Re: Learning iTunes.
Vertical integration means all the bits are designed to fit neatly together. No, I don't think Star Trek is just voice recognition, after all why is the information always where you need it? How do you ask the computer to show you something on your data pad? Why is nobody ever worried about the size of storage devices, or whether or not a file is where you need it in order to display it? In fact, why does nobody ever use file names? And even if this is all about centralisation and the cloud, how do you get from your hypothetical voice commands and actions on your computer? That's quite an important detail, you know, because unless you told the computer how to play an album or audiobook, how is it going to happen? And of course you can manually copy playback times, but wouldn't it be rather better if you didn't have to do that? Why, indeed, as a general rule, doesn't technology simply yield to our desires without thought or impediment, instead of making us dependent on the particular way in which it operates, or the particular manufacturer of the combination of devices? Of course Star Trek is fiction, but my point is that a lot of the "Magic" in Apple products is really just Apple taking care of many typical use cases that are trivially handled by technologies that obscure as much of the underlying hardware as possible from all points in the ecosystem, so that you as a user are dealing in the abstract. AirPlay: take this media, and render it over the network. Remote: locate target devices on the network, and command them with authorisation. Home Sharing: extent media library over the network. iTunes Match: ditto, for the Internet. Etc. You may not appreciate any of this, but other people certainly do, and just because one particular way of doing something requiring lots of user intervention works in a particularly cross-platform fashion doesn't mean we should be bound to it if circumstances permit otherwise. It may be a reality that the lowest common denominator is also the best if you need portability (or, in your case, just hate iTunes and/or Apple), and I can't dispute that it could be worse or that it has real benefits for choice, but I also think Apple's philosophy has a lot more going for it than you give it credit for. Your tenacious desire for what works is truly admirable, but IMO isn't automatically better just because you can't justify certain features that really aren't easy to get when interoperability is a priority (which, incidentally, I agree needs to change). The future still holds computers that are easier to use, even if you're just fine with transferring files using USB in Windows Explorer. And no, I am not enslaved by Apple, or their cloud--in fact, I'm working as hard as I can to do without iCloud, and finding it surprisingly easy.
To the stream, now that I've been having a good poke at all the functionality, I can report that thi
s doesn't make the very best podcast client there is, since you can't independently control downloads from removal, though I've tolerated that by setting the number of episodes to keep to 10, in the hope that I'll remember at least every so often to save podcasts to SD when needed and/or mark podcasts as don't delete; this should mean it functions reasonably automatically. The downside is you have to download a load of podcasts only to throw them away, which is bad for the Interwebs.
I do appreciate the control from structured navigation and direct correspondence of the controls to the actions. I also appreciate that you can do essential file management on the player, such as transferring entire books by title from USB and/or CD, and deleting unwanted material. How very Star Trek!
This is powered by Linux on ARM32. They haven't published the source, so I must give Humanware a bollocking for being very naughty.
I also have two pairs of headphones for indoors and outdoors, but I really would prefer some sort of external arrangement for bedtime. With the iPod I've just used the sleep timer and external speakers, but would prefer not to bother the neighbours by using my bedroom deck speakers, so I'll be looking into getting a socket over my bed and a stand so I can use smaller speakers for that purpose.
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