SuperSite Blog : iTunes

Google: Apple DID reject Google Voice. Thus, Apple DID lie to the FCC

pthurrott — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:04:05 GMT

Google's response (here it is in PDF format) to the FCC firmly states that Apple lied, pure and simple:

Apple's representatives informed Google that the Google Voice application was rejected because Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone. The Apple representative indicated that the company did not want applications that could potentially replace such functionality.

[Apple senior vice president Phil] Schiller informed [Google] that Apple was rejecting the Google Voice application.

Google Latitude was also rejected, and Google noted that there was no contact at all from AT&T about these issues. Meanwhile, Google continues to "work with" Apple. You know, as much as you can.

Game, set, match. And if there is anyone out there that still believes Apple, seriously, get a life.

AppleInsider jumps the shark, declares Zune HD 'failed'

pthurrott — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:45:00 GMT

While I wait for what I just know will be hugely positive reviews of the Zune HD from Walter Mossberg and David Pogue (after all, these guys treat Apple product launches like just-discovered new books of the Bible), I can at least point to some of the crazy silliness coming out of the Apple fan base. AppleInsider--which, by the way, I actually like quite a bit normally since they're not usually this partisan--has written an absolutely insane and uncalled-for anti-Zune HD article. I've gotten a lot of email about it, and while I'd like to just ignore it, I am afraid that people will assume it's all true. What they're presenting are five myths of the Zune HD. Actually, it's four non-myths and one completely made up issue, but whatever. Let's waste just a little bit of time on this stupidity. (And you have to think that if Apple had adopted any of the stuff they're complaining about, AppleInsider would have been tripping all over itself congratulating the company.)

Myth 1: OLED is a great display technology for mobile devices

Not a myth. The OLED display on the Zune HD blows away the screen on any iPod or iPhone, sorry. Looked at side by side, inside or out, there is no comparison. This is especially true if you view the screen off-center. The OLED screen looks good at all angles. With the iPod touch, you find yourself fidgeting with it to get the screen to look better. (You can't tilt the Zune HD away from you enough to make it look bad. With the iPod touch, it's only OK when perfectly on center, and even then it's not nearly as good as the Zune HD.)

And while these shots don't do the real-world differences proud, they're at least representative.

Put simple, OLED isn't just "great" display technology for mobile devices. It's the superior technology, period.

Myth 2: NVIDIA's Tegra processor leapfrogs existing mobile processors

Again, not a myth. Both devices utilize an ARM processor at the core, but the NVIDIA design builds off of that with supporting chipsets for storage and video that improve performance and battery life. It can drive HD displays up to 1280 x 1050, unlike the iPod touch. But the real proof is in the using. And unlike AppleInsider, I've used the new iPod touch and Zune HD side-by-side. Zune HD performance is excellent, sorry. The iPod touch is no slouch. But to call these two devices anything but competitive is disingenuous.

Myth 3: Zune HD is mobile HD

No one claimed Zune HD was "mobile HD." The Zune HD supports HD output at 720p and includes an HD radio receiver, and Microsoft is very clear about that. The iPod touch does neither, with a dock or otherwise. Neither does any other portable Apple device.

Myth 4: Zune HD delivers high definition radio

Not a myth. I was just using this feature a few minutes ago. It does indeed deliver HD radio. And as AppleInsider notes, "Analog radio isn't going away." Good thing Microsoft realizes this. Because the Zune HD includes a standard FM radio tuner too. Unlike the iPod touch. And like every other Zune before it.

Myth 5: Zune HD games and software will wow you

This is the one actual myth, but it's also one of AppleInsider's creation, as no one ever claimed that. What Microsoft is doing is providing a number of small applications and games to Zune HD customers, for free, as a benefit of buying into their platform. Over time, they can and will open up the so-called Zune apps store to outside developers. (Witness yesterday's release of the Zune HD-compatible developer tools.) But this is just the first step in what is essentially a new platform. And remember that the Zune is really about entertainment, pure and simple. The Zune HD delivers on its core functionality quite nicely. No one questions that Apple has created a tremendous Apps platform, exclusionary as it may be.

