iTunes Sucks (And so does Apple)

[thepd7]

Buy a Sandisk Sansa and do it now. I have an iphone and yet I don't use it for music at all, I have 5 songs on it (the trance ones posted here in OT a few years ago). I put all my music on my Sansa Clip because:

1) It is drag and drop
2) It was $30 for 8 GB
3) It clips to my shirt
4) It has an FM tuner and has for years

 

[mancity]

I love my iphone.

 

[Firsttime]

Are there still any other hard drive alternatives to the iPod? The Zune 120 was discontinued correct? Is there anything smallish, as in not those Archos PMP things, in the 80-160 gig range these days that doesn't tie itself to iTunes?

 

[kami333]

I dont see why you people think the Russians are not fair to those fat cat greedy pig lawyers. You talk about freedom and the capitalist way, but when its found in Russia at an affordable price you people balk and throw hissy fits.

The Russians know lawyers are scum and pay them accordingly. Artists should be fine with .05 cents a song if its good enough. The cost of living is not that high in St. Petersburg. But if you are trying to make a Rolls Royce payment with your latest version of "Fuck the Police" I guess youre just SOL. And the same thing goes for your worthless lawyer.

Actually cost of living in St Petersburg/Moscow is very high, ranks higher than all US cities other than NYC. It's just like China, the wealthy and upper class are becoming ridiculously rich (even by our standards) and have the money to spend while the poor still live in 19th century conditions.

 

[AMDZen]

Yes iTunes is shit. I can't wait until the iPhone 4 is jailbroken again so I don't have to use it. There are a million ways around your problem though, you just have to know iTunes limitations. Some of the workarounds are too little too late in your situation, but if you want - I can help you get all your music from you iDevice back on your computer.

http://www.getsharepod.com/download/

That is the best tool going right now and doesn't require a jailbreak or anything. Although it does require iTunes to be installed on your machine. It doesn't matter though - because you don't have to use iTunes.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Actually cost of living in St Petersburg/Moscow is very high, ranks higher than all US cities other than NYC. It's just like China, the wealthy and upper class are becoming ridiculously rich (even by our standards) and have the money to spend while the poor still live in 19th century conditions.

You raise a good point. But Ill bet people can find a way to get by in NYC on just five cents a song. And I hear if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

 

[QueBert]

I thought so too, until I found out about the Smart Playlist feature in iTunes. Basically it lets you specify a set of criteria and it finds all songs that match. You can sync smart playlists to a device, and it'll automatically copy all of the necessary songs. So for instance I have a playlist that has all of the 80s music that I've rated 4 or 5 stars.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason why Apple doesn't do the filesystem thing with their iPods. We all realized a long time ago that a filesystem is a terrible way to organize music, but we didn't realize it. You can do the obvious - Artist/Album/Song, but what about genres? A relational database is the best way to organize music, and that's what iTunes does. Of course it uses the filesystem for storage, but you don't want to be moving stuff around in the filesystem without letting the DB know.

Smart Playlists FTW! For this feature alone iTunes kills the Zune software. Zune's implementation of this, along with the super stupid "heart/no heart" rating system has me using iTunes more often than not. I think a lot of people prefer the Zune software because it's much easier on the eyes. As far as syncing goes it's far more gimped, not bad but not as powerful. And I'll take power over a pretty UI any day of the week.

 

[AMDZen]

I don't think most power users care about syncing though. But again, power users know how to get around any of iTunes limitations or the iDevice issues. There isn't anything that can't be done, for the tech saavy, even drag and drop using explorer.

 

[Barfo]

I've been itunes free for a year and I couldn't be happier.

 

[FP]

Honestly, there is NO reason why any software should behave like this. From a purely design point of view, it must have killed the programmers of iTunes to make such an intentional flaw in their software. I don't mind bugs as no software is perfect. But this was an intentional move by Apple

Look, I love my iPhone 3GS. For what it does, and the time it was released, it was simply awesome. But iTunes is utter crap. And now that alternatives have arisen (HTC, Droid, etc.), its time to out this bitch.

Uhh, the intention is to prevent people stealing music by plugging their players into all their friend's computers and copying their music.

You mentioned you now have to go "download" all the music again. I assume you mean illegally download... So to some extent their software did its job.

Your post is full of fail.

 

[Ns1]

n/m

 

[bfdd]

iTunes is the biggest pile of shit I've ever seen become a mainstream application. It looks like a 14 year old made it after reading a "How to Program in Visual Basic 6 for Dummies" book.

 

[Patranus]

So the end user made an error and it is the fault of the software. Right.

