Re: Official Apple Thread

[Wonko the Sane]

Pretty sure the new iPad thing pissed off everyone who just bought the last "new" one only a few months ago.

From my perspective, they're losing a lot of the quality control stuff they used to have under Steve Jobs. A lot of that is apparent in both their Maps and the recent iTunes which is totally worthless. Even in some ways with iOS6 and all its stupid little bugs. I don't think any previous version of the OS had as many annoying little bugs in it as this one does. For example, at home my iPhone and iPad won't reconnect to my WiFi after I leave then come back. It's something about my router, since it works fine everywhere else, but just because it's an old router doesn't mean you shouldn't support it. And a ton of other people have the same problem so I know it's not just my router specifically. Probably just old routers in general. But that kind of nonsense never used to happen, at least not this bad.

To be honest, I've looked at Android penty of times in the past because it keeps growing and becoming better and better. The main reason I haven't ever seriously considered switching is because these kinds of issues are what you expect on a device that isn't made by quality freaks like Apple used to be. I just didn't want to have to put up with all the little nonsense bugs and annoyances like this that I keep hearing people talk about with Android phones.

I mean, the whole appeal of Apple always has been that you buy an Apple device and from the moment you turn it on, it is what it is, does what it does, and does that well, and it basically just works as is. There's a consistency there that they seem to have lost. I'm just hoping they haven't completely forgotten that. But I don't know.

[Theicecreaman]

From what I hear, Jobs was a very stubborn, strict person who really pushed his employees to get shit done. Maybe with his demise, there has been a loss of incentive to perform at that same level? I don't know. I also hope that they step it up because iTunes is such a resource hog, and it's ridiculous how often it glitches with these things. It also could do with a design update...just sayin'. Gets a bit old looking at the same ol' thing all the time.

[Wonko the Sane]

There's a major design update planned (they said it'd be out this month but... tick tock...). The thing I don't know is if it's a simple reskin or an actual overhaul which everyone agrees it desperately needs, even on Macs.

Jobs definitely pushed his people hard. He was also notorious for canning anything that wasn't perfect enough for release. I think that's the part that Apple's really lost without him. Maps should have never been released when it was, it wasn't anywhere near ready. iOS6 could have used some more polishing. In the past, when there were a bunch of little bugs like that they released a .1 update relatively quickly to fix them. Where's our .1 update??


The other thing I just read today about the new new iPad being released so soon after the last one... so many people are reselling the iPad 3's on sites like Gazelle that buy old stuff from you that its resale price is being driven way down. Supply and demand... there's so many of them but everyone wants the new new one, so the old one's value tanks. That really, really sucks because one of the best things about buying an Apple product is it typically holds its value much longer than other devices. I just sold my two year old iPhone 4 to Gazelle and they're sending me a check in the mail for $160. It's two years old. And was scuffed up on the back. And I didn't send any of the cables or charger. And it was TWO YEARS OLD. That's a crazy amount of money to get back for a two year old phone.

I had planned on selling my iPad 3 to Gazelle either next year or the year after, whenever I decide it's time to upgrade again and put that money towards a new new new iPad, but now it looks like the value of this iPad may drop so low that it might not even be worth it. I might as well just keep it and repurpose it as some kind of home entertainment remote control pad or something. I'm kinda feeling like Apple screwed me over here. I mean, their stuff isn't exactly cheap. I can't afford to buy a new iPad every 6 months because they make new ones then add slowness taxes to the old ones to slow them down until they're unusable.

My iPad isn't just a fun toy either, it's the computer I take with me to work to do everything on, so I need it to work well. That's why I upgraded recently in the first place.

All this makes me

[blivvy]

Dude, it's the end of the world. What do you expect?

[Theicecreaman]

Dude, it's the end of the world. What do you expect?

That's a great price you got on your old iPhone. I think Bliv is right here...the world's ending, and everything is falling apart.

[Wonko the Sane]

This is pretty funny. It's a spoof of the new iPad Mini commercial:


This one is old but I just saw it for the first time and it's hilarious:

[Theicecreaman]

Hey, is anyone else getting iMessage problems? I just tried sending a (relatively) long[er] text through iMessage, but it was glitching. I only bring this up because apparently iMessage is having problems.

[Wonko the Sane]

It was down for a while for me yesterday... if you tap and hold on one of the messages you tried to send, then tap the arrow guy for more options, you can send it as a text message even before it times out normally and asks if you want to send it as a text instead.

[Theicecreaman]

Oh alright, I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

So I hear the new iPad Mini or whatever it's called is totally not worth it. Looks like Apple's pulling a Microsoft here!

How are your Apple stocks btw, Wonko? If you don't mind me asking.

[Theicecreaman]

So I've been using Spotify so much lately that I only just pulled up iTunes after the last time I updated it.

