All iPads Is the iPad really a Post-PC device?

Now i only use my PC for downloading movie or music.

People said Ipad is limited, its not seem limited to me. Depends on your usage.

Regarding your question on music and icloud, let wait for others to comment.

An iPad is not a post PC device since it lacks many basic functions that should be common sense, such as copy and pasting files. An Android tablet is a true post PC device because it can do so much more common sense things.

Nothing is certain for digital music’s future.

The only thing we can be sure of is that it will continue to become easier to listen to, download, stream, watch, over the coming years.

Services like Spotify are really exciting for the consumer, and as they become more popular it puts pressure on iTunes to change.

I don't think it's out of question to imagine an iTunes where all the music is available to you for a monthly fee.

How does this affect the albums you've purchased over the years?

Is it fair that you have paid for a content over the years and your friend has download everything illegally, but now they have the same legit music as you because they pay monthly?

How would the iTunes app look on both desktop and mobile if you could listen to anything?

I think the things above are things you should concern yourself with instead of Apple losing any licenses, which won't happen for a long time.

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SomeDudeAsking said:

An iPad is not a post PC device since it lacks many basic functions that should be common sense, such as copy and pasting files. An Android tablet is a true post PC device because it can do so much more common sense things.

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An iPad IS a post PC device because it doesn't have any files.

Lot of great professional applications...

Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Procreate, iDraw, iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand..ect

A few more tweaks will make it a more powerful of a tool.

Derrik said:

If the iPad really is PC Free, then how can we be certain that all our music, movies, television shows, etc. will always be available via iCloud? What happens if I buy ten albums on my iOS device and Apple loses their license(s) for my purchased content? They would tell me it was my responsibility to have backed those files up to a hard drive, but since iPads have no support for that kind of thing, it seems we are at the mercy for iTunes in the Cloud (and not really PC Free or Post-PC at all). I think this is a major hurdle in ensuring that we always have what we buy on our PC Free devices. What does everyone here think about this? How do we buy only an iPad and still always be privileged to what we buy? Why can't Apple place copies of each sold/licensed track into each of our accounts so as to never have that content disappear from the user's devices?

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The cloud is a matter of trust, but I can tell you I have apps and music I bought through iTunes which are no longer available for sale, but I can still download the music.

FWIW any music you buy from Amazon is not redownloadable for free. I lost a drive with some albums and I will have to pay again if I want those tracks.

SomeDudeAsking said:

An iPad is not a post PC device since it lacks many basic functions that should be common sense, such as copy and pasting files. An Android tablet is a true post PC device because it can do so much more common sense things.

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jabingla2810 said:

An iPad IS a post PC device because it doesn't have any files.

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Post PC has nothing to do with whether you see a filesystem or not. It refers to the fact that you don't need a traditional PC to do the things you normally need a computer for.

I think the concern expressed in the OP is a valid one, but I do think the viewpoint is a little misplaced. If in the future you aren't able to download something you purchased, is that a failing of the iPad or of Post-PC devices in general? Or is it more of a reflection of the entertainment industry and their legal teams not catching up with the Post-PC era? Because, you know, they've never been guilty of being behind the times before.

darngooddesign said:

The cloud is a matter of trust, but I can tell you I have apps and music I bought through iTunes which are no longer available for sale, but I can still download the music.

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Same here. Non of the Harry Potter movies are available for purchase anymore. But I was still able to buy a copy off Amazon that included a digital copy (UltraViloet, but I requested and got a copy from iTunes) and was still able to download it. And I am still able to stream it from iCloud anytime I want. that doesn't mean it's always going to stay that way, but I think it's a good sign.

Of course it's a Post-PC device.
I sold my Macbook Pro for an iPad as I was only browsing the web, writing the odd notes ( which are more so with Uni now) and managing my music and videos.
As I was given a Windows laptop, i only use it to stream the movies i have on my portable hard drives, and Dropbox i use to store any documents like for Uni, and photos too.
Evernote stores all my notes i type in every week, and Pages to do any reports.

Definitely a Post-PC device. Even if this is the first step.

Its a really good question. For me the ipad is a complementary device, I work with programs that require a mouse/pen, tablet set up and a lot of screen space. But I think a lot of users could cut the cord from the pc. A more likely scenario is people keeping their pcs, but using and updating them far less frequently. I mean, outside of shrinking form factors and reduced power demands, nothing of interest has occurred on the pc/laptop in 10 years. I think there is some momentum for convergence, but i see a lot of benefits in having a tablet and a laptop.

A LOT of people seem to be misunderstanding what it means to be in a "post PC" environment. It doesn't meant that PCs are going away. Desktops will still be around and will continue to serve a purpose. So will laptops. This is what tech hipsters and some bloggers (and even Microsoft) doesn't get.

We also live in a "post mainframe" environment. But guess what? They still exist. We just call them "servers" now, and your iPad uses them quite a bit to do what it does.