OMG mY WInDOws 7 KEy nO LonGEr WorKS BecAUSe I SWItcheD MOTHeR bOArds!

 

[bfdd]

Yes iTunes is shit. I can't wait until the iPhone 4 is jailbroken again so I don't have to use it. There are a million ways around your problem though, you just have to know iTunes limitations. Some of the workarounds are too little too late in your situation, but if you want - I can help you get all your music from you iDevice back on your computer.

http://www.getsharepod.com/download/

That is the best tool going right now and doesn't require a jailbreak or anything. Although it does require iTunes to be installed on your machine. It doesn't matter though - because you don't have to use iTunes.

Why not just avoid the problem all together and just avoid Apple products? Then you don't have to put up with any of their anti-consumer bullshit. Fuck a company that tells me what I want and what I want to do with things. There are plenty of better competitors in every market Apple is in.

 

[geno]

You're the idiot for not researching this before reformatting. It's been that way for like 10 years.

You shouldn't have to research how to keep the music that's already on your MP3 player / phone. Not just that, but what happens in the case of accidental data loss? Because it's gone from the HD, it should be gone from the device? It's silly.

 

[AMDZen]

Why not just avoid the problem all together and just avoid Apple products? Then you don't have to put up with any of their anti-consumer bullshit. Fuck a company that tells me what I want and what I want to do with things. There are plenty of better competitors in every market Apple is in.

Because iPhone is a superior product with no equal. IMO, and in the opinion of many millions of people. I don't have any problems with Apple saying NO you can'd do that, because I do it any way. As I said, there are ways around everything - and once the new phone is jailbroken there will be no regulations. The community for the iPhone is huge and ever expanding.

One day, maybe sooner then I had thought but we will see, Android will be iPhones equal. That isn't today, not for me.

Also, iPod Touch has no equal either. You say there are competitors, I don't see them - because they aren't there. When there is an android device that is an MP3 player with apps, let me know. Until then, Apple is alone in that segment as well.

You could argue there are iPad competitors but not really, not yet.

 

[Dominato3r]

You CAN drag and drop. You just can't do it from the Explorer.

ANd maybe someone with a Zune can correct (the most similar to the iPod player out there) but if I wipe my Windows drive and all my music, without first making a backup, and then think 'That's ok, I'll just pull it off my Zune, that's my backup' and try to hook it up, what will happen?

Because that is what the OP should be shitty about, not iTunes, iTunes didn't delete all his music without making a backup first.

I have a Zune 30. The device will keep what ever music it has on it, even if the PC it is hooked up to doesn't. The Zune I have was given by a friend, I still have a lot of his music, even though I myself have never downloaded those pieces.

 

[Dominato3r]

So the end user made an error and it is the fault of the software. Right.

OMG mY WInDOws 7 KEy nO LonGEr WorKS BecAUSe I SWItcheD MOTHeR bOArds!

Shouldnt device -> PC be a feature though? It happened to me not long ago, but I used sharepod to get mymmusic back. I just think it should be a feature that comes with iTunes.

 

[bfdd]

Because iPhone is a superior product with no equal. IMO, and in the opinion of many millions of people. I don't have any problems with Apple saying NO you can'd do that, because I do it any way. As I said, there are ways around everything - and once the new phone is jailbroken there will be no regulations. The community for the iPhone is huge and ever expanding.

One day, maybe sooner then I had thought but we will see, Android will be iPhones equal. That isn't today, not for me.

Also, iPod Touch has no equal either. You say there are competitors, I don't see them - because they aren't there. When there is an android device that is an MP3 player with apps, let me know. Until then, Apple is alone in that segment as well.

You could argue there are iPad competitors but not really, not yet.

How is it a superior product when you have to BREAK it in order to make it work the way you want? That's obviously a inferior product. Also, I've had much hands on experience with the iPhone 3g, 3gs, and 4 also along with the Droid X, Evo 4g, and Incredible. There is no way the iPhone is the superior phone compared to the droid x and evo 4g. It's just not true in the least. Each of those phones has a more responsive touch screen, the Droid X is by far the most responsive and accurate capacitive touch screen phone I've used. Not to mention the web browsing experience is all around better because you have a more full fledged browser. I'm sorry, but it's straight ignorance and fanboyism to think the iPhone 4 is better than the Droid X or Evo 4g.

