Comments on: Can’t hear your utopian vision over the sound of my iPod. http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/ Apple news and analysis from everyone's favorite mythical Mac user Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:20:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Lettuce http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-8003 Lettuce Fri, 02 Mar 2007 15:00:38 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-8003 Odd that anyone using a PC would complain about this: <i>In my experience, people who use Apple products use them because they are simple and easy to use. Which is fine for much of the population. But when there’s a problem, in my experience, it is much harder to get resolved.</i> That is so far from being true it's almost insane. Meanwhile, when you ask the average OC user to create a files to transfer folder on their desktop, so they can be transferred to their new Mac, 5 times out of 10 there are no actual files in the folder, only pointers. Aaarrrggghhhh Odd that anyone using a PC would complain about this:

In my experience, people who use Apple products use them because they are simple and easy to use. Which is fine for much of the population. But when there’s a problem, in my experience, it is much harder to get resolved.

That is so far from being true it’s almost insane.

Meanwhile, when you ask the average OC user to create a files to transfer folder on their desktop, so they can be transferred to their new Mac, 5 times out of 10 there are no actual files in the folder, only pointers.

Aaarrrggghhhh

]]> By: eric murphy http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7902 eric murphy Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:42:51 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7902 I think a lot of the complaints about not being able to copy music from your iPod are misplaced. And iPod is a method for carrying your entire music collection with you. It's not a method for copying music from one computer to another. No one has music on their iPod they don't also have on their computer (unless they haven't backed up their iTunes library somehow and have suffered a data-loss disaster). So why does one need to copy music off of their iPod? What happened to the copy of it that's in iTunes. The default behavior for iTunes is to delete any songs on the iPod that are not also in the iTunes library anyway. I'm not sure why the inability to copy songs from an iPod back to a computer is seen as a problem. I think a lot of the complaints about not being able to copy music from your iPod are misplaced. And iPod is a method for carrying your entire music collection with you. It’s not a method for copying music from one computer to another. No one has music on their iPod they don’t also have on their computer (unless they haven’t backed up their iTunes library somehow and have suffered a data-loss disaster). So why does one need to copy music off of their iPod? What happened to the copy of it that’s in iTunes. The default behavior for iTunes is to delete any songs on the iPod that are not also in the iTunes library anyway.

I’m not sure why the inability to copy songs from an iPod back to a computer is seen as a problem.

]]> By: dt http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7900 dt Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:44:25 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7900 "Decks", hmmm? Maybe the real problem is that Microsoft engineers are spending a LOT of time playing "Magic: the Gathering" during their lunch hour. No wonder Vista shipped late. “Decks”, hmmm? Maybe the real problem is that Microsoft engineers are spending a LOT of time playing “Magic: the Gathering” during their lunch hour. No wonder Vista shipped late.

]]> By: David Durkee http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7890 David Durkee Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:54:18 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7890 I burned a mix disk and ripped it in the same copy of iTunes and definitely got all metadata but the track numbers and counts back. Maybe it has to be ripped back on the same machine for some reason? I was quite surprised at the time. OTOH, maybe it's different versions of iTunes. I think it was last summer that I tried this. Which illustrates one of the things I don't like so much about DRMed music: the seller can change the rules on you after the purchase. I still buy it. But I'd be less likely to if I didn't know I could burn to un-DRMed CDs. By the way, that's part of the deal that iTunes offers, so I don't think using it can be considered circumventing the DRM and violating the DMCA. Not a lawyer, though, so I may be unduly swayed by logic. I burned a mix disk and ripped it in the same copy of iTunes and definitely got all metadata but the track numbers and counts back. Maybe it has to be ripped back on the same machine for some reason? I was quite surprised at the time. OTOH, maybe it’s different versions of iTunes. I think it was last summer that I tried this. Which illustrates one of the things I don’t like so much about DRMed music: the seller can change the rules on you after the purchase. I still buy it. But I’d be less likely to if I didn’t know I could burn to un-DRMed CDs. By the way, that’s part of the deal that iTunes offers, so I don’t think using it can be considered circumventing the DRM and violating the DMCA. Not a lawyer, though, so I may be unduly swayed by logic.

]]> By: Marc Edwards http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7881 Marc Edwards Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:14:53 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7881 Rip Ragged: "DRM is important to our culture?" Yes. Very important because music is being used as a worldwide test case for all future IP... music, video, books, software... this will potentially impact any industry that can be distributed electronically. If the outcome is that DRM doesn't stop piracy, it hurts sales, and it eventually dies, then: - We'll all be able to use our media without hassle. - OSs won't end up like Vista's deeply penetrating DRM (meaning less battery usage and less CPU needed = more environmentally friendly etc). - Everyone can have easier access to works they didn't write, so creative "mash-ups" are easier (I'm not condoning wholesale theft of ideas, but keep in mind that almost everything is derivative in some form). If the outcome is that DRM lives, then: - It's either a major hassle, or minor inconvenience to use content you've paid for, depending on the flavour of DRM. - It seems like it's ok for companies to extend the law to control markets. This is quite significant and worth spending time discussing. So it's all much bigger than some middle class nerd not being able to copy a song he bought for his friend. Rip Ragged: “DRM is important to our culture?”

Yes. Very important because music is being used as a worldwide test case for all future IP… music, video, books, software… this will potentially impact any industry that can be distributed electronically.