"Post PC" means that we are no longer using the PC a central, always-necessary device. As in, no longer needing to get in front of a PC to do basic things. For computing tasks that require heavy lifting, a desktop/laptop will still be ideal.

So yes, the iPad IS a "post-PC" device.

Derrik said:

What happens if I buy ten albums on my iOS device and Apple loses their license(s) for my purchased content?

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Apple is not required to own license to every piece of music you store in Match/iCloud. If that was the case - iTunes Match would only support music sold by Apple. Any music you may own that's not available in iTunes Music Store is uploaded to iCloud and made available to you as long as you remain Match customer.

The situation is a bit different with movies - there is no "iTunes Match for Movies" available (yet). But even if Apple stops selling a particular movie title - your iPad local copy doesn't disappear.

If your content is irreplaceable and truly valueable to you.. For instance -you own a large library or photos or home made videos.. The best (and really the only) thing to do is invest a few hundred bucks on a home backup system. And it's going to cost less than paying Apple every month for additional iCloud storage (you only get 2GB free).

For most people - the whole notion of iPad-as-a-single-device + Cloud backup is neither viable nor cost effective as of now.

I think we are heading back to centralized computing and storage.
In my early computing days, everyone had "dumb" terminals (keystrokes sent to the mainframe and the mainframe sent screen info back for display). All the programs resided and executed within the mainframe environment. Storage space also only existing within the mainframe.

Then decentralized computing took hold (PCs, laptops, and tablets).

Now in my company we are slowly moving back to centralized computing. We have USB sticks that turn PCs/laptops into dumb terminals and the programs (apps) and storage are mainframe based (all possible now because of the availability of high-speed networks). No end user support issues, very cheap/disposable "dumb" terminals in desktop/laptop/tablet form, and little need to update the end user hardware.

Apps and storage space can be purchased outright or the user can be charged per use with access to any app (games included).

So the post-PC era to me is back where I started; i.e., dumb terminals. So for an iPad to be true post-PC, it would just have a high-res screen, input method (touch or keyboard), and a single network access program that allows you secure access the iMainframe. Even Safari would be an iMainframe based and executed app you would own or pay per use.

VFC said:

So the post-PC era to me is back where I started; i.e., dumb terminals. So for an iPad to be true post-PC, it would just have a high-res screen, input method (touch or keyboard), and a single network access

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That's not really what "post-PC" means, at least in the way Steve Jobs used the phrase. The poster above described the meaning of "post-PC" very well - PC is no longer a central device and computing is distributed across a wide variety of devices.. which still include PCs, but also (and more increasingly) smartphones and tablets.

What you're describing is the notion of thin computing.. i.e. what Google is attempting to do with ChromeOS. I think this concept is dead in the water, outside of tightly controlled corporate environments. Even when we have ubiqutous / cheap / ultra-high-bandwidth wireless networks (not for another 15-20 years) - there are latency constraints that will always make thin computing an inferior user expereince.

I think it post-pc is when you don't have to sit down in front of a computer and work on it. It applies the same way for laptops as well even though laptops are mobile, you still have to have a keyboard, a mouse/track pad, and your screen is flopped up.

While on an ipad, you can carry around like a laptop, no need for keyboard or mouse, and you can use it truly anywhere unlike a traditional pc/laptop.

I think people are hung up on the fact your PC can do so much more, but think about it - you are plugged into a wall outlet 100% of the time, while even on a laptop, you are still getting 4 hours or so for real powerhouse work done on battery.

On the ipads, you can do the most important things that you spend the most time on your pc doing: checking emails, replaying to emails, playing a few games, watching movies, texting, etc. On a pc, you do the same things but it's just lame doing it on that now when you got an ipad that can do those things much much better than any pc.

I think we will see more powerful ipads that will enable more content creation, etc. Right now, you can even encode 1080p videos on the fly in an ipad. Look at imovie, pinnacle studio for ipad - you can edit videos and everything else on an ipad!

We are just starting out post-pc - once the much improved hardware catches up and the software will also catch up to the pc level of things and you will not want to be on a pc most of the things you do.

I can take a dump and while doing that, edit a video, text, surf the web, listen to music streamed, and much more - you can't do that even with a MBA at the moment!

Anti-Lucifer said:

I can take a dump and while doing that [..]

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You really should keep the details of what you can and can't do while "taking a dump" to yourself. No one is all that interested.

ctyrider said:

You really should keep the details of what you can and can't do while "taking a dump" to yourself. No one is all that interested.

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deep down inside, you are saying to yourself, "I do just that"

VFC said:

...So the post-PC era to me is back where I started; i.e., dumb terminals. So for an iPad to be true post-PC, it would just have a high-res screen, input method (touch or keyboard), and a single network access program that allows you secure access the iMainframe. Even Safari would be a iMainframe based and executed app you would own or pay per use.

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Wouldn't that make it the Pre-PC era?