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Old 02-17-2011, 01:33 AM
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Angry I hate Apple

My wonderful, fabulous, much-loved Philips GoGear Opus 16gb mp3 player got stolen over the weekend. It rocked. Just use a normal USB 2 cable to connect to my computer and drag and drop files straight from Windows Explorer. Registration of the product didn't require me to have a Visa card number entered. It was awesome - I loved it.

Thanks to insurance dealing with one company, I had to get my replacement at a specific store - one which doesn't stock Philips mp3 players, and has generally crap players apart from the high end iPods.

So for the same money as my beloved Philips cost I was able to get an Apple iPod 8gb Nano. I've had it 5 minutes and I hate it already. I have to synch it to this computer, and through iTunes. Registering it required me to put in a Visa card number. Good thing I have a Visa Debit card or I wouldn't have been able to complete registration. Yeah, I could've skipped the reg, but I like to register my hardware.

I haven't even added any music to the damned thing yet, because I have to add it all to my iTunes library and dick about with shit I can't be arsed doing because I generally see it as a waste of my fucking time. I just want to be able to navigate to a folder and drag the files where I want, none of this synching crap.

Fuckin' Apple and their proprietary shit.

If I ever catch who stole my Philips, I'm gonna kick 'em in de hed. :fuming:

Now someone call me a waaaahhhhmbulance before I asplode. :sadcheer:
:wahmbulance:
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  #2  
Old 02-17-2011, 01:36 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

A friend of mine manages his iPod using Winamp and some other software. I don't know the specifics.

He's tried to get me to switch, given my dislike for iTunes, but I'm still hung up on LastFM.
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:37 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

No wahmbulance required. I don't care for the tedium companies are making people bend over backwards to do just to use the product they bought for reals.
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:39 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

I understand your pain, Che. I had a Phillips GoGear mp3 player and the ease of use is phenomenal. Mine didn't have nearly the capacity as yours, but it was still a great player.
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:41 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

Some checking turned up that apparently Winamp doesn't need extra software. Also, this page shows a bunch of alternatives.
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:43 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

Yeah, as long as you're not buying music through iTunes, there's no need to use it to manage your iPod.
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:45 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

I too had a phillips gogear, and loved it. I ended up getting an ipod touch, but I loved the drag and drop of the go gear and miss it.

You have my sympathises
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:52 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

I knew you guys would understand. :hug:

YB, thanks for the link to non-iTunes helps.

The other thing I loved about my old Philips, was that I didn't need to wear my glasses just to operate it - the screen was fab.

Oh, Philips...why did you leave me. Your new owner won't love you nearly as much as I did. :heartbreak:
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Old 02-17-2011, 03:15 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

I hate iTunes with the fire of a thousand white-hot suns, Pets, so I feel your pain. :manhug:
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Old 02-17-2011, 03:21 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

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Originally Posted by Ymir's blood View Post
He's tried to get me to switch, given my dislike for iTunes, but I'm still hung up on LastFM.
Last.fm has WinAmp support. As well as foobar2000 support, which I personally regard as superior to either. However, I still use iTunes to manage my iPod because I'm not sure I fully trust the third-party manager, plus I don't know whether it supports certain eccentricities I like to use (the "Sort Album" feature for example, which I use to make albums show up in chronological order).
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Old 02-17-2011, 03:23 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

iTunes does suck a giant, wrist-watch wearing cock. I can't get it to load some movie files I want to be able to watch on our iPad (which, interestingly enough is now pretty much just a toy to keep our 3-year-old entertained) but it's bitchy about formats and won't take them.
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Old 02-17-2011, 03:28 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ymir's blood View Post
He's tried to get me to switch, given my dislike for iTunes, but I'm still hung up on LastFM.
Last.fm has WinAmp support. As well as foobar2000 support, which I personally regard as superior to either. However, I still use iTunes to manage my iPod because I'm not sure I fully trust the third-party manager, plus I don't know whether it supports certain eccentricities I like to use (the "Sort Album" feature for example, which I use to make albums show up in chronological order).
I've got the Winamp plugin but will it work with iPod scrobbles? I know there are third party plugins, but haven't felt up to trying them.

iTunes or LastFM screwed up my scrobbles again today, ignoring 30 or so plays, which is what my latest beef is about. I can get the plays back by making a playlist and letting it run over night, but it sucks to have to keep doing that.
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Old 02-17-2011, 03:33 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

iTunes turned me off music.

Okay not quite, but it definitely turned me off listening to my own. I'm strictly a Pandora man now.
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Old 02-17-2011, 07:04 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

You could have Undercover placed on it, so it could be located by GPS with the information sent--in real time--to the local authorities.







Of course, that will only work on Mac products. . . .

--J.D.
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Old 02-17-2011, 07:04 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

. . . but iTunes still sucks. You can hack it though :freakout:

--J.D.
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Old 02-17-2011, 11:17 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

I am going nowhere near Itunes (and I refuse to spell it that stoopid way), but seriously the Philips Gogear 16G? I have one too and I have hated the crappy thing since I bought it. Within an hour after it arrived (ordered it from the nets) I found a flaw that is so fucked up I wanted to throw it accross the room. The lock gets stuck. When you unlock it, it insists it is still locked and refuses to do anything. Even to let you control the volume, although normally you can do that even when it's locked. Then you are stuck until you finish the playlist and it turns itself off. It doesn't always get stuck but when it does it is extremely hard to resist the temptation to stomp it into the floor.

