Some Things I'd like to see
'Scrollpads' on Apple notebooks: Mini extra trackpads (Narrow and rectangular), one either side and one along the top (horizontal) of the main trackpad. To be used much like a scroll-wheel on a mouse, these would be used to scroll windows horizontally and vertically without haveing to drag or click. I would put them left and right for the benefit of left/right handers. Its not new technology, but a nice touch.
Second, some improvements to the iTMS:
It would be nice to have access from outside the US. If all they need is a US billing address, I wonder if they could extend their partnership with MBNA. MBNA are a (pretty much) worldwide company, perhaps they could issue an iTunes credit cards which would provide the billing address for us. You pay via your iTunes MBNA card, MBNA bill you, but since all purchases would be coming to Apple via MBNA, then MBNA's USA address could be used by Apple for billing purposes.
I would like to see a facility on Garageband, where the user can upload their compositions onto iTMS for sale, with cash being split between the composer and Apple. (Maybe this would violate some law regarding unsolicited material, I don't know). It could make Apple a bigger player in the record industry without having to buy another label (Weren't they after Universal Music a while back?)
It would be quite good to an online Software store like a cross between iTunes and Software update.
You could purchase the next version of OS X as a download and burn your own copy, as well as receiving free updates when available. The system could be open to developers to allow you to purchase their software as well.
Once you have downloaded an App (Or told the Software Store App that you have it from elsewhere), it would automatically check for updates or new versions of all the software you have installed on your machine/network. Mac networks could update with a single click!
The great thing is, this facility could be used to supply anything from a 100kb shareware utility, to the latest version of FCP, Office or whatever.
And Mac developers could ensure that virtually every Mac user knew about their products and where to find them.
Does anyone anticipate an iDVD or Quicktime Movie Store any time soon?
Second, some improvements to the iTMS:
It would be nice to have access from outside the US. If all they need is a US billing address, I wonder if they could extend their partnership with MBNA. MBNA are a (pretty much) worldwide company, perhaps they could issue an iTunes credit cards which would provide the billing address for us. You pay via your iTunes MBNA card, MBNA bill you, but since all purchases would be coming to Apple via MBNA, then MBNA's USA address could be used by Apple for billing purposes.
I would like to see a facility on Garageband, where the user can upload their compositions onto iTMS for sale, with cash being split between the composer and Apple. (Maybe this would violate some law regarding unsolicited material, I don't know). It could make Apple a bigger player in the record industry without having to buy another label (Weren't they after Universal Music a while back?)
It would be quite good to an online Software store like a cross between iTunes and Software update.
You could purchase the next version of OS X as a download and burn your own copy, as well as receiving free updates when available. The system could be open to developers to allow you to purchase their software as well.
Once you have downloaded an App (Or told the Software Store App that you have it from elsewhere), it would automatically check for updates or new versions of all the software you have installed on your machine/network. Mac networks could update with a single click!
The great thing is, this facility could be used to supply anything from a 100kb shareware utility, to the latest version of FCP, Office or whatever.
And Mac developers could ensure that virtually every Mac user knew about their products and where to find them.
Does anyone anticipate an iDVD or Quicktime Movie Store any time soon?
Comments
Originally posted by Waragainstsleep
'Scrollpads' on Apple notebooks
Never happen! Apple's mice do not even come with more than one "button" so what makes you think they would put a scroller on a trackpad? Not esthetically pleasing.
As for the rest of your "future hardware" stuff, no I think the publishing ability from GarageBand to iTMS would be futile, since it could clog the iTMS with shit music from millions of nobodies. Publish to .Mac (which you pay for rather than Apple flipping the bill for iTMS storage), is more likely and I believe there is shareware to do just that already.
Nothing on QT movie/DVD on demand in the Apple realm, but NAB is only 11 days away....
Originally posted by Waragainstsleep
'Scrollpads' on Apple notebooks: Mini extra trackpads (Narrow and rectangular), one either side and one along the top (horizontal) of the main trackpad. To be used much like a scroll-wheel on a mouse, these would be used to scroll windows horizontally and vertically without haveing to drag or click. I would put them left and right for the benefit of left/right handers. Its not new technology, but a nice touch.
I'm actually kind of interested in Panasonic's take on this: They now have a circular touchpad with an iPod-style scrolling edge (all solid state, of course). Clever.
Second, some improvements to the iTMS:
It would be nice to have access from outside the US.
Your solution doesn't address the real problem, which has to do with rights and royalties to sell the music outside the US in the first place. Implementing this workaround would just Apple in trouble (or, perhaps, more trouble) with the European composers and publishers, and drag MBNA into the dispute as well.
As soon as Apple can put a system in place that makes some sense of the baffling patchwork that makes up the European contractual landscape, you'll see actual sales to Europe, and you won't have to spoof a US address.
I would like to see a facility on Garageband, where the user can upload their compositions onto iTMS for sale, with cash being split between the composer and Apple.
