 |
More of my sitesWinInfo Daily News
|
About this siteFor six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul Coming soon: Everything Must GoThe next edition of "Everything Must Go" will be appearing here soon. --Paul Saturday, August 28, 2004The truth behind HP's half-assed attempt at getting iTunes to other devicesA couple of readers forwarded me a link on MacMinute which says that "has introduced HPTunes, software for Microsoft's Windows Media Center operating system that 'lets iTunes music be played on the Media Center's extended interface.'" This, they say, answers my long and loud complaint that HP was picking an incompatible audio format through Apple and was doing nothing to make sure that that music oould play back on its many other PCs and devices, all of which are WMA compatible.There's just one problem. HP's "solution" doesn't solve the problem at all, and it's not what MacMinute says it is either. Here's what they're really doing: HP has created an ActiveX plug-in for their Media Center PCs that controls the Apple iTunes application in the background via scripting. The plug-in can play back music from your iTunes Music Library, including Protected AAC songs that you purchased from the iTunes Music Store. However, they haven't implemented this plug-in in an elegant fashion at all, and it doesn't use any QuickTime APIs or Media Center extensibility features, as it should, to provide a seamless experience. Instead, it's presents a separate experience--a completely different and separate user interface--from Media Center that cannot interact with Media Center. Specifically, if you are listening to music through the plug-in and decide you'd like to watch a photo slideshow, the music stops. Had HP adopted a WMA-compatible music device, the company would have had to do absolutely nothing to make the device, and it's online store-bought music, completely integrate with Media Center. That stuff is built right in to Media Center (where you can, for example, play music and watch photo slideshows simultaneously, among other things, all controlled via remote control). For Media Center users, it's jarring to enter into a scripted front-end to a 2' application when you're using the 10' user interface. Media Center users are used to a unique, integrated experience. Which, again, they would have gotten if HP had just gone with any other music player on the planet. As I've been saying since January. And what about HP's many other products, including Media Center Extenders, iPAQs, digital audio receivers, and more? How will they interact (seamlessly, if at all) with iTunes? The answer, of course, is .... dahhhhhhhh... they won't. Because, despite the fact that HP's had over eight months to work on this stuff, the only thing the could figure out is an ActiveX control that front-ends iTunes and works outside of Media Center. Yep, there's the budding consumer electronics giant in action, folks. So is HP's solution really a solution at all? No. Is it lame? Obviously. What could have fixed this? Two things: 1. HP could have gone with a WMA-based solution. 2. Apple could have opened up Fairplay. [ Posted at 9:31 AM | Permalink ]
Hewlett-Packard shows branded iPodAssociated Press: "Hewlett-Packard Co. unveiled its own version of the iPod portable music player Friday, showing the fruits of a groundbreaking partnership it had previously announced with Apple Computer Inc. HP is now taking orders for the player, which it has dubbed the 'Apple iPod from HP.' The product is a replica of Apple’s latest models of the popular white 20-gigabyte and 40-gigabyte iPods -- but carries the HP brand instead."Yep. It actually says "HP Invent" right on the back. Which, as Keith noted yesterday, is ironic, since HP didn't invent the damn thing at all. Classic. [ Posted at 9:23 AM | Permalink ]
Friday, August 27, 2004Apple iPod + HPHP.com: "The Apple iPod from HP enables music lovers to carry their entire library in the palm of their hand and gives them the flexibility to enjoy their music whenever, wherever. With a few easy steps, consumers can set up their Apple iPod from HP with HP's one-of-a- kind installation poster and guide."You saw 'em here first: 
Discover the new Internet Explorer CommunityFrom the "you can't make this up" department, Microsoft announces:
"We've just been hacked!" Folks, friends don't let friends use IE. And how misguided do you have to be to join a community for a browser that is arguably the most insecure software product ever created? [ Posted at 9:15 AM | Permalink ]
