Is Apple Losing Its Mojo - or Even Its Direction?

[Anderton]

As someone who was Mac-only for 10 years, and still use both desktop and laptop Macs regularly, I have to admit I'm a little nervous about what's going on with the company. It's not just the Apple Watch fiasco, the negative reviews of El Capitan, or the issues with the Cylinder computer - check out this very interesting article from Wired, called "Apple's iTunes is Alienating Its Most Music-Obsessed Listeners." For those who think Apple is losing its direction these days, it's food for thought. I was particularly struck by the comments about the add-ons for iTunes, and how they dilute the experience.

 

It also looks like there may be another hardware change to iPhones that's going to cause consternation, or at least the sale of a zillion adapters...it's rumored that Apple is considering nuking the traditional 3.5 mm headphone jack and going forward, headphones would need to plug into the Lightning port. Why? iPhones could then be 1 mm thinner. I guess it also means that Apple would know when the changeover was happening, and be able to come up with a bunch of Beats headphones with lightning before the rest of the market can, and get all those early adopter sales. Frankly, I'm no fan of adapters and I sure don't need to buy another set of headphones...I'm okay with iPhones not shedding an extra millimeter.

 

There's also an underlying issue which is explored in this article from Fast Company about how Apple has lost the Jobsian ideals of an instantly discoverable interface:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3053406/how-apple-is-giving-design-a-bad-name

 

However, simultaneously with these issues, Apple is also pursuing giving digital tools a more "analog" feel - the iPad's use of touch is a prime example, and adding a "pencil" to the iPad Pro takes this further. So while Apple seems to making the operating system more opaque, the interface that's used to interact with the operating system is getting more refined. If they can bring those two elements in sync, then Apple will get its mojo back. Meanwhile, though, I can't help but wonder if the phrase "No one is irreplaceable" might have found an exception in Steve Jobs.

 

Comments?

[blue2blue]

I'd already read the Wired article -- but I was never a fan of iTunes. I installed it on my old 'power user' laptop [a $2k unit when it was new] and despite my ability to run my DAW and sophisticated video editing on it, iTunes brought it down (hard) on its knees.

 

Still, my fascination with the move toward streaming has kept me glued to any news related to Apple Music.

 

[i may yet have to give in and install iTunes on one of my ancillary machines -- if I can even get a current version to run on it -- so I can do a trial of AM. It's hard for me to believe their UI is as poorly designed as so many folks say -- even though [i]I[/i] am actually a (sadder-but-wiser) veteran of two extended Beats Music trials -- which really was truly, truly awful, to my way of thinking, as someone who's been subscription streaming for over a decade and been on 7 services.]

 

With regard to the possibly disappearing headphone jack, I would be a bit surprised if this doesn't happen -- but maybe enough Apple consumer groaning might work against that.

 

But Apple loves control and proprietary products and, like so many companies, they often seem to have the glint of a dream of proprietary licensing riches in their vision of their company's future (a la the now long-ago Sony/Philips' CD licensing bonanza that seems to light up the dreams of so many CEO types).

 

But Apple has always been about vertical integration, just like Steve Jobs' model: the old Big Blue IBM -- own your customers from top to bottom. And when circumstances or market factors force you to open things up a little, make sure you take a licensing or other slice of every ancillary product or service if you possibly can.

 

__________

 

 

But what I really wanted to talk about was the Fast Code Design article...

 

Not being a regular user of Apple products much these days (there was a time when some clients had me fooling with their Macs a fair bit) and not having an iPhone, I'm a bit removed from the primary focus of the article, the Mac -- and especially -- iOS UI's.

 

And the whole first part of the article I'm thinking -- is it iOS or is it the whole dumbed down tablet paradigm at the root of this problem. And then we got to this section header:

 

APPLE, YOU USED TO BE THE LEADER. WHY ARE YOU NOW SO SELF-ABSORBED? WORSE, WHY DOES GOOGLE FOLLOW ALL YOUR WORST EXAMPLES?​

... and I thought, Indeed!

 

And, for sure, it does seem like, at least in this arena, Google has followed the most base and mercenary decision paths blazed by Apple: non-expandable memory, non-replaceable batteries, and, one of the worst: forced upgrades that increasingly hobble the host machine by their ever-expanding code bloat and inefficiency.

