On 25/01/2007, at 8:57 AM, Paul wrote:
J Philippe Chaperon wrote:
I have a perhaps stupid question, but is it correct to say that
the iPod
cannot play MP3's and is locked to Apple's music format?
This is a reasonably fair call.
Plenty of users don't realise they need to deliberately change the
import settings and choose MP3 as their preferred format.
"fair call"? Hmm, perhaps -
Certainly AAC is the default format for ripping Audio CDs, but a
user's existing MP3, AIFF, Audible book format, Apple Lossless and
WAV files will all import as is without conversion and play straight
in iTunes and thence down to the iPod. And of course on a PC even
WMA audio files get converted painlessly and you can burn totally non-
proprietary audio CDs or MP3 CDs from within iTunes. Seems to be
pretty open to me. :-)
AAC and DRM are not too cool IMHO.
Hey, don't go lumping AAC in with DRM. :-)
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is an open MPEG-4 (and MPEG-2) audio file
format boasting much better quality per kB than MP3 which itself is
actually the MPEG-1 audio layer 3 format so AAC comes from the same
distinguished lineage as MP3. Certainly more open than Microsoft's
proprietary wma format which only they have control over.
Thank the RIAA I guess.
True, but also give a little "sincere" thanks to Apple for
introducing Fairplay DRM that was (and still is in many ways) far
more end-user-friendly than the alternatives from Microsoft, Sony,
and Real etc. Apple's Fairplay pioneered the option of being able to
play your purchased music on up to 5 computers and an unlimited
number of iPods, as well as the ability to burn a totally unprotected
audio CD disc and all for an unheard of low price of US$0.99 per
track at a time when the MS-powered incumbents Pressplay and MusicNow
(if I recall) were twice as expensive and far more restrictive.
That said, I hope Apple will finally relent and start licensing
Fairplay to 3rd parties (the latest news from Norway and Europe
indicates something has to happen) as this is the major sticking
point most people have with the AAC/Fairplay situation.
I have a friend who is very anti Apple, both computers and any
peripherals,
and he maintains the above statement and also mentioned that text
files
cannot be saved to the iPod. With regards to text files I'm almost
certain
that it can, many people keep back-ups of their data on the little
beasts!
A particularly famous example of this was Peter Jackson and crew
using their iPods to carry each day's edits of the Lord of the Rings
Movies between the editing room and the studio. At one point one of
the guys was almost mugged on his way between sites carrying his
*precious* cargo:
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/05/10.10.shtml
This also requires a visit to the iPod's preferences, at least for
the iPod Shuffle; sadly this is the only iPod I am experienced with,
which is more than some users want to have to do, so again it is an
understandable statement.
Of course all of these capabilities are laid out on Apple's iPod web
pages so I wouldn't go excusing some people's wilfull ignorance or
malicious untruths too easily, if they vehemently refuse to do a bit
of simple fact checking. ;-) However, simple ignorance is
certainly excusable. :-D
For me this whole MS vs Apple thing can become a bit too 'us and
them'.
More often than not, like most bigotry, it is the tip of an iceberg.
The last time I was called a Mac-Head gave me an uneasy feeling
that went beyond the kind of OS i prefer.
If I think organically grown produce tastes better, I cannot
maintain people who don't eat it are wrong or somehow flawed.
Too true. I guess it is when you get people like Philippe's friend
who are very anti something and spreading falsehoods that a bit of
gentle showing of the correct facts is good for the soul. :-)
-Mart
--------------------------------------
Martin Hill
email: mart "at" ozmac.com
homepages: http://mart.ozmac.com
Mb: 0417-967-969 hm: (08)9314-5242
--------------------------------------
Martin Hill
email: mart "at" ozmac.com
homepages: http://mart.ozmac.com
Mb: 0417-967-969 hm: (08)9314-5242
