iPhone

Texas · Post by **Texas** » 11 Jun 2008 08:56 am

Madmya wrote:So let me get this right, no camera, no MMS AND you have to use that fucking iTunes? Fuck that.

NO camera? It has a 2mp Camera on the back, it will have MMS at some stage, and yes it uses iTunes (which does suck dank arse on PC)

Madmya · Post by **Madmya** » 11 Jun 2008 09:02 am

oh, sorry I misread unfnks rant. MMS at some point is just not up to standard, and I will forever refuse to use iTunes.

mxlegend99 · Post by **mxlegend99** » 11 Jun 2008 09:17 am

iTune isn't that bad. I got an ipod nano last year and started using it... it does the job just fine.

Texas · Post by **Texas** » 11 Jun 2008 09:32 am

If all you want to do with iTunes is load up an iPod it does the job ok.

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 11 Jun 2008 09:45 am

Texas wrote:If all you want to do with iTunes is load up an iPod it does the job ok.

Honestly though they should just allow you to drag and drop files from explorer just like every other portable device out there.

Texas · Post by **Texas** » 11 Jun 2008 09:52 am

LOL
It's Apple, remember? I <3 them, but they are contrary bastards. They want to do it their way...
And besides, if you didn't have iTunes, you couldn't use the iTMS, which is their real hook. I work with a bloke (who just got a gen 1 iPhone, btww) who spends $40 a week on iTunes, purely because he finds it easier and quicker than going to JB or hunting for a torrent

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 11 Jun 2008 10:28 am

It's all about the metadata.

mech · Post by **mech** » 11 Jun 2008 11:01 am

Well yeah. I never had a problem with iTunes because almost all of my songs were self-ripped and had ID3 tags. And that's the way you want it to be anyway, makes a ton more sense than shitty randomly named files without any metadata in them.

But I can see that if you pirate all your music why you'd hate iTunes. Sucks to be you.

The thing that bugs me about iTunes is its speed (or lack thereof), not really anything else.

mxlegend99 · Post by **mxlegend99** » 11 Jun 2008 11:14 am

mech wrote:But I can see that if you pirate all your music why you'd hate iTunes. Sucks to be you.

What's wrong with iTunes for pirating?

I download my music from other places, and i find it easy and quick to rename the files to how i like it... if they aren't already. 99% of the time the track names are fine... and for all other changes, you can highlight the album and change them all at once. Takes like 20 seconds, and that also adds album artwork

Madmya · Post by **Madmya** » 11 Jun 2008 11:53 am

I don't even pirate all my music, fuck you don't need iTunes to get ID3 tags.

EAC/lame enc does it all for me.

stanard · Post by **stanard** » 11 Jun 2008 12:03 pm

wtf you still can't drag and drop with iPods/iPhones?

mech · Post by **mech** » 11 Jun 2008 12:04 pm

Madmya wrote:I don't even pirate all my music, fuck you don't need iTunes to get ID3 tags.

EAC/lame enc does it all for me.

I think you missed the point.

stanard: You never will be able to.

Madmya · Post by **Madmya** » 11 Jun 2008 12:06 pm

enlighten me then, metadata must be better than I had assumed.

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 11 Jun 2008 12:32 pm

He's making the generalised assumption that 90% of pirated music that's downloaded casually has incorrect/non-existant/shitty ID3 tags.

He's not taking a dig at you directly because of your iTunes hate.

stanard · Post by **stanard** » 11 Jun 2008 12:38 pm

I'd say it's more like 10% of pirated music that's downloaded has incorrect/non-existant/shitty ID3 tags.

Madmya · Post by **Madmya** » 11 Jun 2008 12:39 pm

Agreed. Nothing is ever tagged incorrectly these days, unless you're stuck in the 90s and download from limewire or whatever its equivalent is.

mxlegend99 · Post by **mxlegend99** » 11 Jun 2008 01:04 pm

Fuck P2P programs. If i like a song, i just download the album from rapidshare. Quiet often end up finding other songs i like that way aswell.

mech · Post by **mech** » 11 Jun 2008 01:13 pm

Hahaha jesus... do you guys ever wonder how music will continue to get made if you never pay for any of it?

