DoubleTwist Launches iTunes-Like Desktop Application for Amazon MP3 Store

[x86isslow]

I was wondering where they derived revenue from this app.



Why would I own or want to sync it to an inferior phone

Sounds like you're one of the lucky ones. Lots of people are locked into 2-year contracts and/or family plans with Sprint/Verizon and want music on their phones.

 

[John.B]

I coulda sworn the article said

Other features included in the software, which allows users to sync their media libraries to a wide array of devices, include new playlist support and search functionality.

Yeah, but I watched the video twice and didn't see playlists anywhere. Just drag-and-drop "manually managed" music. Old school, and not in a good way.

 

[devburke]

Yeah, but I watched the video twice and didn't see playlists anywhere. Just drag-and-drop "manually managed" music. Old school, and not in a good way.

I was looking around their website (see the Supported Devices section) and it looks like only certain devices work with playlists.

 

[LoganT]

Uhhh... you do realize that iTunes was basically Apple's stolen version of Cassidy & Greene's SoundJam, right? They literally used the same exact code in about 75% of the application.

Yeah they bought it.

 

[Legolover64]

Awesome! Slick looking, pretty neat too.

I will never understand people who say "looks just like iTunes." Ever seen the bookmarks sidebar in FireFox, or the feeds bar in Google Reader or even the sidebar in Windows Explorer on XP? It's been a UI convention for a while. Just because Apple put cute little icons and Helvetica on there doesn't make it "new."

I am losing faith in this community's ability to think for itself...

 

[O and A]

It's pretty weak that they couldn't come up with their own design.

I guess its pretty weak that iTunes is the same design as soundjam. I mean apple bought it but lets give credit where credit is due. Apple did not come up with this UI.

Also why fix what isn't broken. I don't get the negative comments toward double twist. Not everyone wants, needs, or can afford an iphone or ipod. Some people just don't want those devices. I may not agree with that but having an app that supports it makes sense. So I really don't get the negative comments toward this app. At the end of the day competition is important and this will help apple keep itunes innovative and competitive.

And Frankly if this will let me sync my iphone with more than one computer which i think it does... than i'm all for it. Also it looks like it will let me play songs off my iphone when i'm not connected to my main computer. Which is really frustrating that I can't do that to begin with.

 

[ptsube]

You guys are crazy if you think a lawsuit would hold up over something like this. It's a framed style window. There are hundreds of apps that look similar.

I know Apple and the fanboys would like to believe that they are the creator of all things but, this is indeed untrue.


"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
— Douglas Adams

 

[aristotle]

I guess its pretty weak that iTunes is the same design as soundjam. I mean apple bought it but lets give credit where credit is due. Apple did not come up with this UI.

Ok, put down the crack pipe right now. I think your memory is a little foggy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP

Yes, it started out as SoundJam but the UI of iTunes is very different from Soundjam. From the look of that screen shot, it looks like Sound Jam shared more in common with Winamp rather than iTunes.

Version 1.0 of iTunes (pictured above) was based on SoundJam MP code but the UI was significantly different even with the first release.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_version_history

But very little of it remains in the current version, if any at all. I would not be surprised if they had not rewritten all of it several times already.

 

[Mr. Gates]

Who cares.

Let them do whatever. Its not going to affect iTunes one bit.

 

[MacSince1990]

What do you mean stolen? Apple bought the rights to SoundJam.

http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/the_complete_itunes_history

My point was "Apple doesn't do it right the first time," since they didn't even do it. I'm aware they paid for it, much like how they paid for what they took from Xerox.

But very little of it remains in the current version, if any at all. I would not be surprised if they had not rewritten all of it several times already.

Lol. The original iTunes was written for Mac OS 9. . . so yeah I imagine it's been rewritten at least once... or twice since it's now running in x86 and not PowerPC processors

 

[gibbz]

Who cares.

Let them do whatever. Its not going to affect iTunes one bit.

Agreed. I don't understand everyone saying "Take that iTunes."

Apple makes iTunes, mainly to sync with their hardware. For devices that are not Apple hardware, they made it extremely easy by making the Library XML file. They want others to write syncing solutions. So congratulations DoubleTwist, you made a solution.

 

[spillproof]

Apple bought the rights to SoundJam.

The sound clip preview animation as noted by another poster is the same as are the icons. This is ridiculous. There is no more DRM so I don't get why the guy is making this app while being so against the iPod. This app can sync with other devices. Great. I don't get the point?

Except for 75% of my library. That is a lot of CDs to burn

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Except for 75% of my library. That is a lot of CDs to burn

Yeah it kind of screwed over a lot of people after apple went DRM free. We have to pay money to converted out library DRM free. Personally I think apple should allow everyone who has DRM songs should be allowed to convert them for free. Hell I bet apple could release an program that could remove the DRM from songs so not to over load Apple's servers.

 

[nkawtg72]

lawsuits?!?!?! for what?

the elements they have used for the UI are ALL part of the SDK for application development in MacOS X. apple will not be suing anyone over this. besides, apple has nothing to gain by suing, and they certainly have nothing to loose if they don't sue.

personally, i'll keep using iTunes, but i think this is a good solution to a problem a lot of people talk about, 3rd party support they can't get in iTunes. i wish them well.

like others have pointed out, this solution appears to take advantage of the XML integration provided to developers for accessing the iTunes DB. just shows how easy it is, and how lame Palm has been for not doing it the right way all along.

