I think the updates are very welcome even if they are direct copies of other mobile OS'. At the end of the day everyone copies everyone in this game and competition OS a good thing. I fid it surprising however that Apple offering your music and app purchase history back to you counts as a "service" now. It's hardly like they are creating a copy of your apps and music just for you, but they have done a great job marketing it as such. In a fit of crazy I'm almost tempted to join the developer program just to get the beta :/
Re copying: I'd like to make one thing clear: Apple has pretty much never been a technology innovator. People hating on them now for "stealing" Android's features need to take another very careful look at Apple products and their history. It's what I've been saying for years: Apple don't do anything that hasn't already been done - they just refine the user experience to the point where it is extremely streamlined, shiny, and when you use it the way they intend it to be used, it sings.
^ Exactly the way I feel about it. The thing is is "cool" to hate on Apple right now, just like it was cool to hate on MS a few years back. Fonboyism is alsofar more rampant now that technology is more accessible too, so any little thing that kicks off a bout of PJS (Purchase Justification Syndrome) via jealousy/want for something else etc, gets blown out of proportion.
They have no made it any cheaper to upgrade. I picked up a copy of snow leopard upgrade for about £26 slightly cheaper than the apple store for a... project. And it was a full version from what I could see. They have just stopped pretending people will buy the non upgrade version. Being an iphone/ipad user it's nice to see them stealing the good features from other operating systems too. iCloud seems brilliant too, it's a shame the document saving won't work with windows (I assume you need pages). As far as iTunes match goes, am I right in thinking you can: Sign up to itunes match scan and download higher quality versions on ripped CDs (your ripped CDs are not exactly the same as itunes bought music) Cancel subscription Have all your music still in the cloud and your now locked into buying music from itunes unless you want to continue your subscription If so, you kinda have to admire apple for pulling a fast one on the record companies. The itunes match removes the barrier to entry "I did not get all my music from itunes, this is no good for me" and also gives you an incentive to do so "ohh higher quality". Then if you want to stay on icloud you have to buy your music from apple. Well unless your a prolific downloader who just starts paying $"$ year for music.
I reckon (pure speculation, though), that once you canel your iTunes Match subscription, they force you to synch back to your device (whatever that is...), thus removing any benefit from actually having had an iTune Match account, save for having a few higher grade rips of some of the songs that were "obtained" previosuly. Apple will get my money if that service is available here. Simple reason: I have TONS of music, and a record collection that spans well over 1000 albums. I have ripped moost of that through the years, to varying qualities. I never got around to tagging all of them, nor have I ever listened to some of them (these things happen when you buy 10+ albums at a time twice a month). Tagging is a SCHLEPP, and iTunes match seems to imply that they can do it all "shazam-like", AND sort it into the library properly, AND share it to my iPhone and my Mac, and my PC. That is just about the coolest thing since computer Audio exists for me personally, and for that alone, Apple will get my 25USD a year (though i would pay them more than that as well). Sure, some people will use it to "go legal on the cheap", but even that is a step int he right direction, and a score for the record industry...
I seem to remember that Apple said that the iTunes Match songs will be DRM free - so in fact, you can just cancel the service once you've got all your replacements. I can't see how they can do otherwise without DRM. I think the purchase history thing is a bit of a joke to be promoting as a feature. It's just something they should have been doing from day one...but they've combined it with auto-sync across multiple devices to disguise it a bit. As for Apple being a technology stealer? I don't really agree with that. They created FireWire, collaborated with Intel on Thunderbolt, invented MiniDisplayPort (that is now part of the official spec), unibody construction processes, and so on and on. They certainly do take other concepts, polish them to perfection and release, but I wouldn't trash talk their innovation either.
I guess what they mean is that the music will no longer be available in the cloud upon cancellation of your subscription, which makes perfect sense; there's nothing stopping you from syncing your ripped CDs to your devices as it is at the moment anyway, so the $25 gives you the luxury of having them constantly available in the cloud for downloading to devices at will.
In terms of iOS5, so far I've found it to be quite nice. Draining battery quicker than usual, notification centre is nice but clearing notifications doesn't clear the badge from the app which would be especially handy on messages, there is a quite comical error with reminders date/time under 24 hour clocks, as well as a couple of random security holes when the phone is locked by pin that I've found thus far. Beta is beta so I expect nigggles though. So long as they listen to the user feedback at this stage, it will be a nice update for the device bringing it in-line with other devices on the market, forcing everyone to innovate as nobody wants to just be the same as each other.
Yes. They can't stop you from doing that, but that's what I mean by "synch back to your device". Force you to download all the songs from the cloud, and shut you out of the cloud, thus making the only benefit the possibly higher bitrate and legality of the songs.
You misunderstand me. I admire the hell out of Apple and their products (although they're not above criticism). What I meant when I say they've never been a technology innovator is that, in recent years, they rarely come up with a genuinely new concept - they refine existing ones to perfection. That is innovation sure, but it's a more creative form. Steve Jobs himself said: Don't misunderstand me, that isn't a bad thing. But yeah, they haven't been a technology innovator for a good while now. They didn't "create" firewire, by the way. The idea was initially theirs, sure, but the development of the protocol was a collaboration of various companies. Also, that was in 1988 - ancient history as far as tech is concerned
