doomed when mp3 players are as common as $common_product".
the difference between an ipod and a dvd player, for example, is that a dvd player has fixed specifications, i.e. "play dvds", and dvd players built 5 years apart do this pretty much exactly the same.
music players are composed of many hi-tech components (TFTs, small hard drives) which tend to improve in quality rather than decrease in price. the 5G ipod costs about the same as a 1G ipod but with better components. and I don't see any companies having great success by making cheap 1G ipod knockoffs in the present.
oh get a life.
ipods are fantastic products. they do what people want them to do (note "people" != "ogg-lovin' linux geeks") and do it with style and simplicity.
stop ragging on something just because it's popular. it doesn't make you cool.
the world would be a lot better place for customers if all companies had as much pride in their products as apple.
YOU are the idiot, clearly with some agenda. you aren't making any sense.
iTunes gives you complete control over what goes on the iPod, what doesn't, and what format it has. Jesus f'ing Christ, try using it once before you talk BS FUD about it.
>new, completely different program
I used iTunes on Windows before I got an iPod because its library is the best. then I got an iPod. then I got a Mac.
>take over their collection
wtf? iTunes is one of the few programs that DOESN'T start scanning my hard drive when loaded searching for content to take over. but you have the option of letting it import you old stuff (any format), and an option of whether it should keep that stuff organised or just link to it in its current place.
>take over ripping
iTunes has optional ripping functionality. oh NOES!!!!11 the horror!!!
>convert everything to its own format
you can choose your format. anything imported can be converted to AAC IF YOU SO WISH.
>and make the decisions as to what goes on the player
iTunes assumes that you want ALL your music on your player. you can make advanced selection of what to ignore so you can keep the benefit of auto-sync.
>Or do you think they want to just take their existing collection and copy whatever they want onto the player?
no I think they (like me) want organisation to be as simple and powerful as possible. you can manually rename, retag and copy files if you want, but I'm constantly making changes to song ratings in iTunes, changing playlists, making new ones etc. etc. and all of it is automatically synced to my iPod.
oh yeah, and it does exactly the same thing with my photos. my entire photo collection optimised for iPod screen and synced. and when I crop an old photo I'm not searching through hundreds of files on my iPod to find which one needs to be replaced.
depend what those beliefs have on society.
if you object to to evolution because it means humans aren't God's most special project hand-crafted from mud and ribs, then it's more likely you'll also come up with convoluted reasons to object to things that can help people e.g. no gene therapy because God injects your soul when a single cell splits.
also, it's pretty bad when people cannot accept something as provenly true as evolution. for example consider the following: do these people who don't accept evolution also believe DNA evidence should not be used in criminal (e.g. rape) cases? what about paternity tests? it's the same science. the molecular evidence for evolution is so staggering, yet most debates only talk about fossil records because they are by their nature less precise and less complete and hence easier to attack.
because you don't know the very first thing about evolution.
humans did not evolve from apes. humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor.
apes are just as evolved as humans. evolution does not have a goal. apes are not trying to become human. everyone is just trying to survive in their environment as best as they can.
>You 're right, and I also forgot Big N's practices of hunting down websites that hosted NES & SNES roms.
what's evil about that ffs?
go watch the developer keynote. they ARE competing on price.
Apple is slightly cheaper or equivalent to Dell on same spec machines. the only difference is that Dell also sells cheap shit that Apple wouldn't dignify with their logo.
>While both events take place they are indenpendant of each other.
Bush gives government funding to churches because he's a hardcore christian.
Bush denies government funding for stem cell research because he's a hardcore christian.
nice definition of independent you've got there. go ask him yourself - it's not like he's afraid of admitting he's acting on his religious beliefs.