Nuff Said 5,153 Posted April 3, 2009 I have nothing against simplicity, so fair play to Apple for what they''ve achieved, but after having an MP3 player which I plugged in to a Windows PC and dragged and dropped music too, the iPod and iTunes came as something of a shock. Simple or reliable it ain''t. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 1,131 Posted April 3, 2009 And as a music player the IPod isn''t particularly great, as you can''t play many music formats, which always struck me as odd for a device whose primary function is apparently to play songs.Still, who needs decent file support on a portable music device, when you can download hundreds of "great" apps from the Appstore, and surf the internet... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Monkey 52 Posted April 3, 2009 iTunes is far superior to any other media player, and in terms of simplicity, you can''t get much better than an iPod. I mean, it updates everything for you, for chrissakes! How is that worse than having to drag and drop? Their playlists are simpler to assemble, it keeps your folders organised automatically (which, if you''re anal mclooney like me, is a good thing) and the new Genius function if, frankly, Genius.....And am I the only person in the world who doens''t hate Vista??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Larkin 15 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="I.S."]And as a music player the IPod isn''t particularly great, as you can''t play many music formats, which always struck me as odd for a device whose primary function is apparently to play songs.Still, who needs decent file support on a portable music device, when you can download hundreds of "great" apps from the Appstore, and surf the internet...[/quote]Sorry, I don''t follow your reasoning? What file support do you need then? You import your cd collection into your Mac or PC, it transfers it onto your iPod/iPhone and it plays! How is that difficult? Or are you talking about an altogether more ''dodgy'' source for your music library? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ncfcstar 292 Posted April 3, 2009 Probably file types such as .ogg, but, the mass market don''t use this, and mp3 and aac are just fine for people listening on their iPod or on home stereos. You don''t need anything else unless you intend to play music on unbelievably good speakers where bit rates actually matter, but not usually to the untrained ear.The iPod/iTunes mix is, in my opinion, literally perfect, and it is why the whole experience with the store etc etc is so popular, and why no-one can compete, who the hell has a Zune? No-one I know, and if Microsoft can''t compete with Apple in this market then they must be doing something right. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Old Shuck 185 Posted April 3, 2009 I can''t run Google Mail in IE 8.0 -can''t even type-which is frustrating, so have to use Firefox (which I don''t like) or the excrecable Google Chrome.Anyone else got the same problem, any solutions?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Monkey 52 Posted April 3, 2009 iTunes is compatible with most file types and will convert any .wma files automatically in order to add them to your library and play them... Windows Media Player doesn''t, or didn''t use to, offer the same luxury for iTunes files.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 1,131 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Andy Larkin"][quote user="I.S."]And as a music player the IPod isn''t particularly great, as you can''t play many music formats, which always struck me as odd for a device whose primary function is apparently to play songs.Still, who needs decent file support on a portable music device, when you can download hundreds of "great" apps from the Appstore, and surf the internet...[/quote]Sorry, I don''t follow your reasoning? What file support do you need then? You import your cd collection into your Mac or PC, it transfers it onto your iPod/iPhone and it plays! How is that difficult? Or are you talking about an altogether more ''dodgy'' source for your music library?[/quote]Nothing to do with piracy or difficulty, thanks, but there are a multiple of different codecs, OGG, FLAC, MonkeyAudio (no relation to Evil) which are open source and could be easily implemented, but apparently a half-arsed genre-based "Genius" function is seen as more of a feature.Far more importantly, as for the "auto updating" from ITunes - the music database on the IPod is encrypted, for no apparent reason other than to make it impossible for anybody who owns the device to use it with anything other than ITunes. In my view, this is an absolute joke, and I personally would not pay premium money for a music player which does not give me the choice as to what formats I can play, and what software I can use on my PC to send music across. Even my new phone allows you to drop music on via USB, and updates its own database internally - completely regardless of whether you use ITunes or not. I do appreciate that most people couldn''t give a monkey''s about this, but from my point of view, it''s far more important to have a good, high-quality music player and freedom of choice than a pretty, but limiting, lifestyle device, where what I can do and what I can''t do is dictated to me. Besides which, I find I get all the functionality I need on a cheaper music player which can be modified to run an open source music system (http://www.rockbox.org), which works with any OS you might require.But, each to their own and all that. Ooh, look at this, I can shake my music player and it shuffles... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Larkin 15 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="I.S."] Ooh, look at this, I can shake my music player and it shuffles...[/quote]But the fact that you CAN shake the music player and it shuffles, is a lovely little piece of innovation… …and I can record a fart into it and then leave it as a sneak attack when one of my mates picks up my iPhone… and I can surf for porn while waiting at a train station (bloody useful at a deserted Ely on a Saturday night believe me), or log onto the Pink ''Un (not the same thing as the previous point) in a full web browser…That''s the whole point of Apple devices… they are simply thoroughly good fun to use and I guess their sales figures back up that point!To be absolutely honest, anyone that requires your level of audio quality is never going to buy into the iPod/iPhone and its many, many other features… but just imagine how good your farts would sound on your BOSE Audiobuff MkIII running Linux XP Student Edition or whatever it needs.[:D] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 1,131 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Andy Larkin"]That''s the whole point of Apple devices… they are simply thoroughly good fun to use and I guess their sales figures back up that point!To be absolutely honest, anyone that requires your level of audio quality is never going to buy into the iPod/iPhone and its many, many other features[:D][/quote]As I said, I can fully understand most people liking them, and there''s no doubting that Apple have done an phenomenal job in building up the brand. But I still don''t like them [:P][quote user="Andy Larkin"]… but just imagine how good your farts would sound on your BOSEAudiobuff MkIII running Linux XP Student Edition or whatever it needs.[/quote]Don''t lump me in with that load of rates dodgers, please... [;)] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Raven 276 Posted April 3, 2009 I always liked Netscape... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Monkey 52 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Sports Desk - Pete"]I always liked Netscape...[/quote]Bring back Windows 3.1, I say! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
still holding out for new heroes 0 Posted April 3, 2009 Go outside and get some fresh air you bunch of Nerds [;)] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YankeeCanary 0 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Andy Larkin"][quote user="I.S."] Ooh, look at this, I can shake my music player and it shuffles...[/quote]But the fact that you CAN shake the music player and it shuffles, is a lovely little piece of innovation… …and I can record a fart into it and then leave it as a sneak attack when one of my mates picks up my iPhone… and I can surf for porn while waiting at a train station (bloody useful at a deserted Ely on a Saturday night believe me), or log onto the Pink ''Un (not the same thing as the previous point) in a full web browser…That''s the whole point of Apple devices… they are simply thoroughly good fun to use and I guess their sales figures back up that point!To be absolutely honest, anyone that requires your level of audio quality is never going to buy into the iPod/iPhone and its many, many other features… but just imagine how good your farts would sound on your BOSE Audiobuff MkIII running Linux XP Student Edition or whatever it needs.[:D][/quote]I once knew a beautiful girl from Ely. If I put my arm around her shoulder she giggled. If I held her hand she farted. We eventually went our separate ways. All these long years later I now happily go to bed with my Ipod. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Larkin 15 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="still holding out for new heroes"]Go outside and get some fresh air you bunch of Nerds [;)][/quote]How very dare you sir? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Monkey 52 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="YankeeCanary"]I once knew a beautiful girl from Ely. If I put my arm around her shoulder she giggled. If I held her hand she farted. We eventually went our separate ways. All these long years later I now happily go to bed with my Ipod.[/quote]I think what you''ve done there, Yankee... is you''ve confused a beautiful girl from Ely.... with a whoopee cushion... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Brownstone 0 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Evil Monkey"]iTunes is far superior to any other media player, and in terms of simplicity, you can''t get much better than an iPod. I mean, it updates everything for you, for chrissakes! How is that worse than having to drag and drop? Their playlists are simpler to assemble, it keeps your folders organised automatically (which, if you''re anal mclooney like me, is a good thing) and the new Genius function if, frankly, Genius.....And am I the only person in the world who doens''t hate Vista???[/quote]Nope, i get on just fine with Vista too, it''s a vast improvement in my opinion. Couldn''t agree more about iTunes either, I''ve nver understood why people hate it so much, it''s a cracking piece of software. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hogesar 9,709 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Sports Desk - Pete"]I always liked Netscape...[/quote]The later versions of Netscape were very good!In relation to iTunes, i hate it. Simple as. As someone stated, it is very limited in terms of file transfer and file type. The audio output is good, but there are mp3 players which offer better audio output at a cheaper price.Also, in relation to someone else on this board, my friend has a Zune. Infact, i think it is really nice, but they lost their focus in some respects and tried to copy some of Apple''s work. Big mistake! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Boubepo 0 Posted April 3, 2009 Try Flock, same engine as Firefox Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alex_ncfc 662 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="Mr Brownstone"][quote user="Evil Monkey"]iTunes is far superior to any other media player, and in terms of simplicity, you can''t get much better than an iPod. I mean, it updates everything for you, for chrissakes! How is that worse than having to drag and drop? Their playlists are simpler to assemble, it keeps your folders organised automatically (which, if you''re anal mclooney like me, is a good thing) and the new Genius function if, frankly, Genius.....And am I the only person in the world who doens''t hate Vista???[/quote]Nope, i get on just fine with Vista too, it''s a vast improvement in my opinion. Couldn''t agree more about iTunes either, I''ve nver understood why people hate it so much, it''s a cracking piece of software.[/quote]Vista is awesome. It does the job, it does the job fast and it does the job in a stable environment but there are two types of people who continue to criticise - those who don''t have a clue how to configure and keep an operating system running and those who have never used it anyway and just take the word of sad Microsoft haters who can''t bring themselves to talk about them so have to type "Micro$oft" at every opportunity. Which brings me onto the whole "IE8 is sh*t, Firefox is the best thing since sliced bread" argument...Get a grip. I''m not saying either browser is great but at the end of the day it''s down to personal choice. And they are only web browsers. Saying things like "IE is poorly designed" is ridiculous and has no grounds whatsoever - you know it''s poorly designed how? IE starts up 10 times faster than Firefox for me, but likewise, Firefox runs a select group of websites I use much better than IE does. They both have their good and bad points and always have done. I don''t know why people feel the need to moan about IE and try and convert everyone - is it the "cool" thing to do? Since when have web browsers been "cool"... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hogesar 9,709 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="alex_ncfc"][quote user="Mr Brownstone"][quote user="Evil Monkey"]iTunes is far superior to any other media player, and in terms of simplicity, you can''t get much better than an iPod. I mean, it updates everything for you, for chrissakes! How is that worse than having to drag and drop? Their playlists are simpler to assemble, it keeps your folders organised automatically (which, if you''re anal mclooney like me, is a good thing) and the new Genius function if, frankly, Genius.....And am I the only person in the world who doens''t hate Vista???[/quote]Nope, i get on just fine with Vista too, it''s a vast improvement in my opinion. Couldn''t agree more about iTunes either, I''ve nver understood why people hate it so much, it''s a cracking piece of software.[/quote]Vista is awesome. It does the job, it does the job fast and it does the job in a stable environment but there are two types of people who continue to criticise - those who don''t have a clue how to configure and keep an operating system running and those who have never used it anyway and just take the word of sad Microsoft haters who can''t bring themselves to talk about them so have to type "Micro$oft" at every opportunity. Which brings me onto the whole "IE8 is sh*t, Firefox is the best thing since sliced bread" argument...Get a grip. I''m not saying either browser is great but at the end of the day it''s down to personal choice. And they are only web browsers. Saying things like "IE is poorly designed" is ridiculous and has no grounds whatsoever - you know it''s poorly designed how? IE starts up 10 times faster than Firefox for me, but likewise, Firefox runs a select group of websites I use much better than IE does. They both have their good and bad points and always have done. I don''t know why people feel the need to moan about IE and try and convert everyone - is it the "cool" thing to do? Since when have web browsers been "cool"...