The iPod touch is a shitty mp3 player and a shitty game device. For the same price I can pick up a crappy little MP3 player + a nintendo DS and have a better music listening experience because well all iPods are shit at playing music and a better gaming machine. The iPod touch is a niche, when broken down into what it does it doesn't do anything exceptional. The iPad kind of has competitors, but it's such a niche market it doesn't really matter. I had someone try to convince me that their iPad was a good purchase because they can use it while on the toilet. I asked them if that's the only place they use it and they paused, then said yes.

 

[QueBert]

iTunes is the biggest pile of shit I've ever seen become a mainstream application. It looks like a 14 year old made it after reading a "How to Program in Visual Basic 6 for Dummies" book.

Who cares what it looks like? It's one of the most powerful syncing program there is (smart playlists)

 

[dwell]

The iPod touch is a shitty mp3 player and a shitty game device. For the same price I can pick up a crappy little MP3 player + a nintendo DS and have a better music listening experience because well all iPods are shit at playing music and a better gaming machine.

Get off the crack. #1 it's a great gaming device. So much it has Nintendo shaking over the prospect that somebody can release a game which can reach over 100 million people with a one-time cost of $99 for developer access as opposed to $5000+ for a DS SDK and Nintendo's approval process which makes Apple's look liberal in comparison. Android's gaming situation is nowhere even close and from the looks of how things are moving, it never will be thanks to hardware and software fragmentation, rampant piracy, etc.

Second, it's more than just games, it's apps. The iPod Touch is Apple's ace in the whole. Rather than paying $200 for a phone and $1700+ for a two-year plan with a carrier, for $200 alone you can get a device capable of doing the hot new thing everyone is talking about -- apps. Again, no Android equivalent.

It's so killer that all sorts of specialty apps are being used for all sorts of things that were not possible before. For instance, there's a new guitar effects processor out for iOS from IK Multimedia. Normally these devices go for around $400, but being it's an app you can have all that functionality with a better interface for $20! It's so killer I bought an iPod Touch just for my pedal board and threw it on their with the app. For the price of some pedals I have a whole slew of virtual pedals. This was not possible before and it's only possible via Apple at this point, thanks largely in part to the iPod Touch.

 

[preslove]

I disagree.

 

[TheStu]

I have a Zune 30. The device will keep what ever music it has on it, even if the PC it is hooked up to doesn't. The Zune I have was given by a friend, I still have a lot of his music, even though I myself have never downloaded those pieces.

And there is a way to do that with iTunes, I cannot remember right now, but that is how my friend did it for months until she finally got around to getting the files for herself.

However, that doesn't answer the other question. If I had a Zune, and I stupidly didn't back up my music before a voluntary format, then how could I go about getting the music off of it?

iTunes is a piece of shit, and iPods rape babies.. great, fine, whatever. But seriously, this was an anti-piracy measure that was (almost certainly) pushed on Apple by the music companies... would they have put it in anyway, I have no idea. And there are third party software options that will get the music off.

Senuti, and YamiPod to name two. And if the OP had googled for 5 seconds instead of blasting off about the issue, it probably already would have been resolved.

 

[MJinZ]

Get off the crack. #1 it's a great gaming device. So much it has Nintendo shaking over the prospect that somebody can release a game which can reach over 100 million people with a one-time cost of $99 for developer access as opposed to $5000+ for a DS SDK and Nintendo's approval process which makes Apple's look liberal in comparison. Android's gaming situation is nowhere even close and from the looks of how things are moving, it never will be thanks to hardware and software fragmentation, rampant piracy, etc.

Second, it's more than just games, it's apps. The iPod Touch is Apple's ace in the whole. Rather than paying $200 for a phone and $1700+ for a two-year plan with a carrier, for $200 alone you can get a device capable of doing the hot new thing everyone is talking about -- apps. Again, no Android equivalent.

It's so killer that all sorts of specialty apps are being used for all sorts of things that were not possible before. For instance, there's a new guitar effects processor out for iOS from IK Multimedia. Normally these devices go for around $400, but being it's an app you can have all that functionality with a better interface for $20! It's so killer I bought an iPod Touch just for my pedal board and threw it on their with the app. For the price of some pedals I have a whole slew of virtual pedals. This was not possible before and it's only possible via Apple at this point, thanks largely in part to the iPod Touch.

Wow, iTouch seems to be awesome for you. But still extraneous and superfluous for 99.9999999% of people.

 

[KingGheedora]

Agree it's stupid, but I would have never trusted all my music to the iphone/ipod in the first place. If reformatting or anything major like that it makes sense to think of the copy on the computer as the "master", since that's the one you have more control over.

I'd have copied the files on the PC to a backup location before the reformat. And, who doesn't put their media and static files onto a separate partition from their OS install these days?

So many n00b mistakes.