Ok, now I’m sure that some people aren’t going to be real happy about me saying this. But I have suffered in silence for long enough, and I think it’s time I get this off my chest.

iTunes is a bloated, sluggish, buggy, and ugly piece of programming. First off, Paul Thurrott gave the best description of iTunes that I’ve heard to date. It’s a spread sheet with music in it.

I have to apologize to all of the people who love Apple’s award winning design skills, but iTunes is ugly. I was surprised to download Safari recently, and realize that it looks exactly like iTunes. Does it look like this on MAC OS? What’s up with that?

The picture above illustrates why I was inspired to write this post. Why in the world does iTunes need 60 % of my CPU? I’m playing a itty bitty video, 320 x 240, about 6 minutes long.

I’m not running a Pentium II 450 Mghz, I have a 4Ghz P4. It shouldn’t need that much CPU time even if I was encoding the video.

I didn’t mention yet that iTunes is using about 100M of memory. Do you think that’s reasonable?

The picture to the left is just one example of the scrambled display that I get from time to time. I don’t mind that so much as I do the fact that iTunes is so terribly slow, especially over remote desktop.

Even when logged in locally, it is still painfully slow to resize windows.

Redeeming Qualities

OK, there are two reasons why I use iTunes. One, it is the only application that works with my iPod. I love my iPod, which has an excellent design.

If Apple wants to use their near monopoly over the MP3 player industry to push a sub standard music player and their own music store, I guess I can’t do anything about it.

The second reason is that iTunes supports podcasts. I wish Media player did this as well. I’ve heard that the Zune supports them now, but I haven’t verified that, and I don’t own a Zune anyway.

For now I’m stuck with the sluggish, bloated iTunes, and I don’t have much choice about it. I’ve heard that there are some Open Source alternatives out there. I should check them out. I’m not concerned with losing my music, since I haven’t bought one single song from the iTunes store.

Feel free to chime in if you have any experience with another iPod friendly app.

Posted in Apple, Applications, iPod, iTunes 6 Comments »

The iPhone Software Unlock that I posted about yesterday appears to be working great. Engadget is listing all of the countries and providers that have been confirmed so far. Although there are some disputes in the numbers, there are a whole lot of them.

Engadget is also stating that the fix is “Store persistent”, which means that even after the phone is wiped out, the fix stays there. I’m not sure if there has been an apple update since the fix, and I’m curious to see if Apple can get rid of it. 

If they did, I think it would be a matter of days before another fix came out.

Thanks to “the mumbler“ for pointing me to the story.

References:

iPhone now software unlocked in 32 countries and 69 carriers – EnGadget

Posted in Apple, Hacks, iPhone No Comments »

AKA: Why in the world did we base our OS on *nix? Didn’t we want to stay proprietary?

You had to know it was coming, but there is a way to unlock your iPhone using software, for free. Here it is:

iPhone Software Unlock Guide!

I knew that some software apps to do it were almost out, but according to APC Magazine, this is the first. Not sure if this will last past the first update, and Engadget is reporting that there will be a GUI soon.

Still, I think this is a try it at your own risk type of thing. Personally, I think I would wait to see if it works on other’s phones before I tried it on mine. If I had one that is. Feel free to contact me if you want to give me a iPhone to try it on.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, between this and the price drop, the phone is actually starting to be reasonable. Of course, this is bad news for both AT&T, since it takes away from the exclusiveness of their deal, and Apple, since they get a cut of every AT&T/iPhone subscriber. 

References:

iPhone Software Unlock Guide

First Free iPhone unlocking solution released – APC Magazine

Posted in Apple, Hacks, iPhone, iPod No Comments »

AKA: “Now aren’t you glad that you didn’t wait in line for the iPhone, unless of course you did?”

AKA: “i p0wned?”

Apple announced today at a press conference that they are dropping the iPhone price to $399.

Yes, it originally sold for $599.

Yes, that’s $200 dollars cheaper.

Yes, it just came out in June.

That sure seems unfair to all of those people who waited in line for it. After seeing one of these in real life, I probably would think about it a little more, especially now that there are so many software unlock programs coming out. You wouldn’t be tied down to a uber expensive AT&T contract. If I find $400 laying around, I might have to give it some thought.

New Nano

Not only did Apple change the look of the new iPod nano, adding video, but it would seem that they dropped the price too. The 4G nano is selling for $149, which if I’m correct, is what the 2G sold for not long ago. There will also be a 8G version which sells for $199.

The nano is still pretty small, so the addition of an itty bitty video screen may be really cool. I personally don’t care much about video, since I mostly listen to my iPod while driving, but it isn’t a negative, since I can still get one for about the same price as I bought my 2G nano. (Disclaimer: Mike actually purchased his nano refurbished from Apple’s store. Mike will probably purchase his next iPod using this method too.)

Now, for something that may be one of the best ideas yet …

The iPod Touch

They also announced the iPod touch. That’s right, all the iPhone coolness, but without the annoying phone!

Using the navigation of the iPhone, and what looks like the same 3.5 inch display, I have to admit, this is pretty sharp.

Of course, one of the advantages of the iPhone is that if combines several gadgets that you already carry around, or wish you could carry around, and combines it into one.

The Apple store lists the 8G version at $299, and the 16G version at $399. before you scroll up, the $399 iPhone is 8G.

The iPod touch has wi-fi, and the internet browser, just no phone or camera. Still pretty sweet though. Once again, if I found $400 laying around, I might have to give this some thought. I like the iPhone design and features, but I don’t like phones. (Seriously). Then there is the camera to think about…

Of course, if you buy the iPod Touch, and someone asks if it is an iPhone, you can say “Of course it is.”

“Oh wait, sorry, I have a call”

“but I didn’t hear it ring…”

“I know, it has a super high frequency that can only be heard by the cool.”

Anyway, lots of ichoices this upcoming holiday season. I wonder if Microsoft will introduce a new Zune.

(All images belong to Apple, they aren’t mine, so please don’t sue me Steve)

What others have typed about this:

“Apple Announces iPod touch with Wi-Fi” – PCMAG

“Apple’s New iPod Touch: Should You Get It?“ - Switched.com

“Apple announces iPod Touch: iPhone without the phone” – tuaw.com

“Oh man, Spolit for Choices in new IPod Line” – Simple is the reason of my heart

“The New iPod Family” – TechKoTo

“Apple Event Post Mortem” – Cuz we said so

“New iPods” – We’re all waiting for something

“Why Apple is going to destroy Xmas” – Khoa Lam

Posted in Apple, iPhone, iPod No Comments »