Despite the hype, the Zune HD appears to have failed before even hitting the market.

Sure. And despite the hype, AppleInsider has absolutely failed to give the Zune HD a fair chance. We get it, Apple doesn't make it, so it must suck. But we also get that if Apple had released this product, it would have gotten a hugely favorable review. From you. From the Wall Street Journal. And from the New York Times. But thanks for trying.

There are a number of other inaccuracies in this poorly researched blog post around "Microsoft's standard operating procedure" (actually, Apple's, as it turns out), and the supposedly poor quality of mobile IE on the Zune. (Surprise! It's shockingly good.) But what can you expect from someone who wrote a post about a product that a) competes with the company they love, and b) they've never even seen let alone used?

I'm calling BS on this one, sorry.

Apple offers up evolutionary iPod updates, Jobs at music event

pthurrott — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:36:20 GMT

Today’s 9/9/9 Apple event was surprisingly light on surprises. Steve Jobs returned to the stage after almost a year’s absence and got a nice standing ovation. But Apple’s announcements were mostly lukewarm, and had been telegraphed weeks in advance. Among the key announcements are:

Big numbers. Apple highlighted why the company is desperately in need of antirust oversight. It has sold over 30 million iPhones in two years. It’s users have downloaded 1.8 billion apps from the iPhone Apps Store. It’s iTunes Store is the number one music retailer in the world. Apple has sold over 8.5 billion songs. It has over 100,000,000 users who have provided the company with their credit card numbers. Apple has sold over 225 million iPods (including over 20 million iPod touches and 100 million iPod nanos) and has 74 percent market share. This is all simply amazing stuff.

iPhone 3.1 firmware. A free incremental update for all iPhone models (and, I believe, all iPod Touch models), iPhone 3.1 appears to deliver some nice features across the board. I’m surprised Apple didn’t call it “iPhone’s Snow Leopard.” The addition of 30,000 ringtones at $1.29 a pop doesn’t do much for me, but could be a big deal for many.

iTunes 9 for PC/Mac. Anyone hoping for a sweeping overhaul of the bloated and slow iTunes application will be disappointed, but iTunes 9 does have some interesting new features, including an improved Genius, much better content syncing (a huge weakness previously), and a neat visual way to sync the layout of app icons on the iPhone screen using iTunes. Best of all, though is a new PC-to-PC content sharing feature that appears to be modeled on Windows 7’s HomeGroup functionality (albeit with old-school-style logons). I’m eager to see that in action. And the iTunes Store has gotten a much needed makeover, with some interesting Zune-like Artists and content pages. An iTunes LP feature combines a digital album with other rich content, but I’m not sure how valuable this really is: Who listens to music while staring at the iTunes PC app?

iPod touch. The late 2009 iPod touch devices are mostly simple upgrades of last year’s models, with the same form factor and underlying hardware (except for the 32 and 64 GB units, apparently, which have the faster, 3GS-style underpinnings). (Apple made an interesting point about iPod touch gaming, though it’s unrelated to new models: It already has far more games than do the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, and those games are far less expensive. This makes the iPod touch/iPhone platform far more valuable.) Prices are down and capacities are up, as you expect: $199 for 8 GB, $229 for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB, 64 GB for $399. (Note again that the 32 & 64 GB models have the faster processor and OpenGL|ES capabilities.) Note: Originally, I had written that only the 64 GB version had the more advanced hardware.

iPod classic. Curiously, Apple is keeping the iPod classic but not providing any notable updates. It still costs $249 but the HDD goes from 120 GB to 160 GB.

iPod shuffle. The ridiculous iPod shuffle continues forward, but Apple has finally done the obvious: They’re making an adapter so you can use any headphones you want. Duh. Prices are down, capacities are up: $59 for 2 GB, $79 for 4 GB, and $99 for 4GB “Special Edition.” There are new colors.

iPod nano. As we’ve known for weeks, the iPod nano picks up a video camera, microphone, and speaker. It’s also getting CoverFlow and, like the Zune from three years ago, an FM radio. Pricing: $149 for 8 GB and $179 for 16 GB.

