One piece of bloated software I really dislike is iTunes. Like the child catcher from chitty-chitty bang bang, it lures in those less technically minded only to have things turn sour if you don't drink all the iKool aid it offers.
All looks delicious and oh so very shiny, especially with your shiny new Apple iGadget. And it'll stay that way, unless you decide to change your mind or move elsewhere or to a new, non-iDevice. Then, the Disneyfied walled garden you've been lured in to, suddenly is not so easy for average Joe or Joesphine punter to get out of...
As the computer guy to turn to for my family and some friends, I all too often am asked how to get music or movies out of, or play on, other devices or computers. Or to be able to get music or apps from the USA or access other services that iTunes all too often region locks you out of. I try to tell them how to do it, but frankly I think it's designed to be far too complex, and I see them glaze over as I tell them how to hack it all, and they mostly all decide it'll be simpler to just...not...bother.
To me what it lacks is customer choice. It's no longer your media your buying, it's 'their' media and you'll just have to suck it up princess. Didn't you read that new (on mobile) 56 page terms and conditions when you installed? Your not having it easily, you'll have it their way, or things will be very bad in iLand.
Don't get me wrong, Apple make great customer products with some amazing user experiences, but iTunes, it's pricing, and region locking always gets in the way.
An Apple physical product to me is like meeting a really, really hot girl. Like, wow. She's awesome. 'Hawtness' personified! However, if you want to 'interface' with this girl in anyway shape or form, well...your gonna have to go through her rather large, and deeply unattractive 'complex' friend iTunes, every.single.time. Apple tries to tell us she has y'know 'a great personality'...but I think even they would dump her if she wasn't making them so rich.
Add in a fat 30% revenue for all apps bought straight to Apple (with that region lock fat on top) and you can see why they won't change the iTunes filtered funnel in a hurry.Go on, have a glass of iKool aid, it's shiny! So not a major surprise, it's all about money. And this great article here, shows just how much your stung for your media, and overall why they want to region lock you in and keep you milked. I kinda say more power to them. If we are daft enough to buy it and put it up with it, (or care) they why should they change?
via macstories.net
The irony is when you think about it, all these things iTunes sells are virtual bits and bytes. So they really are the modern day Sex Pistols, as they have manged to achieve the great(est) rock and roll swindle there ever has been.
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