Rhapsody adds offline listening to iPhone app, Israel iPad ban lifted

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Online subscription streaming service Rhapsody has added the ability to download playlists for offline listening via its iPhone application. Also, this past weekend Israel formally lifted its ban on iPad imports, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak revealed that an Apple engineer was fired for showing off a 3G iPad.



Rhapsody adds playlist downloads



Released on Sunday, version 2.0 of the Rhapsody iPhone application (iTunes link) still requires a $10 per month subscription to the online service. But the latest update allows users to download playlists to their device, and listen to music when an Internet connection is not available for streaming of media.



"The 2.0 version of the Rhapsody app lets subscribers download their favorite Rhapsody playlists to their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad so they can listen anytime -- even when they're not connected to the Internet," the company's official blog reads. "Now, your favorite songs will live on your device, and you can listen to them anywhere: on the subway, on an airplane, even on a submarine."



Playlists can be downloaded through a 3G or Wi-F connection, and can allow downloads of a range of songs on a playlist, or one specific album in its entirety.







It's quite a change from last August, when the subscription service submitted their application to Apple without even knowing if the Cupertino, Calif., company would accept it onto the App Store. At the time, some had speculated that the fact that the product would allow users to bypass Apple's iTunes Music Store could lead to its rejection.



The download feature has also beaten rival platforms Android and BlackBerry to the punch. Rhapsody said it plans to release versions for those platforms in the next few months. And it said it will offer a new iPad-specific application later this year when iPhone OS 4.0 offers multitasking capabilities.



Israel lifts iPad ban



On Sunday, Israel began accepting imports of iPads into its country. Two weeks before, the nation's customs had begun confiscating the hardware out of fear they would interfere with other wireless devices.



According to Reuters, the country noted that it had confiscated 20 iPads since the ban went into place that would be returned to their owners.



Last year, Israel's security practices came under scrutiny when an American traveling to Jerusalem had three bullets shot through her MacBook. The woman was reportedly compensated for the loss.



'Woz' says Apple employee was fired for showing 3G iPad



In a guest column for Gizmodo, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak revealed that the Apple engineer who lost an iPhone prototype was not fired. But a test engineer who showed him an unreleased 3G iPad the night of the Wi-Fi iPad launch was terminated from his position.



"I opted to spend 2 minutes with Numbers on this iPad, trying some stunts I'd seen on Apple's website demo video," Wozniak wrote. "I was not told that it was a 3G model and I had no way to know that. I was told that this engineer had to wait until midnight to show it outside of Apple's secure area. And I'm an Apple employee who he was showing it to. My guess is that he was allowed to take the iPad outside of the secure area but still not supposed to show it."



He concluded by suggesting that firing that employee was a mistake, as he "doesn't play the rumor mill game" and had "little interest" in seeing the device for more than a few minutes.



"Product secrecy is good for Apple and should be strictly enforced, but maybe 10% of niceness and 90% of strictness is OK too," he said.



The device was shown of at the San Jose Valley Fair Apple store during the iPad launch, and Engadget was provided with a photo of Wozniak holding the device. "An Apple engineer apparently walked through the queue with it," the report said at the time.







The iPad with both 3G and Wi-Fi will be available in the U.S. on April 30. Both the Wi-Fi and 3G models of the device will be available internationally in late May.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    I love Woz' hypocrisy. He says "he doesn't play the rumor mill game" yet there he is giving Gizmodo (who appears to think that trade secret and theft laws don't apply to them) a picture of him with the 3G iPad - which is not yet in consumers' hands.



    It's really too bad for the guy who got fired, but anyone developing prototypes in ANY company knows that you don't go showing prototypes outside the company without permission. In fact, in larger companies, you can't even show prototypes outside your department or work group.



    If you can't follow rules, you have to expect the consequences.











    Oh, and Apple is Doomed.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    emulatoremulator Posts: 251member
    If some country ban and later un-ban an Apple device, it only show how stupid and clueless they are. I bet their secret service would have had more fun killing Palestinian children than unpacking the iPad.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emulator View Post


    If some country ban and later un-ban an Apple device, it only show how stupid and clueless they are. I bet their secret service would have had more fun killing Palestinian children than unpacking the iPad.



