iTunes Apple bashing... I can't believe I'm defending Apple

[chazmox]

I am not much on conspiracy theories, however, this article does seem like a MS "shot across the bow" to discredit iTunes. I can imagine that Gates saw this come out and wish that it was something he had done - MS SO wants to be a media gateway.

Krakow takes some potshots at Apple such as the revenue peaking on initial release and then dying down and the seemingly purposely mistaken comment about where a burnt CD could be read! Of course we see his mistake - but others read his article and say "See - it doesn't play everywhere!"

Now that I think about it, I don't at all put it past MS to do this and use the media in this fashion - lord knows they done other equally as nefarious things in marketing products. They are probably VERY concerned about iTunes music store coming to Windows and want to do anything to stop that.

 

[pgwalsh]

Here's a good article and it has more to do with Apple than just iToons. It's by Macnet2. I think it's good, but he should offer a second article on what needs to change.

http://macnet2.com/more.php?id=338_0_1_0

 

[MorganX]

Originally posted by pgwalsh
Here's a good article and it has more to do with Apple than just iToons. It's by Macnet2. I think it's good, but he should offer a second article on what needs to change.

http://macnet2.com/more.php?id=338_0_1_0

Thanks for the link. Fantastic read. With regards to AAC though, I'm going to buy the track he's talkign about.

Anyone who has read my posts know I have not qualms about bashing Apple when they suck. But this is just not one of them. And the proof is in the pudding.

If I download the track and it's not a worthless file and sounds great, then clearly there's something technical going on. I don't believe in magic. There is a technical answer if they are truly getting such poor quality from their AAC files purchased at the Music Store.

 

[Kid Red]

I hope everyone has emailed this guy to inform him of his suspected agenda and glaring mistakes concerning iTunes?

 

[MorganX]

Originally posted by Kid Red
I hope everyone has emailed this guy to inform him of his suspected agenda and glaring mistakes concerning iTunes?

After reading the article I think it was totally on target with the exception of his AAC experience. He didn't mention the specific "2" tracks he downloaded so I'll just grab their top 3 or 4 hits for my own evaluation.

 

[Taft]

Originally posted by pgwalsh
Here's a good article and it has more to do with Apple than just iToons. It's by Macnet2. I think it's good, but he should offer a second article on what needs to change.

http://macnet2.com/more.php?id=338_0_1_0

First, I have no idea about the "true quality" of AAC files. What I have is a bunch of articles saying its good (better than mp3, worse than vorbis) a few articles and opinions saying its bad (bottom of the barrel bad) and my own observation that the format is indeed an improvement over mp3 and that at a bitrate of 192 there is very little difference between the CD and the aac file. So I personally bless the format.

Second, in regards to MacNET, I think this guy's opinion has been completely clouded by a bad customer service experience.

I am not an Apple zealot to the point where I think they are infallible. They have and do make mistakes. But the tone of this article makes it clear this guys has lost all objectivity towards Apple and its products. It is a very good thing they are no longer doing reviews, IMO.

I like objetive reviews. I always read a lot of them before making technological decisions. Neither of these articles (the MSNBC or MacNET) seem to me to be objective. MSNBC made some very glaring errors (meaning they are either incompetant and objective or not objective) and MacNET's article is simple loaded with hatred towards Apple.

If you are looking for a fair consideration of the capabilities and quality of AAC files, I would go to another source. If you were me, you'd read a few different sources.

Taft

 

[pgwalsh]

Originally posted by Taft
First, I have no idea about the "true quality" of AAC files. What I have is a bunch of articles saying its good (better than mp3, worse than vorbis) a few articles and opinions saying its bad (bottom of the barrel bad) and my own observation that the format is indeed an improvement over mp3 and that at a bitrate of 192 there is very little difference between the CD and the aac file. So I personally bless the format.

Second, in regards to MacNET, I think this guy's opinion has been completely clouded by a bad customer service experience.

I am not an Apple zealot to the point where I think they are infallible. They have and do make mistakes. But the tone of this article makes it clear this guys has lost all objectivity towards Apple and its products. It is a very good thing they are no longer doing reviews, IMO.

I like objetive reviews. I always read a lot of them before making technological decisions. Neither of these articles (the MSNBC or MacNET) seem to me to be objective. MSNBC made some very glaring errors (meaning they are either incompetant and objective or not objective) and MacNET's article is simple loaded with hatred towards Apple.

If you are looking for a fair consideration of the capabilities and quality of AAC files, I would go to another source. If you were me, you'd read a few different sources.

Taft

I agree with you that his article is based on a bad customer service experience, but the article does point out something of even greater concern. Apples ignorance. However, that part is for another forum. But I agree with him on the fact that Apple should have released iToones for Windows at the same time. It is "stupid" that they didn't. They cut off a huge portion of the market. Doh! They should have realized that with the iPod.

 

[MorganX]

There is a problem!

I downloaded Tears for Fears 2 biggest hits, Shout and Sowing the seeds of love. Those are their hits to me anyway.

And the gentleman from MacNet is right. They sound like crap. I'm not even going to bother wasting a CD to test it on a Hi-Fi system. Garbage in, garbage out.

I've downloaded 44 songs including these two and these are the only two that sound like this. The others exceed my expectations.

Obviously the problem is with the encoding of these specific files and not AAC. I don't know if Apple or the record company is doing the encoding but there is a problem.

Apple needs to get on this right away, take a look at how the AAC files for these two tracks were created and acknowledge and issue. It's either a training issue or an issue with the masters.

It is curious though, this guy found two bad files in 200,000. And maybe the guy on MSNBC did too. Hmmm.

Hope Apple is listening to its customers. This one should be easy to deflate.

edit: I wonder if I can return these two songs :>