IT Conversations Podcast

[phppete]

I got iTunes 4.9 today to get some Podcasts, the IT Conversations are very interesting, Joel Spolsky interview is well worth listening to. All this might be old news to most of you but some may not be aware of these.

[sheila]

I've been using NetNewswire as my RSS client, which will also pull in Podcast feeds (didn't see any reason to go to the iPodder client, when NetNewswire will "do the job"). But I am curious about iTunes 4.9. The only thing that really bugs me about the iTunes upgrades, are the (not infrequent) changes to the licensing agreement, which usually results in less capability for the end user.

I'm sure I will upgrade and check out the Podcasts available through iTunes 4.9, but will cruise by the Apple Discussion Forums (http://discussions.apple.com) first and see what the general chatter is on the topic...

[phppete]

I was unaware of NetNewswire, iTunes suits me fine though. I don't see how the licensing affects anything, unless you are referring to buying music from the iTunes store which I rarely do, I still like the physical CD. I mainly use iTunes as my mp3 player with my loaded CDs and my iBook iTunes finds my music from my Windows machine via Airport so I'm happy.
I've found these Podcasts to be very interesting indeed, I'm sure a good portion of my listening will now be Podcasts.

[sheila]

I don't see how the licensing affects anything, unless you are referring to buying music from the iTunes store which I rarely do, I still like the physical CD.
Yes, I am talking about the iTunes purchased songs. It's kind of fun to browse their store and pick songs, but the quality is not as good as with CDs and the licensing agreement is obviously sub-optimal. In 6 months I've "bought" 77 songs from them, but I think close to half are "free downloads". After the initial honeymoon, I shunned the iTunes store in favor of CDs, too.
I mainly use iTunes as my mp3 player with my loaded CDs and my iBook iTunes finds my music from my Windows machine via Airport so I'm happy.I also use it for listening to online radio stations (and for synching the iPod).
I've found these Podcasts to be very interesting indeed, I'm sure a good portion of my listening will now be Podcasts.Thanks for the tip. I will check those ones out. The few podcasts I had found so far had not impressed me. I also find it difficult to listen to a podcast while doing "problem solving" type work. Easier to listen to music in that case. Otherwise I get the effect like when reading a book, where you just read a full page and get to the end and have no idea what you read and have to go back and reread. Either that, or the "problem solving" work suffers.

[Mandi]

This page at apple.com (http://www.apple.com/support/rss/) indicates Feed Demon (http://www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/index.asp) is the Windows OS equivalent of NetNewswire. It's $29.95.

SourceForge has iPodder (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php), a cross-platform podcast receiver. I'm going to give that a try, I think. I'll report back.

Edit: Oh, cool . . . you can make your own podcasts (and syndicate, I presume) with EasyPodcast (http://www.easypodcast.com/) - it is Win and Linux compatible.

[Randall]

The only thing that really bugs me about the iTunes upgrades, are the (not infrequent) changes to the licensing agreement, which usually results in less capability for the end user. Which is a big reason why I've never downloaded iTunes (they try to force it on you with QuickTime, but I refused (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html)). If you're going to release "upgrades" for no reason other than to change the licensing terms, just call the program "iEULA" and be done with it.

I can live (I think) with the restrictions on installing OS X on non-Apple hardware. But the close-mindedness surrounding FairPlay, AAC and the iPod really turns me off -- Apple almost manages to make Microsoft look good. :blah:

Randall

[sheila]

I don't know that I'd go so far as to say, that they have new releases whose only feature is a new EULA. But, yes, I can't say I'm tickled with their licensing practices.

I like the iTunes app itself. It comes installed on the Mac OS X. I think if you used it as Pete does (for playing stuff he already owns or stuff that is free) you wouldn't have any beef with the licensing policies.

[phppete]

I purchased 1 full album from iTunes and then realised you can only burn it so many times and only play it on up to 5 machines. At £7.99 per album you may as why buy the physical CD. I don't have an iPod yet but I do intend getting one at some point. I suppose if you buy into the iPod and iTunes apps you have to accept some of the limitations and they are there for obvious reasons.
Compared to WMP and WinAmp, iTunes is a superior app so I'll be sticking with it, its clean, easy to use and has plenty of features that are very intuitive.
I'm not so put off by the licence or QuickTime, as far as I am concerned a whole team of developers have made me an excellent app that is absolutely free and now comes with free Podcasts, you can't ask for much more. As long as they don't change my settings and implant spyware I'm happy. :)

[sheila]

Well, it appears that albums are generally a few bucks cheaper on iTunes than purchasing a CD. But this makes sense, since if you buy a CD they actually have to use materials and burn and ship the thing. But yes, I would prefer a CD at this point over an iTunes album.