What wasn’t discussed. Apple completely ignored the Apple TV, again. There was no discussion of a much-rumored Apple tablet. No Beatles catalog on iTunes. No truly new hardware or software.

I’ll need to watch the streaming version of the event, but for now, I don’t see anything hugely dramatic. I’ll provide write-ups for iTunes 9, the iPod touch, and iPod nano next week.

Apple's culture of lies, Part 2: A different way of looking at it

pthurrott — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:53:12 GMT

One thing I've often thought with Apple is how much worse off the PC industry would be if they were ever dominant, because they're such a belligerent company. But a more level-headed way to view Apple's recent push-backs from the top of the heap is that they're suffering from exactly the same problematic mind-set that doomed Microsoft a decade/decade-and-a-half ago, back when antitrust regulators from the FTC and DOJ first accused the company of illegal anti-competitive behavior. That is, they're just a product of their history.

What I mean is, until very recently, Apple was the underdog, and they've been the underdog for almost their entire existence. This creates a certain mindset, and under Steve Jobs especially, it's created a very aggressive competitive spirit. This aggressiveness is fine when you are literally the underdog, just as was the case with Microsoft early in its career and it was trying to wrest the PC industry from IBM, Lotus, WordPerfect, and other tech dinosaurs. But once you have a dominant market position, that aggressive behavior--so important for an up-and-comer--isn't just bad, it's illegal. It's just hard to turn it off when it's been part of the corporate psyche for so long.

Microsoft got into antitrust trouble because they behaved in a manner that was illegal, but only for a company that holds monopoly power. During this time, I fielded innumerable emails from people wondering why it was OK for Apple or Linux to bundle applications in their OSes when it wasn't OK for Microsoft. (Answer: Apple and Linux didn't/doesn't have a desktop OS monopoly.) And so on. The answer was always the same: If Microsoft didn't have a monopoly, what it did in the mid-1990s would have been legal.

As I write this, Apple doesn't quite have a monopoly in any given market, but they are pretty darned close in a few, and getting closer all the time. And you can see how aggressive this company is, and how they're protecting their core products at the expense of users. The time to stop this behavior is now, not after Apple has secured the digital music market (arguably already done), the digital movie and TV show markets, and the consumer smart phone market. These are the markets that Apple is set to monopolize, and we've already arguably passed the point where that is no longer a given, a certainty. You can argue that we're not there yet, possibly. But we will be.

So. With this obvious comparison of two very similarly belligerent companies--Microsoft of the mid-1990s and Apple of today--in mind, I think the time has come to rein Apple in. To examine Apple's exclusive relationships with wireless carriers. To force it to open up iTunes to competing players, and its iPhone and iPod devices to competing software and services. If we don't do this now, it will only be more difficult in the future. All you have to do is look at Microsoft's never-ending antitrust saga--which has now stretched on for 15 years, involved regulatory bodies on three continents, and gone on far longer than its actual bad behavior--to see why it's time.

We spend too much time worrying about whether Microsoft will be the next IBM. What we should be worrying about is that Apple has already become the next Microsoft. Let's fix that. Let's nip this one in the bud. Let's do it now.

Apple's growing slice of the music business – in pie charts

pthurrott — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:08:04 GMT

Some good info from Fortune (and NPD):

The NPD Group on Tuesday issued what at first appears to be a pair of contradictory facts:

Apple now controls the largest share of the music business, its iTunes Store accounting for 25% of unit sales in the first half of 2009, up from 14% in 2007.

Compact discs are still the most popular format for paid music, accounting for 65% of unit sales.

How can this be? The trick is that Apple controls the lion's share — 69% — of paid downloads, whereas CD sales are spread out among many players, chief among them Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon and Target.

To see better how this works, let's put the data into pie charts...

Check out the original post for the charts, which do indeed help clarify things.

Microsoft's Zune continues to struggle

pthurrott — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:12:10 GMT

I think we all realize the Zune isn't exactly setting the world on fire. But in these days leading up to the release of the Zune HD, things have apparently gotten worse than ever.

