Blogs Is iTunes the best for digital distribution?

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/04/22/itunes-not-best-digital-distribution/

 

I now have zero apple software on my computer, so I would agree, that steam is the best, yes. You could also have pointed out that steam doesn't download Safari and set it as the default browser without asking you (I know it doesn't do this any more, but it certainly used to) along with quicktime which eats your default file settings, and a few 'iPod helper' services.

I know this was a joke, but surely any online service with DRM (eg iTunes) could take your credit card or retract your rights to the data you bought?

 

You store documents & games on C:? Hahahah

Seriously though. Move your documents folder to another partition (Right click, properties and go to the location tab)
Install games on another partition too.

I reinstalled Windows last week. All I had to do was download the steam client and install it to the same location. It picked up all my installed games and saves right away. Just had to re-enter the cd key for a couple of games like UT as I presume these are stored in the registry somewhere.

 

Well the only thing I see in this review is personal preference. I use iTunes as my default player since I bought my trusty little iPod (3 years ago) never actually did anything without asking (as some said) i just pressed no when it ask me if I want Safari to my system... (doh, that easy) Its doing to more than 3 sec to open and load on normal usage... IF i need the store well It will take a couple of seconds but thats it everything else is hella responsive...

However, Steam is quite fast too but have you ever pressed Store or Community it does the same time to open as Apple store does ? It also upgrades things on its own even it self, without asking that is... but it has a big variety of games in CHEAP prices, i dont know why you find them expensive.

Both of them are online shops but iTunes is not only that, its a media player and if you need it then you need the extension of quicktime which has never failed or messed my pc once... it opens when its needed. On the other hand steam is only an online shop, maybe an organizer of the games, it has flaws as itunes.

You cant compare iTunes with Steam maybe Apple Shop with Steam and then again both shops think and act differently as they are talking to deferent audiences .

 

Definitely. Had iTunes, have Steam. I used gtkpod for my iPod. Much cleaner and done exactly what I told it to.

 

I have to agree that Steam is simply superior. May have to give this gtkpod a go. ITunes does nothing but irritate me.

 

the other thing that Steam does better than iTunes is that any purchases can be re-downloaded without re-purchasing.

I've previously lost a couple of itunes tracks that I hadn't had a chance to back-up after a drive started corrupting files.

I also bought a track recently on iTunes ("The Truth" by Lacuna coil after playing it on GH:WT and not being able to get it out of my head) which I'm 99% positive was corrupted on download as just before the end of the song the volume fades out and theres a couple of strange noises before the song fades back in.
If I could re-download purchases (like we can with Steam) this wouldn't be a problem.

 

+1

This is my number one gripe with iTunes.

 

Christ, I can't believe they get away with that. I have never used the store, but assumed they followed the same sort of guidelines as Steam in terms of redownloading.

 

although i totally agree Steam's system is the best known (to me at least) but wouldn't it be a better comparison to do iTunes vs Amazon? since after all, they both actually sells music.

 

I love steam! But I only realised this after moving to Windows 7 and realising I didn't need any disc to reinstall my games, now its awesome and I tend to buy most of the weekend deals

 

I <3 Steam for all the reasons stated above and also i like the way it evolved community wise. Friends works really well and i like that you can list 3rd party apps in friends so people know if I'm playing a non-Steam game. Also with Steam you can get all the SDKs and other stuff that i wouldn't have a clue where to get otherwise.

 

For Digital distribution Steam is still king.. Tried Itunes and never liked it. I use Emusic.com instead for music.
For everything else there is the rest of the net.
Because I can't buy a lot of the things i want because they are not available here in europe.

 

Yes, I guess it could. But the backlash for doing so would make such action unlikely.

 

Might want to back up your registry with regedit too then for a smooth transition. I did used to run separate partitions for Windows, docs and apps but got annoyed with it - too many programs would ignore Tweak UI and install to C: regardless. Or just refuse to work unless they were installed to C:, and then the C: drive would fill up too quickly. Maybe I'm just stingy and I should've got a bigger HDD!

Yep, blog=opinion piece, not a review. I was just making a point.

Oh, and multi-quote Cheesecake!

 

When I got my imod(yes imod not ipod) I removed every last apple thing from it by: 1) putting rockbox on it and 2) even getting rid of there boot and dock logos

I have no apple software on my computer and will not go near it. If something requires apple software to work I will either not use it or install it in a shell only so that I can have it gone forever when I delete it.

Steam has caused some headaches especially for me being a very early adopter. But it is way way better than any apple program I have used even when steam was at its worse.

 

Blademrk, the song you're referring to is "Our Truth", and the fade out with radio station changing noises and then baseline fade in is the way the track was meant to sound. In GH:WT (and Rock Band for that matter), its cut out ... which is a shame because I actually like that part of the song.

Cheers!

Oh, yes, iTunes can be terminally slow in Windows, but its actually a lot faster in OS X. Conspiracy? Maybe.

 

Cheers, just thought it sounded odd. I tried listening to it through a few different streaming sites (youtube, lastfm, etc...) and didn't here the noises so I reported it through the iTunes link in the email reciept and they gave me a track credit.