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Login to post Forums » Off-topic discussion » Apple sux

Dec. 10, 2009 11:07 p.m. rmarkc Reader

Holy E36 M3!
I just wasted 2 hours trying to get a new iPod Touch set up for my niece's Christmas present and I'm not done yet.

I use Ubuntu as my main OS and have a Windows 7 HTPC. I had to install iTunes just to "open" the Touch. Then the ipod wouldn't connect to my wireless network with my WEP key enabled so I had to install an old wireless access point with no security to get a connection.

The old wireless AP is 802.11g but the touch's connection is unbearably slow.

I tried to register for the iTunes store to d/l some free apps but my email comes to the Linux box and the confirmation link just takes me to the iTunes d/l page. I save the email to a network drive and open the link on the 7 box. IE comes up with a page that says iTunes will open shortly but it never does. IE also reports an error on the page. I can't confirm my registration so I can't download any apps.

Thank you Apple for your intuitive and easy to use E36 M3. Vista was a walk in the park compared to this and I think Micro$oft is satan's elite guard.

Sorry, had to vent.
Dec. 10, 2009 11:59 p.m. neon4891 SuperDork

In my digital art classes I would get more "spinning rainbows of death" on the macs than I did blue screens and crashes on my PC laptop, doing the same work.
Dec. 11, 2009 12:00 a.m. alex Dork

Ubuntu + W7 + (-iTunes) + IE + Touch = headache

Mac OS + Touch = cakewalk

Sorry man, but that thing was just not designed for somebody like you.
Dec. 11, 2009 8:29 a.m. carguy123 SuperDork

I can't even remember when I got my last 'spinning rainbows of death" on my Macs but crashes on my PC are a way of life.

I don't have the touch, but I do have several iPhones. While most of them are operated off Macs I set up, update and generally just use one of them on the PC. Yes, it's more steps, but NO it hasn't really been a hassle. Don't know what the difference is with your set up because I've not seen a PC/iPhone issue on mine nor any of my friends computer.

Yes, you do have to use iTunes, but that's a small price to pay for greatness!
Dec. 11, 2009 10:59 a.m. bequietanddrive New Reader

If you want an apple product, you better be ready to buy into the whole apple lifestyle.

Ipod,itunes,imac,ilife,iphone. It's a joke. Want to buy music from the itunes store? better be prepared to buy an apple music playing device so you can play the music that YOU OWN , but not really because it's severely restricted and you can only use apple's products to play their music.

Want an iphone? You better like apple's ringetones, backgrounds (wait, you can't put a backround on the iPhone) etc.

I say no thanks. I'll buy my music DRM free from Amazon, play it on any device I want because it's MY MUSIC. I'll stick to my open source android phone which works with any platform and anyone can play around with how they see fit.
Dec. 11, 2009 11:03 a.m. Shaun Reader

bequietanddrive wrote:

If you want an apple product, you better be ready to buy into the whole apple lifestyle.

Ipod,itunes,imac,ilife,iphone. It's a joke. Want to buy music from the itunes store? better be prepared to buy an apple music playing device so you can play the music that YOU OWN , but not really because it's severely restricted and you can only use apple's products to play their music.

Want an iphone? You better like apple's ringetones, backgrounds (wait, you can't put a backround on the iPhone) etc.

I say no thanks. I'll buy my music DRM free from Amazon, play it on any device I want because it's MY MUSIC. I'll stick to my open source android phone which works with any platform and anyone can play around with how they see fit.

I agree with you %100 on all this. There is upside to Apple too- I had a drink with a former co-worker the other night who had been working crazy hours to get a contracting project done. His 5 year old mac book pro went dead screen on him. He went down to the Apple store at 4 in the afternoon and they checked it out and found the graphics card was dead. Getting it fixed would take a couple days (disaster), or he could by a new mac book pro and they could port the entire image of his old computer via firewire 5 in minutes or so (he was skeptical). He chose the latter and it work as promised and he had every program, email, file, custom configuration, EVERYTHING that was in his old computer in a new one an hour after the first one died. He made his deadline. It cost a bunch of course, but I found that impressive and of high value.

I have never owned an apple puter. 4 Xp boxes at home.
Dec. 11, 2009 11:38 a.m. bequietanddrive New Reader

I will say that I've heard great things about Apple service.
Dec. 11, 2009 11:46 a.m. rmarkc Reader

I like to think that I am flexible on computer matters but I am not ready to drink the Apple Kool-Aid and this experience just reinforced that.

From the fact that you must connect the touch to iTunes to use the thing to the slow wireless to the iTunes registration process, this thing is a huge pain in the ass.
Dec. 11, 2009 11:46 a.m. Duke SuperDork

rmarkc wrote:

IE

Well, that's your problem, right there.
Dec. 11, 2009 12:00 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

No background or other ring tone on my iPhone? You'd better please tell my iPhone that it has to lose it's pretty background and all it's ring tones. You can even make your own ring tones.

