Venting about Apple - Why don't they get slammed more for crap like this?!

When I was running Itunes 8, I determined it was okay then to store the library file and all media on my Windows Home Server. All was good.

Then I upgraded to Itunes 9, and it went to crap. Every song would hang itunes up after about 19 seconds into the song. The song would continue to play, but Itunes would be unresponsive. Really annoying if you needed to pause or maybe you decided to listen to something else. So I rolled back.

Kept trying with every new version of 9, same deal. Itunes 9.0.3 somewhat recently came out. So I tried again, same deal. So I decided to check forums to see if anyone had found a solution or this. Found the most absurd workaround someone suggested – remove all MOVIES from the library catalog. I thought, “this can’t fix it!” But then I thought, “I never watch videos in Itunes, sure I’ll try…"

It freakin’ worked! Added them back. Still worked. Thanks Apple for making three iterations of your application that can't properly upgrade your own database file just because it's on a NAS.

And if you go look at forum threads on Apple's site, this is happening for people using NAS's running Itunes on Macs, too. This is clearly an Apple Itunes thing.

And there's numerous problems with Itunes just if you keep the new "Home Sharing" feature enabled (which it is by default) on both Macs and PCs.

Yet the press isn't constantly jabbing Apple for this kind of stupid crap. Hmmm....

I have no problem with Apple. I just get really irritated when people claim Microsoft sucks, and Apple can do no wrong.

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Comments

apena7

Apple is perfect and cannot be the root cause of any problem. Therefore, the problem lies in your PC.

[size=-2](just kidding)[/size]

mikej412

Running iTunes on Windows is a privilege, not a right. If you want Unicorns pooping Rainbows, you should be running a Mac.

Hyper-Me

Every company screws up. I think the difference is that people bill apple to be the "best" and thats why the spend the extra money on their products.

Admitting that Apple has (a TON) of shortcomings would mean their decision making is fallable and therefore their choice in spending 2 times as much for the same product was a bad one.

Personally, I can't stand apple. I think they are 1000 times more anti-competitive than MS ever dreamed of, yet nothing is ever done about it. They purposely break the ability for WebOS phones to sync with itunes due to being butthurt about Jon Rubenstein.

tiersten

If you've got a Windows PC that uses ReadyBoost then that screws up iTunes and QuickTime playback.

poriggity

IMHO,
Apple is the toyota of the computer world. They will let things screw up and screw up again and again until they get enough pressure, then they will cave.. Just like toyota

I have an iphone and I love it, but I know what you mean about Apple being stupid LOL

msteinhilber

poriggity wrote: »

IMHO,
Apple is the toyota of the computer world. They will let things screw up and screw up again and again until they get enough pressure, then they will cave.. Just like toyota I have an iphone and I love it, but I know what you mean about Apple being stupid LOL

I dislike Apple's tactics (and I own a Macbook Pro) but the Toyota analogy is flawed. Other automotive companies have had their equal share of recalls and I bet you they also tried to shave costs in dealing with them. I bet you we wouldn't be hearing nearly as much about Toyota, nor do I suspect we would have as much of a circus act with .gov getting involved, if it wasn't for the fact that the .gov owns 60% of GM

eMeS

I heard that Apple sells Microsoft exam ****....

I do find it amusing that Apple has become in many ways what it accused IBM of being back in the early 80's. However, there is something to be said for free-enterprise, and that is that for-profit companies exist to make a profit. We could discuss for ages about the tactics any company chooses to achieve this goal, and we could probably find something about every company out there that we don't like. The image Apple has is largely the image that Apple has created. I think they should be applauded for constructing and controlling that image effectively. Perception often does become reality.

The other thing that I would point out is that it wasn't that long ago that Microsoft bailed out Apple back when times were tough. See: Apple bailout questioned - Aug. 8, 1997

I think the "Apple is Perfect" notion comes from the same type of thinking that produces a lot of what passes for IT journalism, or even the types of stories that you often see in Wired. In many ways these things are simply fiction that are based maybe on a tiny shred of fact.

An excellent book that is a bit dated now is Amazon.com: Infinite Loop (9780385486842): Michael Malone: Books . It traces the history of Apple up until about 1998, and tells many interesting stories that I think clearly illustrate why Apple is the way it is, and perhaps why at times they're treated with kid gloves.

Personally, I use a MacBook Pro as my primary work laptop. I like it because I don't have to upgrade nearly as often as I would a Wintel based laptop. This one is now nearing 2 years old, and I see no reason to upgrade within the next year. Compare this to when I used WinTel based laptops and my refresh schedule was typically 12 to 18 months. Also, I am fortunate that I get access to Apple products at well below market pricing. In fact, I can buy one of these per year at well below what I would spend on a comparable WinTel laptop. For me that decision is easy based on the cost/benefit picture as it stands, but if I had to pay retail for Apple products, I would have to seriously reevaluate the cost/benefit picture.

MS

nel

mikej412 wrote: »

Running iTunes on Windows is a privilege, not a right. If you want Unicorns pooping Rainbows, you should be running a Mac.

Yep thats probably very true. My flatmate has a MBP and his itunes/mac software works flawlessly on it, as it probably should, when compared to itunes on my PC.

laidbackfreak

HeroPsycho wrote: »

I have no problem with Apple. I just get really irritated when people claim Microsoft sucks, and Apple can do no wrong.

Totally agree with you and the problem is down to user numbers, if Apple had the same numbers as M$ then the complaints would be up along side there too.

Zartanasaurus

eMeS wrote: »

I heard that Apple sells Microsoft exam ****....

I do find it amusing that Apple has become in many ways what it accused IBM of being back in the early 80's.

They've also become Microsoft at the same time.

HeroPsycho

nel wrote: »

Yep thats probably very true. My flatmate has a MBP and his itunes/mac software works flawlessly on it, as it probably should, when compared to itunes on my PC.

This issue is also present on Macs according to the forum posts I've seen. Common denominator is the use of a NAS storage or leaving Home Sharing enabled.

Ironically, I've used Windows features and products like Windows Home Server and Volume Shadow Copies to fix Itunes at least 10 times just for myself. So much for Apple products being reliable. I'm pretty darn close to dumping Itunes/Ipod and going Zune.

drainey

Personally I don't have a MAC,Windows,*nix preference. I don't know enough *nix to make my primary machine a *nix based unit, but when I get that far I might. But I do have a problem with Apple's insane proprietary issues.

At work we recently bought a 24" MAC cinema display monitor as a second monitor for one of our graphics end users and then spent two weeks finding an adaptor to make it work with the DVI port on her graphics card and Apple's mini-dvi port the monitor came with because Apple doesn't make an adaptor for this. Why? I posted the question with Apple and was told that that MAC monitors are not designed to work with Wintel based products. How dumb is that?

Talk about throwing business away. If Apple made MAC products easier to integrate into a wintel based network I guarantee more companies would be willing to overlook the cost to have MAC equipment for their graphics/marketing groups to use simply because MAC's work better for those applications.