    I don't think the ban has anything to do with Apple but the requirement that any product to be used must meet their wifi standards before it can be imported.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheShepherd View Post


    I don't think the ban has anything to do with Apple but the requirement that any product to be used must meet their wifi standards before it can be imported.



    Considering that no one else anywhere else has felt the need to do, it's all a bit weird. And unnecessary, as it turns out.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emulator View Post


    If some country ban and later un-ban an Apple device, it only show how stupid and clueless they are. I bet their secret service would have had more fun killing Palestinian children than unpacking the iPad.



    I think you're missing the point. The Israeli customs group was unable to buy them from Apple, so this was their way of acquiring some. Now that they all have one, they can let everyone else keep theirs.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    I love Woz' hypocrisy. He says "he doesn't play the rumor mill game" yet there he is giving Gizmodo (who appears to think that trade secret and theft laws don't apply to them) a picture of him with the 3G iPad - which is not yet in consumers' hands.



    It's sad to see... Woz has gone over to the dark side.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheShepherd View Post


    I don't think the ban has anything to do with Apple but the requirement that any product to be used must meet their wifi standards before it can be imported.



    I don't believe this. I believe the ban had everything to do with iDigital, the sole Apple distributor in Israel, and greed. They are trying to ensure their cut of every iPad brought into Israel by blocking those who try to go around them. The iPad release in Israel follows the Euro release date. iDigital is run by Chemi Peresm, the son of Simon Peres, the Israeli president.



    The sad thing is that it is not only enthusiastic consumers trying to get the device, but developers who have a business need to secure one early.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    nano_tubenano_tube Posts: 114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emulator View Post


    I bet their secret service would have had more fun killing Palestinian children than unpacking the iPad.



    I bet you have no friends.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    I love Woz' hypocrisy. He says "he doesn't play the rumor mill game" yet there he is giving Gizmodo (who appears to think that trade secret and theft laws don't apply to them) a picture of him with the 3G iPad - which is not yet in consumers' hands.



    Maybe you should re-read the article before you jump to a rash conclusion. Woz didn't know it was a 3G iPad until after the picture was taken.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    It's really too bad for the guy who got fired, but anyone developing prototypes in ANY company knows that you don't go showing prototypes outside the company without permission. In fact, in larger companies, you can't even show prototypes outside your department or work group.





    My guess is that this guy figured since it was "just like" the ipads that were releasing in 8 hours (it happened to have 3g also) it was no big deal.



    But yes the rule likely was you don't take it out of that area. You don't show it to anyone that is not directly part of that group. Even the Woz.



    Given that this was 2 weeks after the Powell incident you can bet they reminded everyone of the rules to make sure no one was lax. The reason Mr Powell wasn't fired was possibly because they all understand that shit happens when you have a phone you were authorized to have off campus for real world testing with you. Despite being as careful as you can, it falls out of a pocket, it gets swiped by a pick pocket whatever. That is totally not the same as purposefully picking up something and removing it.



    Also the FCC can be real sticks up their butts about using devices before they are approved. So that could also be a factor.
  • Reply 11 of 23
    williamgwilliamg Posts: 322member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    a. And I'm an Apple employee who he was showing it to.



    Should Woz be fired too?
  • Reply 12 of 23
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    My guess is that this guy figured since it was "just like" the ipads that were releasing in 8 hours (it happened to have 3g also) it was no big deal.



    But yes the rule likely was you don't take it out of that area. You don't show it to anyone that is not directly part of that group. Even the Woz.



    Given that this was 2 weeks after the Powell incident you can bet they reminded everyone of the rules to make sure no one was lax. The reason Mr Powell wasn't fired was possibly because they all understand that shit happens when you have a phone you were authorized to have off campus for real world testing with you. Despite being as careful as you can, it falls out of a pocket, it gets swiped by a pick pocket whatever. That is totally not the same as purposefully picking up something and removing it.



    Also the FCC can be real sticks up their butts about using devices before they are approved. So that could also be a factor.