Has anyone else noticed the fact that it is laggy as shit? I know Wonko talked about this before, but I didn't think it was this bad. Basically, whenever I click something, it takes a few seconds to respond. My other friends have this same problem, but my laptop pwns theirs in every respect

I was just editing some albums' info, and there was even a lag in typing things in.

wtf? Why is Apple still failing at basic software development? The whole damn world uses iTunes, and the whole damn world tolerates it in same way they tolerate Windows--because they have to.

And I dont' like the new App Store on the new iOS update. I like the way things were before.

[Wonko the Sane]

This latest iTunes update is total crap. It used to be this awful when I first got my original iPhone, but they fixed it up pretty quick and over the years it had gotten better until it was a decently usable piece of software. Then blam, one update undoes all of it and even worsens the problem. iTunes is completely unusable for me. I used to leave iTunes running all the time just so it was there and would do wireless backups whenever I plugged in my iDevices, but now I don't even want to bother opening it up. It's unbelievable how bad it is.

The only thing that might save us is the delayed update that's supposedly coming soon. But we don't know yet if it's just a reskin or a whole overhaul of the program. It desperately needs an overhaul though.

And yeah, I don't know anyone who likes the new iOS app store. Apple bought an app company that made a store app just so they could take that app and repurpose it for the app store. I think it's very slow compared to the old app store, and it doesn't show as much content. It doesn't matter if it looks better, it's just not functional and I hate opening it up.

Basically, yeah, Apple is sucking lately. And their stock price reflects it. They were over 700 a few weeks ago and have since plummeted down as low as 535 in the past week. Currently it sits at 547. That's a crazy drop in just a few short weeks. I think everybody is seriously underwhelmed with the iPad mini, the new new iPad, and all these issues and bugs we're seeing.


I don't know if you heard, but there was a serious management shuffle at Apple recently too. One of the main guys behind iOS since the first iPhone was fired, presumably over the Maps, Siri, and iOS6 general suckiness issues. Others have been made to take on extra responsibilities and are going to have to collaborate more with other departments. I don't know yet if this is a good or bad thing... but the investors clearly are afraid of it. I'm thinking that's one of the biggest reasons the stock price plummeted.

[Theicecreaman]

Haha yeah, it sucks big time I also was syncing yesterday and I noticed that it was re-syncing songs that I played on my computer, probably to update the "plays" or something like that. Kinda dumb.

I wasn't sure if you had investments in Apple or not, but if you do, sorry about your stocks Something similar happened with Netflix when they changed prices a while back.

[Wonko the Sane]

The song syncing thing I noticed also. iTunes is just totally fubar right now. Everything about it is broken.

And yeah I do have stock, so it sucks, but I got a couple shares when it was waaay lower than it is now so I haven't actually lost any money. I'm thinking it'll eventually go back up anyway, assuming they get their shit together soon.

[Wonko the Sane]

Ice, you mentioned Spotify before, and I still haven't tried it out even though it seemed to be a pretty big deal when it came out. What's it all about? How is it different from Pandora? And what's the catch, there's always a catch.

And since this is an Apple thread, there are rumors that Apple's bringing out an online radio service soon. I'm assuming this has something to do with trying to compete with Spotify or something?

[Theicecreaman]

It's possible.

The catch with Spotify is that they target ads based on your Facebook profile. They never say this, but I only assume because the ads I get are for a typical male my age. The ads are usually for technology, contemporary music, condoms, buying textbooks, school (graduate, online degrees, etc.), cars, sports drinks, etc. Even though I am super-careful with my Facebook profile and only display minimal information on it (and only really use it for chat, as I've said a million times), they just do it based on basic demographic information.

That's the only catch, minus the bit rate for normal usage which, I believe, it 198kbps? Maybe 200-something? I have no idea, but it all sounds the same for me for the most part. Try it out; you'll like it.

Also, it posts your music-playing activity to Facebook by default, but I turned that off because, I mean, seriously...like I would want that. People who actually know me know my music preferences, so I don't care if that one guy I met at that one place knows that I listen to whatever artist.

In terms of benefits, I'd say they far outweigh the costs

You can basically listen to ANY song by ANY artist you want (except a few, but they're always adding). The only artist I haven't seen on there is The Beatles in their entirety.

Ads happen after, say, every 8-ish songs? Maybe more? I think it just randomly happens, but you have unlimited "skips" because it's basically iTunes with every song imaginable. Just try it out--it takes a minute to make a fake Facebook account and login to Spotify. Do it in incognito mode with "Do Not Track" on so you never get spam.

There are also artist/genre radio stations, but the difference between them and those of Pandora is that they actually play songs by the artist in addition to similar songs. This is all you can use on iOS devices--you can't just search for any song on those (unless you pay per month).

Here's a pic:
https://i.servimg.com/u/f49/13/59/68/01/spotif10.jpg
(I blacked out my name/profile pic)

The music notes next to Echos, Silence, Patience, and Grace means that I have it on iTunes and so it'll just play those files instead I think. Also, if a song is not available on Spotify as part of an album or of an artist, it'll play it if you have it.