But what about the case where you just want a song or two and not the whole album? That's where it gets a little tricky. ;)

Not sure how having and using an iPod makes the licensing make more sense? iPods are built so that you can upload the songs to the iPod from iTunes, but you can't download the songs from the iPod to another computer. (There are several applications available that will help you to do this though...)

Did you see the new iPod announcements also? Now all the fullsize ones comes with the color screen and photo features. Plus some of the prices just came down.

The restrictions on number of computers that can play the music, and number of CDs you can burn for a song are very annoying. It's not hard to get around it, but...

[phppete]

Not sure how having and using an iPod makes the licensing make more sense?

If you really like the software *and* the hardware you might just see more positives than negatives and therefore be more inclined to accept the stricter conditions.

Did you see the new iPod announcements also? Now all the fullsize ones comes with the color screen and photo features. Plus some of the prices just came down.

I noticed the photo iPod, that looks good but I assumed it was a camera as well. I had this weird dream the other night that I had an iPod that did everything, it had a camera, tv remotes, voice message, phone, music, dvd, video etc, it did everything and it was everything you ever needed in one device. Although that was a dream that is where I would like technology to go, everything in one device, it would make life so much easier.

[Randall]

I don't know that I'd go so far as to say, that they have new releases whose only feature is a new EULA. But, yes, I can't say I'm tickled with their licensing practices. They're the only company I know of that rushes out a mandatory upgrade (ie, you can't buy from the iTunes store without it) within days after someone bypasses their silly restrictions. Even Microsoft isn't that heavy handed. I think if you used it as Pete does (for playing stuff he already owns or stuff that is free) you wouldn't have any beef with the licensing policies. I don't buy any downloadable music at this point -- waiting until a more reasonble copy protection scheme reaches critical mass -- so it's more about the principle of the thing. :wink:

Randall

[sheila]

They're the only company I know of that rushes out a mandatory upgrade (ie, you can't buy from the iTunes store without it) within days after someone bypasses their silly restrictions. Even Microsoft isn't that heavy handed.
i c. :(

I hadn't heard any stories specifically about that one.

Doesn't make a lot of sense, since the restrictions are quite easy to get around anyhow (if you really want to...)

[Randall]

Looking back now, I don't know if they ever did an iTunes client update for the sole purpose of closing a DRM loophole.

But they did patch the iTunes Music Store in a real hurry to block PyMusique (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120126,00.asp), which also blocked iTunes versions below 4.7 in the process. That's the forced upgrade incident I was thinking of, but 4.7 had already been around for a few months. And I guess bypassing the rights management altogether was a bit more extreme than your typical iTunes hack. :wink:

Meanwhile, the 4.7 encryption was broken the next day, and as far as I can tell Apple hasn't done anything about it since then.

So maybe they don't deserve to be called worse than Microsoft after all. :winky:

Randall

[Andilinks]

So maybe they don't deserve to be called worse than Microsoft after all.Do they want to lock up DRM the way MS has locked up the OS? Yes, I think they do, that is the nature of the corporation. No matter what the personality of the management their obligation to their stockholders is to maximize market share and in that respect Apple and Microsoft are identical.

This is what made OS consumers hate MS and also what made their stockholders love them. MS has bogged down (can't release Longhorn) and Apple may be looking to move into that space via iTunes. The shift to OS X is driven in part by the loyalty of iPodders.

Just a theory.

Andi

PS. BTW, I think the link that is the subject of this thread was not given.

http://www.itconversations.com/

[Evoir]

I noticed the photo iPod, that looks good but I assumed it was a camera as well. I had this weird dream the other night that I had an iPod that did everything, it had a camera, tv remotes, voice message, phone, music, dvd, video etc, it did everything and it was everything you ever needed in one device. Although that was a dream that is where I would like technology to go, everything in one device, it would make life so much easier.
Well, I think the closest thing to what you dreamt about is a TREO 650! Camera, music (Real), messages, phone, calendar, address book and much more. :) I'm loving mine. (although I wish the camera were at least 3 MP