 

 

I once laughed at Windows' various mobile initiatives -- but I'm now honestly thinking that my next tablet might just be Windows. And, if not -- since I have a considerable 'use investment' in a number of Android apps -- then a low ball, no-name Android tablet -- with replaceable battery and expandable memory -- the very problems that already appear will eventually doom my onetime 'flagship' Google Nexus 7 tablet.

 

But phones? Right now I have what I feel is (just about) the best of all words, a small Android 2.3 that is a great phone with long battery life, great durability (it's taken some nasty drops, no case, but no damage other than some scratches on the shell). It runs MOST apps great, right from SD storage -- which it has 32 GB of, purchased for under $20)... really, the only apps I've tried on it that don't work well are... wait for it... Google apps. Because Google won't allow their apps to install in SD storage and some of them, like Google Play Music continually suck up ever greater expanses of memory.

 

[Now, I love GPM -- but basically the desktop in-browser version -- and not much at all in the Android version, which will store music in SD -- but not the bulky graphics files! It's not uncommon to see GPM taking up a half GB of my Nexus 7 tablet's miserably limited '16 GB' of storage -- even with no music downloads! And that limited internal storage, of course, also contains the OS and all apps and everything else [how could the (quickly discontinued) 8 GB model have even run at all?]

 

So, yeah... Apple may well have lost the way -- but Google seems to be cluelessly following them. =/

 

 

Meanwhile, those Surface hybrid thingies are looking kind of cool. Not cheap (and I haven't looked into whether they try to skin you with non-replaceable batteries and memory but, given the givens, I suppose I wouldn't be shocked to find they had joined their major competitors in the screw-the-user derby). Still...

 

That said, Walmart sells no-name Android tablets that look better featured (if not sleekly form-factored) than my once-'premium' Nexus 7 -- for about one fifth its price...

[Anderton]

I once laughed at Windows' various mobile initiatives -- but I'm now honestly thinking that my next tablet might just be Windows. And, if not -- since I have a considerable 'use investment' in a number of Android apps -- then a low ball, no-name Android tablet -- with replaceable battery and expandable memory -- the very problems that already appear will eventually doom my onetime 'flagship' Google Nexus 7 tablet.

 

Interesting you should say this...here's an article you'll want to read. Here are some of the relevant comments:

 

...iOS tablets account for about 22% of the market, and Android is commanding a whopping 68%. This basically means that as far as Windows is concerned, they are only holding a very small slice of the pie at 10% of the market.

 

...However it seems that shipments of Windows-based tablets have seen a 58% YOY increase and based on those estimates, Strategy Analytics thinks that Windows could account for 18% of the tablet market by 2019...mainly at the expense of Android. The company predicts that by 2019, we could be looking at iOS commanding 23% of the tablet market, 18% for Windows, and 59% that goes to Android which still puts them at the majority, but ceding a lot of ground to Windows. Of course it remains to be seen if that will actually happen, but with devices like the Surface Pro 4 being launched that has been gaining a fair bit of traction, it may very well be possible.

 

I am lusting after a Surface Pro 4 myself, but am very disappointed the battery is not removable. If elected president, I will sign an executive order that all batteries must be user-replaceable.

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

It also looks like there may be another hardware change to iPhones that's going to cause consternation, or at least the sale of a zillion adapters...it's rumored that Apple is considering nuking the traditional 3.5 mm headphone jack and going forward, headphones would need to plug into the Lightning port. Why? iPhones could then be 1 mm thinner. I guess it also means that Apple would know when the changeover was happening, and be able to come up with a bunch of Beats headphones with lightning before the rest of the market can, and get all those early adopter sales. Frankly, I'm no fan of adapters and I sure don't need to buy another set of headphones...I'm okay with iPhones not shedding an extra millimeter.

 

 

Switching the headphone connector to a Lightning type plug would be a really, REALLY bad idea IMO.

 

1mm thinner? Who the heck (besides the marketing weasels) cares?

[Phil O'Keefe]

As far as iTunes, it's never been a good media player IMO, and anyone who is tied to huge MP3 collections and isn't interested in streaming probably already uses a better one. The idea that anyone would buy downloadable music files in this day and age, or that any company would put substantial resources into furthering that outdated distribution model is rather quaint IMO.

