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Apple Updates GarageBand With New Instruments and Sounds to Celebrate Chinese Music

robjulo said:
Tim only cares about human rights when it is convenient and easy to do so and won't impact the bottom line.
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Uh huh. Actually, he only cares about LGBT equality, everyone else can go get stuffed. If it's affecting the bottom line that is. /s
 
mejsric said:
China is on Earth, right? How about lets get along, all humans.
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I think china treats their own people far worse than anyone else does. Well, except maybe with the exception of pre ww2 japanese invaders.

Been to china and a number of asian countries. Very nice people. China is kind of like here in mexico, the government is the biggest problem. Then again thats true in most places, just at different levels.
 
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garirry said:
If they can add Chinese instruments and music to Apple Loops, then they have no excuse not to add music and instruments from other cultures as well.
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I'm sure the choice of instruments have something to do with the number of the world's population that listens to/plays the instruments. Those instruments are also heavily used in other east asian countries, especially the Pipa.
 
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Soba said:
Of course they have an excuse. Those other cultures aren't actively threatening their business. Why bother catering to customers if they're not depressing your stock price?

Apple changed the naming scheme of their OS releases to reflect place names in California—as well as moved production of the Mac Pro to the United States—at a time when they were under heavy criticism for not paying enough American taxes. That criticism has abated, so what we have now is Apple possibly renaming OS X entirely (see recent stories on the "macOS" trademark; I feel like it's back to the future) and the Mac Pro is so neglected that it is more likely to be discontinued rather than updated, so one has to wonder what will happen to those American production jobs.

Apple was recently threatened by China to the point that the iBooks and iTunes movies stores were blocked in country. Now we have this GarageBand update that is China-focused, coupled with the major investment in Didi Chuxing. I wonder how this will play out?
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Tim Cook is a patriotic guy, and his attempts to bring production here had nothing to do with the tax issue. He'd bring more here if corps hadn't decimated the U.S. manufacturing industry. But when a large portion of Apple's iPhone revenue is suddenly coming from China, Apple is a bit beholden to making sure that market is satisfied with their product offerings. Apple would be foolish to NOT be in the Chinese market. And while Didi /may/ be partially to appease the Chinese government, this is obviously also an autonomous car thing and securing a place in that market within China by collaborating with a local company.

The stock price is unfortunately a real issue for Apple because so much of the pay package Apple employees get comes from stock. If the stock price tanks, it's going to be harder to retain good employees.

If you want to blame someone for this kowtowing to the Chinese government, blame Presidents Clinton and G.W. Bush for pushing the WTO to accept China as a member. That action triggered the whole mess we're in now with them. This is what we get when we decide free trade is a great idea with a communist regime – a commu-capitalist hybrid where the government can impinge on companies with their oppressive agenda by flexing their financial power.
 
How about actually discussing the software instead of the politics?

I have downloaded the new GarageBand 2.1.1 on iOS 9.3.2 on my iPhone 5S. I cannot find the Erhu or Pipa instrument or the new Chinese loops anywhere in the app. I can find the Chinese percussion (drums and gongs), however. There are no other new instruments or loops in the app at all compared to the previous version, as far as I can tell. I'm an English-language user and my iPhone 5S is set up with English as the default language. I wonder if these new instruments and loops are only available if you set up your iPhone for Chinese (which I can't handle).

Over to GarageBand for Mac OS X: Yes, there are a new Erhu and Pipa and Chinese drum sample libraries. But this is not a big deal. These same instruments (represented by different, older sample libraries) have been available in the GarageBand Legacy World Instrument Jam Pack for more than a decade. (Back in 2006 the Jam Packs had to be purchased separately as add-ons to GarageBand, and they were very expensive. But for several years now all the Legacy Jam Packs have been included for free with every installation of GarageBand, meaning that all GarageBand users have already had a pipa, erhu and Chinese drums for years whether they knew it or not.) The World Instruments Jam Pack, as the name says, has many different instruments from ethnic music traditions all over the world, not just China.

The Chinese loop collection just released is a totally new idea for GarageBand. I'm checking out the Peking Opera loops now.

I presume these new virtual instrument sample libraries and loops are going to be pushed out in an update to Apple MainStage as well.
 
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Worlds second largest economy. The surprise is really that more of an effort wasn't made earlier.
 
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Kowtowing to the dollar it seems. Cook et al just can't resist the market share, and I thought Zuckerberg looked foolish. Next, turn over your encryption keys and trade secrets.
 
It’s sad to see Apple whoring itself out to China.

I totally get a world economy, and trade is great for all. But Apple is going to such great lengths (publicly) to gain acceptance.

Jump. How high?
 
carrrrrlos said:
It’s sad to see Apple whoring itself out to China.

I totally get a world economy, and trade is great for all. But Apple is going to such great lengths (publicly) to gain acceptance.

Jump. How high?
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Well, sounds like Tim is in China every 18 months or so, which probably meant to squeeze as many positive news in for that region as possible. The Garageband instruments for example are not just compiled over night I guess so they waited with the update until it made sense in for them to release it.
 
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Why was GarageBand free for a whole year b/t October 2013 to September 2014? How did I still miss out smh.…
 
Is it me or did they just release a second update on Mac, 10.1.2 for "Stability Improvements"?
 
This is all just a massive PR campaign to pump up iPhone sales in China. Sales have been plummeting and they need the goodwill and positive news cycles to turn the image of the brand around there.
 
Asarien said:
Apple's gunning for China, hard.
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Pandering to the Chinese government is just a start. Apple has always been vigilant in creating a great marketing strategy. Based on the recent experience, Apple has gained valuable knowledge they didn't have earlier. Firmly committed to do whatever it takes, Apple is sure to succeed.
 
Cook is desperate, he is licking chinese * and pretending he likes it in the video...
 
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