Never gonna happen. Apple wants the middlemen there as content filters. If you really think your GB compositions are good enough to sell, print up some CDs, sell them on CD Baby, and sign up for their Digital Distribution. No, this isn't as simple or cheap as the system you want, but that's the point. Apple doesn't want a system that allows anyone to spam their service with a bunch of random crap.
Besides, the system is apparently not that automatic. It takes two months or more from when CD Baby submits an album to when it appears on iTMS on average. Why should GB owners get a better deal than the labels do?
It would be quite good to an online Software store like a cross between iTunes and Software update.
You could purchase the next version of OS X as a download and burn your own copy, as well as receiving free updates when available. The system could be open to developers to allow you to purchase their software as well.
This is a good idea, and it's actually something I remember Apple working on with CompUSA: There would be kiosks where you could browse for all kinds of software and buy what you wanted, at which point the kiosk would print and/or burn the required media and off you went.
I'd love to see this implemented more generally. Anything that gets around the hell that is physical retail is a bonus, especially for small and shareware publishers.
Originally posted by Waragainstsleep
I would like to see a facility on Garageband, where the user can upload their compositions onto iTMS for sale, with cash being split between the composer and Apple. (Maybe this would violate some law regarding unsolicited material, I don't know). It could make Apple a bigger player in the record industry without having to buy another label
Does anyone anticipate an iDVD or Quicktime Movie Store any time soon?
No. does owning imovie warrant apple making a movie store? no. does owning iphoto warrant a photo store? absolutely not. so garageband doesnt warrant a part of the music store. please people--nobody is going to buy garageband comps. also, the whole point of GB is that the music made with it has no copyright affiliation. if someone actually produced a decent rack from GB, it would just get copied over Poisoned, and there wouldnt be a damn thing to do about it. also, windows users, who account for a lot of iTMS traffic, dont give a crap about garageband.
if you think your music made in garageband is good enough to be sold, go talk to a label. also i will refer you to the steve jobs rolling stone interview to answer the question of a movie store and apple as a music label. please understand that the words in that article are coming from steve himself, so dont try to argue with it. (can you tell i'm tired of people wanting GB music in iTMS and a quicktime movie store????)
ok, rant over.
-ipod
With the mouse patent for the pad that scrolls instead of a wheel, wouldn't that make it easier to put on a laptop? for instance in a little circle or square next to the trackpad?
That seems more likely than putting it in the middel of a one button mouse.
I know a lot of these things do that themselves from within the app itself. But I think a one-stop, one-click "get all your updates here!" thing would be a great, streamlined time (and hassle) saver.
People would probably be better about keeping their stuff updated if they could just see it all in one spot, in one shot, without having to go and launch each app to run its own updater. I know I would.
Is this possible, or are there technological (or legal) barriers that make this hard or impossible to do?
Scroll wheels are the one thing on PCs, that I wish I had on my Powerbook. I just thought an extra pad would be better than mounting a wheel in the casing.
As for my other suggestions, they are things I'd like to see, not things I expect to see.
The iTunes Europe loophole I suggested, is already there. If I go to iTMS, it tells me that I must have a US billing adress, and nothing more (except a credit card obviously).
Can't see how this would be in any way illegal. Even if they only threatened to do it, it might speed up the European red tape cutters, since they would have trouble taxing such an arrangement.
The suggestions about software distribution, and online movie sales, is a natural extrapolation of the iTMS.
iTMS got the go-ahead in order to try and stop illegal downloads. When file sharing got popular, it was music that made it so. Since then illegal file sharing has moved on to movies and software with the advent of broadband, and these areas have yet to be addressed.
If such services were introduced, the user would have No excuse for illegal filesharing, and they would be able to sue alot more of them.
The movie industry (and presumably TV Video sales) have always whinged about piracy eating their sales (not that they do much about it - if movies were released simultaneously worldwide, then piracy would most likely halve almost overnight as a result. They might take some convincing, but record companies ignored filesharers for so long, it started to hit their sales in a way they could not ignore. The same will happen to movies. Its just a matter of time.
Yes the quality is bad, but its good enough to give away the plot, and therefore stop people going to cinemas and renting/buying videos, at least until they get cheaper.
As for software, who would pay the full price for Office or Photoshop (as a home user) when you can download it for free. (Even the Mac versions!)
No-one can justify that sort of expense just for writing letters and mucking around with pics for fun.
Quit your b****'n
The rest of your idea were shot down with flaws, so no reason to reiterate. But if you feel the need for a sidetrack thing, you got it.
As for software, who would pay the full price for Office or Photoshop (as a home user) when you can download it for free. (Even the Mac versions!)
No-one can justify that sort of expense just for writing letters and mucking around with pics for fun.
Wow. If you are just mucking around with pictures, or typing letters, you have no need for both. Phtoshop is for professionals, not for mucking around with pictures. Graphics Converter, GIMP, take your pic, but I feel you have taken away the glory of PS by talkign about it like it's marketed for retardes who just want to play with the smudge tool to make somones face look goofy.