[blue2blue]

 

Interesting you should say this...here's an article you'll want to read. Here are some of the relevant comments:

 

...iOS tablets account for about 22% of the market, and Android is commanding a whopping 68%. This basically means that as far as Windows is concerned, they are only holding a very small slice of the pie at 10% of the market.

 

...However it seems that shipments of Windows-based tablets have seen a 58% YOY increase and based on those estimates, Strategy Analytics thinks that Windows could account for 18% of the tablet market by 2019...mainly at the expense of Android. The company predicts that by 2019, we could be looking at iOS commanding 23% of the tablet market, 18% for Windows, and 59% that goes to Android which still puts them at the majority, but ceding a lot of ground to Windows. Of course it remains to be seen if that will actually happen, but with devices like the Surface Pro 4 being launched that has been gaining a fair bit of traction, it may very well be possible.

 

I am lusting after a Surface Pro 4 myself, but am very disappointed the battery is not removable. If elected president, I will sign an executive order that all batteries must be user-replaceable.

 

 

If you run, definitely let me know. (Although I'm holding out for user-expandable memory, too.)

 

 

Steady growth is usually a pretty good sign, all righty, but, of course, you gotta look at your trajectory and your economy-of-scale (I'll forgo the acronym, since I think EOS may have also been the operating system of some failed platform or other)... it's all very well to see them converge in twenty-twenty-something -- but a lot can change in the better part of a tech decade. It ain't like the record biz, where change comes slow because so many currently vested parties habitually drag their feet, fearful of losing their slice. In the tech arena, you don't find anything like the sense of entitlement you see in the record biz.

 

I started out a big fan of Android. And, you know, that Android 2.3, hell of a phone OS. And, for that matter, 4.x was quite good on my Nexus 7 until the last few updates, which seriously started breaking things. 5.x has been disastrous on my tablet. I never had memory issues until the 'bad updates' right at the end of the 4.x run. Since then, it's mostly gotten worse. I did a full reset and that kinda fixed things for a day or two. But, basically, I've found that to avoid frequent time-outs I have to go into the recently-used task UI, close everything in there (stuff appears there at times without having been run), then go into the settings/storage and clear the cache. Then I can run one app smoothly, or even a couple... unless they're Google apps, which are memory sucking pigs that do not clean up after themselves.

 

Apparently, someone at Google bought into the official line about how the Android OS would make memory management issues a headache of the past. I'd like to have a heart-to-heart talk with that guy or gal. I really would.

 

 

 

[blue2blue]

As far as iTunes' date=' it's never been a good media player IMO, and anyone who is tied to huge MP3 collections and isn't interested in streaming probably already uses a better one. The idea that anyone would buy downloadable music files in this day and age, or that any company would put substantial resources into furthering that outdated distribution model is rather quaint IMO.[/quote']

 

I think the one point of reluctance some might have is that, once the subscription stream model is established and begins becoming ingrained in lifestyles, that, as with cable TV before, consumers might eventually be put in some kind of spiraling price gouge squeeze.

 

I know it was something I thought about 10 years or so ago when I committed to my first on-demand streaming subscription. So far, prices have overall dropped.

 

What might drive price spirals, of course, is the 'spectre' of exclusive content.

 

That said, I have so very, very little interest in any of the contemporary figures who might be inclined to go exclusive, it means nothing to me directly. Can't hear the latest Taylor Swift or Adelle? No sweat. (And I hate the sound of obvious and/or sloppy tuning anyway.)

[WRGKMC]

I read the entire article about Apple I phones and Touch pads. The person writing it had allot of criticism but misses the underlying reason apple is lacking in all those critical ways.

 

Engineers don't make changes because they can. They do it for money.

The underlying reason for the bad changes cones down to dollars and cents. Apple has to release new products to cash in on its users, many of them are blind to the companies shortcomings and will take on the persona, "They" are the stupid people because they cant figure out the convoluted changes instead of criticizing the companies bad decisions for making stupid and unnecessary updates.

