Melodiefabriek

Incompatibility

Written by

Marco Raaphorst

in

Both Apple and Microsoft are like little children. They will never produce something that’s compatible with the platform of the competition. So Apple started using AAC with evil DRM. And Microsoft chooses WMA with DRM. WMA is not compatible with iPods and guess what? The new Urge music service Gates unveiled today isn’t either. Urge is MS’s answer to Apple’s iTunes.

Apple and Microsoft are acting like little kids. They ‘invent’ all kinds of lame protocols which are not compatible with those of the competition. Man, what would happen if those companies were into cars? I am sure both Apple and Microsoft would ‘invent’ just another non-compatible fuel system.

No way I will call this innovation. Protectionism, that’s what it is. A child’s act!

Comments

4 responses to “Incompatibility”

  1. Oggy Avatar
    Oggy

    You speak a very basic truth here, I fear. Look at the other “utensils” in our lives-they are expected to work in a certain way. Should we consider a universal “menu/access whatever bar” or something? Something that no matter what computer “utensil” you are presented, at least one thing is…ahem…comfortable? …and maybe even join hands across one little gulf…

    -Oggy

    Reply
  2. Marco Raaphorst Avatar
    Marco Raaphorst

    Thanks Oggy.

    Oggy .. .. . … Ogg…

    Ogg is probably the best ‘lossy’ compressed audio-format, which both Apple and Microsoft don’t support it because it is both open and free.

    Reply
  3. John Hyde Avatar
    John Hyde

    Apple didn’t invent this technology. Dolby Laboratories is the developer of AAC. It is one of several audio coding systems defined by ISO/MPEG, where it was first specified as MPEG-2 AAC, and then enhanced and extended within MPEG-4. Apple’s popular iTunes music service employs the AAC format. The encapsulated DRM keeps the music industry happy and consumers satisfied. That is why Apple holds 83 percent marketshare in this space and why iPod has a similar share as well. Of course you can burn these songs to CDs and then re-import them and convert them to mp3 if you want. Its easy, it always works, Mac or PC. The alternatives don’t always have the ability to burn to a cd and they don’t work with the Mac or iPod.

    Reply
  4. Marco Raaphorst Avatar
    Marco Raaphorst

    That’s right John, Apple added DRM to this format. I am pro open standards (as you might already know), so I am not at all a fan of AAC and WMA.

    Ogg for example sounds better than both. But sweets dreams, I guess it will never be popular. Never in history does the best format win. VHS was the worst video format, Video2000 was killer…

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More posts