It's crazy too given how cheap music is these days... I buy most of my albums for $5-20, that is NOTHING. No wonder every show I go to now has the lead singer whinging about music downloads.

mxlegend99 · Post by **mxlegend99** » 11 Jun 2008 02:01 pm

mech wrote:Hahaha jesus... do you guys ever wonder how music will continue to get made if you never pay for any of it?

Nope.

unfnknblvbl · Post by **unfnknblvbl** » 11 Jun 2008 04:09 pm

Texas wrote: it will have MMS at some stage

Ummm... says who? Hopeful Apple fanboys? It took them twenty years to make a mouse with more than one button, so I wouldn't be holding out for any other missing standard features...

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 11 Jun 2008 04:23 pm

mech wrote:Hahaha jesus... do you guys ever wonder how music will continue to get made if you never pay for any of it?

It's crazy too given how cheap music is these days... I buy most of my albums for $5-20, that is NOTHING. No wonder every show I go to now has the lead singer whinging about music downloads.

People are conditioned to free music, every nightclub/pub/radio plays free music. Having an uncle that works in the industry as an artist manager, most of the money on record sales goes towards the record label. Artists make most of their money touring.

But sales is what determines how much radio play time you get, the more sales, the more airplay which translates into more popularity for the artist and hence sellout concerts.

The music industry is just reforming albeit slowly, the old distro models don't work anymore and it's debatable these days how much artists really need the labels with the internet opening so many direct avenues to consumers. There is no value in "owning" music in the direct digital age.

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 11 Jun 2008 06:00 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... Xl4Y8jtBAF

New iPhone's business model is tough on unlockers

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Tue Jun 10, 5:22 PM ET

NEW YORK - The new iPhone and the way it will be sold look set to shut down a small industry that arose to make the first version of the iconic phone available around the world.

The original iPhone, which launched in June last year, was initially available only in the U.S. and only for use on AT&T Inc.'s network. In little more than a month, however, enterprising hackers found a way to "unlock" the phone to make it usable on other networks, including networks in other countries.

IPhones soon flowed out of the U.S., and analysts have estimated that one-third to one-half of the phones sold never made it onto AT&T's network.

"I saw it in action and I had to have one," said Ernesto Zeivy, a 50-year-old restaurant owner in Mexico City. He had one friend buy an iPhone for him in San Diego for $500 and another unlock it using software downloaded from the Internet.

Apple announced a new iPhone Monday for use on 3G, or third-generation, data networks. It will stem the flow of unlocked phones in two ways.

First, the phone will be sold in more countries. Apple added five countries beyond the U.S. for the first phone, but the second one will go on sale in 22 countries on July 11. Apple has said it will add more countries at a rapid clip and reach 70 by the end of the year. That takes away one of main incentives for unlocking.

Second, Apple is abandoning the unusual arrangement under which the iPhone was being sold. Customers could buy them from a carrier or from Apple without activating them on a service plan, and that meant customers could go home and unlock the phones — and never sign up with AT&T.

"Anyone can unlock it without paying anyone anything," said Blas Caballero, another iPhone user in Mexico. "It's so easy. A minute-and-a-half, and all you have to do is push a button," said the 32-year-old Argentine, who owns a bar in Mexico City. He bought his iPhone in New York.

The new phone will be subsidized by carriers, which accounts for its lower price: $199 for the 8-gigabyte model, down from $399. This brings the phone's marketing in line with standard industry practices.

The carriers plan to make back what they spend on the subsidy through service fees, which means they likely will require two-year service contracts from everyone who buys the phone. AT&T said buyers will have to activate service before leaving the store with an iPhone.

