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Apple Sues Over Leak

hob said:
Has nobody thought of the obvious - 5GB flash card rumors... iPhone... maybe it's much more of an iPodPhone than anyone thought - I mean what would be the point of Motorola getting iTunes licensed and everything just so their phone can play 5-10 songs?

Hob
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That would be pretty sweet, on a side note, Dell is now ofering a DJ mini like thing with 5GB hard drives. They also have the stupidity to say "It holds twice as many songs as the ipod mini." Really!?! That one freaking GB doubles the capacity, how stupid are the masses really?
 
jared_kipe said:
That would be pretty sweet, on a side note, Dell is now ofering a DJ mini like thing with 5GB hard drives. They also have the stupidity to say "It holds twice as many songs as the ipod mini." Really!?! That one freaking GB doubles the capacity, how stupid are the masses really?
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Well, I don't know where you took your "twice as many songs as the iPod mini" quote, but if you do go on their website:

DELL 5 GB Pocket Digital Jukebox MP3 Player

"Data Storage Capability: Up to 2500 songs (64 kbps WMA audio format) / Up to 1200 songs (128 kbps MP3 audio format) in 5 GB hard drive"

That only means they're using the 64 kbps WMA to rate the capacity of their player on their main page (instead of 128 kbps MP3). I suppose Microsoft told them that WMA at 64 kbps is as good as 128 kbps MP3. :D

Lame, lame, lame.
 
Nobody here seems to have mentioned this

kjr39 said:
Yahoo Link
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It seems strange to me that nobody here has mentioned the fact that Apple, the MPAA, RIAA etc can easily sue anybody, but it is not so easy for them to win. They do it in order to inimidate people in order to keep them in line.

Unfortunately for Apple, the consumer rules in California and unless propriety info was revealed I personally don't see Apple winning this one.

Especially if the rumor is a result of openly available info - hypothetical example, "Samsung say Apple has ordered 500,000 2Gig flash memory cards from them". Well, if people find openly available info and put 2+2 together, then Apple has ZERO chance of winning.

If Apple can prove that propriety info was leaked, even then, they'd have a hard time getting a conviction against the poster. They would only get a conviction against the one who leaked the info, and not necessarily against the one who posted it.

As the RIAA found out in its suit against Verizon, US justices are not too keen on making ISPs etc divulge their users names and addresses.

As I said, I don't see Apple winning this one, I see it more as a scare tactic to intimidate those thinking of posting rumors in the future. I also think that they are probably working like crazy behind the scenes to find the source of these leaks so that they can fire/sue that person.
 
not a hardware product...

Isn't it possible that this isn't about a hardware product at all, but is instead aimed at locking down bootleg versions of Tiger? Apple's gotten more and more tight-fisted about pre-release OS versions, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if that's what was going on...

There was also a bit of a freak-out on the various BT trackers when the latest 10.4 build was "released," which I think could come from fear of an imminent lawsuit -- maybe some folks got word that Apple was rattling its saber?
 
jared_kipe said:
That would be pretty sweet, on a side note, Dell is now ofering a DJ mini like thing with 5GB hard drives. They also have the stupidity to say "It holds twice as many songs as the ipod mini." Really!?! That one freaking GB doubles the capacity, how stupid are the masses really?
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They are trying to say that if you encode your CDs at 64kb using Microsoft's audio format that you can have twice as much music. I went to a introduction to Microsoft's technologies a few years ago and they said you can store twice as much music if you just encode everything at 64kb. Their audio format will still sound as good as 128kb (it doesn't). It was a sales pitch to get people to drop the mp3 standard. Also they don't tell you that when you buy music from online stores that it will be encoded with at least 128kb from Microsoft and other non-iTunes stores. So you don't get the advantage of twice the capacity by adding that extra GB.

"It holds twice as many songs as the ipod mini" is taken out of context. I am surprised they don't get sued.
 
