Tue - May 23, 2006

Why the hate? Behind the iPod backlash

A lot of people (well, a lot of people who post on Internet message boards anyway) seem to be anti-iPod. There are even entire websites devoted to this, such as anythingbutipod.com. As a big fan of the iPod, I find this somewhat perplexing. I've been thinking a lot about this, and I've come up with a few possible reasons. [If you're reading this in a browser, you may need to click "Permalink" below to read the rest of the article.]

Posted at 09:19 PM | Permalink |

An open letter from Jason Tomczak, lead plaintiff in the iPod nano scratch lawsuit

As you may know, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple stating that iPod nanos are so easily scratched that their screens can become unusable in the course of normal use. What you probably didn't know was that the Jason Tomczak, the lead plaintiff in the case, was associated with the case completely against his will and without his knowledge. Or at least that's what he says. He has written an open letter to the Mac community saying that the legal firm in charge of the case essentially hijacked his name. From what he says, he's been through some very difficult and expensive problems because of this. If it's true, it makes the whole lawsuit even stupider than I originally thought, and I feel sorry for him.

(The picture above is taken from the Ars Technica review of the iPod nano, in which they discover that the nano is surprisingly sturdy, if not exactly scratch resistant.)

Open Letter To The Mac Community

Posted at 12:46 PM | Permalink |

Mon - May 15, 2006

Creative sues Apple over iPod interface

Creative, the company behind products like the Zen Vision digital media player is suing Apple over the iPod’s interface, saying that it infringes on a patent that they hold.

 The patent reads, in part:
A method of selecting at least one track from a plurality of tracks stored in a computer-readable medium of a portable media player configured to present sequentially a first, second, and third display screen on the display of the media player, the plurality of tracks accessed according to a hierarchy, the hierarchy having a plurality of categories, subcategories, and items respectively in a first, second, and third level of the hierarchy.
After wading through the patentese, you’ll see that Creative apparently patented the concept of organizing music by category. I’m surprised they didn’t go whole-hog and just patent alphabetical order while they were at it. Seriously, though, is the idea of sorting music by artist, album, and title really something that deserves a patent?

(From Ars Technica)

Posted at 09:58 AM | Permalink |

Tue - May 9, 2006

Does buying videos from the iTunes Music Store make sense?

Apple has been steadily adding videos to its download library, but how does buying videos compare to buying songs in terms of price and quality? [If you're reading this in a browser, you may need to click "Permalink" below to read the rest of the article.]

Posted at 09:07 PM | Permalink |

New shows added to iTunes Music Store: "24" "Buffy"

A number of new shows were added to the iTunes Music store this morning, including some that were no doubt high on many people's wish lists. The new shows include:

24
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Firefly
Prison Break
Unan1mous
Stacked
Lost in Space

Some of these only have one season available at the moment (including 24 and Buffy) but I imagine the later seasons will follow.

Posted at 09:06 PM | Permalink |