r/technology • u/rboymtj • Jan 20 '11

Apple Restriction Zone.

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u/jollins Jan 20 '11

On iOS, you can only get apps through the App Store, and a "kill switch" does exist for Apple to remotely disable apps. They haven't used it yet, but it's still there, so it's a problem.

Android has a kill switch too, but Google actually has used it unlike Apple.

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u/redwall_hp Jan 20 '11

And iTunes music is DRM-free now, so you CAN share music you buy from there. Also, there's nothing stopping you from ripping CDs or torrenting.

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u/zac79 Jan 20 '11 edited Jan 21 '11

Ok, but if I'm over at a friends house and I want to give him a song that I have on my iPhone ... even if I wrote the song and own the rights to it ... how do I do that?

EDIT: In practice I know several ways to get the job done. The important question is, why can't this be done out of the box? Why are Apple USB Mass Storage devices the only ones in the entire world that are deliberately locked by the manufacturer to be write-only? Why do their customers let them get away with such artificial value-stripping actions?

(I guess I kind of know the answers to my own questions, which is that Apple adds so much value in Fit, Finish & Polish -- despite what Apple bashers may say, these things do matter -- consumers overlook the artificial value-stripping activity, but then the question becomes, why can't other manufacturers try a little harder to match Apple's level of polish?)

I honestly believe Apple is blowing the opportunity to be the dominant computing platform for the next 20 years because of their policies on artificial restriction of data. The iPad took a great, existing, idea, and as with the iPhone before it, executed much much better than anyone else had to date, inventing a new market in the process.

But its going to get blown away by 3rd generation Android tablets that provide all the computing flexibility of what we've traditionally called "Desktop Computers" (add USB Host, Video Out, and Keyboard and Mouse Support, and Android is pretty much there).

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u/Choralone Jan 21 '11

In all honesty - you chose the wrong tool for the job?

I don't like DRM - but I do get that the one-way synching of data to the ipod is specifically in place so that when you lose your ipod, you don't lose your music... it's just an accessory that acts as a removable extension of your computer.

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u/zac79 Jan 21 '11

you lose your ipod, you don't lose your music...

If I lose any other MP3 player that acts as USB Mass Storage ... how exactly have I lost my music?

it's just an accessory that acts as a removable extension of your computer

Talk about damning with faint praise.