To be sure, the Zune provides a tiny, and apparently deteriorating portion of Microsoft's business. Revenue for the non-gaming side of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices unit, which includes the Zune, tumbled 42% to roughly $211 million for the fourth fiscal quarter ended in June - or about 2% of the software giant's total, according to regulatory filings.

Microsoft said revenue at its Entertainment and Devices division was undercut by a 54%, or $100 million, decline in Zune platform sales.

In a survey conducted last fall, IDC's Kevorkian said only 4.8% of those with a portable media player reported having a Zune, while 61% had some sort of iPod.

So, in late 2008, the Zune actually had 50 percent more usage share in the MP3 player market than the Mac did in the worldwide PC market. (Hey, math can be fun.) When you consider how little advertising Microsoft did/does for the Zune, that's rather astonishing. What's Apple's advertising budget? $10 gazillion or something?

Comedy aside, it gets worse.

More recent data from NPD Group Inc. indicates that the Zune's already slim market share may have slipped further. NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin said in the first half of this year, Zune's share was 2%, compared to about 70% for the iPod.

Put simply, I am a fan of the Zune. The PC software is superior to Windows Media Player and iTunes by a wide margin. The current devices are decent, but now lagging behind the touch screen/App Store goodness Apple offers. The online marketplace is good, but not as good as iTunes Store, though that matters less with music because MP3/AAC is universally compatible. (For movies and TV shows, there's simply nothing like the iTunes Store.) And of course Zune offers various features and functions that simply aren't available on the iPod at all. It's competitive from a technical/usage standpoint at least.

But it's not competitive, apparently, where it arguably matters most: In the market. It's unclear whether Microsoft can turn things around with the Zune HD, no matter how good it is. I fear a small but temporary bump on its release and then another long, slow slide into irrelevance. And that's too bad. The Zune is actually a neat platform for digital media.

Napster finally offers a reasonable subscription service

pthurrott — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:59:07 GMT

So this one look interesting. From Napster, via email:

New Offer: Download 5 Songs + Play 7 Million More = $5 Per Month

Dear Valued Customer,

Play all the music you want from Napster's huge library, from any Internet-connected computer—millions of tracks covering all kinds of music. Then use your 5 monthly MP3 credits to download songs that are compatible with any player (including iPod/ iPhone), without copy restrictions or other headaches. Plus, enjoy all of Napster's great features:

Buy all the music you want, 5 MP3 credits are included every month

Get new releases every week from both major labels and independent artists

Listen to more than a thousand Napster playlists and over 60 commercial-free radio stations

Discover new music through personalized recommendations, or browse and play hits from Billboard charts going back to 1955

Napster is now an unbelievable value!

With plans starting at just $5 a month, you can get 5 MP3 credits and unlimited on-demand streaming music. To start this great offer, sign in to your Napster account, go to the My Account menu and select Account Status.

Launch Napster

More info on the Napster Blog. Looks like it's US-only and this pricing does not include devices. For that, you need Napster To Go, which is still $15 a month and, curiously, does not appear to offer any free MP3s each month.

Also, according to the actual site, "The $5 dollar monthly subscription is a special offer – get it while you can." It will jump to $7 a month after that.

iTunes Store goes HD for movie purchases, rentals

pthurrott — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:39:38 GMT

I was wondering when this would happen. Previously, you could only rent TV shows and movies in HD via the Apple TV. Now you can buy, and do it all from the PC:

Apple today announced that iTunes customers can purchase and rent box office favorites including "Quantum of Solace" and "Twilight" in stunning HD on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com). Starting today, movie fans can purchase box office blockbusters for download in HD for $19.99 from iTunes, and films will be available as iTunes Movie Rentals in HD for $4.99 within 30 days after release. Customers can enjoy these films in HD on their Mac or PC and on their widescreen TV with Apple TV, as well as in standard definition on their iPhone or iPod with video. The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online TV and movie store, with over 250 million TV episodes purchased and over 33 million movies purchased and rented.

Still no closed captioning however. Someday they will complete that puzzle. And the supply of HD films is extremely small. They'll get it there.

