4 ms·

Three things... 1. DRM free does not mean all my meta data comes with me. Much of that data is stuff I created and stuff I should have the right to take else

Three things... 1. DRM free does not mean all my meta data comes with me. Much of that data is stuff I created and stuff I should have the right to take elsewhere 2. I specifically said "I don't expect Apple to support the Pre but they shouldn't actively block it" 3. Revenue is gross not net. Apple's margins are obviously WAY smaller on a hardware device than they are on digital media.

padmanabhan01 17y ago
If they don't have to support and when they have a right to not support, don't they automatically have the right to actively block too? If it is a standard, they HAVE to support it. If not, they are justified in actively BLOCKing it. There is nothing in between that makes sense to me.
- TomOfTTB 17y ago
  I don't know. You aren't laying out any logical reasoning behind what you're saying other than "you feel" that way. Once my car's warranty expires should Chevy be allowed to enforce a mandatory recall in which they change the car to prevent after market products from working in it?
  - upinsmoke 17y ago
    Depends if your Chevy gets the newest (regular) updates from the manufactory. There's nothing to stop you to use the old version of iTunes that as far as I understand still works.
  - padmanabhan01 17y ago
    The logical reasoning is that - if they don't have to support it, they can actively block it. If it is a standard, they should actively support it. If it is not a standard, they can actively block it.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    The reasoning is like running a firewall - you block everything, then open up only the services you need open, and only from the sources you need things accessible to. By analogy, Apple can make it so that nothing syncs with iTunes, then open it up so that the iPod and iPhone do. By doing that, they cut off anyone ranting that iTunes is rubbish because it crashed when syncing their music (unmentioned: to a third party device). Microsoft picked up an incredibly bad rap for bluescreens, enormous numbers of them were caused by poor device drivers and shoddy third party software. Apple has little benefit in allowing El-Cheapo Music System to sync with iTunes, but lots of potential downside (support calls, lowered image of Apple, people migrating away from the Apple ecosystem towards less profitable accessories, buggy integration that requires development and testing of software update workarounds).
philwelch 17y ago
Your metadata is yours, and Apple is not stopping you from doing anything with it. A lot of it is already in the m4a file anyway, using either ID3 tags or some newer analog to them. As for whatever metadata is stored outside the music files themselves, iTunes actually gives you all the metadata you need: it shows you the metadata plainly. What they don't do is maintain a requirement that any arbitrary device or program can reliably access that metadata, i.e. by keeping it in a consistent, well-documented format. That's an engineering decision, not a moral imperative--it allows them flexibility to do things their way instead of worrying about breaking backward or third party compatibility. Apple's margins on iTunes are pretty low, when you consider how much they have to pay out to record labels and credit card companies even before paying for their own infrastructure. Digital media is high-margin in total, but only if you can realize all the profit. The record labels can do that, but Apple can't.

padmanabhan01 17y ago

If they don't have to support and when they have a right to not support, don't they automatically have the right to actively block too? If it is a standard, they HAVE to support it. If not, they are justified in actively BLOCKing it. There is nothing in between that makes sense to me.

TomOfTTB 17y ago
I don't know. You aren't laying out any logical reasoning behind what you're saying other than "you feel" that way. Once my car's warranty expires should Chevy be allowed to enforce a mandatory recall in which they change the car to prevent after market products from working in it?
- upinsmoke 17y ago
  Depends if your Chevy gets the newest (regular) updates from the manufactory. There's nothing to stop you to use the old version of iTunes that as far as I understand still works.
- padmanabhan01 17y ago
  The logical reasoning is that - if they don't have to support it, they can actively block it. If it is a standard, they should actively support it. If it is not a standard, they can actively block it.
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  The reasoning is like running a firewall - you block everything, then open up only the services you need open, and only from the sources you need things accessible to. By analogy, Apple can make it so that nothing syncs with iTunes, then open it up so that the iPod and iPhone do. By doing that, they cut off anyone ranting that iTunes is rubbish because it crashed when syncing their music (unmentioned: to a third party device). Microsoft picked up an incredibly bad rap for bluescreens, enormous numbers of them were caused by poor device drivers and shoddy third party software. Apple has little benefit in allowing El-Cheapo Music System to sync with iTunes, but lots of potential downside (support calls, lowered image of Apple, people migrating away from the Apple ecosystem towards less profitable accessories, buggy integration that requires development and testing of software update workarounds).

philwelch 17y ago

Your metadata is yours, and Apple is not stopping you from doing anything with it. A lot of it is already in the m4a file anyway, using either ID3 tags or some newer analog to them. As for whatever metadata is stored outside the music files themselves, iTunes actually gives you all the metadata you need: it shows you the metadata plainly. What they don't do is maintain a requirement that any arbitrary device or program can reliably access that metadata, i.e. by keeping it in a consistent, well-documented format. That's an engineering decision, not a moral imperative--it allows them flexibility to do things their way instead of worrying about breaking backward or third party compatibility. Apple's margins on iTunes are pretty low, when you consider how much they have to pay out to record labels and credit card companies even before paying for their own infrastructure. Digital media is high-margin in total, but only if you can realize all the profit. The record labels can do that, but Apple can't.