[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Is Apple the New Microsoft? here

[bugmenot24]

Tell your Dad to burn his iTunes songs to CDs. There. Monopoly broken. Enjoy whatever FM radio you want, without having to buy Apple's FM radio clip for the iPod.

[GrumpyKiwi1]

>...iPods come bundled with iTunes.
IPods are Apple's music players. Itunes is Apple's music store. This is not remotely the same as bundling 'web browsers' or 'media players' into a computer 'operating system'.

>Want to buy music from Apple? ...You must install iTunes.

What the heck is your point here? If you want to buy from Sony you must use their now-defunct Connect music store software. If you want to buy from a different retailer then do so. Nothing prevents you from choosing to do so. Don't forget that you do not need to buy any music from Apple to play it on your IPod. Most content on Ipods has been ripped from previously owned CD's.

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None of his files will play on the new player. He bought and paid for all this content, but it only works with iPods and iTunes

This isn't Apple's doing at all. It's the RIAA who have insisted on DRM for digital downloads. Anyone can burn their content to cd from ITunes and re-rip it to any other software/player.

[gorillachicken]

Yes, you can reformat your iPod and install something else. Just do a Google search for "Linux on iPod" and you fill find that with Linux your iPod can be a music player as well as do things like play DOOM. Even keeping the original iPod software, you don't have to use iTunes. You only think you do. I thought you guys were supposed to be knowledgeable. The real downside of the iPod is the DRM.

[dareyoutomove]

Remember in Pirates of the Caribbean when Jack Sparrow does something dastardly and says "Pirate?" He was claiming that it was a known fact he was a pirate and yet somehow people were expecting more of him.
With Microsoft vs. Apple much is the same. When either company behaves in it's own interests, consumers (or fanboys) claim "foul." They are companies for crying out loud, of course they want to lock you into their product!
There are other alternatives to apple products, plenty. But the thing is... people like these products. All of the people I know have a positive opinion of Apple. That's the big difference, if people didn't like Apple so much, they would be making the same complaints that used to be (and are still) made about Microsoft.
I say, if you don't like something a company is doing - vote with your wallet and don't buy their product. Consumers drive these companies (just look what happened with the iPhone $100 rebate).

[gorillachicken]

What a staggeringly poor piece of journalism. Normally I would dismiss this sort of drivel but for PC World to print it is staggering.

Just about every complaint you make would be considered invalid by anyone with a basic understanding of technology.

1- iTunes "bundling". Virtually every device for the computer has some proprietary "synch" software, whether it be a printer, a PDA (HotSync anyone?) or a Cellphone. The only exceptions are the ones that look like a hard disk, and those are not simple enough for Apple's target audience.
2- Apple's lack of innovation. You don't believe that taking something the size of the Zune and putting all the features into something the size of an iPod is innovation?!
3- Pricing. Tech companies have to recoup R&D. And make profit. Deal with it. Or buy a Sansa/Creative/Archos. Apple won't mind.
4- Your dad. Should have bought and ripped CDs. Or apple now offers DRM free music.

Out of space now. But in summary: Removed by Moderator



Edited by MPHEnterprises - No Personal Attacks

[veggiedude]

Your point makes no sense to me. Comparing how Apple runs their business should be compared to how Sony runs their PlayStation, or how Microsoft runs their X-Box. No one ever complained that Microsoft had a monopoly on the X-Box. The X-Box is their own hardware and they have every right to do what they want with it. Similarly, Apple can do what they want with iPod, because it is theirs. When MS made it difficult to run a competing browser or to install a third party music player into a personal computer from Dell, HP, Compac, etc, well, that is downright wrong and bullyish.

[ellipsis]

RE: "One analyst estimated Apple's cost to build an iPhone is $245.83. I don't know if that's true but, if so, more than half the user cost was profit. That's theater soda pricing."
I know the computer industry doesn't work this way, but this is a common margin in consumer electronics.
Also, MS gained a monopoly through smart contracting, and used it to dominate the world with sloppy products that were about tasks, with little regard for the user experience. Apple gains marketshare with a well-crafted user experience, and enjoys a monopoly because of it.
How many people could say they bought MS Office because of the cool way the interface buttons work? Jobs understands that most people don't care what technology or code or horsepower is in their hand, they just want to USE IT.

[ReverendRob]

To add to what the previous users said: Even Steve Jobs pointed out that most users get their music for their iPods from their own CD's when he came out against DRM's (The Labels' idea, not Apple's). All mp3 players have their own specialized sync software (even the lousy Zune with its stripped down WMP interface, which isn't even compatible with the software it was derived from!), and, as Gorillachicken pointed out, there are ways around even this on the iPod. All you need to do is a little research.
Microsoft made IE PART of Windows: Even the desktop windows were IE windows until the Justice Department forced their hand. Neither iTunes or Safari are part of Mac OS X. Not to take the side of Mac fanboys, but in this case, they'd be right to chime in, since we have what appears to be a Microsoft fanboy using the famous apples-to-oranges comaprison (no pun) the radical fringes love to use.

[digitizedsociety]

First.. you act as if you stumbled upon a revelation about Apple being a Monopolist. They always have been a monopoly. Macs are made by Apple Inc. for Apple Inc. and run Apple Inc.'s OS and software. What you fail to mention or are unable to realize is that the difference between Microsoft and Apple's monopoly is this term "Market share". Apples is easily under 10% and Microsoft is over 85%.

"ITunes is the slowest, clunkiest, most nonintuitive application on my system."

Maybe on YOUR system.. but not out of the media players that currently exist.