If the outcome is that DRM doesn’t stop piracy, it hurts sales, and it eventually dies, then:
- We’ll all be able to use our media without hassle.
- OSs won’t end up like Vista’s deeply penetrating DRM (meaning less battery usage and less CPU needed = more environmentally friendly etc).
- Everyone can have easier access to works they didn’t write, so creative “mash-ups” are easier (I’m not condoning wholesale theft of ideas, but keep in mind that almost everything is derivative in some form).

If the outcome is that DRM lives, then:
- It’s either a major hassle, or minor inconvenience to use content you’ve paid for, depending on the flavour of DRM.
- It seems like it’s ok for companies to extend the law to control markets. This is quite significant and worth spending time discussing.

So it’s all much bigger than some middle class nerd not being able to copy a song he bought for his friend.

]]> By: John C. Welch http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7879 John C. Welch Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:56:59 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7879 Actually^2, "decks" is a Microsoft term for PPT files. It's a hint that someone spends a LOT of time around Microsoft employees. Actually^2, “decks” is a Microsoft term for PPT files. It’s a hint that someone spends a LOT of time around Microsoft employees.

]]> By: Mike http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7877 Mike Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:06:05 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7877 "You can copy them from machine to machine a variety of other ways, including using the iPod as a hard drive. It’s a rather stupid encumberance, but it’s not exactly keeping people from copying Creative Commons works. It’s really just saying you can’t use iTunes to do it and if you want to play it and copy it, you have to put it on there twice." So, your excuse is that the feature isn't *missing*... it's just hidden and requires special understanding, a multi-step procedure, and/or a piece of third-party software in order to use it. What kind of Mac fanboy are you? Did you get hit on the head before you wrote this paragraph, such that you suddenly forgot everything you know about user-centered design? If I tried to make an argument like yours about, say, the iPhone, you'd (justifiably) skewer me. ("The iPhone is nothing special... all of its features have been present on phones for years. You just have to learn the right keypresses, and pay a few additional fees...") A true Mac fanatic knows how to describe software that goes out of its way to obscure the features that users want: "evil". Doctorow is correct to call the locked iPods "evil". Do you think, if he were free to speak his mind, Steve Jobs would hesitate to use the word? “You can copy them from machine to machine a variety of other ways, including using the iPod as a hard drive. It’s a rather stupid encumberance, but it’s not exactly keeping people from copying Creative Commons works. It’s really just saying you can’t use iTunes to do it and if you want to play it and copy it, you have to put it on there twice.”

So, your excuse is that the feature isn’t *missing*… it’s just hidden and requires special understanding, a multi-step procedure, and/or a piece of third-party software in order to use it.

What kind of Mac fanboy are you? Did you get hit on the head before you wrote this paragraph, such that you suddenly forgot everything you know about user-centered design? If I tried to make an argument like yours about, say, the iPhone, you’d (justifiably) skewer me. (”The iPhone is nothing special… all of its features have been present on phones for years. You just have to learn the right keypresses, and pay a few additional fees…”)

A true Mac fanatic knows how to describe software that goes out of its way to obscure the features that users want: “evil”. Doctorow is correct to call the locked iPods “evil”. Do you think, if he were free to speak his mind, Steve Jobs would hesitate to use the word?

]]> By: Ölbaum http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7874 Ölbaum Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:12:21 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7874 Actually, Hypercard documents were called stacks. Boy, I miss it. Actually, Hypercard documents were called stacks.

Boy, I miss it.

]]> By: Rob http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7864 Rob Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:18:25 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7864 errol dwithers said: "you don’t have to reenter the metadata if you, on the computer you burned the mix CD on, after you burned it, clicked on ’submit CD track names’ or some such. then if you take the mix CD to a different computer the different computer will recongnize it when it queries the CDDB." So *you're* the one cluttering the CDDB with entries pointless to everyone but you? Knock it off. errol dwithers said:

“you don’t have to reenter the metadata if you, on the computer you burned the mix CD on, after you burned it, clicked on ’submit CD track names’ or some such. then if you take the mix CD to a different computer the different computer will recongnize it when it queries the CDDB.”

So *you’re* the one cluttering the CDDB with entries pointless to everyone but you?

Knock it off.

]]> By: rbs http://www.macalope.com/2007/02/23/cant-hear-your-utopian-vision-over-the-sound-of-my-ipod/#comment-7861 rbs Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:15:03 +0000 http://www.macalope.com/?p=179#comment-7861 Nick asked: "Doctorow: “I’m a lifelong Apple fan boy — I have an actual Mac tattoo” Yeah, right, then why make such a damn fuss about switching to Ubuntu Linux?" Because Doctorow makes a big damn fuss about everything. He's always writing about cool new shiny stuff that he's discovered, and then the day that he finds it's got some schmutz on it, he goes all chicken little the world has come to an end. Nick asked:

“Doctorow: “I’m a lifelong Apple fan boy — I have an actual Mac tattoo”

Yeah, right, then why make such a damn fuss about switching to Ubuntu Linux?”

Because Doctorow makes a big damn fuss about everything.

He’s always writing about cool new shiny stuff that he’s discovered, and then the day that he finds it’s got some schmutz on it, he goes all chicken little the world has come to an end.

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