TextEdit is free and it comes with OS X. You can type your letters in that, or any other free text editing programs available for download.
I don't really want anyone to take any of it too seriously.
I'm sure, the flaws in some of these can be overcome, (legal/political resistance usually starts to crumble when there's enough money involved). The iTMS loophole will become irrelevant in time anyway (iTMS is gonna launch worldwide eventually. I hope).
I will stand by my statement about movie release dates, though I'm not going to go on about it.
That sidetrack thing looks good. Thanks alot for that (I guess 1 person found your reply helpful). Never occurred to me you could 'divide up' a trackpad with software.
Anyway, how about people adding a few more things they'd like to see?
(Apart from the obvious 10GHz PBG5 with a million TB HD released next week for $10.95)
As for writing letters, and mucking around with pics, Its obvious who PS is aimed at by the price tag. The point is people who are not professionals, like to have pro apps (Especially PC users). They won't buy PS lite or Office lite, even if they have all the features required. They want the lot (presumeably to brag about to their mates?).
It doesn't matter what you do to your pics, if you're not a pro, its just mucking about.
My Dad had PS on his old PC (put there by the geek who set it up for him- I was at Uni), and he was having a good tech day if he could get the machine to start up on his own. He had no idea how to even launch PS, let alone use it. I haven't had a copy myself for years because I don't use it.
Apart from writing equations, I don't do anything with office I can't do with textedit (and I'm sure I could work out how to do that if I really cared enough), but Uni uses office, and thats where I print. I can't even justify the student price of £120 for that. It would cost me less to drive to uni and use their copies for a year.
Originally posted by Waragainstsleep
Anyway, how about people adding a few more things they'd like to see?
Originally posted by cubist
How about: An ad (TV, radio or print) for Apple Computer that (a) shows a computer, (b) shows a person using a computer, (c) shows an Apple Store and someone having a positive shopping experience there.
And just maybe a price? Especially if it is the price of an entry level computer.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
SideTrack
.
That might well be the best utility I have ever used. I just might have to retire my MX700. My iBook just became a real computer. Thanks for the link. I had been hoping for just this functionality. Why hasn't Apple done this?
Originally posted by cubist
How about: An ad (TV, radio or print) for Apple Computer that (a) shows a computer, (b) shows a person using a computer, (c) shows an Apple Store and someone having a positive shopping experience there.
<Guiness Commerical>
Brilliant!
A computer company showing people using their computers? Sure does more for me than dancing silhouettes. Apple needs to get their stuff together with marketing COMPUTERS. Re: the iPod- I don't think Ford spends a lot of money marketing just the leather seats, at the detriment of the rest of the vehicle. The truck (computer) is primary, the bells and whistles (iPod) are just nice additions.
Um, you mean this "Apple" company makes computers, too? Who knew?
\tHow about: An ad (TV, radio or print) for Apple Computer that (a) shows a computer, (b) shows a person using a computer, (c) shows an Apple Store and someone having a positive shopping experience there.
A computer company showing people using their computers? Sure does more for me than dancing silhouettes. Apple needs to get their stuff together with marketing COMPUTERS.
I suspect that you guys were among the dozen or so people who thought Apple's 1984 commercial sucked because it didn't even show what the new computer called a "Macintosh" looked like... There's a hell of a lot more to advertising than just presenting facts.
Originally posted by Gamblor
I suspect that you guys were among the dozen or so people who thought Apple's 1984 commercial sucked because it didn't even show what the new computer called a "Macintosh" looked like... There's a hell of a lot more to advertising than just presenting facts.
Right on, and that's why Lee Clow said, "Nobody else had the balls to produce anything like 1984."
To answer someone's query about doing this stuff via software. Actually, the trackpad apple uses supports all these features, they are just disabled by default, so it's not like the software is giving it any extra functionality, it's just activating functionality that's already there.
Originally posted by Waragainstsleep
I would like to see a facility on Garageband, where the user can upload their compositions onto iTMS for sale, with cash being split between the composer and Apple. (Maybe this would violate some law regarding unsolicited material, I don't know). It could make Apple a bigger player in the record industry without having to buy another label (Weren't they after Universal Music a while back?)
Your joking right?
Nobody wants to hear your sh*t. lol j/k
You can upload your music, or even your demo to another site called
http://www.audiolunchbox.com/
It better be good because it's not a critique forum. It's the real thing.. Real musicians uploading good music with no DRM, and no contract.
There is also indy label music, and big label music that you can download from there to, but it still has no DRM. It's pretty cool.
The thing that worries me (Which is why I don't think Apple is stupid enough to do it) is there will be a bunch of crap uploaded to it from n00b's who suddenly think they are musicians because they have """"""GarageBand""""""".. Whoo Hoo... Get real..
If you have a 300 person following with your club band you then have the right to at least be heard, but until then. Start a band, and get one. Then you'll know if your any good.