And Another Thing: Apple, IPod, ITunes and DRM

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I probably never would have gotten to the point of this rant if it weren't for the totally insulting experience I had to go through to get the latest version of Quicktime for a program that is completely unrelated to digital music.

Apple now package ITunes with Quicktime, and there doesn't seem to be a legitimate way to get around the 35 MB download of Quicktime with ITunes piggybacked onto it. Or should I say, ITunes with a "free bonus" of Qucktime?

So you go to install it, thinking you'll see a checkbox that says "Install ITunes" that you can uncheck, right? Nope. Those BASTARDS are gonna make you install the WHOLE FRICKIN' THING. Only when it's done can you finally go into Control Panel, Add/Remove, and get rid of their stupid bloatware ITunes thing and hopefully, QuickTime will be left alone.

What's wrong with this? I'll tell you what's wrong. I don't like software being shoved down my throat, that's what's wrong! I believe the consumer should be treated like a real human being, and given a choice. Apple calls iTunes "revolutionary" but record companies are simply using the service to force the same exploitive and unfair business model onto a new medium. iTunes AAC files don't sound as good as CDs. AAC is a "lossy" compression format, high bitrate MP3's have much better quality. So does WMA.

Apple says iTunes is "better than free" because it's "fair to the artists and record labels." That's BULLSHIT! Apple gets 3 times as much money as musicians from each sale. Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold. Record labels receive the other 65% of each sale. Of this, major label artists will end up with only 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract.

If you really want to support the musicians you love, the best way to begin is by downloading the song for free on a filesharing network. Then send them what you want to give, whatever you feel is right, no middleman. Weed ( weedshare.com ) is a new system where songs can be distributed on p2p networks but must be paid for after 3 plays.

There's even an open-source project called hymn that gives you your rights back, enabling you to unprotect Apples DRM-infested music files that you paid for. French lawmakers voted 296 to 193 in support of a law that would stop Apple, plus any other firm selling music downloads, using proprietary software to limit what people can do with tracks they have bought.

You couldn't pay me any amount of money to get an IPod or ITunes and pay Apple money for this DRM-infested corporate greedware masquerading as a music service. I have an AudioVox SMT5600 with Windows Media Player 10 on it, and a 2GB mini-sd card that holds all the high quality WMA or MP3 I want. I can burn them to a CD, whatever I want. And the phone, which has Outlook, Tasks, and custom .NET Compact Framework software that I wrote myself, cost less than a comparable IPod. It plays video too.

Get real, Apple. BTW, here is the link to their "Without ITunes Quicktime." I found it quite a bit later. It's still 21 megabytes full of crap. Jeesh! Even Windows Media Player is only about 10 MB or so.
Peter has been active on the C# and other MS newsgroups, has had samples at gotdotnet.com (now codegallery.com) that have been downloaded over 56,000 times, and has written numerous articles for eggheadcafe.com, for which he is a co-founder, and MSDNAA sites. He has also been a technical reviewer on books from Prentice Hall, Manning and other publishers. Peter was a Microsoft MVP for 10 years. Peter was born and raised in New York City, and after a stint as a jazz musician playing contrabass with the Robert Hunt Trio, migrated to sunny Florida, where he was hired as a rookie Financial Consultant at Merrill Lynch in Orlando, specializing in Corporate Services. It was at Merrill that Peter realized computers and technology were his forte. He spent his last few years at Merrill developing real – time computerized trading and and stock charting program using advanced technical analysis indicators, some of which are his own inventions. In 1997, he moved on to architect and serve as lead developer on a number of innovative web-based and middleware solutions for the healthcare and financial services industry.

Comments

  1. Anonymous3:01 PM

    Consider QuickTime Alternative

    You can google it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. peterbromberg6:50 PM

    Nice. That's a start!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7:32 PM

    If you dont like the hastle of Quicktime, just a suggestion, dont try Real Player. I HAD to use it when I wanted to listen to BBC radio over the internet when in the UK, now installing THAT is a pain in the ....!

    ReplyDelete
  4. peterbromberg12:24 PM

    I use Windows because I like Windows. The OS is JUST FINE. MS doesn't force me to use Internet Explorer. I can use any browser I want.

    Your subjective inference that Microsoft are the real "bad guys" by inferring that Apple is just "following in Microsoft's footsteps" is really comical.

    ReplyDelete

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