Thursday, August 26, 2004Saving TiVoBusiness 2.0 (registration required): "Obituaries for the nearly departed TiVo Inc. (TIVO) have been written up for months now, all ready to go when the sad day comes. They're poignant, these eulogies. There's the part about how feisty little TiVo created a beloved and revolutionary product -- the digital video recorder -- on a shoestring. The word TiVo, like Google and Xerox (XRX) and only a handful of other product names, went on to be used to describe what the gadget does -- in this case, learning what you like to watch, recording similar stuff for later viewing, and allowing you to pause or otherwise time-shift live action. TiVo promised to transform television, advertising -- hell, the culture itself, not least by sparing humanity from having to sit through commercials. Alas, it burned through $567 million between 1999 and mid-2004, and was run down by huge and ruthless competitors that mimicked its technology. But take heart, the eulogists conclude: TiVo will always be with us -- as a verb, if not a company. There's at least one problem with that scenario, however. His name is Arthur van Hoff. He's an obscure but revered high priest of software coding. And he thinks he's devised a way to pull TiVo back from death's door." [ Posted at 3:03 PM | Permalink ]
HP's iPod to lead consumer pushCNET: "Hoping to make a big bang in consumer electronics, Hewlett-Packard plans on Friday to unveil its long-awaited HP-branded iPod, along with its first televisions, an entertainment hub and the usual array of new printers and cameras, sources said ... The iPod, while expected to be similar to Apple's version, is important both as the company's entree into the music market as well as a part of HP's strategy to become cool enough to be allowed in the living room ... HP has been waiting patiently to be able to offer its iPod. The company had originally planned to offer a model this summer based on Apple's third-generation design. However, the company decided to wait until September to ship the iPod to use the new 'click-wheel' design. HP's version is expected to be similar in price to the Apple models; the 20GB iPod sells for $299, while the 40GB model sells for $399." [ Posted at 2:54 PM | Permalink ]
Microsoft to Debut StoreRolling Stone: "Apple's iTunes music store is about to face some serious competition, as online giant Microsoft prepares to roll out its own music store on September 2nd. With the ability to funnel 350 million users a month to the store via its Hotmail, Messenger and MSN sites, Microsoft will likely become the number-two player in the market for legally downloaded music and ultimately could challenge Apple's reign at the top. The company has kept details of the Microsoft music store under wraps and declined to comment for this article. But according to sources close to Microsoft, the store will open to the public with somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000 tracks for sale at ninety-nine cents apiece. Within a couple of months, it will match Apple's 1 million offerings. Reports that Microsoft will use its financial clout to become the first site to offer the Beatles catalog (the band reportedly demands tens of millions of dollars for a long-term exclusive arrangement) could not be confirmed ... Ted Cohen, EMI Worldwide's senior vice president of digital development and distribution, has seen Microsoft's site and describes it as 'a better mousetrap' because it integrates the company's search and instant-messaging technologies. 'I think it will be a serious competitor quickly,' he says. One source close to the matter says that Microsoft has made several overtures to Apple to make its store compatible with the industry-leading iPod but has been rebuffed. (Apple declined to comment.) Manufacturers of players that support Windows Media -- essentially all of them except the iPod -- are excited about the new site." [ Posted at 12:00 PM | Permalink ]
Science fun: ‘Super Earth’ found circling nearby starSpace.com: "In a discovery that has left one expert stunned, European astronomers have found one of the smallest planets known outside our solar system, a world about 14 times the mass of our own around a star much like the sun. It could be a rocky planet with a thin atmosphere, a sort of 'super Earth,' the researchers said Wednesday. But this is no typical Earth. It completes its tight orbit in less than 10 days, compared with the 365 required for our year. Its daytime face would be scorched. The planet's surface conditions aren't known, said Portuguese researcher Nuno Santos, who led the discovery. 'However, we can expect it to be quite hot, given the proximity to the star.' Hot as in around 1,160 degrees Fahrenheit (900 degrees Kelvin), Santos told Space.com. Still, the discovery is a significant advance in technology: No planet so small has ever been detected around a normal star. And the finding reveals a solar system more similar to our own than anything found so far. [ Posted at 10:12 AM | Permalink ]
A Real load of ApplesNeil's World: "Sure, Real have a dodgy past - I personally find RealPlayer to still be a steaming pile of bloatware and as such use Real Alternative to play back RealMedia-encoded files. But what they’re doing is a good thing - giving consumers more choice. They even lowered the minimum price of some of their downloads to 49c - half what Apple charge. And yet there’s a whole swathe of criticism aimed at them for doing that. It’s like a reformed criminal doing you a favour and all you do in return is kick him in the tender areas. And while it wasn’t somehow widely reported, a majority of consumers think that Real is right to offer iPod owners more choice. Many are unaware that the music brought from the majority of online music stores won’t play back on an iPod, despite it being the market leader."It was reported here, Neil. One would have to have a real (and insane) axe to grind to find issue with what Real's doing here. [ Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink ]
A Music Player for All FormatsPC Magazine: "Harmony, which is incorporated in [RealPlayer] version 10.5 (and will also be in the next version of the RealRhapsody music service), allows the player to manage Digital Rights Management (DRM)-protected tracks and work with various music players, including Apple's iPod ... With this version, you can house DRM-protected AAC, WMA, and RealMedia tracks all in one library. You can also transfer songs bought from Real's online music store to more than100 devices, including those that use Apple's FairPlay, Microsoft's Windows Media, and RealNetworks' Helix DRMs (songs are converted on the fly to the new format during the transfer) ... For the most part, RealPlayer 10.5 worked well in our testing. The song conversions aren't speedy — it took a few minutes to transfer an album, compared with the typical 15 seconds — but the process works as it should and is simple enough for any user. We transferred songs purchased from Real to an iPod with no problems ... The other new development in RealPlayer 10.5 is called progressive downloading. This lets users listen to songs or watch movies while downloading. It's handy for Real music purchases, but essential for Real's new Starz! movie service. The Starz! service was released in mid-June, after RealPlayer 10.0. For $12.95 per month you can view 100 movies from the RealPlayer's Starz area (that could mean watching 100 different movies once or one movie 100 times). Downloaded movies delete themselves from your computer once their license is up and the movie is no longer available on the site. The site rotates titles, with 25 new movies available each week. When we looked there were 80 movies up, of greatly varying quality (Smokey and the Bandit 3?). A subscription requires a 600Kbps broadband Internet connection. With all the proprietary formats around, we're glad to see someone is making the management of online music easier for the average user. Apple might not like the RealPlayer 10.5, but we bet plenty of music fans will." [ Posted at 9:18 AM | Permalink ]
Microsoft to Change Anti-Linux AdWSJ (registration required): "Microsoft was told to change an advertisement that claimed the Linux operating system had a real cost 10 times higher than Microsoft's own Windows product. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority, an industry watchdog, ordered the Redmond, Washington software giant to alter the ad that ran in a specialist magazine for three months on the grounds it was 'misleading.' Microsoft is fighting a challenge from Linux, an open-source operating system that is finding increasing favor with corporations and government. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the ad was part of a series and was the only one to have caused a problem."It's nice to see a company respond quickly and positively to this kind of charge, even if the advertising was limited to a single "specialist" magazine in the UK, and wasn't used in worldwide print, Web, and TV advertising like, say, ads by certain other untrustworthy companies. [ Posted at 9:12 AM | Permalink ]
Tunes, a Hard Drive and (Just Maybe) a BrainNew York Times (free registration required): "Now that people are rigging up their iPods to stereos at home and in their cars, they may have to think twice about what they have casually added to their music library. Shuffle commands have been around since the dawn of the CD player. But the sheer quantity of music on an MP3 player like the iPod - and in its desktop application, iTunes - has enabled the function to take on an entirely new sense of scale and scope. It also heightens the risk that a long-forgotten favorite song will pop up, for better or for worse, in mixed company. There is an unintended consequence of the allure of Shuffle: it is causing iPod users to question whether their devices 'prefer' certain types of music ... iPod enthusiasts are throwing all manner of Shuffle conspiracy theories around on Internet message boards, ranging from the somewhat plausible to the absurd."Just a thought, but maybe the shuffle software is poorly written. I've noticed this sort of thing on the iPod, but not on the Dell DJ, and I think it's a bit more nefarious than this article suggests: When you start shuffling music on the iPod, it seems to return to the same artist and even album again and again for some reason. So if you hear a song by one group, you'll hear another by the same group shortly, even though there are songs by hundreds of groups on the device. And it's happened on each of my three iPods. Which makes sense, because... "Stan Ng, Apple Computer's director of iPod product marketing ... said that the technology behind the Shuffle function has remained the same since the first-generation iPod. He declined to reveal the algorithm used to generate randomness on Shuffle ... 'The funny thing about it is that it really is random,' he said. 'When you turn on Shuffle Songs, it creates a randomized list of all the music on your iPod without repeating a song.'" [ Posted at 9:04 AM | Permalink ]
Wednesday, August 25, 2004Microsoft Research DRM talkThanks Keith. Cory Doctorow gave an amazing talk about DRM at Microsoft back in June and he's posted a transcript. It's a must-read, and fascinating stuff.Also: Jerry Pournelle has written about this talk. [ Posted at 6:30 PM | Permalink ]
Apple and Dell lead PC customer satisfaction indexIDG News: "The PC industry is doing a better job of satisfying its US customers than in recent years, and improvements to technical support seem to have done the trick, according to the results of a study carried out by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) measures the attitudes of consumers in several different categories, including PCs and online websites, on a scale from zero to 100. For the second quarter of 2004, the PC industry posted a score of 74, which represents an improvement of 2.8 percent compared to last year and a level the industry hasn't achieved in four years ... With a score of 81, Apple's customers are the most satisfied of any other PC vendor measured in this index. Apple's success comes from a focus on innovation and improving tech support, Fornell said. Just about every other PC vendor received technical support scores that were less than the scores they received for the quality of their products, but Apple was the only company that received high marks for both quality and support, he said. Dell's customers were only slightly less satisfied than Apple's, according to the index. The PC market share leader received a score of 79." [ Posted at 5:16 PM | Permalink ]
Microsoft slammed over misleading Windows Linux claimsThe Inquirer: "The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a series of public complaints over an advert in a magazine comparing the cost of Linux versus Microsoft Windows. An advert it ran compared the two operating systems to each other, but Windows was running on a measly dual 900MHz Xeon configuration, while Linux was running on a z900 IBM mainframe. The advert appeared in an IT magazine and was headed: 'Weighing the cost of Linux vs Windows? Let's review the facts'. The ad contained a graph comparing the cost in US dollars between a Linux images running on two z900 mainframe CPUs and a Windows Server 2003 image running two 900MHz Intel Xeons chips ... The IBM z900 running Linux was 10 times more expensive than running the Windows OS. It would have been possible to compare the two OSes on similar hardware. And the ASA ruled readers would infer the ad compared Linux and Windows OSes only. The ASA said: 'Because the comparison included the hardware, as well as the operating system and therefore did not show that running a Linux operating system was ten times more expensive than running a Windows operating system, the Authority concluded that the advertisement was misleading.'"Now if only Bill Gates would get up on stage at every opportunity and tell huge whoppers like Steve Jobs, then we'd really have something to complain about. As it is, one dubious magazine ad is pretty much a misdemeanor. But still, this is stupid, and clearly misleading. [ Posted at 5:12 PM | Permalink ]
Is Linux too good to be true?The Independent: "Some Windows users are increasingly disillusioned with their computers. The internet no longer feels safe, thanks to viruses, spyware, trojans, hackers and pop-ups targeting features (and failings) in Microsoft software. Going online these days using Internet Explorer is like walking into a minefield. But what choice does anybody have? Microsoft's monopoly of the consumer desktop is near total ... For real change, there is only one answer - Linux. It's open source, generally free to use and share and is not controlled by a single company. Its penguin mascot is cute too ... I could go on. And on. There's stuff that's much better than Windows, and stuff that isn't. Linux is unfinished business without the panache of Windows XP. There are compensations; open source is an embarrassment of riches. You don't need to buy an expensive application for occasional jobs anymore ... Will I give up Windows altogether? Probably. The more I use Linux, the better I like it despite the challenges. It hasn't crashed; it's immune to Windows viruses; it won't fall victim to spyware, worms or hackers; and it feels (and looks) refreshingly different. But best of all, Linux promises greater choice at less cost. Just give it time to climb more of the Windows mountain." [ Posted at 5:08 PM | Permalink ]
Future of Firefox 1.0Jedbro: "With all the strife going on with the last details for Firefox 1.0, I find Brenden E's RoadMap post to be a perfect sound voice in the midst of caos. Many people form part of 'The Mozilla Organization' which pays it's employee's to work on Firefox/Mozilla/TB/Gecko/etc. Firefox 1.0, will be the most important representation of that said organization since it's creation. Such that, I as an end user / Community and Financial contributer (donations, store purchases, etc.) am glad to see the Organizations leadership stand for what they believe. I feel it's extremely important that the organization gives strong leadership to key players (Like Ben, etc.) but it is escentiall that it keeps it's eyes on the development as a product reaches it's milestone." [ Posted at 5:05 PM | Permalink ]
Tuesday, August 24, 2004id Software's DOOM 3 Tops Worldwide Retail ChartsPR: "Activision announced today that id Software's DOOM 3 is topping worldwide sell-through charts. The game debuted as the #1 best-selling PC game in the U.S. for the week ending August 7, according to NPD Techworld. Additionally, DOOM 3 was the #1 best-selling game overall in the U.K. for the weeks ending August 14 and August 21, according to the U.K. Chart Track and the #1 best-selling PC game in Australia, for the weeks ending August 8 and 15, according to GfK Inform Database. For the week ending August 15, DOOM 3 also was the #1 best-selling PC game in France, according to GfK; the #1 game in Germany, according to Media Control; and the #1 game in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, according to Manual Sweden, Manual Denmark and Manual Norway. 'DOOM 3 continues id Software's legacy of setting a new benchmark in PC gaming with every game it develops,' said Ron Doornink, President and CEO, Activision Publishing. 'The game has been critically acclaimed worldwide and we expect momentum to continue as it releases in new territories.'"After finishing and then restarting it, I'm roughly half-way through DOOM 3 now, and trying to discover as many secrets as possible this time, paying closer attention to all the assorted clues and tips that are available in the PDAs, movies, and other media scattered around the environment. I also bumped up the quality level: On the first go-around, I played the game at 800 x 600 and medium quality, but this time it's 1024 x 768 at high quality, and my system seems to be handling it just fine. Overall, an excellent game. [ Posted at 10:16 AM | Permalink ]
Apple close to licensing FairPlay?Ars Technica: "Is Apple is about to license its FairPlay DRM technology to Macrovision, the creators of copy-protection software used in music CDs distributed primarily in Europe? According to documentation released with a beta version of its upcoming CDS-300 DRM software, iTunes and iPod support will be forthcoming in the fourth quarter of 2004. This has led some to believe that Macrovision has reached an agreement with Apple or anticipates doing so in the not-too-distant future ... Apple has proven supremely reluctant to license FairPlay thus far, especially to competing online music stores. While RealNetworks cracked FairPlay in late July (with Apple responding angrily days later), RealNetwork's Harmony is so far the only way to get DRMed music to play on an iPod. Macrovision may be banking on Apple's desire to have FairPlay become the dominant DRM tool for the music industry, but they also need the ability for their CD copy protection software to play nicely with the iPod and iTunes to make its software more compelling to the music labels."Don't read this expecting answers. The question mark in the title, sadly, continues throughout the rest of the article as well. [ Posted at 8:58 AM | Permalink ]
RealNetworks to Offer Discounted Music to Some University StudentsAssociated Press: "RealNetworks Inc. will begin offering some university students its digital music subscription service at a steep discount in an effort to stem illegal downloads and attract long-term customers. The Seattle-based company said Monday that it had struck deals with the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Minnesota system to offer its standard Rhapsody service to students for between $2 and $3 a month. The service, which normally costs $9.95 a month, allows users to play more than 700,000 songs on demand. Subscribers also can burn songs onto a CD for 79 cents apiece. Richard Wolpert, RealNetworks chief strategy officer, said the company worked with record labels to make the cheaper service feasible. He said it will still be profitable."And they said subscription services will never fly. Again, pricing and content is everything, and getting it cheap to college students is simply brilliant; Napster is trying a similar tactic with other schools. [ Posted at 8:41 AM | Permalink ]
RealNetworks Celebrates Bringing Harmony to Music Fans - Sells More Than 1 Million Songs in a WeekPR: "RealNetworks(R), Inc. today announced that more than one million songs were sold in the first week of the Freedom of Choice campaign. The combination of the ongoing 49-cent-per-song RealPlayer Music Store promotion and a simultaneous promotion of Rhapsody resulted in the highest number of songs sold in a week by RealNetworks and the busiest week ever for Rhapsody registrations. Last week, RealNetworks, already the leader in music subscription services with more than 550,000 music subscribers as of the end of June, launched the 49-cent promotion and RealPlayer 10.5 with Harmony Technology. Harmony Technology enables consumers to play songs downloaded from the RealPlayer Music Store on more than 100 portable music devices ... The RealPlayer Music Store provides the highest quality of any download store: 192 kbps RealAudio 10 with AAC. With the newly introduced Harmony Technology, consumers can transfer their purchased songs to more than 100 portable music devices, including the iPod ... The 49-cent Freedom of Choice promotion is still available for a limited time only."I'm almost astonished at how much music I've purchased from Real since this promotion began: I literally hadn't purchased this volume of music in over a decade, and it shows you what the right pricing can do. It's been a great time to catch up on a bunch of albums I had never purchased. But while back, I had taken the time to go over the Billboard Top 100 singles lists for the past 25 years and note the songs I wanted to have; this week, I downloaded all the ones I didn't have for just 49 cents each, which is sweet. [ Posted at 8:36 AM | Permalink ]
Monday, August 23, 2004Consumers Say Apple Should ShareMedia Daily News: "The vast majority of consumers are unaware that an Apple iPod digital music player will not play music files from other digital music providers, while a smaller majority agree that it is within RealNetworks' rights to develop a program that will make its music files compatible with the iPod. Those are among the findings of a new study on consumer perceptions about music download services scheduled to be released today by Insight Express. According to the survey results, only eight percent of respondents were aware that files from other digital music stores were not compatible with Apple's iPod. However, once they were alerted that several weeks ago, RealNetworks announced that it had figured out a way to re-create Apple's proprietary technology, enabling it to sell iPod-compatible songs without Apple's permission, a 46 percent majority agreed that RealNetworks should have the right to do so. Doug Adams, Insight Express marketing director, believes that RealNetworks' new campaign could present problems for Apple. According to Adams, '[Apple] is going to have to answer some tough questions from its consumers'--especially, he said, as they become more aware that Apple isn't simply trying to sell hardware, but a whole proprietary music package reminiscent of its PC business. 'Consumers are always going to want choice,' Adams said."Yep. They are. [ Posted at 11:07 PM | Permalink ]
Apple: 'Incredible demand' delays dual-2.5GHz G5sMacNN: "Apple last week began notifying customers of further shipment delays for its dual-2.5GHz Power Mac G5. In a note sent late last week to customers, Apple's online store said that demand for the high-end G5 systems had caused a backlog of orders, preventing the company from fulfilling some of them until the end of the month. One MacNN reader notes that his dual-2.5GHz Power Mac G5 was originally expected to ship on July 30th, but was subsequently delayed until August 20th and then delayed (again) for a second time. 'The demand for this item has been incredible. We are shipping them as quickly as possible, but cannot meet the ship date we previously estimated for you. We now expect to ship your Power Mac on or before August 30th.' Separately, Apple has also delayed shipments of Power Mac G5s built with the high-end NVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL graphics card ... customers who chose to wait will recieve their custom-built Power Macs with the Nvidia card in mid-September."Look, Apple makes good stuff, so I don't expect (or want) it's loyal fans to walk away from the platform, but how many times do you have to get bitten before you at least stop sticking up for those guys? Seriously. [ Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink ]
Is Real a Real Hypocrite?More insightful reporting from Tired: "RealNetworks badly needs a PR coup to regain credibility with music fans, but its latest 'freedom of music choice' campaign is missing the mark, critics say. To bolster support for the campaign, Real cut its download prices in half and launched the Freedom of Music Choice website. The company encouraged fans to sign a petition aimed at Apple that reads: 'We want Freedom of Music Choice! Don't lock us in to purchasing digital music from one source. That's bad for competition. It will stifle innovation. And it will slow the adoption of digital music devices like the iPod.' But instead of a groundswell of support, Real was skewered as a false advocate for open standards and mocked for its history of being unfriendly to its customers. Not surprisingly, a good chunk of the criticism came from Apple users who are legendary for their loyalty to the brand ... Mac users also took offense to Real's claims of music choice, because its Rhapsody digital music-subscription service is not available for the Mac ... Despite the criticism, Richard Wolpert, chief strategy officer for RealNetworks said 'the feedback we're getting is great.' Download sales in the Real music store have exceeded the company's expectations, he said. Rhapsody has had its highest peak in active users and new users last week. Over 100,000 people have checked out the new website."A couple of fairly obvious points here. - The people posting negative posts to the Real forums are not "fans," they're a minority group of vocal fanatics (i.e. Mac fanatics). - While the criticism of Real not porting its Rhapsody subscription service (or a full-fledged version of RealPlayer 10.5, which is not mentioned in this article) to the Mac seems valid, it isn't. That's because Real logically targets 95 percent of the computing market first; most computer users, and most iPod users, for that matter, use Windows, not the Mac. And people who choose the Mac do so knowing that they are getting a much smaller range of software from which to choose from than Windows users. So please don't act surprised that yet another piece of software isn't available for your comparatively lonely platform. Furthermore, those Apple fanatics that spammed Real's forums are no more likely to use Real's software than they are to use Microsoft products, so they're a lost cause anyway. With less than 2 percent of the worldwide computing market--probably more like 1 percent when you figure in the fanatics, who wouldn't touch Real if you paid them, and the Mac users who would never even hear about Real's software--what you're actually asking Real to support is a market even tinier than the group of active Commodore 64 users out there. It's not going to happen. From a financial perspective, they'd be crazy to do it. And the fanatics are just making it worse on themselves. How about a petition asking Real to port RealPlayer 10.5 to the Mac? Eh? Eh? You can be positive too, guys. [ Posted at 11:20 AM | Permalink ]
RealPlayer makes iPod more usefulNorthwest Herald: "RealPlayer 10.5 adds the unprecedented feature of iPod compatibility ... RealPlayer 10.5 allows you to move songs bought from RealNetworks' store and most other music files to an iPod. The Harmony software converts them to a form an iPod will recognize, without installing any software on the gadget ... RealNetworks has made the iPod even more useful. Yet, Apple is outraged and has threatened to sue."Yep. It's curious, isn't it? For the record, I've purchased about $150-175 worth of music from RealPlayer Music Store since the 49 cent sale started. Clearly this event is a boon to music lovers. It's curious that anyone would complain about it. What's most curious, of course, is that most of the people complaining haven't even tried RealPlayer. My take? It's excellent, and much needed, software. [ Posted at 11:13 AM | Permalink ]
The Tiger Report: Who is the Real Copycat?Mac Night Owl: "As Windows users consider the prospects of Longhorn, the next big operating system release from Microsoft, Apple must be able to bask in glory. After all, many of Longhorn's highly touted features, such as enhanced searching and superior graphics support, will be part of Tiger. So is Microsoft copying from Apple? Or is Apple simply getting out its own variation of Longhorn's features first? Well, the fact is that Microsoft announced them first, so can we safely conclude that Apple is really the copycat here ... The real issue here is that Microsoft is notorious for preannouncing products and features years ahead of the actual release."True, when Apple is copying Microsoft the real issue is that Microsoft is (often incorrectly) notorious for preannouncing products and services. That's a classic debate tactic: Take your mind off the real issue (copying, in this case). But I'm curious. Is it more irresponsible to announce actual release dates and then continuously not make those dates? Is it more irresponsible to lie about the capabilities of your products and then be forced to stop running ads about those products? I'm just curious. PowerMac G4. PowerBook 17-inch. iPod Mini. The PowerMac G5 is "the fastest PC on earth." PowerMac G5 2.5 GHz. The 3 GHz PowerMac G5 by June 2004. 100 million iTunes songs in one year. And on and on it goes. Which company is notorious again? [ Posted at 11:07 AM | Permalink ]
iTunes or MyTunes?This Blog sits at the: "Apple can violate my digital rights any time they want. There's an old joke about bicycles: that we don't really own them, we just rent them from the thieves. This somehow summons the truth about homeownership: that we don't really own homes either, we just share them with the bank ... This does nothing to dim our sense of ownership. We are outraged at the theft of a bicycle. We would be astonished to find bank executives having lunch on our patio, ('actually, if you read the contract, you will see we own this part of your house-the whole yard actually. Hank's gone to get his barbeque.') ... No, as we understand and feel it, we own these things as if ownership were outright and in perpetuity ... Apple gives us qualified