BornAgainMac said:
They are trying to say that if you encode your CDs at 64kb using Microsoft's audio format that you can have twice as much music. I went to a introduction to Microsoft's technologies a few years ago and they said you can store twice as much music if you just encode everything at 64kb. Their audio format will still sound as good as 128kb (it doesn't). It was a sales pitch to get people to drop the mp3 standard. Also they don't tell you that when you buy music from online stores that it will be encoded with at least 128kb from Microsoft and other non-iTunes stores. So you don't get the advantage of twice the capacity by adding that extra GB.

"It holds twice as many songs as the ipod mini" is taken out of context. I am surprised they don't get sued.
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I can beat them all with my 1 GB player which can hold ten times as much music as the iPod mini et al. - all my music is encoded in pristine 8 kbps! ;) :rolleyes:
 
We should becareful

One of us might be/one of the ones sued...
But I think it is great. Only in America you can file a law suit when you dont know who the person is you are taking to court... no wonder layers are loved so much there :D
 
Edot said:
Isn't Apple shooting themselves in the foot? If they just ignored the "leaked" information then the public and other companies would remain skeptical, and not really know what Apple is doing. Now they have pretty much confirmed that whatever was "leaked" was real, and they want to know who is responsible. I don't understand it. At least sue after the actual product has been released.
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My thoughts exactly. Now we know there is a confirmed rumor out there, somewhere.
 
gerlitzappel said:
My thoughts exactly. Now we know there is a confirmed rumor out there, somewhere.
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But the fact remains, you still do not know for certain what that specific rumor is, thereby making it a moot point. :p :cool:
 
~Shard~ said:
But the fact remains, you still do not know for certain what that specific rumor is, thereby making it a moot point. :p :cool:
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Or if it's an already shipping product, further making the confirmation of a rumor pointless -- usually the shipping product does that. :p

Watch it'll probably be for something like the iPod mini, Photo, or U2 rumor.

Would be really sad if it was for the iMac G5, since Apple spilled the beans on that one.
 
appleguy said:
One of us might be/one of the ones sued...
But I think it is great. Only in America you can file a law suit when you dont know who the person is you are taking to court... no wonder layers are loved so much there :D
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We have a great system here in the US. It may be the worst system, but it is better than anywhere else. Our lawyers make sure that there is full employment for all lawyers.
 
woodsey said:
Dont know if its still around, but steve used to have a plaque from world war two, hanging in apple HQ, which read;

Loose Lips Sink Ships

I think this could be particularly applicable to the rumors regarding a flash based iPod, because if people become aware of a cheaper iPod, it could realy hurt the more expensive iPod's pre-christmas sales.
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But what if someone really want's a flash based player, but Ipod quality and design and ease of use.

What if a switcher want's a new Imac, for example, and buys a new G4 Imac 3 weeks before the G5 is released?

It's the customer that looses out. How about discounting current, end of production cycle products, and being honest about whats going to be released, and when it is going to be released, and how much it is going to cost?

With that type of honesty and information, I CAN DECIDE if I want a discounted g4 imac now, at $200 less then a new g5 imac (or whatever) or wait for the more expensive g5 version.

By the way I have not yet had the opportunity to buy a *new* apple computer, so this situation has not happened to me. :-> I am user though.

Yeah Apple may loose a tiny little bit of profit by doing this. Honesty and ethics has it's cost's sometimes. Upset customers who purchase products, at the same price, as they would on new, better products had they waited a few weeks has it's costs to a company as well.

As consumers, (I assume all of us are) this benefits us. If Apple (or any company) can be honest with us, that would promote customer loyalty in a big way.
 
~Shard~ said:
Very true - I actually meant to say I would like to see more Mac advertisements an promotion in general as opposed to strictly "commericals" - I agree, TV is a specific media addressing a specific group and has specific characteristics.

That being said, I've seen many iMac adverts in magazines such as BusinessWeek, Fortune and many others, however I would still like to see them push it more. :cool:
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Interesting the lack of computer (Imac) commercials is an issue here. Especially when considering the much praised and very classic 1984 commerical.
 
rdowns said:
Not true. They have added Opie and Anthony as a premium service- an extra 2 bucks a month. I expect both services to add more and more "premium" content.

http://www.xmradio.com/programming/neighborhood.jsp?hood=premium
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Ah... then I guess that little card that comes with it showing me the channels are outdated. Whoopsie. But there is quite a bit of other free channels on XM... and it is bundled in all GM cars.