 

This can be done best with the wallet. Find out if the systems good before you but and don't let brand loyalty blind you to the truth. This hurts them where it counts and companies will reevaluate their products and the people making them. This is how things should work. If you have people standing in lines to get their hands on the latest phone, there's something seriously wrong there with both the people buying the product and those who are selling it.

 

The other key item I saw was Apple doesn't test their products with users anymore. They're -probably so paranoid their competition may get their hands on them, they do the testing internal instead with normal every day users. This leads to bad marketing decisions and a blind arrogance to users needs. Microsoft is another company whose become so arrogant they fail to listen to users any more. I used to test their betas back in the early days. You'd give them feedback on faults and changes needed and they would give you a discount on the final release. They quit taking feedback from normal users and wound up in their own bubble called Windows 8 which sucks by the way. When they abandoned a classic option they alienated half of their customers and its hurt them big time.

 

The product is targeted to a younger crowd who is into touch screens and the problem is, that generation does not have good jobs and cannot afford luxury items. You cant turn a profit on products that don't sell..and to be able to sell you should be targeting the needs of the people willing and able to buy.

 

Apple is hooked into the yearly "New Model" release syndrome that gives them huge profits if its done well and properly spaced in time. Rushing to get something out there for Holiday buyers or to make quarterly profits look good to stock holders is a necessary process if you want to stay ahead of the competition. Its very volatile however. One bad mistake and people are not that forgiving.

 

I'm not a major mac user. I learned how to use them for my day job involving networking and I have an Iphone 4. I can say the updates to that phone are consistent and ongoing. Seems like they been doing updates monthly lately. I don't even use the thing much besides making phone calls. I had my old phone for 6 years, never had an update, and never had issues.

 

Oh and the back button missing on their applications is something that truly does suck. I thought it was just me because I'm used to windows applications but seeing this is a major complaint I'll chime in on that one. I cant count the times I'm in an application, hit the wrong button and wind up being some place I don't want to be. I wind up having to bail out and go back to the main menu and start over. Maybe this isn't a big issue for some who know the products well but for someone new to the product who has to explore things to get to know them, not having a way to backtrack blows.

 

I don't have the time to waste using hidden menus or memorizing convoluted navigation commands and cant praise a product for being something it used to be the best at. Apple is no longer a simple easy to use product. Its caught up in the whole technology race and will pay the price of being blind to its customers needs just as soon as someone else captures their lost customer base.

[philboking]

Hmmm... I abandoned Apple in 1982 after I had just bought a new Apple IIe and Apple immediately abandoned it. So I have about 80 GB of MP3s, and still use WinAmp on my PC and Android phone.

 

And I hear the voice of the Knight Templar from that Indiana Jones movie: "You have chosen wisely...."

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

I think the one point of reluctance some might have is that, once the subscription stream model is established and begins becoming ingrained in lifestyles, that, as with cable TV before, consumers might eventually be put in some kind of spiraling price gouge squeeze.

 

 

I didn't consider that, but that's pretty much exactly what the cable companies did, and I wouldn't put it past the streaming companies to do likewise - add commercials even for paying customers and / or keep implementing regular rate increases once they have amassed a large enough paying / captive audience who have little in the way of other viable alternatives.

 

 

[blue2blue]

Right now, of course, we're heading into shake-out, a lot of corporate blood will flow. More than a little already has.

 

As I've probably told it too many times already, one of the main reasons I moved from service to service was successive services going out of business. Rhapsody was the first I left 'voluntarily' -- even though I was pretty happy there -- but when I got turned on to MOG via this forum -- with a comparable selection, same price, but full 320 kbps (which Rhap now has), I jumped ship immediately. I mean, within 15 minutes I'd decided. (It's not at all an insignificant jump in quality from the 160 kbps or so that Rhap was blowing in those days to 320).

 

Amusingly (a tale also previously told here), it was the same damn guy, Ian C. Rogers, in charge of closing down four services I'd been on: MusicMatch On Demand, Yahoo Music Unlimited, MOG (all regular ongoing subscriptions), and then Beats Music -- which I'd done two extended trials of as a MOG subscriber when Beats bought it and eventually shut it down to pave the way for the disastrous Beats Music.