[/quote]Vista is a nice operating system - on high spec computers. I say that simply because Vista requires twice as much RAM and visual effects generally means anything below a 128mb Graphics Card is going to struggle. On the right PC, i do enjoy vista.Firefox surfs the web far better than a slice of bread ever could do. IE starts up faster, but generally because it contains a lot less than Firefox does. Also, IE''s phishing filter is pretty slow. Not only that, IE8 seems to hog even more memory than Firefox.Oh, IE does offer crash protection however. Well, it reverts back to the page you were previously on before it crashed. However, i''d prefer a browser which didn''t crash in the first place - HELLO FIREFOX 3 [:D] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Fish Seller 0 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="alex_ncfc"]Vista is awesome. It does the job, it does the job fast and it does the job in a stable environment but there are two types of people who continue to criticise - those who don''t have a clue how to configure and keep an operating system running and those who have never used it anyway and just take the word of sad Microsoft haters who can''t bring themselves to talk about them so have to type "Micro$oft" at every opportunity. [/quote]I''m the third type of Vista hater who learned Pascal, Fortran, several flavours of basic used DOS when Apple and MS were the same then when they weren''t and it became MSDos through several identities, Win 3.1, NT 3.51, NT4, 95, 98, 98SE, Millenium,2k, xp, xp64,vista32,vista64,Windows 7 64 are a few OS''es I''ve used. Millenium and Vista were both rush jobs to fill a gap when the Company ran into problems supplying a new OS. Windows 7 is what Vista was meant to be, I will have no problem buying and using that when it comes out but I just do not like Vista though do concede it''s a lot better than those binary punch card things we used to have to feed in a computer to get a sum done.The kind of people you refer to are exactly the kind of people who wouldn''t have been able to use a computer without a decent GUI -OS, mouse and keyboard which likely accounts for a huge %age of PC owners. Give ''em BBC Basic as an OS for a few months then ask how good they think the Microsoft OS''es are.[:D] I merely differentiate between the good MS OS''es and the not so good ones, primarily Vista is hugely resource intensive and this does not suit me. I''ve 4 gig of ram and another spread across two graphics cards, so need a 64 bit OS, the performance difference between the two MS 64 bit OS''es is vast although obviously no DX10 on XP. And back to Apple:The ipod touch is one of the best bits of kit out there the only complaint is that it doesn''t support flash on the browser. Problem is and it''s not a big one but it really annoys me you either leave those apple services running all the time from start up eating up your resources or once a week when I do actually hook the itouch up suffer interminable ''The apple mobile service has not started'', and the same for Bonjour svce. It happens every time you either have to have apple software running in the background 24/7 or the PC will not pick up the itouch without manual intervention. Plus 50% of the updates crash the itouch so I avoid them on the whole now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ncfcstar 292 Posted April 3, 2009 Having had a BBC computer for my younger years I know what you''re talking about Buckethead, others were enjoying Windows ''95 and I was stuck with that piece of junk. Back in the day when floppy discs were actually floppy, but then we don''t even use the tough ones now!Anyway, I''m sounding like an "old man" when I''m only 21, shows how outdated my first system was.I don''t have a problem with MS, but after moving over to OSX 3 years ago I would never move back now. In all I find the whole experience far more rewarding and forgivable, in my opinion it is the friendliest OS about without having to move to Open Source OS''s like Linux, and the fact that my MacBook runs almost as well as the day I first got it shows something about Apple''s products. I wouldn''t have expected the same from a PC.My problem with Vista, is the fact that it is a huge admission by MS that OSX had the better setup, and it is, in my opinion, a terrible attempt to copy the best bits of OSX and try and make it better, something that won''t happen with MS because Apple make an OS for their own systems, not for everyone. Therefore I can only really view Vista as something that is an attempt to copy OSX, but with the terrible coding that existed in previous versions of Windows.By the way, the iPhone/iPod touch, is probably one of the greatest inventions of the last decade. What an amazing piece of kit, both for tech savvy people, and for the technophobe, literally anyone can use it, but the cost of such an amazing creation is reflected in the price. Brilliant though, absolutely brilliant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hogesar 9,709 Posted April 3, 2009 thing with Mac''s though. Think of a Mac as a car. It''d only be able to drive on about 5% of the roads. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ncfcstar 292 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="hogesar"]thing with Mac''s though. Think of a Mac as a car. It''d only be able to drive on about 5% of the roads.[/quote]I think the analogy would work better the other way round, but to be honest, what do I miss? I can get Office, which I need for Uni, and I don''t play games on my laptop, so that isn''t important. All of the pro apps are made for Mac, but I don''t use them either. For what I want, it is perfectly fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hogesar 9,709 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="hogesar"]thing with Mac''s though. Think of a Mac as a car. It''d only be able to drive on about 5% of the roads.