access to the songs we download from iTunes ... Apple can actually change our rights to songs retroactively."So with all the seemingly intelligent ownership comparisons here, I started posting this thinking I was going to agree with him. But I don't. At all. First, there are huge factual errors here: Real both offers song purchases and subscriptions. But he misses out on some of the most obvious points of all. People can, in fact, own homes outright. Just because that has never happened in his experience doesn't mean that people don't do it (and those that don't are very clear on the role of the bank, believe me). Also, people are very much comfortable with leasing, and not buying, merchandise and services. We do it with cars, probably more often than we buy them because of more favorable monthly terms. We do it with rental properties. We do it with cable services, and so forth. No one who watches a movie on HBO thinks they "own" it, for example. Finally, he misses the biggest point of all: Music isn't different. It just isn't. Music is something some people consume regularly, others only occassionally, but it's not the be-all, end-all that he makes it out to be. It's not more important than personal photos, videos, or other memories. It's not more or less important than our favorite movies or books. Making the assumption that music is somehow special--and therefore deserving of different rules than other content is so obviously wrongheaded, it almost doesn't deserve the arguement. One of the things people have a hard time doing is seeing beyond what's important to them and seeing the bigger picture. Different people have different needs, wants, and desires. Different people see things differently. And different people care about some things more than others. Yeah, some people love music. But for most people, it's simply not the most important thing in life, and one day, this author will realize that. Hopefully, it won't be overly traumatic. [ Posted at 9:24 AM | Permalink ]
Students crazy about iPod follow the music to Apple laptopsUSA Today: "Apple's trendy iPod digital music player, which has revitalized the company, is giving laptop sales a boost during back-to-school season. Many students, after falling in love with the iPod, are packing for college with new Apple Macintosh computers ... 'Everyone I know at school has switched this summer, or is in the process of going to Mac. Apple is so much easier to use. It's awesome,' she says."LOL. Of course it is. It's astonishing to me how many anecdotal reports there are about the iPod helping Apple's Mac sales, and yet Apple has yet to show any sort of decent sales increase in its quarterly reports or, more important, show anything but steady market share decline in the PC market. So this is a nice article, and I'd love to believe that it's true. But seriously: Numbers don't lie. Show me the numbers. Show me numbers that are more general than, "Apple's share of the education laptop market has risen to 26.7% from 22.6% earlier this year, IDC says." Show me real numbers. Show me numbers that are in context; i.e. numbers that don't also include facts like, "but Apple's desktop PC sales are so far down that the laptop sales don't make up the slack." And until you can do that, this kind of thing is nothing more than wishful thinking, which is proper for a Mac fanzine site, but not for a national publication. I expect more from USA Today. A lot more. [ Posted at 9:17 AM | Permalink ]
Firefox and Maxthon copy IE's featureVasanth Dharmaraj's Blog: "They say, 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.' Just check out the ... screenshots. This is the notification of blocked popups in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The Maxthon browser (formerly known as MyIE2) copied this sometime ago. Here is how it looks. And now Firefox is supposed to get this 'new feature' too. And everyone claims that only Microsoft 'steals' ideas for others."Not everyone, Vasanth. Just the ignorant ones. [ Posted at 9:14 AM | Permalink ]
Microsoft charts rise to top of the popsTimes Online: "Microsoft has struck deals with record companies including Universal and SonyBMG that will provide it with as many as one million songs to sell from its long-awaited online music store. The world’s largest software company has negotiated with each of the [biggest] music companies, which also include EMI and Warner Music Group, for access to their vast libraries of digital music as it prepares to compete with existing online music stores such as Apple’s iTunes, Napster and Sony Connect. The new service, which is being developed by MSN, Microsoft’s internet business, is expected to be launched in the US in early September. It should be fully operational by the end of the year. Microsoft is eager to ensure that its music store will open with as large a selection of music as its key competitors. Apple announced this month that iTunes had more than 1 million tracks available, while Napster has about 750,000." [ Posted at 9:07 AM | Permalink ]
|
|
Nexus Home | Nexus Archives | Email Paul
|