41 ms·

I'd like to see Music and Videos go the same way. These apps are useless. Opening them up, one is greeted with "Store". But I don't want to purchase anything

by gwu78 13y ago

I'd like to see Music and Videos go the same way. These apps are useless. Opening them up, one is greeted with "Store". But I don't want to purchase anything, I just want a place to store my files. And I know for fact I am not the only one. Most people I know use other, free apps to transfer files to/from the device and to listen/watch audio/video. For those who lived through the PC era, these tactics by Apple are perhaps reminiscent of Microsoft/OEM "crapware" that came installed on every PC (and no doubt still does). Even though the PC was "new", it was unclean. The first thing one had to do after purchase was to remove all the crapware. In its ongoing homage to human intelligence, Apple has made sure one cannot remove these garbage items without having to jailbreak. Brilliant.

pagliara 13y ago
"Most people I know use other, free apps to transfer files to/from the device and to listen/watch audio/video." Perhaps, but I'm willing to bet Apple funnels a significant amount of music sales by having an easy, visible route to purchase legal music. It's not like anyone is forced to use the iTunes Music Store, but can you really expect them not to promote it in their OS?
mynameisvlad 13y ago
Um, what? Opening them up, I'm greeted with my collection of music, and my collection of videos (respectively). I see a store icon in the corner of the screen. Just because Apple has decided to allow users to purchase music on the devices and has tied it into the apps themselves does not mean that the apps are not, at their core, file storage apps.
btian 13y ago
Are you seriously comparing Music and video apps to crapware during the PC era? and you claimed to have lived in that era? They are more like Windows Media Player. Not particularly powerful, but used by many people, and many customers find them useful.
mitchty 13y ago
So do what I do, move them into a junk folder. The Music and Videos apps however, are actually useful unlike Newsstand. And these tactics by Apple are nothing like the OEM crapware from the late 90's, I grew up in that era, there is no real comparison here to be honest. They are perfectly serviceable music/video players. If most people use "other, free apps" what pray tell are these apps called so the rest of us could gain from this heretofore hidden knowledge. What benefit do I get from them? I can already tell you using vlc is... not fun on ios when you get to wanting to stream video or audio. Simpler just to use the music app.
- gwu78 13y ago
  In your case (if I'm guessing correctly), it's probably better to keep using the provided Music and Video apps. This is because (if I'm guessing correctly), you get your music from something resembling the iTunes store or a subscription. If that's not the case, read on. My case, and that of others I know, is where one has music that was purchased in the heydays of vinyl and later CD's, long before the "iTunes Store" was even a glimmer in Jobs' beady eye. And that music has been converted to digtital if necessary and is stored as files on HDD's or external media. How do you play these files on the iPhone/iPad? Can you do it with the Music app? Moreover, how do you play video files that you have had since before iOS existed, or that you acquire outside of the iTunes store? The solutions I refer to are not "hidden knowledge" as you suggest. But they assume familiarity with basic networking and networking protocols. First, you will need to connect another computer not running iOS to your local network (e.g., plug it into you home router). Being HN, it is assumed you know how to configure and run "servers" (programs that serve files to a network) and that you use an OS that lets you do so, easily. Several such OS's are freely available. Then, if you simply "serve" the audio and video files from the non-iOS HDD or external media drive to the iOS device via your local network, you can use a free app from the "App Store" (or you can just use Safari) that can behave as a client on the iOS device. Using the right apps, you can either 1. download files to the iPhone/iPad then play them, or 2. play them directly from the non-iOS HDD/media drive ("streaming"?). I have used HTTP, FTP, SFTP, WebDav clients successfully. But there are probably others that could work. Some apps also give you server capabilities, so you can download files from the iPhone/iPad to your non-iOS computers. Any serious work with audio or video (e.g. transcoding) can be done on the non-iOS computer _before_ serving it to the iOS devices. For example, do conversion to MP4 (the format Safari likes) on the non-iOS computer. Here's a few apps you might use (assuming you understand the protocols above): AirDrive Documents OPlayerLite If you have some specific issues you cannot solve, I'd be happy to try to help you. But you'll need to give details of what you're trying to do. If you just say "VLC on iOS is a PITA", then I'm afraid there's not much I can do except to say "I agree." Whereas if you say, "How do I ________?", then maybe I can suggest a possible solution. Regarding these apps, you asked "What benefit do I get from them?" It depends. If you "rent" your audio and video from Apple, then they offer little to no benefit. But if you _own_ audio and video files, e.g., from the pre-iOS era, and you want to play them on iOS devices, then the answer is "They let you transfer and play files." Quite useful, indeed.
pjmlp 13y ago
> For those who lived through the PC era... Oh wait! what?! So the PC era is gone and no one told me about it? Typing this on a laptop and I just helped my dad to get a new desktop last week.
- icebraining 13y ago
  Well, we still have bronze, but we're not in the Bronze Age anymore.
  - pjmlp 13y ago
    Let me know when the Tablet Age is able to do 3D modelling on the go like my Bronze Age stuff.
    - icebraining 13y ago
      But we're not in the Tablet Age; much like with metals, we're in a time in which no computing platform is dominant. This is in contrast with the PC era, when every other consumer computing platform was pretty much a toy.

