Whats your take on Apple's iPod monopoly?

[Ioman]

http://news.designtechnica.com/article4877.html

Apple has issued a statement in response to RealNetworks' announcement of its Harmony software, which allows consumers to transfer protected digital music to any device they choose, such as Apple's iPod.

In a short and to the point news release, Apple Computer stated that they are "stunned" by RealNetworks' actions:

"We are stunned that RealNetworks has adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod(R), and we are investigating the implications of their actions under the DMCA and other laws. We strongly caution Real and their customers that when we update our iPod software from time to time it is highly likely that Real's Harmony technology will cease to work with current and future iPods."

I am not an iPod owner so to me it seems kind of silly that you have to use iTunes with the iPod. This means you are stuck with the music they provide for download and the price they decide to charge you right? I would prefer to be able to download from any music service I choose to personally. What's your take guys?

[theguy]

It's their technology, they shouldn't allow a crappy company like REAL to publically 'hack' their hard work. REAL is just jealous and now they look like even bigger dumbasses. Anyways if you've ever used iTunes and the iPod together, generally speaking, you should have no desire to ditch the efficient job the two do and switch to CRAP (REAL) Player....

[dang]

i dont understand that comment. so you are against consumer's right to use their device with how they want? you dont think automechanics should be able to "hack" your car and put non-oem parts into it? You think it's wrong that people hack their pdas, xboxs, tivo's, etc to make it more feature rich for themselves? How about overclocking? You think motherboard manufacturers should not be allowed to release products that allow consumer's to overclock their cpus?

[theguy]

No, i dont think REAL is being ethical. They were rejected by steve jobs, so they snuck around like scavengers...

[Ioman]

Well iPod users might be in for a shock down the road if Apple decides to up the price of their songs.

But seriously, why pay .99 for a song thats only playable on an iPod? Wouldn't you want to own the song so you can burn it to CD, keep it in MP3 format and do what you want with it?

[jfila]

Those that use iTunes and an iPod don't know what they are missing if you think they have "no desire to ditch" the two of them. 128kpbs recordings are for people that don't care about their music quality. To charge nearly the price of a CD for an equivalent amount of downloadable music that is at a much lower quality is absurd. And to force people to only be able to purchase music from Apple's store is absurd too.

I've never been a big fan of Real but I do like this move by them. Of course it helps their bottom line if iPod users can now purchase music from Real, but it truly does benefit the consumer.

[Ioman]

No, i dont think REAL is being ethical. They were rejected by steve jobs, so they snuck around like scavengers...

REAL is being shady but can you blame them? You offer a music service that is not compatible with the number 1 MP3 player in the world? I think Steve Jobs is eventually going to alienate his company with these tactics. I am surprised the open source crowd is not in rage over this already - oh wait, its an Apple product. Thats ok with them as long as its not Microsoft right? ;)

If I got an iPod, there is no way I would pay to download music over iTunes. I want to own the song for that price and be able to do what I want with it.

[Forsaken]

So the fact that other companies reverse engineer stuff cannot be excused either? So that means companies like Intel should be closed because they reversed engineered AMD's 64 bit instruction set for example. I think Apple is guilty of corporate greed and is pulling a microsoft monopoly ploy. Not cool on apple's part.....

[Ioman]

I love REAL's response lol:

"Harmony follows in a well established tradition of fully legal, independently developed paths to achieve compatibility. There is ample and clear precedent for this activity, for instance the first IBM compatible PCs from Compaq.

Harmony creates a way to lock content from Real's music store in a way that is compatible with the iPod, Windows Media DRM devices, and Helix DRM devices. Harmony technology does not remove or disable any digital rights management system.

Apple has suggested that new laws such as the DMCA are relevant to this dispute. In fact, the DMCA is not designed to prevent the creation of new methods of locking content and explicitly allows the creation of interoperable software.

We remain fully committed to Harmony and to giving millions of consumers who own portable music devices, including the Apple iPod, choice and compatibility. "

Haha I love it.

I think Steve Jobs is getting a rather big head on his shoulders. Did you guys hear what he said regarding the Sonos home music player?

[DizzyG]

I don't even know what to say to this thread! I can't believe all of the people that love that device. I for one am no fan at all! I tried out several and ended up returning one that I thought might work out before I decided on my IRiver. I just don't know why anyone would use the IPOD? For starters, the battery life is lower than quite a few of the compeitors, then it really doesn't play a lot of music formats, throw the price on top and just picking the ipod seems like a silly move.

Then, having to use that software to do things? Ugh, who would do that? I used the itunes software trying to use my dell jukebox and got so frustrated right from the start. I didn't even download any music, just trying to get their drivers and moving music the way they wanted to. I don't see the point in having a mass storage device that doesn't show up as a drive that you can drag and drop whatever you want onto! It's just not right to make you use software when they probably had to do extra work to get it to show up in a way that won't allow drag and drop. I'm not sure how the ipod computer interface is, but itunes is for the birds!

I really think it's a popularity contest with these and ipod is the one that the cool kids like, even if it is a pile!

[theguy]

Ugh, who would do that? I used the itunes software trying to use my dell jukebox and got so frustrated right from the start.

Uh millions of people would do that. By the way, Dell's Hard Drive MP3 player isn't compatible with iTunes....

[techfreak]

Uh millions of people would do that. By the way, Dell's Hard Drive MP3 player isn't compatible with iTunes....

Not surprised, what IS compatible with iTunes? BTW, do MP3 player manufacturers have to pay a royalty to make it compatible with iTunes? Or is Steve Jobs just choosing who they want to work with?

[theguy]

Apple hasn't licensed this type of deal to anyone yet....

[Ioman]

Apple hasn't licensed this type of deal to anyone yet....


Monopoly!!! :P

I prefer choice!! :thumb

[dang]

They actually just licensed it to Motorola, but know one knows the details.

[theguy]

Thats' for mobile phones, and they had a contract with them before for the G5.

[Windwalker]

I bought an Ipod a couple of years ago, when the first 20GB ones came out. It was a bit pricey at the time. But was a good buy for me at the time. I ripped all the CDs I have (something in excess of 300) and they all fit on the Ipod, with room to spare. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.

That aside, I don't care what Apple says, I bought it, I am going to use it in whatever way I see fit. Since I don't own a Mac, and don't do MS-Windows, I have never used their software to populate or tinker with the songs on the Ipod, nor am I likely to start. The tools I use have been great for me, and I don't miss the stuff that Apple says I am supposed to use. Fsck 'em.

Claiming that the DMCA somehow prohibits people from using the ipod with other tools, is silly, that (bad) piece of legislation does no such thing. As bad as it is, it's not *that* bad. Still, Apple is more inclined to sue, than compete, they've shown that in the past. I had hoped they were over that, but...