Apple doesn't require you to buy into them nearly as much as Windoze does. And yes IE that orphaned browser is usually the root of all the problems I have on the PC. Firefox is sooooo much cleaner and easier to run plus it's also smaller which makes it faster.
Dec. 11, 2009 12:04 p.m. rmarkc Reader

Duke wrote:

rmarkc wrote:

IE

Well, that's your problem, right there.

Yeah...maybe if I use Safari all of my problems will go away...and the economy will get better...and the ozone layer will regenerate...and there will be rainbows and unicorns everywhere.

I am trying to do this on the only Windows system I have which is my HTPC. I've already had to install one piece of useless software. I don't need another web browser on a PC that will only see Netflix and HULU via Media center.

That said, I do like Chrome and Firefox and use them whenever possible.
Dec. 11, 2009 12:14 p.m. Duke SuperDork

I don't much like Safari that well, but IE just sucks and blows at the same time. I've never had it work properly with anything, even websites that require IE. I use Firefox with the IE Tab add-on. and get great results.
Dec. 11, 2009 12:32 p.m. bequietanddrive New Reader

In reply to carguy123:

I'm assuming your iphone is modified or jailbroken? Because that sure as heck isn't possible out of the box.

Don't get me wrong, Microsoft has it's quirks.
Dec. 11, 2009 12:53 p.m. Tom Heath Marketing / Club Coordinator

In reply to bequietanddrive:

My iphone has custom backgrounds and ringtones, all that jazz. Not jailbroken or modified.

I've long since tried converting people to the Apple way, but I'm very happy with all of my mac stuff. YMMV.
Dec. 11, 2009 1:07 p.m. turboswede SuperDork

Other than my iPhone deciding not to provide data services this morning (had to reboot to fix that) I'm really enjoying it.

I've got a picture of the inside of a SR-71's engine nacelle as my background. As for ring tones, I generally despise cutesy tones so I haven't bothered, but if you do a little research you can find how to create your own quickly and easily using MP3's you already have.

With that said, unless AT&T pulls their collective heads out of their collective butts and stops treating their customers as problems they'll be losing my business as soon as the contract is up.

To the OP, I think the confirmation link is working properly. The next logical step would be to download iTunes. Try opening iTunes on the PC and adding your account, then connect the iTouch and open the App Store. Worst case, install Firefox on the PC, set it as default, revel in the fact that other applications won't invoke it as default in the background and move on.

Or you can try the methods here to use Wine with iTunes on Ubuntu.

http://mediakey.dk/~cc/itunes-on-linux-ubuntu/

Good luck!
Dec. 11, 2009 2:21 p.m. Tim Baxter Online Editor

bequietanddrive wrote:

In reply to carguy123:

I'm assuming your iphone is modified or jailbroken? Because that sure as heck isn't possible out of the box.

Don't get me wrong, Microsoft has it's quirks.

Yes it is, and ridiculously easy, too. I smile every time the Fall's "Telephone Thing" plays for my ringtone. I'm no ringtone fanatic by any stretch, but little midi files sound like crap where ever they play. I definitely don't want to hear one play when my phone rings.

Actually, so far I haven't seen much of any reason TO jailbreak, other than AT&T being less-than-ideal.

And whether or not one likes Safari doesn't change the fact, IE is a smelly turd, and ALL the other browsers are clearly superior to it.
Dec. 11, 2009 3:04 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

My iphone is not jailbroken and it has a picture of my kids washing my 911 as the background. It plays Drowning Pool's When the Bodies Hit the Floor when it rings and it has 9GB of music on it that I ripped from my own CDs. It works fine integrated with my wife's macbook, my laptop or my vmware session on Ubuntu.

There really is only one single reason not to choose an iPhone over every other smartphone on the market and that reason is AT&T. I suffer with them until the Droid matures or Apple gives the nod to Verizion.
Dec. 11, 2009 3:05 p.m. bequietanddrive New Reader

In reply to Tim Baxter:

Let us agree that we each like our respective platforms and let that be that After all, that's why there's more than one phone/OS out there.

My apologies to all. I was under the impression that one must modify/hack the iphone to change the background and ringtone.
Dec. 11, 2009 5:50 p.m. jpod999 Reader

I have the Top Gear theme song as my ringtone on my iPhone.
Dec. 11, 2009 8:10 p.m. wbjones Reader

carguy123 wrote:

I can't even remember when I got my last 'spinning rainbows of death" on my Macs but crashes on my PC are a way of life.

lets start with a little honesty up front.... I'm not very computer literate.... that might not convey just how little I actually know.... that having been said I do love my miniMac (as compared to the PC's of the past)

but I do seem to get the "spinning rainbows of death" about every 4th or 5th link I click on here on the GRM forums... and the only way out is "force quit"... which then makes the restart as slow as any PC I ever had..... but I still love my Mac

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