Maybe there’s another explanation for it.
Like…
Dope-fueled paranoia?
The Macalope’s just thinking out loud.
The problem with setting quotas for bloggers.
Link to a less than well thought out post on the Apple Blog.
Full of sound and furry
Link to a less than well thought out post on the Apple Blog.
Maybe there’s another explanation for it.
Like…
Dope-fueled paranoia?
The Macalope’s just thinking out loud.
I think you might be misunderstanding him. I read it and was confused the first time I ran through it.
All he is saying is that he feels that the name “Purchased” for the folder that contains songs bought through the iTMS gives off the impression that things NOT in that folder must not be purchased; even though chances are, most your music is from purchased ripped CDs.
Maybe he’s just had diarrhea for a couple of days?…
And possibly doesn’t care for the leafy greens native to his part of the world… Or he was just pressed to come up with another entry, and resorted to a good ‘ol fashion mental flatulence.
Whew.
Some of my songs should go in, “What the hell were you thinking?” I hope they don’t start tracking that.
(FYI – I’m the author of the original piece)
Clearly, the responses I received here and on The Apple Blog were not what I expected. That probably goes more to my writing it quickly than anything else. There’s no quota, so that guess is out the window.
Since 2003, we’ve had a dichotomy between Apple’s “Purchased” songs, and “Everything Else”… so to speak. I thought I’d address the usual gamut of stories that say 97% of songs are from somewhere else. Much of the time, it’s thought they’re from P2P instead of ripped CD’s purchased elsewhere.
If I were to rewrite it, I’d probably focus a bit more on that. I’m glad the Mac community cares enough to rip on the piece.
Chris, the Macalope read it exactly that way.
Louis, the Macalope thinks you’re thinking about that particular list item way too hard. That has never occurred to him and he’s forced to agree with the commenter who noted that it’s under the Store section — so those are the songs you’ve purchased from the iTunes Store.
Apple doesn’t think you stole the rest of your music. Only Steve Ballmer does.
“Since 2003, we’ve had a dichotomy between Apple’s “Purchased†songs, and “Everything Elseâ€â€¦”
*No we have not*, not in the iTunes UI (the focus of your piece). If you still think this, you did not read the comments posted on your blog, many of which were excellent.
How about the dichotomy of “Audiobooks” and “Music” – Apple must think that my ripped audiobooks aren’t really audiobooks! Or the dichotomy of Party Shuffle and Music. Or Movies and TV Shows.
There’s a piece to be written about Apple’s attitude regarding non-iTunes Store content in iTunes. But writing it by picking on the way iTunes displays different content sources is absurd.
If you really want evidence of the problem of setting quotas for bloggers, check out Erica Sadun over on TUAW. Some of the crap she gets away with is astonishing.
Louis, you’re completely missing the point. Nobody except a blogger desperate for blog material would devote more than two synapses and a half-second to the name of the “Purchased Music” folder. I fully expect your next scintillating blog entry to take Apple to task over their use of the word “Store,” when the iTunes Store brazenly provides free podcasts. I’ll even write the faux-outraged kicker for you: “How *dare* Apple insinuate those podcasts might have cost me something! Oh, the humanity!” I’m certain you can stretch that screed to a thousand words easy.
The Macalope’s explanation is as good as any. So take a friendly suggestion: if you can’t find anything more exciting to blog about than drop-shadow opacity under contextual menus (“Did Apple think they could change it from 55% to 58% without me noticing?”), take the day off and wait for Rob Enderle’s next column to appear.
(This suggestion goes double for TUAW.)
Moog, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest taking a look at the once-great TUAW, and Ms. Sadun in particular. Today we got this gem,
“Is the iPod about to become the next kleenex, jello, or bandaid as a proprietary eponym?”
Oddly enough, i just removed TUAW from my feed reader, yesterday.
Well, thank you Macalope. I zapped both the Apple Blog and TUAW from my feed reader just now.
How about we see TUAW dropped from you News/Analysis section. Not that they ever do much Analysis.
@Louis:
You hit the nail on the head: I hate how iTunes labels all of my music not in the “Purchased [from the iTMS]†category as “Stolen!—the RIAA will be calling soon,†or how it calls me a “Thief†when I add music from my CD collection.
It’s even more annoying that only “purchased†music will load on to my iPod. What’s up with that?
I zapped The Apple Blog from my feed reader a long time ago. Their writers try too hard to find a different slant on everything, and frankly, their authors are not great writers period. They are always whining about something. This is a good example of it,
I wonder why these guys are still using a Mac if there’s so much wrong with it (in their opinion).
The Macalope said: “Apple doesn’t think you stole the rest of your music. Only Steve Ballmer does.”
Yes. Exactly. Steve Jobs explicitly mentioned ripping CDs, which is perfectly legal. Ballmer is the one who suggests that all of our iPods are filled with illegal music.
@Louis:
And even if that’s true, wtf cares? P2P != illegal, despite whatever the RIAA tries to brainwash people. Ever heard of eg. Jamendo? It’s legal P2P and music from there makes up half of my library.