"It's looking pretty bleak for unlockers," said John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones.com, a New York-based company that sells unlock codes for cell phones. After being warned away by AT&T's lawyers, it doesn't help unlock iPhones. Unlocking software is available free online.

Apple tried to secure the device technically with its software updates, but couldn't. It's the requirement that buyers of the new phone sign up for service in the store that will be hard to get around, McLaughlin said.

Freeit4less, a company based in Syracuse, Utah, has posted prices on its Web site for unlocked 3G phones at $100 above store prices, but chief executive Kyle Jourdan said the company is not accepting any pre-orders given uncertainty surrounding the activation requirement.

"We're just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best," Jourdan wrote in an e-mail. He speculated that Apple or AT&T may sell unsubsidized phones, which would leave an opening for his company. Freeit4less has sold about 121 unlocked first-generation iPhones and 5,104 licenses for unlocking software, Jourdan said.

Federal law allows consumers to unlock their own phones. But selling someone the means to unlock a phone and unlock another person's phone may be illegal. At least one U.S. carrier has won civil cases, not involving iPhones, against unlocking businesses.

AT&T charges customers who break a two-year contract within the first month a $175 early termination fee plus the $36 activation fee. That would bring the cost of the new iPhone to $411 for an unlocker, just slightly more than the old model's $399 price.

That math may mean it is still attractive to unlock iPhones for use on other networks and that AT&T will lose money on unlockers. Analysts estimate AT&T plans to subsidize the phones by more than $200 each.

But Ralph de la Vega, head of AT&T Mobility, said Monday that it and Apple are working on "penalties" for users who buy phones and don't activate them within 30 days. AT&T could, for instance, bar buyers who repeatedly buy iPhones and break the contracts from buying more.

One major incentive for unlocking remains, especially for Europeans. Those who travel to other countries with unlocked phones can use local prepaid service plans rather than paying exorbitant international roaming fees to their home carriers.

Uniquephones.com helps unlock 10,000 British cell phones of all kinds every day, McLaughlin said, with travelers being a core customer group.

BOOMY · Post by **BOOMY** » 11 Jun 2008 06:57 pm

To add my 2 cents a bit late; itunes itself is not a terrible program. Its just slower and clumsier than other programs out there. Both winamp and itunes are equally as capable, I just find it alot quicker to be able to drag and drop (or right click a selection) into both my portable media player and my software media player. Incidental of this (and I know this wont be true for everyone here) I dont wanna have the ID3 tags of my entire collection pedantically organised the same way just to get the most out of a program - especially if the alternatives like winamp mean I dont have to. I honestly did try itunes for a while and decided 'ok I am just going to use this till I like it' but after 6 months I just got fed up with the extra clumsiness I had to go through and fucked it right off. By the way fanboys go on about it all, I dont just expect "functional", I expect BETTAAAARRR1!!11!!one!111111!!!!!

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 11 Jun 2008 07:03 pm

where the shit are you dorks getting music from that it's not tagged properly? i haven't played with an id3 tag for YEARS.

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 11 Jun 2008 09:41 pm

Supposed Optus Pricing

*The iPhone is only available on a 24 month contract - you can't purchase it outright
*The 8GB model will cost $220, the 16GB $330
*Only the 16GB is available in white
*Optus won't be selling accessories - they will be sold through the Apple store
*There will be two plans available: a $79 cap with 1GB data and $300 worth of calls; and a $99 cap with 3GB of data and $400 worth of calls
*Both plans include Visual Voicemail
*30c flagfall; 35c per 30 seconds talk, 25c SMS messages

So if true it's basically a $49 cap + $30/month for 1GB of data which is decent considering the coverage of Optus versus 3. $330 up front is better than we could ever have hoped for.

I'll be on the $79 cap straight up. I'm currently pulling $77 per month on 3 with a $29 cap and $20 for 500MB data + phone repayments.