 

And you can bet I was deeply amused when not long after the extremely rocky launch of Beats Music's own successor, Apple Music -- which Rogers had been named CEO of by Apple when they bought Beats -- Rogers 'suddenly' announced he was leaving not just Apple Music, but Apple and Music -- and moving to a rather vaguely titled berth (Chief Digital Officer) at luxury brand holding company LVMH (who own Moet, Hennesy, Luis Vuitton and a bunch of other one percenter-wannabe brands.

[sventvkg]

Since everyone on here seems to be answering and admitting they're not big Mac users I think I'll weigh in.

 

I can't even stand to look at windows it's such a piece of crap OS I don't know how to navigate it it's frustrating and convoluted in my opinion. And yes I am not a programmer or tech type. I'm an artist musician songwriter studio guy and I like to be able to do what I need to do unencumbered.

 

 

 

that said iTunes is a big POS !! And of course since Steve Jobs died apples software and I believe the core company focus on the UI interface has taken a backseat to profits and that will be their undoing....and of course since Steve Jobs died apples software and I believe the core company focus on the UI interface has taken a backseat to profits and that will be their undoing.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Since everyone on here seems to be answering and admitting they're not big Mac users I think I'll weigh in.

 

I can't even stand to look at windows it's such a piece of crap OS I don't know how to navigate it it's frustrating and convoluted in my opinion. And yes I am not a programmer or tech type. I'm an artist musician songwriter studio guy and I like to be able to do what I need to do unencumbered.

 

 

I'm very comfortable on both Windows and Mac systems and I own and use both, and I have to say that to me, the Windows OS does look amateur by comparison, at least insofar as the windows, the desktop, icons, text and general look of the user interface is concerned. The Apple OS is rather elegant looking, the Windows one is somewhat cartoonish looking in comparison.

[Notes_Norton]

I got angry with Apple years ago.

 

I write aftermarket software for Band-in-a-Box (additional styles and fake disks).

 

1) Not too long after OSX came out, I called Apple to get a new computer. I wanted a laptop. I told the saleswoman what I would be using it for. Writing styles on a PC and porting them over to Mac to test on Band-in-a-Box. She convinced me I needed a big beautiful eMac, because the laptop wouldn't be able to handle Band-in-a-Box. It was a lie, as I found out later that BiaB ran fine on the laptop of that era. (This was before a decent BiaB forum)

 

2) Apple files still had the same 'Mac Header' information on them, but the new OSX version of Apple File Exchange didn't put the header info on the files. At this time, as a software developer, I was paying a yearly premium for professional help. Pro help said they no longer support anything by Apple software and that feature was no longer available. I went on an Apple forum and found a freeware item to do the job. The Tech could have pointed me in that direction.

 

3) A little more than a month after I bought that big, beautiful eMac, Apple announced it was going to abandon the Power PC chip and switch to Intel, rendering that eMac an orphan. When I told the saleswoman I was a software developer, why did she lead me to buy more than I needed? And why didn't she tell me to wait a few months? I suppose because she was getting commission on sales and just wanted to up my bill and buy something on her ticket (I could be wrong).

 

4) Anyway, I never liked iTunes for my iPod. My old Archos Juke Box just opened a Windows Explorer window so I could drag and drop files on it. iTunes is a slow PITA as far as I'm concerned. Why make it more complicated?

 

5) I don't like iOS hiding so much from me like a simple file manager that would allow me to drag and drop files from my iPad to my laptop. Oh I've got to use this special cable and I can't choose where to drop the files.

 

6) I don't like the lightning port at all. I'd rather a mini USB - Apple lives in the past in that it likes to keep you in the 'family' by doing things no other computer maker does, and using proprietary hardware to keep you from straying. Just when their old iPod connector loses it's patent, along comes Lightning, and neither one offers a practical advantage over the USB connector.

 

And the proprietary nature of Apple products make them expensive and impractical for a road musician. I need two laptops on the gig, but I bring 3 so the odds of failure are slight. But if the unthinkable should happen, I can zip on down to an office supply store or even a WalMart and get a spare. And even if only one of my ThinkPads break down, I can pick up a spare tomorrow anywhere and have 3 computers again so my next gig will have the backup.

 

What Apple has always been good at is design and marketing. Their computers and OS screens just look nice, and they are extremely good at marketing.

 

OSX has a few advantages over Win10, and Win10 does a few things better than OSX. For that it's a toss up.