I only bought it because my other mp3 player was filled up and I didn't want to start replacing stuff. That one is a Sansa 8G. Smaller than a box of matches, sound is great, as easy to handle as the Philips thing. I can drag stuff and drop it on there. I use winamp. I think I use winamp for the Philips too. Both of them have the annoying habit of making some songs disappear though and sometimes entire albums. I know they are on there and I can see them from the computer but they don't show up in the menu. On the Sansa I can add either albums or playlists, so I made playlists of all albums and most of them are playable as playlists. Some of them are only playable as albums. It's all fucked up but the Philips does the same thing. But at least the Sansa does not get stuck in autistic mode. And it fits in every pocket.

And I still hate Apple with a burning passion, even more than I hate Microsoft. No way am I going to try Itunes as long as I live.
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Old 02-17-2011, 11:35 AM
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Default

I had no idea others disliked iTunes as much as I do. And me being for all intents and purposes a Mac user exclusively.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk and a fat finger.
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Old 02-17-2011, 11:37 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

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Originally Posted by Ymir's blood View Post
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Originally Posted by The Man View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ymir's blood View Post
He's tried to get me to switch, given my dislike for iTunes, but I'm still hung up on LastFM.
Last.fm has WinAmp support. As well as foobar2000 support, which I personally regard as superior to either. However, I still use iTunes to manage my iPod because I'm not sure I fully trust the third-party manager, plus I don't know whether it supports certain eccentricities I like to use (the "Sort Album" feature for example, which I use to make albums show up in chronological order).
I've got the Winamp plugin but will it work with iPod scrobbles? I know there are third party plugins, but haven't felt up to trying them.

iTunes or LastFM screwed up my scrobbles again today, ignoring 30 or so plays, which is what my latest beef is about. I can get the plays back by making a playlist and letting it run over night, but it sucks to have to keep doing that.
I dunno. I can't even get iTunes to work for that. I've been use the Universal Scrobbler to insert my iPod scrobblers since I discovered it. (Which you can use to insert the 30 missing scrobbles as well). Before that I just did what you said. I gave up on trying to make the iPod scrobbles to work because they dropped half my plays a quarter of the time and inserted several dozen extraneous plays another quarter. They may have improved since then, but from what you said it sounds like they haven't.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kael View Post
iTunes does suck a giant, wrist-watch wearing cock. I can't get it to load some movie files I want to be able to watch on our iPad (which, interestingly enough is now pretty much just a toy to keep our 3-year-old entertained) but it's bitchy about formats and won't take them.
There are various programs to transcode between movie formats to something iTunes will accept. If you want I can try to find one I've used for exactly that purpose before.
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Old 02-17-2011, 11:48 AM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

Wow, go the iTunes hate. I've been using it for years for the organisation of the music and more recently for the Genius playlists. I haven't tried WinAmp in eight years and then it made my eyes bleed.
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Old 02-17-2011, 12:39 PM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

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Originally Posted by The Man View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ymir's blood View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Man View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ymir's blood View Post
He's tried to get me to switch, given my dislike for iTunes, but I'm still hung up on LastFM.
Last.fm has WinAmp support. As well as foobar2000 support, which I personally regard as superior to either. However, I still use iTunes to manage my iPod because I'm not sure I fully trust the third-party manager, plus I don't know whether it supports certain eccentricities I like to use (the "Sort Album" feature for example, which I use to make albums show up in chronological order).
I've got the Winamp plugin but will it work with iPod scrobbles? I know there are third party plugins, but haven't felt up to trying them.

iTunes or LastFM screwed up my scrobbles again today, ignoring 30 or so plays, which is what my latest beef is about. I can get the plays back by making a playlist and letting it run over night, but it sucks to have to keep doing that.
I dunno. I can't even get iTunes to work for that. I've been use the Universal Scrobbler to insert my iPod scrobblers since I discovered it. (Which you can use to insert the 30 missing scrobbles as well). Before that I just did what you said. I gave up on trying to make the iPod scrobbles to work because they dropped half my plays a quarter of the time and inserted several dozen extraneous plays another quarter. They may have improved since then, but from what you said it sounds like they haven't.
I'll have to check out the Universal Scrobbler after work.

They changed the LastFM plugin some time ago so that it apparently checks the play count when you launch iTunes. Then when the iPod is plugged in, it checks after the synch finishes. Fair enough in theory. In practice however, it means that the user has to wait several minutes for LFM to get set up. Failure to wait means nothing gets scrobbled. Mostly this annoying because I don't want to wait for a program to tell me when I can plug my player up.

The old way was a nuisance when you added music and played it the first time, but after that was trouble free. So they went from an occasional annoyance to a constant one.

The issue you describe sounds like a problem I had as well. I would listen to something on iTunes in the evening after scrobbling my tracks. Then the next day, when LastFM was 'detecting scrobbles' it would pick up on the last song from each artist I'd listened to on the computer (not the player) the night before.
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Old 02-17-2011, 12:45 PM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

I used to have problems with itunes but not anymore. :shrug:
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Old 02-17-2011, 12:49 PM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

Then get out of this thrad, non-hatur! :asskick:
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Old 02-17-2011, 12:55 PM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

Hey! I hate OSX! Doesn't that count? That has to count! :glare:
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Old 02-17-2011, 01:01 PM
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Hey! I hate OSX! Doesn't that count?
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Old 02-17-2011, 02:59 PM
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Default Re: I hate Apple

iTunes is goddamn horrible. I use it only to avoid the PITA of switching to something else, and to preserve the few dozen songs I bought on the iTunes store before switching to Amazon for music.
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