[Ned Scott]

As much as I hate to argue a point "Apple believes that physical media is dead" is true but then they think digital downloads is the future. Where does apple put all its digital downloads for all its media devices like ATV2 iPhone iPod Quicktimeplayer? in the iTunes store and its video section.

The point of apple is lock you into the echo system of using iTunes program and thus iTunes store to get your media onto your device which is why they only allow limited codecs to be played on things like the ATV2 iPhone iPod, so people can't just get media from anywhere without having to re-encode it

Anyway from a business point of view I think its a great idea from a power end user point of view it sucks though I bet the average joe blow finds it very convenient. But the end goal is buy more apple hardware so all you media will work on everything with lovely iTunes and its store on all the devices

But not really.. if they wanted to lock you into an eco system then they wouldn't let you use any MP3s, AACs from 3rd parties, or allow the ton of direct competitors to have apps on the App Store (Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Kindle, Google Books, B&N Reader, etc) and every music download from iTunes is DRM free and can be played on any device that supports AAC.

Apple does want people stay with other Apple products because they believe they can handle the "total package" better. They even do stuff that make it hard from time to time to use an alternative, but it's a load of bullshit to say that they're trying to actually lock people into only using their media services on only their devices.

Apple does NOTHING to stop people from getting content from 3rd parties. So Apple doesn't want to support other codecs than h.264. That sounds more about Apple not wanting to waste time coding and supporting than it has to do with locking anyone in. Apple doesn't control h.264. The only reason movies and books on iTunes has DRM is because the studios and publishers demanded it.

As a power user and Apple user myself, I've never bought music, movies, TV shows, or books from Apple's iTunes Store. I've never had any problems using 3rd party sources to use all of that media on my Apple devices (even without touching a jailbreak on the iOS ones).

The fact remains (and I can't stress the FACT part enough) is that Apple makes chump change on media. They don't care who you get it from, they just want you to play it on Apple devices. They have the iTunes Store in an attempt to make their devices easier to use.

If you want to argue software restrictions on iOS, I'd probably totally agree with you, but when it comes to media, I don't even understand how you can claim there is any lock-in other than convenance.

[davilla]

What's XBMP ?

[Memphiz]

What's XBMP ?

Brrruuuuhahahahahahahhahaaa

[albertmartel]

But not really.. if they wanted to lock you into an eco system then they wouldn't let you use any MP3s, AACs from 3rd parties, or allow the ton of direct competitors to have apps on the App Store (Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Kindle, Google Books, B&N Reader, etc) and every music download from iTunes is DRM free and can be played on any device that supports AAC.



As a power user and Apple user myself, I've never bought music, movies, TV shows, or books from Apple's iTunes Store. I've never had any problems using 3rd party sources to use all of that media on my Apple devices (even without touching a jailbreak on the iOS ones).

I guess he talking iPhone , iPad , ipod.. not apple Tv which is what most folk on this forum talking about.. Appletv is lock to apple iTunes or another apple IOS device in a non jailbreak device .. to play any thing you like on an apple device even the IOS one you have to jailbreak it to have be free of needing another apple device..to play the file..now granted they are adding more 3rd party stuff to the apple device , MLB, NBA, netflixs, but it no were close to being open to 3 party stuff with a jailbreak..and if he talking iPhone , iPad & ipod name one app you can install without going to the app store on non jailbreak device..

[Giraff]

I loved XBMP. I used to compile it myself and release on forums/emule. We didn't have a build bot like now back then. I continued doing it with XBMC too for a while, but stopped when t3ch started doing it much better I pretty much only used my first gen. xbox for media. I had to transition to Popcorn Hour when 720p became common. Now I'm back here again. The circle is complete. The Popcorn Hour is nice enough, but it's interface is super ugly

[Ned Scott]

I guess he talking iPhone , iPad , ipod.. not apple Tv which is what most folk on this forum talking about.. Appletv is lock to apple iTunes or another apple IOS device in a non jailbreak device .. to play any thing you like on an apple device even the IOS one you have to jailbreak it to have be free of needing another apple device..to play the file..now granted they are adding more 3rd party stuff to the apple device , MLB, NBA, netflixs, but it no were close to being open to 3 party stuff with a jailbreak..and if he talking iPhone , iPad & ipod name one app you can install without going to the app store on non jailbreak device..

For ATV2: You have to play through iTunes on a desktop to the ATV2, but in that case iTunes is only acting as a server. Nothing prevents anyone from playing non-Apple content on the ATV2, jailbroken or not. All of my DVDs that I rip are in a compatible format, and all of them play just fine in the native ATV2 interface. The required formats are standard h.264/mpeg4 formats and are not Apple specific.

For iDevices: Netflix, Rhapsody, Kindle, Vimeo, to name a few. None of those require another Apple device or jailbreak. You might need the iTunes store to install these things for the first time, but that is all. Want local files? Grab a copy of something like AirSharing, which lets you upload files through your web browser. I can load music and movies without ever touching iTunes on my desktop computer. There's even a number of apps that will play divx and other formats/codecs as long as the CPU can handle it. However, we're talking not about the iTunes desktop application, which is required for some syncing stuff. We are talking about the iTunes Store and the media on there.

So you are also wrong. In no way shape or form is anyone "locked in" to playing only Apple's media. It's so freaking absurd to suggest otherwise that I have to question if those saying there is lock-in have ever used one of these devices.