 

So do I think Apple has lost it's Mojo? My answer is that it lost it long ago for me.

 

But then I was never an Apple or a Windows fanboy. I buy the computer to run the software.

 

* If the software runs much better on Apple, I'll get Apple.

* If it runs better on Windows, I'll get Windows.

* If it runs equally on both, I'll get it for Windows because Windows computers are more universal.

 

But as it stands right now, I have both Apple and Lenovo/Windows products so that I can use the software that works best on each. I find Lenovo ThinkPads every bit as well built as modern Apple computers.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[Ernest Buckley]

I just finished reading "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson. It was a very interesting read and definitely helped me understand Apple a bit more.

 

From what I read, Jobs would have hated the iPen and it never would have launched if he were still alive.

 

The iWatch probably would have happened but Jobs charisma would have sold it more than what its doing now because he would have created a need for it. At this point, the iWatch is just another accessory… they need to hire Jay Z for a couple of commercials wearing the iWatch and actually making it look cool to use…

 

Apple will eventually release a lighter and thinner iPhone that will also require the Lightning Port or whatever they`re calling it and the fact that they purchased those crappy beatz headphones is surely proof that they are lining up their ducks for that move.

 

The goal of iTunes was and is to act as the hub of all music and video on your Apple devices. The issue is that iTunes is not communicating as it should right now… if Jobs were around, this would have been addressed last week! But he's gone so we`ll have to wait but eventually Apple will have to fix it because right now its not intuitive or aesthetically pleasing.

 

 

[Mudgel]

I have a 4th gen iPad and a current iPhone 6s+. But for general computing and DAW I use a self built PC.

 

 

 

i find the combination of Windows on PC and Apple for portables works quite well. I did have an Android phone but found the lack of updates by telcos to be too frustrating. You would hear about all these new features in the latest greatest update but you can't get it without getting a new phone.

 

 

 

i don't get involved in what I perceive as the computing religion where folks are so zealous about their platform of choice. I prefer to go with what works, but that's getting so difficult these days with all the choices that are no longer so clearly defined.

 

 

 

Also the speed of software development is becoming so fast that it's getting harder to keep up. Some days all I seem to do is download and install software updates. It seems that both PC and Apple are the becoming the same in this area. It no longer seems possible to freeze a computer at a given time and leave it that way without incurring some risk of incompatability with others in the same industry as yourself.

 

 

 

Of course I'm at the retired end of the work spectrum so a great deal of pressure has been removed but also some of the discipline that work imposes on you and the things you do. That's not always a fair trade and having the time to do as I please now I sometimes think t myself. Maybe I'll pick up a Mac some time. Nah that's crazy thinking. I don't need one.

[Anderton]

Since everyone on here seems to be answering and admitting they're not big Mac users I think I'll weigh in.

 

I can't even stand to look at windows it's such a piece of crap OS I don't know how to navigate it it's frustrating and convoluted in my opinion. And yes I am not a programmer or tech type. I'm an artist musician songwriter studio guy and I like to be able to do what I need to do unencumbered.

 

At one point the Mac interface was a paragon of elegance and efficiency, and Windows was just DOS with, as Phil would say, a "cartoonish" graphic shell. You could do more with Windows, but Microsoft made it so difficult to figure out how to do those things they might as well have not existed. Also, Windows made several elements complicated on purpose - like formatting a hard drive, so that people using spreadsheets in their offices wouldn't blow things up. Apple just assumed you were an adult and made it easy to format drives. If you blew it up, that was your fault.

 

But over the years, IMO Apple's OS has become more like Windows (starting with OS X, when there started to be "libraries" and such) while Windows has become more Mac-like. Also, both operating systems have stolen a lot from each other. That works both ways - it used to be that Apple innovated, and Windows followed. Now Apple is starting to include features that Windows innovated. There's no doubt that Windows 10 is a huge advancement in the sense of having a uniform OS across desktop and mobile devices, and this time, getting it right as opposed to the Windows 8 horror show. Apple still has a wall between mobile and desktop. I think the difference is Apple's big money is in mobile, so there's no real incentive to migrate that thinking to desktops. Meanwhile, Windows has to hold on to its desktop users and spread to mobile.