[/quote]I think the analogy would work better the other way round, but to be honest, what do I miss? I can get Office, which I need for Uni, and I don''t play games on my laptop, so that isn''t important. All of the pro apps are made for Mac, but I don''t use them either. For what I want, it is perfectly fine.[/quote]Well obviously thats fine isn''t it [:)] What office package do you get? Is it Open Office? Sorry im just not entirely sure.I do play games on my desktop computer - and therefore compatibility is obviously a problem for me if i owned a Mac. Linux uses..well i''ve forgotten the name - but essentially something which allows windows applications to be run on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ncfcstar 292 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="hogesar"][quote user="ncfcstar"][quote user="hogesar"]thing with Mac''s though. Think of a Mac as a car. It''d only be able to drive on about 5% of the roads.[/quote]I think the analogy would work better the other way round, but to be honest, what do I miss? I can get Office, which I need for Uni, and I don''t play games on my laptop, so that isn''t important. All of the pro apps are made for Mac, but I don''t use them either. For what I want, it is perfectly fine.[/quote]Well obviously thats fine isn''t it [:)] What office package do you get? Is it Open Office? Sorry im just not entirely sure.I do play games on my desktop computer - and therefore compatibility is obviously a problem for me if i owned a Mac. Linux uses..well i''ve forgotten the name - but essentially something which allows windows applications to be run on it.[/quote]Well I could have used the Apple equivalent, or Open Office, but just to be entirely sure on compatibility and because I am at Uni I use bog-standard Microsoft Office for Mac [;)]. That''s why it doesn''t bother me having a Mac, the only game I play on the computer is Football Manager and I can get that for Mac as well, and then I have my PS3 for gaming. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Larkin 15 Posted April 3, 2009 [quote user="hogesar"]thing with Mac''s though. Think of a Mac as a car. It''d only be able to drive on about 5% of the roads.[/quote]You have much to learn young Skywalker…You do know that Intel Macs can run Windows via the Parallels or Bootcamp option don''t you? And not via emulation but natively! So you can have the best of both worlds.So, methinks that means access all areas n''est pas? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Fish Seller 0 Posted April 4, 2009 [quote user="Andy Larkin"][quote user="hogesar"]thing with Mac''s though. Think of a Mac as a car. It''d only be able to drive on about 5% of the roads.[/quote]You have much to learn young Skywalker…You do know that Intel Macs can run Windows via the Parallels or Bootcamp option don''t you? And not via emulation but natively! So you can have the best of both worlds.So, methinks that means access all areas n''est pas?[/quote]Have you seen the price of a decent spec Mac Pro?[:S]Yes the intel based Macs can run the OS they just can''t hold a candle to a similarly priced Intel machine in fact mine cost roughly a third of the price of an equivalent spec MAC and would still wee all over it in a head to head running anything out there except Final Cut Pro, Avid and Quark, games and 3d rendering especially. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 1,131 Posted April 4, 2009 [quote user="alex_ncfc"]Vista is awesome. It does the job, it doesthe job fast and it does the job in a stable environment but there aretwo types of people who continue to criticise - those who don''t have aclue how to configure and keep an operating system running and thosewho have never used it anyway and just take the word of sad Microsofthaters who can''t bring themselves to talk about them so have to type"Micro$oft" at every opportunity. [/quote]At work, I run and develop on Linux machines, both Desktop and Serverconfigurations. At home I have both Linux and Vista machines. Whilst Ithink Vista is an improvement, it is certainly not a great OS. Theamount of resources it consumes and requires are totally unnecessary - if youthink it does the job fast, then I hazard a guess you''ve never used anAmiga, or machine from that era, which achieved amazing things with farless raw power than you get in the average mobile phone these days. For me, Ubuntu Linux is awesome - all the software I need to use is industry-standard, open source and free, and I can also run Windows apps natively or in a VM for any neccessary testing. Thefact you think Vista is above criticism, and try to belittle those whothink otherwise, probably indicates that you don''t know quite as muchabout Operating Systems as you like to make out.IE starting quicker for you than other browsers is odd though. Whilst Explorer is integrated into Windows, and probably has components initialised on OS startup, as I sit and type this on a Vista machine, I have just opened copies of both browsers. Both IE and Firefox start up in under a couple of seconds - there''s certainly no noticeable difference here. I don''t have great experience of IE 8 at present, but if you think previous versions were well designed, I suggest you try producing a web application for "modern" browsers (e.g. IE6+, Opera, Firefox, Webkit). I think the number of difficulties you would find with the Explorer series might change your opinion somewhat... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites