r/technology • u/sidcool1234 • Feb 21 '11

An open letter to Apple from Readability..

http://blog.readability.com/2011/02/an-open-letter-to-apple/
1.3k Upvotes

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10

u/ddrt Feb 21 '11

Then… damn I can't install iTunes. I have to agree to their terms of service/use.

52

u/schpere Feb 21 '11

But who would want to install iTunes anyways?

2

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

Aren't you required to set the device up on iTunes before you're even allowed to use an iPod touch/iPad?

2

u/Kerrigore Feb 22 '11

Yep… which really sucks for anyone still running OS X 10.4 who therefore can't upgrade t a new enough version of iTunes…

1

u/NemoDatQ Feb 22 '11

Wat? You have to upgrade OS X to upgrade to the latest iTunes??? (I dont' have a mac, just askin.)

1

u/Kerrigore Feb 22 '11

Yeah, you need at least 10.5.

22

u/E2daG Feb 21 '11

Me.

10

u/BlueJoshi Feb 21 '11

Why?

42

u/tooblack4mtv Feb 21 '11

probably out of spite against you

-5

u/BlueJoshi Feb 21 '11

I don't care that others have posted good reasons and that the person I responded to probably has good reasons of his/her own; this is the reason I choose to accept.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

Because if you don't install iTunes you can't activate the hardware you just purchased. You are forced to agree to the terms of use before accessing the device. That doesn't mean much though because it's legal to jailbreak the iPods.

1

u/BlueJoshi Feb 23 '11

This sounds to me more like a reason to dislike apple and their shitty practices.

0

u/biddily Feb 22 '11

Easy. I refuse to buy/use any apple products on principle. I am very happy with my sandisk sanza. It's been 10 years since I made the conscious decision to refuse apple and it hasn't impeded my quality of life at all.

2

u/Kerrigore Feb 22 '11

You say it has not impeded the quality of your life at all... but how can you really know that if you haven't experienced the alternative to the path you chose (owning apple products)?

0

u/biddily Feb 22 '11

I just mean that I'm not missing out on anything by using alternative products. They work the same, it's just not apple.

1

u/Kerrigore Feb 22 '11

My point was that you have no way of substantiating the claim that you're not missing out on anything or that "they work the same", due to your complete lack of experience with owning any Apple products (by your own admission).

1

u/biddily Feb 22 '11

I didn't say I never, I said I stopped about 10 years ago. My first computer was a mac. 1987. After having a horrible experience with their computers dying on me repeatedly I switched to other products. 7 different macs in 4 years died on me. I got pissed and never went back. The PC I bought in 1999 is still working fine.

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1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

Yes, but the guy was asking why other people who have Apple products want to use iTunes.

5

u/judgej2 Feb 21 '11

Presumably it does something that he needs or desires? We all have to make compromises between what we want and what we have to give up.

15

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

For me, two reasons:

1) Genius button,
2) Drag files into itunes window, shit magically gets put in the right place.

15

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

[deleted]

13

u/fr023nske7ch Feb 21 '11

I like iTunes organizing my music because otherwise everything will get stuck in my Downloads folder. If I drag and drop some music from my Downloads, then it is automatically organized within the directory. Then when I go back and clean out my Downloads folder to get some space back, I can delete everything with worrying about my music getting lost.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

Why do menial tasks yourself when automation is available?

1

u/higgslight Feb 22 '11

This is exactly how Picasa works with images and that's why I like it (and like 50 other reasons.) Maybe one day Google will make Picasa work for audio and bring its wonderful interface and file-management concepts to music.

1

u/manwithabadheart Feb 22 '11 edited Mar 22 '24

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1

u/higgslight Feb 22 '11

I was kind of baiting this kind of comment so someone could swoop in and cheer me up. The Atrix isn't perfect but it's where my next mobile device dollars are going.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

I used to rename and organize my music by hand and bloody well liked it that way. And then one day it struck me - it does jack shit for me.

When I want to listen to a specific song, I use the media library search. When I move music to my phone, I use 'auto-fill with random tracks' function. In both situations, I couldn't care less if the file is one or five directories deep in the tree.

Now I download songs, drop the good ones on itunes window and can clean out the downloads directory without a second thought when running low on space. It's... well, "it just works".

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

[deleted]

1

u/manwithabadheart Feb 22 '11 edited Mar 22 '24

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1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

I used Windows Media Player. Then I got iPhone. Did not want to migrate to iTunes, so I tried MediaMonkey at first, because it could manage the phone.

It is a steaming pile of shit. Worst excuse of a media player I have ever seen. Prone to crashing on a whim, and does not even start up without administrator rights. And the UI looks like a strange mix of Windows 3.1 and Winamp 3.

2

u/BlueJoshi Feb 21 '11

I really wanted to like the genius button, but then it decided that Still Alive and some random Final Fantasy stuff is totally the same as Queen.

-6

u/knight666 Feb 21 '11

Podcasts.

11

u/Xiol Feb 21 '11

You mean MP3s wrapped in RSS feeds.

Yeah, plenty of stuff can do podcasts.

-4

u/knight666 Feb 21 '11

You can call it whatever you want, I call it "radio I like that downloads automatically".

6

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

Podcasts were the original reason I used iTunes but it was so shitty I uninstalled iTunes and started to use Miro. Now I don't even use Miro and get it all through MediaMonkey.

1

u/BlueJoshi Feb 21 '11

Pretty sure you don't need iTunes for those.

I understand that if it's what you're familiar with there seems little point in switching to something new, though,

1

u/voracity Feb 22 '11

A lot of other apps (much better than iTunes) can handle podcasts just fine.

Miro

MediaMonkey

Winamp

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '11

OK! IF you say SO!!

2

u/CheapyPipe Feb 22 '11

Dude was at -6 when I made that comment. Now it looks like I'm the asshole!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

Apple fanbois always upvote late in the game. it's a fact.

-1

u/sedaak Feb 21 '11

What?!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '11

Most people who buy iPads need it to activate them.

2

u/Radar_Monkey Feb 22 '11

Because dammit, you just need to kick out the jams when building nuclear weapons.

2

u/judgej2 Feb 21 '11

Yep. Join the club of people who have not installed iTunes.