peharri said:
Imagine instead buying a TV and finding the only channel it receives is one owned by the TV manufacturer. Imagine that some TV channel finds a way to bypass this, and the TV manufacturer then goes out of its way to try to prevent this from working on the TV you spent that money on.
i don't know about this comparison. right up front, i'll admit that i don't like having technology forced on me. that's why i scrapped my first "MP3" player from Sony. i hated their ATRAC format AND their software. but Apple isn't forcing you to do anything. you didn't buy a TV that only plays one channel. you bought a cable box for that TV that only allows you to buy pay-per-view channels from them. they don't care what other 500 channels you watch, but when it comes to revenue streams, they make sure they're the ones collecting the cash.
now if your buddy comes over & figures out how to descramble your cable box and you start paying HIM for you pay-per-view channels, then it's considered 'stealing cable'. i don't see how it's different for Real. Apple CREATED the player, went through all the legal crap w/ the recording companies to get rights, and not only built a great product, but is showing the rest of the industry how it should be done. now Real is coming along and saying, "yeah, you guys did a great job, you're very popular. how can we make money off of your product?" and putting it in the guise of consumer choice.
would i like to see a music-world where all players play all formats? sure. but if Real comes along, takes music sales and then LICENSES technology that hacks into someone else's product for their own gain (i can't BELIEVE they had the balls to even mention licensing Harmony), it only hurts Apple and therefore us, Apple's customers. as long as Apple has full control over all aspects of the process (iPod-->iTunes-->iTMS) and they're making money doing it, then they can innovate and create a better product and user experience.
what happens when you start dumping Real's Harmony tracks on your iPod and they f'ed up the code like they've done with every other products they've ever put out and it crashed your iPod. then people start ranting, "iPods suck, they crash all the time". it's not Apple's fault that Real's hacks suck, but then the media picks up on it, "Has the Once Great iPod Stumbled?". Apple loses market share and we all lose.
the more i think about this, the more i hope Apple hangs them out to dry.
But I don't particularly like hardware companies making the choices for me, especially making those decisions after I've bought my supposedly standalone product from them.
1) Apple allows you to play MP3. try that on a Sony. they aren't making the choice for you, you have options (albeit limited options)
2) you knew this when you bought the product. it IS a standalone music player. you don't want to use iTMS? don't. go buy the CD and rip it yourself. i do.
3) when it comes down to it, it's Apple's product. in the end, they decide what it can and can't do. sure they want to please the customer, that's who buys their products, but the customer offers opinions and wishes, not the actual features. i didn't walk into the BMW dealership going, "my buddy figured out a way to slap a Ford V8 in this puppy, why won't you guys let me do that?" because it would void the warranty and likely screw up the car that BMW spent so much time and effort in researcing, designing and developing.
[/rant]