 

Overall I find the Mac OS more fluid and the Windows OS more functional. However, before long I suspect they'll achieve parity - for better or worse.

 

 

[blue2blue]

At this point, the iWatch is just another accessory… they need to hire Jay Z for a couple of commercials wearing the iWatch and actually making it look cool to use…

 

[...]

 

Did not appear to work for Tidal.

 

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Ironically, years ago I was a PC user. Craig A and the company we worked for forced be to assimilate.

 

I won't go back. My son has a PC for school (required) and it is a POS. Still huge and clunky with a slide on battery (DELL).

 

He also has my old MBP and to see which one he (at 12 years of age) naturally gravitates to (the macbook Pro) is very telling. I have a 1 year old MBP and an iPhone 6plus. I am considering an iPad Pro. If they would release the iPad Pro with a full functioning OS, it would be all I would require. Time will tell.

 

Recent programs that allow a monthly small fee to upgrade at no premium cost have also helped with my aggregations over constant change. Now that I have an iPhone 6plus ... when I hold an iPhone 4S, I can't believe how small and awkward it is, yet when I owned one, I thought it was amazing.

 

But, I am an Apple Fan Boy and admit it.

 

D

 

ps: And if you know about the development of the iPhone, no matter how much you may dislike iTunes, it was the core architecture that lead to the release of the iPhone iOS.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Just when their old iPod connector loses it's patent, along comes Lightning, and neither one offers a practical advantage over the USB connector.

 

 

To be fair, I think Lightning offers at least one significant advantage over both its thirty-pin predecessor and mini / micro USB plugs - it works regardless of plug orientation. No matter which way you have it oriented, it will plug right in. I can't say the same for any USB cable.

[Ernest Buckley]

Since everyone on here seems to be answering and admitting they're not big Mac users I think I'll weigh in.

 

I can't even stand to look at windows it's such a piece of crap OS I don't know how to navigate it it's frustrating and convoluted in my opinion. And yes I am not a programmer or tech type. I'm an artist musician songwriter studio guy and I like to be able to do what I need to do unencumbered.

 

Well, you`re not alone. I think PCs are crap too. I use one at the office which works fine (thanks to our 24/7 IT team who deals with all the nonsense) but I would never use one for personal or studio use. I started out on a PC way back in 1989 and used one till 2001 so I`m not talking out of my ass on this.

 

When I bit the bullet in 2001, I got a G4. At that point, I was only switching because several collaborators at the time were using Digital Performer which ran only an Apple. It took a good 6 months before I got over the culture shock but there was no turning back.

 

I`m not as pessimistic as you are concerning Apples future. I do think they are struggling in these first couple of years without Jobs but I think they`ll eventually find their way soon enough. The iWatch and iPencil are mistakes but even Jobs had his share so… they`ll bounce back.

 

I do think they would be wise to focus more on improving the iPhone, iMac, iPad, etc... and getting all of these devices to communicate flawlessly. That was Jobs vision.

[Ernest Buckley]

Did not appear to work for Tidal.

 

 

Yup… honestly, I think the iWatch is a waste of time and money. You still have to carry your phone around so what the hell is the point? And honestly, many people wear watches because its a fashion statement so when everyone has the same watch as you, the statement you`re making is, "I`m part of the herd." This is definitely not the Apple way… Be Different… remember that one? Anyway, the iWatch is dead if I had to bet on it.

 

Moving on...

[Notes_Norton]

 

 

To be fair, I think Lightning offers at least one significant advantage over both its thirty-pin predecessor and mini / micro USB plugs - it works regardless of plug orientation. No matter which way you have it oriented, it will plug right in. I can't say the same for any USB cable.

 

True, one advantage, but I must respectfully disagree with the adjective significant. For me it's convenient, but it's small size and possible fragility are a concern of mine.

 

As far as I'm concerned, orientation is not a problem that needs to be addressed. Almost all of my USB connectors have a mark that makes them easy to orient, and I don't think Ive ever tried to plug the 30pin connector into my iPod backwards.

 

Some people might have a problem with that, but I'd guess most of us do not.

 

And if iPods used a mini USB, I would not have to keep a cable in my vehicle to charge my phone or camera, and another to charge my iPod, and even another to charge my iPad.

