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Lots of people here need a refresher on what a MONOPOLY is before they start throwing around words that are too big for them - obvious by their posts.

Legal term of monopoly is not the same as dictionary, otherwise Microsoft never would have been convicted.
 
So Palm came with something to compete with Itunes?

Not with itunes but with the iphone. Apple makes great stuff, I have given them about 7 grand over the last two years and will contiue to do so. I welcome the competition with the iphone. Palm is walking a fine line and I don't blame apple for blocking the pre. In the end the consumer wins and I don't have a problem with that.
 
Who says Apple doesn't make money from selling Music/Movies?

Check their earning statement - its filed under "Other". Apple makes a couple of cents off a track purchase. They make far more selling other items than selling music.

They are in a position of nearly dictating terms to the RIAA/MPAA. Their main competitor on music is Amazon.com, who charges the same price and DOESNT make MP3 players. There IS money in distribution.

Your memory of history is flawed. When Amazon started selling DRM free content, Apple was unable to sell DRM free tracks despite long ago calling for the end to DRM. Apple's ability to sell content is based on the will of the music companies. The only reason that Apple caved into the demands for vairiable pricing was so that they could get non-DRM tracks. If Apple had the power you think they did, then how could Amazon hold the DRM-free advantage for 6 months or so? The reason? Apple does not control the music. The music companies do and they are very willing to prop up a competitor if it suits them.

And they have many competitors other than Amazon. Remember, Apple also competes against other distribution channels that sell music. Not just the online ones.
 
I have a Pre and appreciate Palm going out of their way to maintain iTunes operability...since I had iPods and iPhone 2g AND 3G prior to this I'm used to managing my media in iTunes for years now. Being able to plug in the Pre and continue to use iTunes is a huge plus.

My guess is Palm is trying to bait Apple into this debate/battle since it can easily lead into anti-trust/monopoly law suits against Apple for not allowing 3rd party devices to sync with iTunes and the content that YOU OWN as a user.

It's no different than if Apple would only allow Apple branded USB Hard drives to work with Mac and you couldn't use Seagate or Western Digital, etc. Then people would be bitching, I don't see this being any different.

Watch out Apple...it's a slippery slope.

WHAT?

It's not just different, its not even close. If apple chose to do so it would be within their rights. Just like companies that are hooked up too close with microsoft make hardware that they say requires Windows and will not work on a mac. Hell, Zune is windows only. Here is the difference. Apple makes their own hardware and creates software to support it. In fact Itunes has worked in the same way in supporting 3rd parties since before the Ipod even came out. There are several companies that offer sync services if they don't have the programming knowledge to do it themselves.

So if you have a 3rd party device from a real company, they actually have their own software that integrates with Itunes to retrieve your music on a regular basis. I could see if like you stated, Apple didn't allow sync with content that YOU OWN, the truth is that statement is completely untrue. If you bought a Creative Device guess what you can sync using their software and guess what, they use their own software. U still have access to content that YOU OWN. They are just trying to get free publicity since they are BROKE and sales are not going as well as they thought.

All of those first generation Iphone user they said would defect, didn't. The just updated to 3.0 or got the 3GS. :D
 
Not with itunes but with the iphone. Apple makes great stuff, I have given them about 7 grand over the last two years and will contiue to do so. I welcome the competition with the iphone. Palm is walking a fine line and I don't blame apple for blocking the pre. In the end the consumer wins and I don't have a problem with that.

Right but this is not about the iphone. This is about itunes, they didn't come up with anything to compete with itunes. They just hacked into itunes, I don't see how this is competition.
 
In digital music sales, the compete not only against online music stores but also against CDs. They do not have a dominant market share in the overall music market.

Also, in the situation at hand, Apple is not preventing access to purchased music.

That's funny.. I thought I recall a Steve Slide showing iTunes the number one seller of music in America, including retail CDs.
 
In digital music sales, the compete not only against online music stores but also against CDs. They do not have a dominant market share in the overall music market.

Also, in the situation at hand, Apple is not preventing access to purchased music.

In terms of that, itunes is nowhere near a monopoly then.
 
Video drivers

If it makes sense to make Apple sync with the Pre (ironically in the ad banner at the top of this page!), why not make Nvidia create drivers for ATI video cards? I mean, just have ATI spoof the PCI identifier information (that is also manufacturer-specific) and use the (much better) Nvidia drivers?

iTunes operates very similarly to how "driver" software operates -- it interfaces with a single device (or a subset of devices) and interfaces the operating system with the device. In iTunes' case, it is interfacing the file system (where you store the music, pictures, and videos to sync) to your iPod.

