Rant about Apple - What to da about next computer

thescouselander

First of all I'd like to say that Apple make some great products and I have been a Mac and Ipod user for years.

The one thing that annoys me about Apple is its seemingly anti competitive behaivour. For example, why is it you never see and Apple computer on sale? They clearly dont allow shops to apply discounts to their products.

Also why is it my Ipod only works with Apples DRM meaning I have to use ITunes. And, why is it that if I want an IPhone I have to sign up with O2?

My qustion is: Are Apples products so good that you can ignore their dodgy practises?

I need to get a new computer and MP3 player - should I stick with apple or buy something more compliant with open standards from a company with less dubious busines practises?

superscaper

As for the Ipod you don't have to use itunes. Don't have an ipod myself but can think of yamipod.com off the top of my head and I'm sure there are plenty of others as far as managers go. And don't ipods play MP3 files as well as AAC? So anywhere that sells or give those as downloads such as we7.com.

I don't think anything you've mentioned so far would count as "dodgy" in the slightest. The more open a standard is the less control Apple have over it and then the more problems there is with compatibility, consistency etc. That's the compromise Apple have made. And whether the consumer agrees with that compromise is what makes their decision to purchase those items or a competitor's with a different ethos.

TiTheRev

Apple do have sales, but they are instore refurbs!

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/9664042/wo/fl54en2H3GsW2M4t4bEHjKDFJq9/0.0.0.26.9.5.7.1.0.1.1

As good as new, warrentied for a year same as any other Apple, and up to 35% off RRP. Better than most sales Ive ever seen, and still a quality product!

iviv

Speaking of uncompetitive, you can run Windows on a mac, but you can't run OSX on a PC. At least not legally.

Anyway, you should buy what you need. If you need a mac, then save up and buy one. But if you aren't going to use any of the fancy things OSX lets you do, then save your money. Same with the mp3 player. I wouldn't have bought an ipod, but my dad sold me his old nano for £cheap, and I like it. iTunes forces you to run quicktime, so if I want to stay up to date, I have to manually download the latest versions from the apple side, open the exe with winRAR and just run the itunes installer, as I use quicktime alternative.

Though if you have a billion tracks, the 80Gb ipod classic seems to be a good shot at about £140, thats only a little more than the 8 Gb nano.
The iphone is just something to avoid IMO.

sra

thescouselander wrote: »

Also why is it my Ipod only works with Apples DRM meaning I have to use ITunes. And, why is it that if I want an IPhone I have to sign up with O2?

My Ipod only has only MP3s on it - No DRM. They work with Itunes fine. You don't have to buy from Itunes.

The Apple/Itunes system is not unique. Microsoft have their Zune/Zune Software and I believe Dell announced last week they'll be launching a new player and they'll probalby have their own software and shop

superscaper

iviv wrote: »

Speaking of uncompetitive, you can run Windows on a mac, but you can't run OSX on a PC. At least not legally.

You can't even run Safari for Windows on Windows legally!

superscaper

sra wrote: »

My Ipod only has MP3s on it. They work with Itunes fine. You don't have to buy from Itunes.

The Apple/Itunes system is not unique. Microsoft have their Zune/Zune Software and I believe Dell announced last week they'll be launching a new player and they'll probalby have their own software and shop

If companies didn't have proprietary technologies most of them would go out of business.

Helix

I don't think any of the things you have said are dodgy. Theres explainations as to why for all of them.

Apple don't stop stores reducing the cost of their products but if they are selling the computer to the retailer at say £700 and the retail price is £750 there isn't much room for the retailer to be able to offer a discount and still make a profit. Its just business, other products from other manufacturers probably have higher profit margins allowing for bigger reductions by the retailers.

DRM on the tracks was down to the record labels mainly although I don't doubt that Apple knew they would benefit from it. The record labels would only let Apple sell the tracks if they had DRM protection and because WMA was a Microsoft technology that Apple would have had to pay extra to licence it made sense for them to come up with their own DRM. If it wern't for Apple you would be paying a lot more than 79p a track as well, the record labels have been pushing Apple for years to let them sell their tracks for more but Apple have always stood firm and said its 79p/99c or nothing. The record companies are getting their own back on Apple now though by not letting them have DRM free tracks and offering them to other retailers instead like Amazon who don't have a fixed price policy.

I think Apple realised they made a mistake in limiting the iPhone to one network as well but as they signed up a Multiyear deal with the Networks theres no way out of it at the moment. Some of the new countries they have launched in have a choice of networks to choose from now and this will probably happen over here as well when the O2 deal expires but no one knows when this will be.

iviv

Interesting article

tl;dr
A company was selling PCs with a modified version of OSX installed on them. Essentially the cheapness of a PC with the versatility of OSX. Apple said 'oi', have shut them down, and are trying to recall every one of the computers sold.

[Deleted User]

iviv wrote: »

Interesting article

tl;dr
A company was selling PCs with a modified version of OSX installed on them. Essentially the cheapness of a PC with the versatility of OSX. Apple said 'oi', have shut them down, and are trying to recall every one of the computers sold.

Much as I would like to see the Apple EULA ripped open, I can't see this company having the financial backing behind them to square up to Apple's lawyers for long at all

Marty_J

iviv wrote: »

Speaking of uncompetitive, you can run Windows on a mac, but you can't run OSX on a PC. At least not legally.

Or very well.