After re-reading my previous posts on the subject (mainly this one with its 75 replies), I think some people got the wrong idea.
I mentioned Microsoft and how they “semi-promote any player that supports [their technology].” But I wasn’t rooting for anybody, or suggesting that there’s anything wrong with Apple being popular. And I definitely wasn’t talking about ways for Microsoft to take this market away from them.
What I want is a better product and a better market.
My problem with the iPod isn’t Apple. It isn’t the device itself so much, either. I owned an original iPod and I thought the interface was phenomenal. Coming from a Creative Nomad Jukebox (the first HD player) and the early iPod-sized flash players (like the Diamond Rio) , having 5 GB with a 10 hour battery, simple interface, and a small footprint was simply amazing.
My problem with the iPod is that Apple doesn’t play well with others. My problem is that both the portable player and digital music industries are not moving along at the pace that I expected. I learned recently that iPods now only support operation through iTunes. Using any other application to manage your music is not supported. What if I prefer to use WinAmp or Media Player to organize my collections? Why am I the forbidden from using Apple’s portable player?
I’ve also learned that an iPod will only support transferring files from one PC (or Mac). If you transfer music (of any kind) from your desktop, then want to add some from your laptop, you can’t. At least not without losing access to the music transferred from the desktop. My Apple-worshipping neighbor says that this is because of the record companies… but it affects non-DRM files and is not how every other player works. Furthermore, iTunes will delete without asking you any files that you put on your iPod using another program (like ephPod or Xplay).
Another thing I don’t like is that the iPod shows up as a USB hard drive, and yet you can’t transfer music to it with Explorer. If you do, the music will go on the iPod and take up space… but you won’t be able to play it. I think this is a horrible design from a User Experience perspective. Users (at least in the Windows world) are used to dragging and dropping files in the shell to move them around. When they drag music to their iPod in Explorer they’re expecting to be able to play it once it’s there. But Apple won’t allow that. You have to use iTunes. My neighbor says this is a feature. Supporting more than one program is “confusing to the average user.“ Is he serious?
So the whole music-store lock-in is just one thing that I hate about the iPod. There are in fact many things, mostly having to do with open access.
Why is it that Apple and its fans can criticize Sony for making users of their product convert their music to ATRAC3, while at the same time Apple forces users like me to convert our files to AAC or MP3? I have 30GB of music in WMA and Ogg and another 30GB in SHN and FLAC. You see, one of my favorite things about Windows Media Connect is that it is completely file format agnostic. You can use it to transfer Divx, Xvid, AAC, Ogg, and whatever other formats you want. Very few manufacturers have gotten this yet. You need to support every format that your user has files in. This is one thing I love about Xbox Media Center, and one reason I prefer it to the official “MCX” software. It supports every codec under the sun. The only other devices I know of that does that is the PC itself.
Why not make decoders installable on these devices? If you did that, you could take the burden off of the manufacturer and put it on the content supplier’s shoulders. So let’s make a standard for installable codecs on media devices. A universal decoder format. Then when I go to the iTunes Music Store and buy a track, it will detect that I don’t have the proper codec installed and offer to install it for me. And because it’s a universal format, when I plug in my Carbon it asks if I want to install it there as well. When I try to access the file on my Xbox, laptop, TV, set-top, whatever other device… it should be able to install the codec from the same place the file is stored. Windows Media Player could include the universal decoder for WMA files. iTunes could include the one for AAC (including FairPlay support). WinAmp could include a few of them, perhaps.
TiVo could include their codec on their devices. Say I record a show, then want to play it back on my PC. Using TivoToGo or Windows Media Connect or whatever, I should be able to easily find the file from any networked computer. When I try to play it, I should be offered the opportunity to install the codec directly from the Tivo device. Maybe even give me an “always allow content to install its codec” check box.
The idea would be to have every conceivable playback device support this universal installable codec specification. The codecs themselves would follow the content for which they are required.
I realize this would be a huge undertaking… but it’s the kind of thing we *should* be able to do by utilizing a platform like Windows Media Connect. In fact, “Plays For Sure” would have made an excellent name for this technology. This might not be favorable to a company like Apple who wants to use the proprietary nature of common media formats to their advantage. It might not seem favorable at first to any company with their own codec to push (like Microsoft, Apple, Intel, etc.). But it would be hugely beneficial to the consumer. For Microsoft’s part, it would take the priority away from their Windows Media codecs, and put it on the universal codec platform itself – and whatever technology (Windows Media Connect?) that makes it possible.
If every manufacturer implements this, I don’t think it would “kill” the iPod or Apple. I think it would force Apple to support the standard, though. And that would mean a level playing field in a market that is currently very lopsided.
Any thoughts?