This should be good... (grabs a big bag of popcorn)
 
If I owned a pre I would love for it to sync with iTunes. However, Apple spent money acquiring iTunes parts and pieces and money and time developing it. Palm doesn't have a right to use it without paying something to apple.

I love palm and their products but they are wrong on this one.

Couldn't say it any better.
 
Under what law?

You shouldn't go fixing things you are qualified to repair.

How do you figure that an owner of the Intellectual Property, that is the iTunes software, doesn't have the right to dictate what it will and what it will not do? No government on earth says your software must do x,y,z. They may say it cannot do x, but they never say it must do x. Not sure your facts are straight.

As a software engineer, I would be pretty pissed if someone used my software without my permission an in a use that it wasn't intended and I would pursue my IP rights under the US copyright act.
 
That's funny.. I thought I recall a Steve Slide showing iTunes the number one seller of music in America, including retail CDs.

Right but being a number 1 seller of anything doesn't make you a monopoly. Blackberry is the number 1 seller of smartphones in America, I guess that makes them a monopoly?
 
The laws that cover ownership of intellectual property I would suppose. Apple does own iTunes and licenses it's usage out. Being the owner and developer, they do have rights to control it's usage legally.

I always question if common folk like us can see this why can't big corporate lawyers see it too?
 
That's funny.. I thought I recall a Steve Slide showing iTunes the number one seller of music in America, including retail CDs.

But there is nothing wrong with being number one. That doesn't make you a monopoly. It in fact established that there is massive competition going on - the very antithesis of a monopoly.

Geeze this thread is flying....
 
Tattling on Apple for not letting the Palm Pre sync with iTunes is like a Crook breaking into a house and then suing the homeowner when he changes the locks.
 
This has got to make Stephan Colbert's Golden Balls award!
From how I understand it Palm is yelling foul about Apple blocking the phony Apple ID that Palm uses to sync to Itunes with. Wow they have some set of cohones. :eek:
 
As an owner of the Palm Pre I like that it works with a pre-existing piece of software without having to download and install yet another broken 3rd party app to do the same thing.

Legally speaking, well I can't say anything I'm not a lawyer, but I chose the side of indifferent. Let the biggest lawyer team win!
 
1. Apple doesn't make money off of iTunes, or, more accurately, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the money made from selling the hardware [...]

I'm not surprised, given the way Apple seems so desperate to throw away all those potential iTunes music customers with Palm Pre's. So, anyone know why RIAA haven't sunk their hefty size tens deep up Apple's tender regions yet?
 
I really hope this Backfires on Palm, silly company.
Make your own software-you lazy asses. ;)

If iTunes is the best way to access music why not support it?

Why recreate the wheel?

In all fairness maybe palm should pay a small fee per phone for use of iTunes
 
Check their earning statement - its filed under "Other". Apple makes a couple of cents off a track purchase. They make far more selling other items than selling music.
It doesn't matter where they file it or how much they claim it makes, it only matters that they have it, and are using it as a competitive weapon in other markets (smartphones, MP3 players). Apple built an MP3 player empire by having the only source for legal music for years, and they continue to enjoy that marketshare both in distribution and in devices.

Your memory of history is flawed. When Amazon started selling DRM free content, Apple was unable to sell DRM free tracks despite long ago calling for the end to DRM. Apple's ability to sell content is based on the will of the music companies. The only reason that Apple caved into the demands for vairiable pricing was so that they could get non-DRM tracks. If Apple had the power you think they did, then how could Amazon hold the DRM-free advantage for 6 months or so? The reason? Apple does not control the music. The music companies do and they are very willing to prop up a competitor if it suits them.
I only think you are demonstrating my point regarding Apple's market power over the record companies. They realized the DRM was hurting them, and helping Apple (by locking everybody in to iTunes Store+iPods). It may very well have been Apple's footdragging that delayed the conversion of 100% of the iTunes Store to 'iTunes Plus' DRM-free music. As I recall, there was very limited DRM-free music on iTunes store for quite some time.
 
Legal term of monopoly is not the same as dictionary, otherwise Microsoft never would have been convicted.

monopoly
n. a business or inter-related group of businesses which controls so much of the production or sale of a product or kind of product as to control the market, including prices and distribution. Business practices, combinations and/or acquisitions which tend to create a monopoly may violate various federal statutes which regulate or prohibit business trusts and monopolies or prohibit restraint of trade. However, limited monopolies granted by a manufacturer to a wholesaler in a particular area are usually legal, since they are like "licenses." Public utilities such as electric, gas and water companies may also hold a monopoly in a particular geographic area since it is the only practical way to provide the public service, and they are regulated by state public utility commissions.

Compliments of law.com's online law dictionary.
 
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