I grabbed a copy of "W." to test the quality. It's fantastic. The movie came in both HD (1280 x 544) and standard definition (853 x 362) formats, the latter for portable device use. Nice.

Apple Announces New iPod shuffle

pthurrott — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:59:39 GMT

Apple PR confirms that the company will not stop short of ludicrously small in its devices:

World’s Smallest Music Player Now Talks to You

Apple today introduced the all-new iPod shuffle, the world’s smallest music player at nearly half of the size of the previous model, and the first music player that talks to you. The revolutionary new VoiceOver feature enables iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names. The third generation iPod shuffle is significantly smaller than a AA battery, holds up to 1,000 songs and is easier to use with all of the controls conveniently located on the earphone cord. With the press of a button, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist. iPod shuffle features a gorgeous new aluminum design with a built-in stainless steel clip that makes it ultra-wearable.

iPod shuffle is based on Apple’s incredibly popular shuffle feature, which randomly selects songs from your music library. And now, when you can’t remember the name of a song or an artist playing, with the press of a button iPod shuffle tells you the name of the song and artist. iPod shuffle can even tell you status information, such as battery life. With the ability to hold up to 1,000 songs and the VoiceOver feature, you can now easily switch between multiple playlists on your iPod shuffle. iPod shuffle can speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

The new iPod shuffle comes in silver or black and features a sleek and ultra-wearable design with a built-in stainless steel clip. iPod shuffle is the smallest music player in the world and is incredibly easy to clip to almost anything and take with you everywhere you go. iPod shuffle features up to 10 hours of battery life.

More info:

iPod shuffle product pages

iPod shuffle tour (video, various sizes)

Note: As several sites have noticed, the iPod shuffle (3G) requires iTunes 8.1, which isn't out yet. According to Apple's iTunes site, this version will include:

Faster. Smarter. Better.

Speed improvements

iTunes gets a speed boost. Now when it comes to loading large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, and syncing your devices, iTunes responds faster than before.

Autofill any iPod

Now the convenience of Autofill works with any iPod. Let iTunes choose what songs fill your pocket and enjoy your music at random.

Import as iTunes Plus

Automatically import music from your CDs as higher quality, 256-Kbps iTunes Plus files.

I'll be reviewing the new iPod shuffle later this month, of course.

Amazon releases Kindle application for iPhone/iPod touch

pthurrott — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:30:56 GMT

As rumored, Amazon has released a free iPhone/iPod touch application that can access all of the Kindle eBook content.

Amazon.com today introduced "Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch," a new application available for free from Apple's App Store that lets customers enjoy over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. Amazon's new Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmark across their original Kindle, Kindle 2, iPhone and iPod touch, so customers always have their reading with them and never lose their place. Kindle customers can read a few pages on their iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their Kindle or Kindle 2.

"We are excited to bring the new Kindle application to Apple's App Store and think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on the iPhone and iPod touch," said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is a great way for customers to catch up on their current book wherever they are, like in line at the grocery store or between meetings."

The Kindle application for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers bring their Kindle books with them wherever they go and takes full advantage of Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. With the new Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch application, customers can:

Shop for hundreds of thousands of books on their Kindle or online at http://www.amazon.com/kindlestore, and wirelessly transfer the books to their iPhone or iPod touch

Access their entire library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers

Adjust the text size of books

Add bookmarks and view notes and highlights

Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is available for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

While iPhone access is nice, and probably necessary for the success of the Kindle platform, I would just caution people to not spend too much time reading books and periodicals on that device. The screen type will eventually cause eye strain, something that doesn't happen on the Kindle device.

iTunes Plus upgrades go a la carte

pthurrott — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:07:50 GMT

When Apple announced that they were going fully DRM-free earlier this month, I hailed it as a good sign. In fact, with Windows 7 picking up AAC compatibility across the board, iTunes’ use of 256 Mbps non-protected AAC files suddenly makes more sense, and that service is among those offering the highest quality songs. There was just one niggling problem: If you wanted to upgrade your existing collection of purchased iTunes music (i.e. 128 Kbps Protected AAC junk), you had to upgrade the whole collection. You couldn’t just pick and choose which songs to upgrade. According to Macworld (yes, they’re apparently still around), that’s changed:

Apple has dispensed with the iTunes Store all-or-nothing upgrade policy.

