iTunes Match
Endlich ist heute iTunes Match auch in Österreich und einigen anderen Ländern angekommen.
Der Startschuss fiel gestern mit der Akzeptierung der neuen AGBs, welche die Vorraussetzung für den neuen Dienst darstellen. Zur Zeit läuft auf meinem MBP gerade der Abgleich meiner iTunes Bibliothek mit Apples DB… bin schon gespannt wie lange es dauern wird 🙂
First of all – i’m editing this post with my MB Pro. I tried to do it with the iPad… but the article was too long and there are issues. Issues like the keyboard… read more:
The beginning:
Unboxing was a little bit suprising because the box was much bigger than the iPad itself. Unlike for Apple because they try to avoid too much packaging material these a days. In the box there’s of course the iPad itself and a little paper wallet containing the warrenty certificate and a sheet with infos how to proceed. And there’s the charger with the USB connection cable… But the charger wasn’t needed because of the fact that the iPad was charged fully.
Next step:
Contacting iTunes – so i had to startup my MB pro and connect my iPad via the USB-cable.
Setup:
Setting up the iPad is easy at all. After connection iTunes automatically starts up and the first backup of the device takes place. Select the content you want (don’t forget to get iBooks from the iTunes store!) and organize the apps with the designated tool in iTunes. Really easy – and for those of us already owning a iPhone / iPod – nothing new.
Content:
Yes – that’s the point i stick to. iBooks only shows up FREE books which are Project Gutenberg related – nothing else. But I’ve heard that ‘Random House’ already has a signed up contract with Apple for their books to be available within the Austrian Apple-Store. We’ll have to wait..
Movies? – No movies there, no TV-series. Only podcasts.
Alternative contents:
You are able to put your own videos into iTunes – this is what I’ve done before the iPad – this is what I’ll do now 🙂
Books? Well – use Stanza – this app allows you to add ePub documents which are available through the internet. And of course PDFs. But PDFs are not so nice to be handled within the iPad as eBooks are.
Differences to the iPhone:
There are differences.
Safari. There’s no ‘Search within this page’ feature as you have on the MB Pro. I’m missing it really.
But:
I – and my family – love the iPad. For reading. Surfing. Watching movies. Using Apps.
It’s so easy to browse the content you want. Flash? Not missing at all. Most of the internet sites I’m used to visit already switched to HTML5. Videos are available… Ads are not missed.
You’re able to write emails – if they aren’t too long. You’re able to post on your blog – if the article isn’t too long. There are things you can do with the iPad perfectly – others are… well – not horrible… but simply not convenient.
Give it away again? No. Never. 🙂
Update:
All the issues I had are solved by giving the iPad settings a closer look. Settings I’ve done month’s ago on the iPhone 🙂
Two days ago an Sept. 9th Apple released its new version of iTunes – iTunes9 and a new update for the iPhone OS which is mainly related to the integration of iTunes9.
After two days of playing around there are some points I’ve figured out:
But what does this mean in detail for users wanting to play around with the new Genius Mixes?
Let’s have a deeper look on the mentioned points:
ad 1. – Genius Mix does not show up immediatly…
after upgrading to the new version iTunes9 users have to update Genius again if the Genius Mix entry is not showing up automatically. To update Genius simply click on the related menu entry ‘Store / Update Genius’. When updating is finished the new Genius Mix entry should be visible on the left navigation sidebar, directly under the ‘Genius’ entry. If the entry is not available turn Genius off (‘Store / Turn off Genius’) and on again.
ad 3. and 4. – the iPhone does not show the Genius Mixes…
The Mixes do not show up on you iPhone till you select the Mixes at the sync page of your iPhone. Once the Mixes have been generated there is a new selectable area within the Music-Sync page of the iPhone in your iTunes9. The Mixes are NOT selected automatically – so you will have to select the wanted mixes manually on this page. But be aware – the mixes are large and your iPhone maybe has too less memory free. iTunes then asks you to select automatically music for you. I’ve experienced that then the Mixes are not uploaded to iPhone – instead the iPhone is filled up with music iTunes selects for you! So to ensure Mixes are showing up you will have to manage your memory on the iPhone and select wisely the Mixes via iTunes. If you made it your iPhone finally shows up the brand new iTunes9 Genius Mixes on it – but only in the iPod Music Bar ‘More’ – there is showing up now the ‘Genius-Mixes’ entry where you can select the different Mixes – each Mix on a extra page (use your finger flipping trough).
ad 5. – there are still troubles with the Mixes on the iPhone…
I experienced some issues on using the Mixes on the iPhone – they are performance realted I think. So maybe owners of the new generation of iPhone / iPod touch will not recognize these issues (i’m using a 3G):
.
.
.
.
ad 2. – finally – the Genius Icon showing up on images at Apple…
maybe you saw these screenys on a Apple page which are showing this nice Genius Icon on the iPhone / iPod touch navigation bar – but not on yours?
Well you are right – it isn’t there – but it’s there if you use the Apple Remote app which is available in the appstore to get access to your iTunes9 on your computer:
I hope this little article helps you a little bit of getting around the troubles you maybe experienced on using iTunes9 / iPhone OS 3.1.
Update: The icon should also be there without using the Apple Remote App on your iPhone /iPod touch – it appeared after a complete reset of my iPhone… so it seems there was an OS update probleme… 🙂
...the so called 'iPhone' killer...
You remember the last weeks? Yeah! Palm Pre – the so called iPhone killer – was presented in US.
But what makes it to the iPhone killer?
The absence of a SIM card slot?
So – ok it’s working in US with SPRINT as provider without a SIM card… but what about the ROW?
Calls over skype via a public hotspot 😉
Ah! I’ve to call my customer regarding this big deal we are going to make – where the hell is the next McDonalds with a public hotspot??
So – for sure – to be a phone you have to get it working with SIM cards… specially for the ROW…
Syncing music & photos via iTunes?
And what about their press infos about syncing with iTunes?
Well – as far as I know – iTunes is property of Apple (funny, yeah?)… and the Palm Pre isn’t.
So – ok it may work now to sync it via iTunes… but they can’t really be so naive to believe Apple would tolerate this situation in the future – are they?
So I guess with one of the next updates Apple pushes out the Palm Pre would be also pushed out…
Memory – 8GB…
Well 8GB are really not too less – but to be a iPhone killer you also should have a version with more memory available, should’nt you? There is also a version of the new iPhone 3Gs available with 32GB for those of us who also like to come along with their ‘little’ iTunes libraray…
And last but not least – iPhone 3Gs was announced these a days – and since this point it seems to be clear what we can think of a gadget which is called a ‘iPhone killer’.
We'll be back...
Apple is updating it’s store – that indicates new products arriving due to the WWDC today – looking forward what there comes along…
PS for Chris:
as promised today 😉 – but it would not be the iPhone (not sold via apple store) … and … Steve was not there
Update:
