Re: [Banshee-List] Comptability with iPhone/iPod Touch?

[Kevin Dupuy <kevindupuy bellsouth net>]

I'd have to agree with you mostly Aaron... I have an iPod (5th G Video)
and I like it... and to be honest with you, in terms of UI, usability
and features, the iPod is the best all-around layer. Yes, it lacks some
features, but it does have the accessory ecosystem around it.

Unfortunately, IMHO, the next best player would be the Zune. Which isn't
open or compatible at this point either. So until there is a open player
that is well-designed and priced, we are stuck (Thats just my opinion)

BTW Aaron: Ranting is perfectly fine with me ;)
On Mon, 2008-01-14 at 10:53 -0700, Aaron Bockover wrote:
> No, Apple sucks. Apple and Sony compete for the #1 slot in my most evil
> and hated companies list. Currently they are tied.
> 
> A while ago I wrote about just some of the problems with Apple,
> specifically around iPods. 
> 
> http://abock.org/2006/09/14/we-need-you-and-apple-sucks-part-2/
> 
> Apple goes out of their way to lock out third parties.
> 
> They locked down DAAP with iTunes 7 such that only other iTunes 7
> clients could share with each other. We no longer can share music in
> Banshee with iTunes 7+ clients.
> 
> With the new Nano and Classic, they went out of their way to lock out
> third party software with their "clever" new hash algorithm in which a
> field is zeroed out in the iTunesDB file, the database is built by
> iTunes, then the file is processed through this algorithm and the result
> is written back to the zeroed field. When you then try to use your iPod,
> the iPod firmware makes note of this hash field, zeros it out, then runs
> the same algorithm and verifies the results. If the two hashes do not
> match, the iPod reports that there is no content on the device. 
> 
> This was reverse engineered in 2 days.
> 
> http://anonsvn.mono-project.com/source/trunk/ipod-sharp/src/Hash58.cs
> 
> Apple is brilliant at marketing and making beautiful products. This is
> why they have the market in MP3 players. Kudos to them on that. Instead
> of leveraging this market to create a more vibrant ecosystem of software
> and hardware, they lock people out. 
> 
> Enjoy your iPod, just don't complain to the open source community about
> your proprietary hardware not working, thinking it's somehow our fault.
> (Not saying you were, that's just my feeling about it all).
> 
> And actually, it's not even so much that the hardware is proprietary and
> the specs are closed. It's that they *change* so many mundane little
> details in their file formats (and then do stupid big changes like the
> aforementioned hashing). As an engineer, you look at these little
> changes you have to constantly make when trying to remain compatible
> with them, and you have no other recourse but to think, "these asshats
> changed this for no technical reason... they just want us to have to
> keep dancing."
> 
> Anyway, I'll stop ranting.
> 
> Best,
> Aaron
> 
> 
> On Sun, 2008-01-13 at 23:55 -0800, David Wade Hagar wrote:
> > Igor Guerrero Fonseca wrote:
> > > On Sun, 2008-01-13 at 19:15 -0600, Kevin Dupuy wrote:
> > >> The iPod and iPhone ARE technically compatible with Linux... but not
> > >> with Banshee. With GTKpod it works, but they need to be jailbroken.
> > >> Check their website for info.
> > > 
> > > Interesting, but Apple still sucks :P
> > > 
> > > More info about jailbreaking the iPhone(or iPod Touch):
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Installer.app
> > >
> > 
> > Interesting that you think Apple sucks.  Really, do they?  Their OS is as stable as linux, comes with every computer they sell, and is even based on BSD.  Their players are the standard in mp3 players.  Their music store started tons of music stores all over the place.  Myself, while they aren't Linux friendly.  I think they rock.
> > 
> > That is just me though. :)
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Banshee-list mailing list
> > Banshee-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/banshee-list
> 
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Kevin "Yo" Dupuy | Public Email: <kevin kevinsword com>
Happy New Year from Yo.media!