Until today, anyone who wished to upgrade his or her music from iTunes’ protected format to iTunes Plus was required to upgrade every track in his or her library. That’s no longer the case. Travel to the iTunes Plus upgrade page (which you can do by clicking on the Upgrade To iTunes Plus link on the Store’s Home page) and you’ll discover that not only can you click on a large Buy All button to upgrade your entire protected collection, but you can now click Buy buttons next to the protected albums or tracks in your library. When you first do so, you’ll be prompted to agree to a new license agreement. Once you do that, you’re free to upgrade songs, albums, or music videos individually.

Prices haven’t changed. It still costs 30-cents to upgrade a track, approximately one-third of an album’s current purchase price to upgrade the album ($9.99 albums can be upgraded for $3), and it costs 60 cents to upgrade a music video.

So, kudos to Apple for doing that, finally. But raspberries all around because the company knew in advance that its biggest fans would simply knee-jerk their Mastercards out of their wallets and buy the all-or-nothing upgrade no questions asked, even though they long ago stopped listening to that “Rockwell’s Greatest Hits” album they bought in a fit of drunken stupidity. Those who “Think Different” (you know, the crazy ones) already ponied up to rebuy their entire collection. (Admit it, you did.) Those with clearer heads (and the more discriminating musical taste that comes with age) can now save some money.

Thanks to James W. for the tip.

Apple’s $1.8 billion iTunes tax

pthurrott — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:34:41 GMT

You gotta hand it to Apple. They really do know how to separate money from people’s wallets. Check this bit of chicanery around their new DRM-free music upgrade plan:

Anyone who wants to upgrade their entire existing iTunes Library to DRM-free versions of the same songs, can conveniently do so with one click. But it is going to cost you 30 cents a track to do so. That’s right, you have to pay again for songs you already bought. Let’s see, 6 billion songs X 30 cents = $1.8 billion in potential upgrade fees. That’s a music tax, plain and simple. No wonder the music companies finally relented.

And by the way, if you do want to upgrade your collection of lackluster Protected AAC tracks to DRM-free AAC, you have to do the whole collection. You can’t pick and choose.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Amassing a collection of iTunes-bought Protected AAC tracks is like failing an intelligence test. This guy from CNN would have to pay almost $60 to “upgrade” the music he already paid for. What a chump.

Credit where credit is due (Apple edition)

pthurrott — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:36:20 GMT

So I'm quick to point out flaws in Apple products, mostly because the rest of the world, including the tech and mainstream press, just gives them a pass. I have, however, had a few notable and positive Apple-related experiences in recent days. And they bear some discussion.

iPhone 2.1 software update. So far so good. I haven't dropped any calls since updating, yet, and my 3G experience has actually been noticeably better in a few places, which surprised me. Have they actually fixed this thing? I can't say yet, but I like what I see so far.

Genius. It's more "serendipitous" than "genius," but I like this iTunes 8 feature because it makes good playlists. Consider the act of manually rating all of your songs with 1 to 5 stars and then trying to create playlists out of that. In some cases, it works fine ("best songs by a certain group") but in others, it just falls on its face ("all 5 star rated songs, which will include songs by both Van Halen and new age pianist David Lanz in my case). Genius is fun and it adds a crucial feature iTunes has never had in any viable form: Music discovery.

iTunes 8. OK, Apple has slowly converted iTunes into a Windows Media Player clone over the years, but one thing they've finally gotten right in 8.0 is performance. iTunes has always been a dog in Windows, and it's still not up to WMP standards, but it is also much better than it was before.

Apple TV. I've had every digital media set-top box through my home recently and you know what? The Apple TV still beats them all. How is it possible that not a single Windows-oriented hardware maker has come even close? This is shameful. Adding to the shame: The Apple TV is something of a joke on the Apple side because it sells poorly. What the heck is wrong with people?