My Chinese friend was mucking about on my Spotify program once, and she found all these foreign songs too that she was trying to play, so that just goes to show how much stuff they have on there. They also have classic music and pretty much every genre, even baby music like lullabies and stuff. They also have live version of songs and all kinds of covers, duets, and singles, so you'll hear songs by artists you never would have heard before. Here are a couple I found through Spotify that I like:



edit:

Btw, they also have built-in apps (I think they also have SoundHound for lyrcs), but I've never tried any of them out before. Might do that now actually. You can download 'em.

Also, I don't think they have Led Zeppelin. Would be mighty fine if they did, though.

[Wonko the Sane]

Sucks that they limited what you can do on iOS, 'cause that's where I would end up using it most likely. If all you can do is listen to random music by a particular artist I'm not sure it's worth it until they change that.

Also the facelessbook requirement is a big

[Theicecreaman]

No, it's not just random music by a particular artist--it's the same as Pandora but they just play MORE of that artist's music. And besides, it's on the computer where it really shines, on speakers. Try it out. It took me much longer to make that post above to convince you than it would for you to sign up

[Wonko the Sane]

Facelessbook Evil.

Also I wasn't really interested in it on my computer anyway. I wanted it on my iPhone and iPad for when I'm not at home. So that really sucks that it's just like Pandora. Hmph.

Maybe Apple's radio thing will change the game and force the music industry to change their rules again. I guess we can hope?

[Theicecreaman]

Why don't you just use Google Music for listening to your tracks while you're not at home? Seriously. It takes a long-ass time to upload, so just let it do it one day while you're at work or busy doing other stuff (it slows down your CPU a bit, just a heads up).

I have every single one of my tracks on Google Music, so I can listen to the ones I do not have synced on my iPhone easily. There's a web app.

edit:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/26/apple-radio-scares-pandora/

This article suggests that their rumoured (yes, I said it British-style) internet radio will mimic Pandora as opposed to Spotify. I remember reading some other article noting that Spotify makes little money for artists, so I can only imagine the costs of running it...

[Wonko the Sane]

I have all my own music on my iPhone, so I don't need to stream it. I wanted Spotify so I could listen to stuff that I don't have but don't really want to buy. One-off songs, you know?

That's pretty stupid that it's restricted on iOS like that. But yeah, I'm sure the music industry hates it. I remember they prevented it from coming to the US for a long time. They're stuck in this old model of record shops and radio where they have really high margins and get to pay the artists squat. Nowadays, nobody wants to buy a whole album, and some artists are bypassing the record labels and selling directly on iTunes or Amazon so they actually get to keep a decent portion of the sales instead of pennies. So the record industry fights all this stuff like Spotify that tries to move the music world as a whole forward into the 21st century. In the end, they're just hurting themselves.

I was hoping Apple would try a Spotify thing instead of a Pandora thing. Apple was what made the record industry allow buying individual tracks digitally instead of whole albums, then they made the record industry sell them at a reasonable price, then they made them give up DRM... they really pushed music buying forward. It would suck if they stop pushing that kind of stuff forward because Steve Jobs isn't around anymore to do the pushing.

[Theicecreaman]

Artists have been screwed over forever All throughout history.

Imagine how the world would have been if record companies didn't screw over artists. I imagine there would be less selling-out. Artists have to do all this crazy shit to make green.

edit:

Any btw, that is exactly what I use Spotify for. I use it to listen to songs that I do not want to actually own because I know that I would get bored of them. Previously, I used to, you know, "obtain" such songs or just stream from YouTube, but now Spotify has what I need. The songs sound better than they do even not high quality on YouTube.

[Wonko the Sane]

Hey now, looks like the new iTunes might be coming any day now. There have been some email leaks around the intertubes from record labels gathering photos from their artists to go up in galleries for the new iTunes music store.

Here's hoping it's actually usable. I haven't even opened iTunes (except one accidental click) since the last time we talked about its suckage way up at the top of this thread.

[Theicecreaman]

Soon hopefully.

So my iTunes JUST crashed after I tried syncing my iPhone to it (I got a text and it crashed when I opened it lol).

And it's also just being all-around annoying to use. I'll go into detail later.

[Wonko the Sane]

Unless they delay it again, the new version should be coming next week. Seeing as how it's the last week of the month.

It is Apple though, so I wouldn't bet on it not being delayed. Again. I remember they delayed the first iPad three or four times.

[Wonko the Sane]

Heads up, we might have a new (hopefully fixed) iTunes Thursday.

Also, there's a new version of Google Drive that lets you edit Google Docs spreadsheets now too. Docs is basically gone and they're just calling it Drive now, which I'm okay with. It's a slick app if you use Google Docs a lot.

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