 

And to transfer things from my iPad to another computer I have to get one of those lightning to USB cables for 30 bucks or so and not have complete control over where I'm copying from and to.

 

I'm on the outside looking in, and don't know for sure, but I suspect the lightning port and so many other Apple innovations are just a way from keeping Apple people from straying.

 

Universal, standard connectors and formats are good. The would would be much more complicated without the 5pin DIN MIDI connector, USB, AC 110v wall plugs, phone jacks/plugs, Standard MIDI file format, and so on.

 

Where would we be without MID?. I started sequencing before Standard MIDI Files came along with a proprietary Yamaha sequencer. When SMFs arrived, I switched, but when my old Yamaha non-SMF sequencer died, I lost 300 backing tracks for my duo.

 

I've been computing long enough to remember when each computer had it's own disk format and many with their own connectors so you couldn't go from one brand to another without losing everything. That file you made on your Commodore wouldn't open in the Mac or IBM because the disk format was incompatible. You chose a computer and were imprisoned with their ecosystem.

 

Then the IBM PC came along and pretty soon everybody but Apple became "IBM Compatible". IBM no longer makes microcomputers, but the standards have stayed and grown with the years. And that's a good thing. I use ThinkPad computers on the gig exclusively. I have one that I bought in 2000 that is still cranking as I make my living with it doing one-nighters. Bulletproof. But if Lenovo ever does something that makes me want to 'jump ship', I can get a Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Sony or whatever, because of the standards. If the Mac loses it's Mojo completely, the Apple people will have a huge investment of time and money to switch to another brand - because Apple is stuck in the proprietary past.

 

Back in the Motorola Mac vs DOS vs Atari days, I preferred Mac. To write and test styles for Band-in-a-Box, all three computers were necessary. And I continued to prefer Macs right up to Windows 95. That's when I decided for the work I do, both OS's were about even. Each had it's pros and cons but neither one reigned supreme. True Macs always looked better while Windows is more pedestrian, but I care more about the work I do than what it looks like.

 

I can get the job done in either platform, which one does the app I'm using work better on? That's the OS I want to use it with. And if it's a tie, I'll use Windows.

 

I like that the PC gives me the independence of choice of manufacturers and doesn't stick me with proprietary connections, ports, and so on. I like that there are more apps available for Windows. I like that the peripherals are easier to find and less expensive using the standard PC connectors and Windows OS.

 

But I do think Macs are prettier.

 

Neither one is easier to use, some things easier on the Mac, others on Windows.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[Anderton]

What I don't understand is the need people have to use one platform or the other, other than the expense of having two computers (although a screaming PC and Mac cost much less than a Mac Plus did). I have both, am fluid on both, and use both regularly. I use a PC for heavy-duty audio and video because it's a lot more powerful for a lot less money. I use a Mac more for personal use, and I've bought into the Mac thing - Desktop, laptop, iPhone, iPad. I don't have a Windows tablet or a Windows phone, just a desktop and laptop (however that may change with Windows 10).

 

I think there's a tendency to get good at something and therefore, something else becomes uncomfortable. Also if you jump off the bus, you don't know if it's changed its route. Like Ernest jumping off Windows in 2001 and never turning back...well, Windows sure has gotten a whole lot better (and cheaper) in the past 14 years. Windows is so much more capable now from a technical standpoint than it was back then. However, there's also no doubt that Windows 8 was a horrible, execrable experience (the first time I didn't update Windows, I'm still on 7). At least it sent a wake-up call to Microsoft that could not be denied. And Core Audio is way better than Windows native audio, although Windows 10 is moving in the right direction and Microsoft's expectation is they will catch up to Core Audio in a couple years,if not sooner. Color is also handled much better on the Mac, which is why it remains essential for desktop publishing and I believe will remain so for the foreseeable future.

 

But if you trick out a Windows computer, it will runs circles around a Mac in terms of price/performance ratio and if it blows up in the middle of the night, you can be back in operation within 24 hours. That's why I use Windows for mission-critical work, and the Mac for everything else. Best of both worlds, and all that.

[Craig Vecchione]

I didn't know that! I find it mildly annoying that no matter what connector I pick up, it's guaranteed to be oriented wrong. Fixed!!!!!