Plugin For Winamp Allows Downloading From iPod 398
slicenglide writes "A newly released plugin for Winamp allows you to copy music from your iPod to your computer. Wired has picked up the story and includes a link to the WinAmp plugin page where you can grab yourself a copy. "
Wow, news to me (Score:2, Insightful)
now taking bets! (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, Winamp (Score:1, Insightful)
And yet, there's been no significant improvement over it since then. Pretty crappy showing, you youngsters.
Maybe you should spend less time posting dumb comments and more time coding, like the oldsters did.
Comment removed (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:FUD (Score:1, Insightful)
Dude, it's called sharing!
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:1, Insightful)
You are automatically associated with intelligent people since all apple product users are clever and everyone else dumb.
iPods have only features, other players have only drawbacks.
etc.
etc.
Dear AC, imagine what you'd be saying if other players required to get 3rd party software to copy music from the player to the computer.
Re:Ogg fails it (Score:3, Insightful)
The thing is though, right, who actually cares?
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:5, Insightful)
As much as I support OGG Vorbis, and have nearly all my music on my iRiver, I think calling it "industry standard" is way off the mark. MP3 is by far the most widely supported format, and therefore closest to being a de facto standard. The only other competitor is WAV.
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:1, Insightful)
You are willing to give up THE industry standard for legal purchasable downloaded music for a standard that is no where near industry standard -- regardless of if its open or not -- but after bragging about how geeky you are, implying OGG Roxorz or what ever you kids say, you go on to mention it supports 8 online music stores, all of whom use nonopen, nonindustry standard (at least from the perspecitive of sales) and all of whome have less choice than what you can get via iTunes combined (of course, unless you are talking about certain illegal russian services -- but those also offer ther music in AAC as well).
The funny thing is, I simply plug my iPod into my Mac and press sync as well...or something like that, its so easy, I don't even remember the steps.
As for copying music off? Who the fuck needs that feature? My music player is a music player and nothing more. If I want to copy files, I put it in hard drive mode and copy them there. When I want it to listen to music, thats a different sort...who the hell is so ignorant they can't figure out that one can't easily transfer music to their computer from their walkman? Same thing.
This is what I hate about fucking nerds...they focus on what something can't do as opposed to what it can do. The iPod is one of the best MUSIC PLAYERS out there...its not the best videoplayer or email reader or otherwise. Thats not what it is. ITS A MUSIC PLAYER FUCKERS!!!
It's not broken... (Score:1, Insightful)
Think, really think, about what would happen if iTunes had simple functionality to move files back onto the hard-drive.
You'd go to all your friends and plug your iPod into each of their computers. They'd plug each of their pods into yours.
Given a normal group of five friends, you would have pirated perhaps five thousand songs in the space of fifteen minutes.
No company that's actually involved in selling music can afford to make a player that transfers music off the drive as easily as iTunes transfers it on.
Remember too that my estimate is based on current library sizes... if you could do this, pretty soon everyone's library would be the size of the average iPod, which is about 30 GBs right now.
Insanity.
So in the end, this is a fairly reasonable restriction. You can actually copy the music back off if you care enough, but they're also not selling the world's single most effective piracy device which would eliminate the music market in about ten weeks.
Someone will eventually make a popular player that syncs both ways, just plug it in and go. It's going to be a fun mess.
Re:Big Deal (Score:4, Insightful)
Low-level mavens might be more comfortable with folder arrangements as they involve 'less magic'. But things that can be in more places than one at the same time are just not good things to run directly on folder structures, because they'd require maintenance. I guess playlists are doable via folders of aliases/shortcuts/symlinks, but anything more complicated than that is just not tenable - like smart playlists.
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:1, Insightful)
Maybe because I don`t class the OS that itunes runs on as 3rd party..?
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:3, Insightful)
See, that's the problem right there. You gotta have iTunes. Using Apple products really is easier if you use all the products they tell you to, when they tell you to use them. If you want to use anything else and it can quickly turn into a hassle.
This is simplicity in exactly the same way as "just us Internet Explorer and you wont have rendering or interoperability issues." If I don't give MS a pass on their version of "simplicity", why should I say it's ok for Apple?
Re:Winamp? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:3, Insightful)
I just flat out dislike lock in. I have several different MP3 players in my house from several different manufactures. My daughter has an iPod and a previous generation no-name player. I have a Windows Smartphone and a PSP. Of all of them, the iPod is by far the biggest hassle to use because we just happened to be using different desktop music players before I bought the iPod.
Windows Media Player, WinAmp and MusicMatch all played pretty nicely together, mostly because none of them insisted on doing anything radical. But getting music onto and off of the MP3 players quickly became a hassle. The SmartPhone would only play ball with ActiveSync on a PC while the iPod refused to work with anything but iTunes. The ActiveSync wasn't a huge issue because it didn't necesitate I change my music player, but my daughter experienced all kinds frustration as she had to abandon the way she previously had her music organised and redo it all for iTunes.
The thing is, I don't want to use iTunes and neither does my daughter. That's not a crack on Apple or the fine people who developed iTunes, I just happen to like what I currently use. What is a crack on Apple is that they had, and IMHO still have the ability to make a portable player that's easy to use with any desktop player and they just refuse to do it. That doesn't make them evil, it just puts them on the same ethical level as Microsoft. If they're ok with that and you're ok with that then more power to you, but it's increasingly looking like this is the first and last iPod in my house unless Apple makes some changes.
TW
Re:Big Deal (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wrong - well, partly anyway (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't believe that anything from Apple Computer is meant for "Joe Six-Pack". It's made for "Megan and Justin Portfolio" - the generic upper-middle-class arts-creative-type person. They have the money to pay the premium Apple price, the ability to best use the advanced design and interface character of Apple products, the distaste for technical details, and the subtle contempt for those who would feel the need or desire to skirt the restrictions imposed by Apple for the benefit of the product/company/community/class. They truly believe that bypassing DRM is bad because they feel that they are or more likely, someday will be making their well-heeled living off high priced 'intellectual property'.
The "Joe SixPack" type middle-class Chevy-truck Saturday-night-watching-wrestling-on-TV people are using their Walmart CD players for portable music needs. They wouldn't buy Apple products even if they were in the same price range, simply because their inherent social inferiority complex alienates them from image that is created by Apple's advertisements.
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:4, Insightful)
So why do I have it? To listen to music. It works well. Previously, I purchased another mp3 player, only slightly cheaper, and had continuous problems with it. And even when it was working as intended, it was harder to use. The ipod is something like half the size and weight, easier to use, more reliable, and the support (which I used once) is vastly superior. Possibly the smoothest technical support experience I have ever had in my life.
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides that, there are no real amazing things about it. But the click wheel was enough to sell me.
What bothers me, especially about the iPod, is the attitude people have of "I like this, so you and everyone should like it too!". If the iPod doesn't sit with you, don't buy it. And tell those people who tell you to buy one to shove it in a hole.
Re:Wow, news to me (Score:3, Insightful)
Or you could just reverse it and say:
MS makes the web server (IIS) the web development software (asp.net) the browser and the OS all these are run on.
Apple doesn't own or make the MP3 file format or any of the music that runs on their players.
I'm not actually suggesting this is a reasonable thing to say, but it is similar to your statement.