I wonder if we are missing something. Like, this might be over something much much else than current rumors. The time it would take to confirm, etc... it could even be over a code name for something.

Remember, it wasn't me!
 
remingtonhill said:
But what if someone really want's a flash based player, but Ipod quality and design and ease of use.

What if a switcher want's a new Imac, for example, and buys a new G4 Imac 3 weeks before the G5 is released?

It's the customer that looses out. How about discounting current, end of production cycle products, and being honest about whats going to be released, and when it is going to be released, and how much it is going to cost?
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I see where you're coming from, and it does make sense. But - I remember reading a book by the guy who did Dilbert, and he referenced a technology company who went bankrupt - and this is how:

Hey! Welcome to X Electronics! We're just working on our X-100 system, it'll do X Y and Z - Pre order now, for release July!

June: Hey! as well as the X-100 system, you can now order the X-250, which will do X Y and Z 2x faster - Pre order now!
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And so on and so on, and by the time their 4th generation product was ready they'd lost so much money due to customers holding off on buying, waiting for the next one.

On the flipside, a friend of mine just bought a powerbook, knowing full well that there was likely to be a new one announced at MWSF, but wanting it all the same...

I dunno, I think the amount a company would lose due to people waiting would be more than they'd make with people chosing...

If that makes sense

Hob
 
BornAgainMac said:
Also they don't tell you that when you buy music from online stores that it will be encoded with at least 128kb from Microsoft and other non-iTunes stores. So you don't get the advantage of twice the capacity by adding that extra GB.
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Worse since, as you said, at least 128. Some are even higher, so even less space. And they still don't sound as good as AAC at 128. :p Most people nowadays know what up to means anyway.
 
Best system?

wdlove said:
We have a great system here in the US. It may be the worst system, but it is better than anywhere else. Our lawyers make sure that there is full employment for all lawyers.
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What makes you think the U.S. legal system is better than anywhere else?

:)

Next thing you know you will be saying that the U.S. has the best intelligence in the world. lol
 
AidenShaw said:
This test doesn't agree with you....


http://www.rjamorim.com/test/128extension/results.html

"All modern codecs are tied at first place, simple as that."
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If you'd like, I can post some links to other sites that would disagree with you. In my informal tests, WMA sounds a little better than MP3s at the same bit rate, but still worse than AAC (though to be fair, not by much). If you'd like to provide a link to someone saying WMA is better, I would like to see it.

Though I suppose, if your point is WMAs at 192 sound better than AACs at 128, I suppose that could be argued at true. AACs at 192 are pretty much no contest.
 
hob said:
I see where you're coming from, and it does make sense. But - I remember reading a book by the guy who did Dilbert, and he referenced a technology company who went bankrupt - and this is how:
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http://www.pattosoft.com.au/jason/Articles/HistoryOfComputers/1980s.html
http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html

It was the Osbourne 1 - everyone was busy waiting for the Osbourne 2 and therefore holding off buying the 1. As sales dropped to zero the company ran out of cash and went bust before they could release the 2.

At the end of the day, Apple is sat on a pile of cash and is debt-free - so they must be doing something right.
 
solvs said:
Though I suppose, if your point is WMAs at 192 sound better than AACs at 128, I suppose that could be argued at true. AACs at 192 are pretty much no contest.
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Note the "128" in the URL that I posted - the tests were blind comparisons of 128 Kbps tracks. (For the VBR codecs, it was 128 average.)

The AAC codec is a good one, but so is WMA. The conclusion of the test was that there's no significant quality difference between them on most material. (Where there is a difference, sometimes AAC comes out ahead, sometimes WMA.)

People who categorically claim that AAC is better are either fanbois or Apple marketeers. AAC at 128 and WMA at 128 both suck the same.

I won't buy AAC at 128 Kbps, neither will I buy WMA at 128 Kbps (and MP3 isn't even worth considering). Until I can legally download lossless or very nearly lossless, I'll buy CDs and rip....

Anyway, what was the lawsuit about?
 
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