itunes on driod and/or blackberry

[Rantipole]

So... any chance in heck of this happening? I'm guessing from the Palm Pre fiasco the answer is "no". I think this is a mistake by Apple. Just as iTunes is on a PC, why not on different phone OS's?

 

[stridemat]

Unless the Court's get involved then I can't see it happening. Its a big selling point for the iPhones (and other i devices). Through iTunes you get access to the Apple Marketplace.

 

[old-wiz]

Not likely to happen. The courts won't see it as a monopoly. Apple considers iTunes part of iPod/iPod Touch/iPhone infrastructure so there's zero reason for them to support any other devices. Besides, the other mfgrs wouldn't take kindly to Apple monkeying around with their devices.

 

[Rantipole]

Not really interested in the court's view on this.

Obviously, Apple can't have iTunes with an entire app store on another platform--simply because it wouldn't really work. But they can certainly support a music-only iTunes. Maybe even books. Apple would not be monkeying around with their devices any more than they do by having iTunes for Windoze.

 

[old-wiz]

Not really interested in the court's view on this.

Obviously, Apple can't have iTunes with an entire app store on another platform--simply because it wouldn't really work. But they can certainly support a music-only iTunes. Maybe even books. Apple would not be monkeying around with their devices any more than they do by having iTunes for Windoze.

iTunes for windows only supports Apple devices. If Apple were to support other devices people would be less likely to buy apple devices. There's no way Apple would want to do it.

The reason stridemat and I brought up the issue of courts is people think the courts should force Apple to support non-apple devices via iTunes.

 

[sn0warmy]

I have Doubletwist installed on my mac and on my Nexus One. The desktop interface is practically identical to iTunes and it's snappier than iTunes. And when you install the app it will automatically transfer your artists, albums, songs, and playlists from iTunes.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Not really interested in the court's view on this.

Obviously, Apple can't have iTunes with an entire app store on another platform--simply because it wouldn't really work. But they can certainly support a music-only iTunes. Maybe even books. Apple would not be monkeying around with their devices any more than they do by having iTunes for Windoze.

Slightly off target. iTunes is part of the ecosystem. Letting other devices come into that ecosystem would be a terrible idea. Windows iTunes still only supports Apple media players. Books have DRM so it's difficult making them work with many readers. Other devices being allowed into iTunes would mean less iPods sold. No way.

I have Doubletwist installed on my mac and on my Nexus One. The desktop interface is practically identical to iTunes and it's snappier than iTunes. And when you install the app it will automatically transfer your artists, albums, songs, and playlists from iTunes.

It's not like iTunes. It's much worse and also much slower. I had it for awhile back when I owned an Android device. Worst experience ever. There was nothing good about Android. Except that it was a joke of a smartphone OS. DoubleTwist rarely worked and the sync process was finicky. Sometimes it worked, most times it didn't.

 

[Rantipole]

Slightly off target. iTunes is part of the ecosystem. Letting other devices come into that ecosystem would be a terrible idea. Windows iTunes still only supports Apple media players. Books have DRM so it's difficult making them work with many readers. Other devices being allowed into iTunes would mean less iPods sold. No way.

Hmm, good point on the iPods themselves, perhaps. I wasn't thinking of those. I was thinking simply of the phones. My point being, no one is going to choose a Blackberry, for example, over an iPhone simply because it has iTunes. However, it would be nice to have iTunes on my phone interface directly with iTunes on the computer, if I need to get a Bberry for other reasons.

(Don't forget, there is a precedent of sorts for this, with the ROKR and iTunes RAZR. Of course, that was before the iPhone.)

I still don't quite understand the point about Windows iTunes only supporting Apple players being relevant. I mean, yes that is true for now, but isn't the link between any phone and any computer software really simply a database sharing tool, in the end? How would that mess anything up?

P.S. You don't even want to know the music-geeky reason I would apprectiate having iTunes on another phone, assuming I don't get an iPhone. It is truly ridiculous. 😛

P.P.S. I'm sorry if anyone thought I was being snarky with my court comment. I just know that some people think this is something the courts can/should do, whereas I really think Apple should just do it for good business reasons.

 

[old-wiz]

I still don't quite understand the point about Windows iTunes only supporting Apple players being relevant. I mean, yes that is true for now, but isn't the link between any phone and any computer software really simply a database sharing tool, in the end? How would that mess anything up?

It is far more than simply sharing a database. The software on the iPods/iPhones/iPads know how to process the iTunes data base, which is unique to Apple. Other devices would not have the software to process the iTunes database even if it was loaded onto the device. Apple does not share the structure and format of the iTunes database and the software writers on the non-Apple devices have no access to the formats, and if they did Apple would sue them.

 

[sn0warmy]

It's not like iTunes. It's much worse and also much slower. I had it for awhile back when I owned an Android device. Worst experience ever. There was nothing good about Android. Except that it was a joke of a smartphone OS. DoubleTwist rarely worked and the sync process was finicky. Sometimes it worked, most times it didn't.

When was the last time you used Doubletwist on your mac or on an Android phone? The latest Doubletwist desktop interface is all but identical to iTunes, and to say it's much slower is completely false. I've never experienced any issues with syncing Doubletwist to my Nexus One. Though i experienced plenty of issues syncing iTunes with all 3 of my previous iPhones.

Sounds to me like you had a crappy Android phone to start with. When I use my girlfriend's iPhone 4 or try to go back to my 3GS I realize how completely limited the iOS truly is in comparison.

 

[Rantipole]

It is far more than simply sharing a database. The software on the iPods/iPhones/iPads know how to process the iTunes data base, which is unique to Apple. Other devices would not have the software to process the iTunes database even if it was loaded onto the device. Apple does not share the structure and format of the iTunes database and the software writers on the non-Apple devices have no access to the formats, and if they did Apple would sue them.

Sorry to bring this up yet again, but this does not make sense to me. Who codes iTunes for Windows? I thought it was Apple. Are you saying there is an iTunes group at Microsoft? I doubt it.

Therefore, Apple would also be coding iTunes for, say, the Droid. Google would not need access to the formats, because Apple would be the one doing the coding! Am I missing something here?

 

[old-wiz]

Sorry to bring this up yet again, but this does not make sense to me. Who codes iTunes for Windows? I thought it was Apple. Are you saying there is an iTunes group at Microsoft? I doubt it.

Therefore, Apple would also be coding iTunes for, say, the Droid. Google would not need access to the formats, because Apple would be the one doing the coding! Am I missing something here?

When I said "Non-apple devices" I obviously meant droids/blackberries/ etc. iTunes for Windows is also obviously written by Apple, but there is zero reason for the to ever want to support non-Apple playback devices. Apple will never code for the droid since doing that would encourage people to not buy Apple devices. The Windows version of iTunes is merely a port of the OSx version and includes no new devices.

And if Apple were to try to make iTunes work on a Droid or anything like it, then they would also have to support it and there's no incentive for them to hire people who know the Droid or anything like it.

 

[chris2k5]

Am I the only one here who absolutely hates the way iTunes handles music and syncs? I hate how it works in general. The downloading of my iPhone info into the computer and how it wants to do it automatically every single time i plug the darn phone in.

What happened to the simple days of drag and drop? I don't even mind Windows Media Player. It allows you to add stuff to a list and then you just press sync...

iTunes is just messy with the menus. Very un-Apple.

 

[Rantipole]

Am I the only one here who absolutely hates the way iTunes handles music and syncs? I hate how it works in general. The downloading of my iPhone info into the computer and how it wants to do it automatically every single time i plug the darn phone in.

You need to poke around the settings. You can change this.