by gwu78 13y ago

pagliara 13y ago

"Most people I know use other, free apps to transfer files to/from the device and to listen/watch audio/video." Perhaps, but I'm willing to bet Apple funnels a significant amount of music sales by having an easy, visible route to purchase legal music. It's not like anyone is forced to use the iTunes Music Store, but can you really expect them not to promote it in their OS?

mynameisvlad 13y ago

Um, what? Opening them up, I'm greeted with my collection of music, and my collection of videos (respectively). I see a store icon in the corner of the screen. Just because Apple has decided to allow users to purchase music on the devices and has tied it into the apps themselves does not mean that the apps are not, at their core, file storage apps.

btian 13y ago

Are you seriously comparing Music and video apps to crapware during the PC era? and you claimed to have lived in that era? They are more like Windows Media Player. Not particularly powerful, but used by many people, and many customers find them useful.

mitchty 13y ago

So do what I do, move them into a junk folder. The Music and Videos apps however, are actually useful unlike Newsstand. And these tactics by Apple are nothing like the OEM crapware from the late 90's, I grew up in that era, there is no real comparison here to be honest. They are perfectly serviceable music/video players. If most people use "other, free apps" what pray tell are these apps called so the rest of us could gain from this heretofore hidden knowledge. What benefit do I get from them? I can already tell you using vlc is... not fun on ios when you get to wanting to stream video or audio. Simpler just to use the music app.

gwu78 13y ago
In your case (if I'm guessing correctly), it's probably better to keep using the provided Music and Video apps. This is because (if I'm guessing correctly), you get your music from something resembling the iTunes store or a subscription. If that's not the case, read on. My case, and that of others I know, is where one has music that was purchased in the heydays of vinyl and later CD's, long before the "iTunes Store" was even a glimmer in Jobs' beady eye. And that music has been converted to digtital if necessary and is stored as files on HDD's or external media. How do you play these files on the iPhone/iPad? Can you do it with the Music app? Moreover, how do you play video files that you have had since before iOS existed, or that you acquire outside of the iTunes store? The solutions I refer to are not "hidden knowledge" as you suggest. But they assume familiarity with basic networking and networking protocols. First, you will need to connect another computer not running iOS to your local network (e.g., plug it into you home router). Being HN, it is assumed you know how to configure and run "servers" (programs that serve files to a network) and that you use an OS that lets you do so, easily. Several such OS's are freely available. Then, if you simply "serve" the audio and video files from the non-iOS HDD or external media drive to the iOS device via your local network, you can use a free app from the "App Store" (or you can just use Safari) that can behave as a client on the iOS device. Using the right apps, you can either 1. download files to the iPhone/iPad then play them, or 2. play them directly from the non-iOS HDD/media drive ("streaming"?). I have used HTTP, FTP, SFTP, WebDav clients successfully. But there are probably others that could work. Some apps also give you server capabilities, so you can download files from the iPhone/iPad to your non-iOS computers. Any serious work with audio or video (e.g. transcoding) can be done on the non-iOS computer _before_ serving it to the iOS devices. For example, do conversion to MP4 (the format Safari likes) on the non-iOS computer. Here's a few apps you might use (assuming you understand the protocols above): AirDrive Documents OPlayerLite If you have some specific issues you cannot solve, I'd be happy to try to help you. But you'll need to give details of what you're trying to do. If you just say "VLC on iOS is a PITA", then I'm afraid there's not much I can do except to say "I agree." Whereas if you say, "How do I ________?", then maybe I can suggest a possible solution. Regarding these apps, you asked "What benefit do I get from them?" It depends. If you "rent" your audio and video from Apple, then they offer little to no benefit. But if you _own_ audio and video files, e.g., from the pre-iOS era, and you want to play them on iOS devices, then the answer is "They let you transfer and play files." Quite useful, indeed.

pjmlp 13y ago

> For those who lived through the PC era... Oh wait! what?! So the PC era is gone and no one told me about it? Typing this on a laptop and I just helped my dad to get a new desktop last week.

icebraining 13y ago
Well, we still have bronze, but we're not in the Bronze Age anymore.
- pjmlp 13y ago
  Let me know when the Tablet Age is able to do 3D modelling on the go like my Bronze Age stuff.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    But we're not in the Tablet Age; much like with metals, we're in a time in which no computing platform is dominant. This is in contrast with the PC era, when every other consumer computing platform was pretty much a toy.