MobileMe. No, MobileMe still stinks, but at least now you can remove it. And if you do a clean install of iTunes 8 for the first time--get this--MobileMe isn't even installed. This proves that Apple at least occasionally listens to its customers. The best feature of MobileMe, then, is that you don't have to have it installed behind your back.

Apple fixes BSOD problem it caused with iTunes 8

pthurrott — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:19:01 GMT

I love the advice on this one: "If you installed iTunes 8 on Windows Vista and if you experienced a blue screen of death (BSOD) crash, then you may want this update. Yeah, you might. :)

Symptoms

After installing iTunes 8 for Windows, some users may see a blue screen error message when connecting iPhone or iPod to a Windows Vista computer. In some cases, the computer may immediately restart when connecting iPhone or iPod to the computer.

The quality of Apple's Windows solutions continues to amaze. And not in a good way.

In order to fix this problem, you have to literally uninstall iTunes and the Apple Mobile Device Support software and then download the new version of iTunes 8 that Apple quietly updated last night.

Unreal.

Thanks Howard D.

Quickie, off-the-cuff reaction to today's iPod/iTunes announcements

pthurrott — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:40:33 GMT

It's been a long day, and I still have to head out to see some folks for dinner, so I won't have time for a long write-up until tomorrow at the earliest. But here are some early reactions to what Apple announced today.

Dominant. Apple controls 73.4 percent of the market for MP3 players in the United States, roughly equivalent to IE's Web browser share. Apple has sold over 160 million iPods since 2001. And customers have downloaded over 100 million iPhone apps from the App Store in just two months. (OK, most were free.)

Incremental. It's official, folks. The iPod market is now mature. There wasn't a single major announcement at today's event. Nothing. If you think that's bad, though, look at the Zune: They had Apple right where they wanted them (i.e. with nothing cool to announce) and couldn't even pull a new device out of its hat. Sigh.

"New" iPod nano. Or as I call it, the second-generation iPod mini. Or the second coming of the first generation nano. Or Apple's version of the flash-based Zune. Whatever you call it, one thing is clear: Last year's "fattie" iPod nano was clearly not the success they were looking for. Back to the drawing boards. Oh, I do like the colors though. And the accelerometer is interesting. Why isn't it in the classic?

"New" iPod touch. OK, they lowered the price. And they added back iPhone features like a speaker and external volume toggles that quite frankly should have been there in the first place. Do we salute Apple for that? No. No, we don't.

iPod classic. Now even more classic than last year. It wasn't changed at all beyond a new 120 GB hard drive option. Yawn.

iTunes 8. Now more like Windows Media Player than ever. This is the one I need to spend the most time with, but it looks very incremental. I like that HD content is now available on the iTunes Store. Are there new HD iPod profiles out there for QuickTime now?

NBC shows are back. I love this one, and it's another example of Apple being the bad guy. A year ago, NBC left iTunes because Apple wouldn't give them the variable pricing they wanted. Apple claimed (and its closest iCabal fanatics parroted) that NBC just wanted to sell TV shows for more than $1.99. But that wasn't true: They wanted to sell older shows for just 99 cents per episode. And longer, mini-series-type shows for $2.99. Now, in the words of the New York Times, "both sides now say they got what they wanted." Put another way, Apple caved to NBC's reasonable and customer-centric demands and NBC got what it wanted. Bravo.

iPhone software update 2.1. It wasn't cool when the original iPhone 2.0 software was so buggy it made us yearn for the days of Macintosh System 6. It was equally uncool when version 2.0.1 didn't fix any of the serious problems. And it was even more uncool when 2.0.2 didn't just not fix the biggest problems, but it introduced its own new problems. Now, Apple is claiming that iPhone 2.1 will solve the problems. I don't believe them. And I'd really like to know why my iPhone isn't updating to this new version right now.

Apple TV. What? Nothin'?

Steve Jobs' health. It's unfunny when you repeat a tired joke, Mr. Jobs, but we're glad you're OK. No, we really are.

Oh, and one more thing. There was no one more thing. And that stinks. Because these announcements don't amount to much more than a cheerleading session for continued dominance.

Off to dinner. More tomorrow...