    I believe that was the reason for firing that employee. That guy was showing the iPad to more than just Woz.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WilliamG View Post


    Should Woz be fired too?



    Fired from where? He no longer works for Apple.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emulator View Post


    If some country ban and later un-ban an Apple device, it only show how stupid and clueless they are. I bet their secret service would have had more fun killing Palestinian children than unpacking the iPad.



    they probably wanted a check from apple to lift the ban...

    they usually get one every month from US taxpayers as well, they're used to it
  • Reply 15 of 23
    technotechno Posts: 737member
    pardon my ignorance, but what does Woz do for Apple?



    I bet the guy was just a little star struck (in a geeky way) with Woz and figured this guy would fall under an exception. Maybe?
  • Reply 16 of 23
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by techno View Post


    pardon my ignorance, but what does Woz do for Apple?



    I bet the guy was just a little star struck (in a geeky way) with Woz and figured this guy would fall under an exception. Maybe?



    He does nothing, he is still listed as an official employee, his name is still found in the company directory and such. It just honoree, he gets no other benefit from it from what I know. Steve Jobs never had this, when he left he was no longer part of the company.



    Woz's brother use to work there, he still might still work there, and he could pretty much do whatever he wanted and work any project he wanted at the time.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple 1984 View Post


    I don't believe this. I believe the ban had everything to do with iDigital, the sole Apple distributor in Israel, and greed. They are trying to ensure their cut of every iPad brought into Israel by blocking those who try to go around them. The iPad release in Israel follows the Euro release date. iDigital is run by Chemi Peresm, the son of Simon Peres, the Israeli president.



    The sad thing is that it is not only enthusiastic consumers trying to get the device, but developers who have a business need to secure one early.



    I read I think the same story this morning. It also said that, Isreal being a 3rd tier market, there were already 100,000 iPhones there by the time idigital started selling them. It does sound a lot like politicians using their infuence to line their pockets.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    I love Woz' hypocrisy. He says "he doesn't play the rumor mill game" yet there he is giving Gizmodo (who appears to think that trade secret and theft laws don't apply to them) a picture of him with the 3G iPad - which is not yet in consumers' hands.



    The article says he gave the picture to Engadget, he just mentioned it in the column on Gizmodo but doing the column at all for Gizmodo was questionable if indeed it took place after the iPhone incident.



    It's not important that the 3G model isn't out yet, Apple have pictures of it on their site. It was just the fact the engineer wasn't supposed to show it until later on. I agree with Woz, it was overly harsh to fire the guy over that incident and leave the person who lost the next-gen iPhone in his job. That's hypocritical when clearly losing the iPhone had much worse consequences.



    I know one was by accident and the other could have been prevented but it wasn't as if the engineer wanted to leak the 3G model or anything and it could be counted as an accident. Maybe there was no wifi around and the engineer wanted the co-founder to try out the browser.



    Woz is a rational, decent human being and I'd rather hear what he has to say than any other Apple employee. He's not the kind of guy who would harm a company he co-founded just for publicity.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    And yet he discusses the entire episode, weighing in on the firing with Gizmodo.



    Not saying he did it with any ill intent... just that you can't say you don't "play the rumour mill game" while in a conversation with an organization that paid $5000 for a secret prototype so they could leak it to the world.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by caliminius View Post


    Maybe you should re-read the article before you jump to a rash conclusion. Woz didn't know it was a 3G iPad until after the picture was taken.



  • Reply 20 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by canucklehead View Post


    And yet he discusses the entire episode, weighing in on the firing with Gizmodo.



    Not saying he did it with any ill intent... just that you can't say you don't "play the rumour mill game" while in a conversation with an organization that paid $5000 for a secret prototype so they could leak it to the world.



    He likely felt bad about being a part of this fellows firing. Discussing it doesn't seem wrong. He didn't come out and say Apple shouldn't have fired him.



    I didn't read Woz's article in gizmodo but didn't it come before they paid 5k for the prototype? If you're going to blame Woz for something it should be about something he had prior knowledge of.
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