Steve Jobs, the iPad, and cultural sugar water
in [Mac Applications]
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From: AES on 11 Jul 2010 13:58 In article <4c39ef8b$0$87073$815e3792(a)news.qwest.net>, Mike Hofman <info(a)recreate68.org> wrote: > AES <siegman(a)stanford.edu> wrote: > > > Rather, it is designed first and foremost, to preserve Apple's control > > over _how_ these gadgets are used, and as much as possible over what > > content flows through them, and thereby to preserve Apple's ability to > > make equally large profits from that aspect of their use. > > This guy is clearly uniformed, you can drag and drop any normal content > over to iTunes and "sync" it to your iPad, so there is no goal of making > a profit beyond the initial sale of the iPad. > > Geez! I'm not saying that you can't put "open" content (content that has no DRM measures built into it) into your iGadgets through iTunes; you certainly can. I'm saying that for any content that has DRM measures built into, Apple's iGadgets will fully protect or enforce those DRM measures. If you have content you've bought from Apple or though Apple, for example, and the original producers of this content have included measures in this content to keep you from freely transmitting it to others, Apple will limit or constrain their hardware and software in all the ways needed to enforce these restrictions. They don't _have_ to build in these restrictions. To do so to protect their own interests in putting DRM on content they sell, and -- even more important -- to keep themselves in the good graces of other content vendors who will sell content thru Apple or for use on Apple iGadgets. Let me put this all into one question for you. I can set my early model iPod up as simply an external USB drive and drag and drop all kinds of content (files of any type) onto it -- essentially use it as a pricey flash drive. Suppose I want to do this, as a convenient method of taking data along without having to lug my laptop along when heading out on a business trip, for example. And suppose that included in these files are some professionally related or business related audio files that I own, or that are completely open unrestricted audio files (maybe a lecture or seminar related to the trip, for example) -- audio files that are stored with and related to the othe files I've loaded onto my iPod. And, I'd like to listen to those files on the plane, in preparation for the meeting I'm going to. Well, here's what the iPod Users Guide says about that (after it tells you how to set up the external drive mode of operation): To load music and other audio files onto iPod nano, you must use iTunes. For example, you won�t see songs you load with iTunes in the Macintosh Finder or in Windows Explorer. Likewise, if you copy music files to iPod nano in the Macintosh Finder or Windows Explorer, you won�t be able to play them on iPod nano. So the question is, simply: WHY is the iPod this limited? WHY is this trivially simple, ***yet useful*** (to some of us), capability blocked off? The answer is NOT technical. The code needed to play those audio files is in the iPod; it's just blocked by Apple when the iPod is set up in external disk mode. A simple if crude interface to navigate on the iPod to those files stored in the iPod in external HD mode and then play them with maintaining external disk mode would be a trivial bit of programming. And doing this would pose no limitations on the much more widely used iTunes interface beloved by all those iGadget users -- they'd never even read about the optional "external disk" mode for their iPods. The answer is instead totally DRM related. Read my paragraph you quoted above: I stick by it.
From: AES on 11 Jul 2010 14:01 In article <apony-B0C9DA.10554911072010(a)n003-000-000-000.static.ge.com>, Oxford <apony(a)pasture.com> wrote: > > no todd, you can add anything to an iPad without purchasing it from the > iTunes Store. you are confusing the iTunes "sync feature" and the iTunes > "Store". > > just drag and drop movies, pdfs, audiobooks, books, text, music, > podcasts, photos then "sync"... nothing ever has to be "purchased" to > move it to the iPad, it's just as open as any apple product. Can this content then be taken off (for example, at the other end of a trip) by a Mac or any other computer having USB capability but not having iTunes?
From: Peter Bruells on 11 Jul 2010 14:05 AES <siegman(a)stanford.edu> writes: > Well, here's what the iPod Users Guide says about that (after it tells > you how to set up the external drive mode of operation): > > To load music and other audio files onto iPod nano, you > must use iTunes. For example, you won¹t see songs you > load with iTunes in the Macintosh Finder or in Windows > Explorer. Likewise, if you copy music files to iPod nano in > the Macintosh Finder or Windows Explorer, you won¹t be > able to play them on iPod nano. > > So the question is, simply: WHY is the iPod this limited? WHY is this > trivially simple, ***yet useful*** (to some of us), capability blocked > off? > The answer is NOT technical. The code needed to play those audio files > is in the iPod; it's just blocked by Apple when the iPod is set up in > external disk mode. A simple if crude interface That's the key word: “crude”. iTunes does a lot more than copy file. It makes sure that the device will be able to play that file and it will update the internal database with all the available meta information.
From: Peter Bruells on 11 Jul 2010 14:08 AES <siegman(a)stanford.edu> writes: >> In article > <apony-B0C9DA.10554911072010(a)n003-000-000-000.static.ge.com>, > Oxford <apony(a)pasture.com> wrote: > >> >> no todd, you can add anything to an iPad without purchasing it from the >> iTunes Store. you are confusing the iTunes "sync feature" and the iTunes >> "Store". >> >> just drag and drop movies, pdfs, audiobooks, books, text, music, >> podcasts, photos then "sync"... nothing ever has to be "purchased" to >> move it to the iPad, it's just as open as any apple product. > > Can this content then be taken off (for example, at the other end of a > trip) by a Mac or any other computer having USB capability but not > having iTunes? With iPods yes, at least last time it did it. But they don't make it easy. Basically, you need to access an "invsible" directory and you'll find strangely named files, which will contain the original MP3 file header information. It's obfuscating enough to render the iPod meanengless as a music transport device.
From: BreadWithSpam on 11 Jul 2010 14:16
AES <siegman(a)stanford.edu> writes: > Well, here's what the iPod Users Guide says about that (after it tells > you how to set up the external drive mode of operation): > > To load music and other audio files onto iPod nano, you > must use iTunes. For example, you won�t see songs you > load with iTunes in the Macintosh Finder or in Windows > Explorer. Likewise, if you copy music files to iPod nano in > the Macintosh Finder or Windows Explorer, you won�t be > able to play them on iPod nano. > > So the question is, simply: WHY is the iPod this limited? WHY is this > trivially simple, ***yet useful*** (to some of us), capability blocked > off? > > The answer is NOT technical. The code needed to play those audio files The answer is two-fold. First, on the iPod or iPhone, for playable media, you do not browse the filesystem. Ever. You use the device's interface which catalogs media via ID3 tags and a database. If you just dropped files into the iOS device's filesystem, you'd also have to have a way to trigger the device to recatalog the filesystem's collection of media. In theory, there's no reason Apple couldn't allow that. In practice, it's easy to see why they wouldn't -- simplicity. While many people, like you, have no problems managing a filesystem -- many people make a huge mess of it and opening it to their target market - the mass consumer -- would make the thing more prone to folks screwing it up or getting confused. Sorry - you and your personal specific desires don't seem to match Apple's target market. Get another device. Oh, and second -- again - Apple's deals with the media companies with whom they've made content deals. They do not want you to be able to put media files onto your iPod from one computer and then plug the device into another computer and pull them off. Sure, in theory, with the DRM there's no need for this extra layer of annoyance. But I'm pretty sure Apple has no great desire for this restriction any more than Apple wants the DRM. But if they want to have a media content market - and arguably, that was one of the biggest reasons iPods grew so fast in their target market - they need to play ball with the folks who actually own the content. > The answer is instead totally DRM related. Read my paragraph you quoted > above: I stick by it. I submit that the answer is only *half* DRM-related. Why do you insist on blaming Apple for the DRM stuff? -- Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed. |