"At least with Windows, you could reformat your PC and install Linux or any number of other PC-compatible operating systems. Can I reformat my iPod and install something else?"

You are comparing a PC to PMP. When trying to make a comparison you should use two item that are of the same category. Can you uninstall Microsoft's Zune OS and install linux on that? If you do that will it still work with the Zune Marketplace.

This article just reminded me why I stoped reading or regarding this site that even reports proper news. You are the tech worlds Inquierer.

[ceegh]

This is one of the most incomplete arguments since I heard Cubs fans saying they're the new Brewers (i.e. the underdogs.)
Microsoft had (still has?) an installed base for its OS of something like 90% of the PC market. It was with this clout, and the contracts they bullied independent PC manufactures to accept, that they controlled the industry.
If you were a computer user at that time, just a scant 10 years ago, you were practically forced to use MS products because there really wasn't anything available as a viable alternative. Remember those contracts forced Office onto the big box machines as a bundle, which closed the door pretty hard on the likes of Paradox, Quatro Pro, Lotus, and anything else that got in MS's way.
MS didn't give way to our current flexibility by choice. It took those court cases to redirect their attention and resources long enough for competitors to show up. Even then they tried to control open source projects, and the like, but the cat was out of the bag.

[paweber]

I believe it was Xerox that had the first GUI interface on an OS - not Apple or DOS/Windoze - they were both 'copycats'

[ItsaMario]

At least Apple products work. They don't crash every two minutes like Microsoft products do. Apple doesn't annoy you with system checks to prove that you are using a valid version of their software. Microsoft's problem is not just that they monopolize everything, but that they monopolize everything and force everyone to use poor quality products, which they don't bother to update for years. Take IE for example, they did not change that for four long years, and it wasn't until Firefox came along to threaten it that they finally released version 6. Also, at least Apple has been trying to sell DRM-free music. What about Microsoft? And Microsoft is still at it too, trying to make their OOXML an ISO standard. How can we trust Microsoft to not capitalize on government document needs, when they naturally capitalize on everything?

[bugmenot24]

"He bought and paid for all this content, but it only works with iPods and iTunes."
WRONG. He can burn it to CD and play it on any CD player. And the whole reason you can't play these songs on other players is because of DRM, which THE MUSIC INDUSTRY REQUIRES. If you bothered to read Steve Jobs's open letter, you'll realize that Apple hates DRM as much as consumers do, and if it were up to them they'd sell their whole catalog DRM free. You think Bill Gates would ever write an open letter condemning DRM? LOL.
"The LG KE850 was winning awards for its full-screen, touch-screen, on-screen keyboard before Jobs even announced the iPhone."
Oh, so the LG also had a gesture-based, multi-touch UI? Full-featured web browser? Full-featured mail client? Oh wait, it had none of these. Calling the iPhone a copy of the LG is like calling the iPod a copy of first Rio MP3 players. Yes, they both have touch screens. The similarity ends there.

[speedster57]

The difference here is that Apple is actually innovating these products, whereas MS copied or purchased it and piece mealed it altogether. Apple makes great products. If iTunes is clunky on your PC, upgrade it or get a MAC!!

[BubbaG]

In all reality, you DONT have to use Itunes to Manage your ipod.
There are various other programs that you can use i'd have to say, but I only know one.. WINAMP..Winamp has had Ipod Capability since 5.00 and they're now on 5.63
so...No one is FORCED to get itunes..
I work at walmart and the tech-savy ones that come in, I tell them that they should get winamp because its not only better than ITUNES but it plays ANY kind of media, has a CD burner, and has so much more that ITUNES doesn't.

[bobbyb]

"Microsoft demonstrated a fully realized 3G UI in May, well before Apple shipped the iPhone. Microsoft will ship its tabletop UI, called Microsoft Surface, in November, and Apple will likely enter this space with a 3G UI months or years after Microsoft does."
Do you know how Microsoft Surface works? It's not a typical touchscreen, which many might assume after seeing the demo video. It has 5 cameras mounted beneath the "touchscreen" that analyzes and predicts hand gestures, and objects placed on the surface. I doubt Apple is worried about falling behind Microsoft in the 3G UI arena.
Also, if you want to listen to the radio on your iPod, buy the radio/remote. Or, better yet, since iTunes is so slow, buy one of the many "better" DAPs out there. This Apple monopoly is destroying the tech world!

[mikeRoach]

If Apple has problems with the "Touch" name then they can change it to "Finger" and sell us "The Finger".

[MichaelH]

Not exactly news.
The only reason Apple seems to be the "new Microsoft" is because they've finally broken into the mainstream spotlight. Their business flaws are finally exposed to the multitude rather than just a minority market of fanboys and specialist users who were willing to overlook them.
Business is business. Companies are in it to make money, and no company or business strategy is completely flawless and magnanimous if it's going to be successful and make money. The only difference between Microsoft and Bob's Acme Software Co. is size and exposure. You take any business and put it under the microscope or throw it to wolves, and all the little cracks suddenly show up.
Imagine Macs were the only computing option the general public had for the last 10 years. Suddenly you find that Apple's monopoly on Mac parts - preventing any user from building their own at lower-than-retail cost - had put a dent in their reputation much earlier on.

[paweber]

Apple hardware has always been reliably stable - their OS's have been shaky at best until the OS-X operating systems came out. it tooka total departure from the old in order to make a solid OS that is as reliable as their hardware has always been.

Can you say OS 6.x or OS 7.x without saying "Norton Disk Doctor"?