 

[John.B]

Yeah it kind of screwed over a lot of people after apple went DRM free. We have to pay money to converted out library DRM free. Personally I think apple should allow everyone who has DRM songs should be allowed to convert them for free. Hell I bet apple could release an program that could remove the DRM from songs so not to over load Apple's servers.

There were existing contracts with the goons at the RIAA that had to be honored, left over from the initial iTunes Plus campaign.

 

[bankshot]

Wow. It's one thing to provide equivalent functionality. Even better to improve on that functionality. But it's quite another thing to produce such a blatant copy of someone else's design. As a developer, I'd be embarrassed to release such a product. It would expose my complete lack of creativity (originality) or even basic skill in designing a user interface. It would loudly scream, "Hello, world! I may be a good (or even great) programmer, but I can't design a user interface to save my life. I don't have an original bone in my body, so I'll just copy, pixel for pixel, someone else's hard work!"

Hilarious. Reminds me of the legions of open source projects that so obviously copy Apple or Microsoft interfaces - I thought Amarok was bad, but this one really takes the cake. They seriously couldn't think of any way to improve on the iTunes interface or make it just look a tiny bit different? I honestly feel embarrassed for them.

If Apple actually responds, I'll get the popcorn.

 

[nkawtg72]

Yeah it kind of screwed over a lot of people after apple went DRM free. We have to pay money to converted out library DRM free. Personally I think apple should allow everyone who has DRM songs should be allowed to convert them for free. Hell I bet apple could release an program that could remove the DRM from songs so not to over load Apple's servers.

i can understand why you'd want your files stripped of the DRM, maybe you have a device other than an Apple product you want to play it on. that's cool.

but what i don't understand is why you think apple owes it to you to remove the DRM for free? how exactly did you get screwed? you agreed to the price you paid for your music and you got the music you asked for, right?!?!

i certainly dont know what wording is in the contracts that apple has with the record labels, maybe someone who does can shed some light on this, but i'd imagine that apple didn't have 100% say in how much they had to charge for the DRM free content when it got added(changed over).

if anything, converting already purchased files to DRM free gives you, the customer, added capability and more freedom. so it's not like you aren't getting anything in return for your "upgrade" fee.

would it be nice if apple was doing it for free, of course. but i'm certainly not expecting them to or complaining that they aren't.

of course i'm not surprised though. seems these days anytime apple does something and charges for it, everyone complains about it not being free, or their margins are too high.

 

[nkawtg72]

lawsuits?!?!?! for what?

the elements they have used for the UI are ALL part of the SDK for application development in MacOS X. apple will not be suing anyone over this. besides, apple has nothing to gain by suing, and they certainly have nothing to loose if they don't sue.

personally, i'll keep using iTunes, but i think this is a good solution to a problem a lot of people talk about, 3rd party support they can't get in iTunes. i wish them well.

like others have pointed out, this solution appears to take advantage of the XML integration provided to developers for accessing the iTunes DB. just shows how easy it is, and how lame Palm has been for not doing it the right way all along.

sorry, meant to put this in the post above also....

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. even if DT could have been a little more original with their UI, i don't see it ruffling too many feathers at Apple. if anything, DT will in the long run help Apple because it will allow a person to sync a wider variety of devices to a Mac, making buying a Mac a more attractive proposition to some, which means Apple potentially will sell more Macs.

 

[devburke]

Wow. It's one thing to provide equivalent functionality. Even better to improve on that functionality. But it's quite another thing to produce such a blatant copy of someone else's design. As a developer, I'd be embarrassed to release such a product. It would expose my complete lack of creativity (originality) or even basic skill in designing a user interface. It would loudly scream, "Hello, world! I may be a good (or even great) programmer, but I can't design a user interface to save my life. I don't have an original bone in my body, so I'll just copy, pixel for pixel, someone else's hard work!"

Hilarious. Reminds me of the legions of open source projects that so obviously copy Apple or Microsoft interfaces - I thought Amarok was bad, but this one really takes the cake. They seriously couldn't think of any way to improve on the iTunes interface or make it just look a tiny bit different? I honestly feel embarrassed for them.

If Apple actually responds, I'll get the popcorn.

It’s not really just copying the look of iTunes, that’s a pretty standard look in OS X and Apple apps in general. DT is just designed to fit in, which there’s nothing wrong with. Besides, if this is designed to sync iTunes media with other devices, it only makes sense for this to look like iTunes. Cuz really it works WITH iTunes, it’s a companion in many ways. No one complained when apps like Senuti mimicked iTunes in appearance.

 

[iMaggot]

Looks like a good App, need to try it out.

 

[Jodlesx]

No playlists? Really?

Oh, well, if it improves the experience of searching Amazon.com for MP3s then I guess it can't be all bad. But I really didn't want to line the pockets of "DVD Jon" with Amazon affiliate link fees.

He's nuts, though, if he thinks that will replace my iPod.

What's wrong with "DVD Jon" earning some money?

Shouldn't we be grateful this guy is around?

 

[digitalbiker]

Am I the only one who thinks that itunes is pain in the butt?

I don't have any DRM music, I never supported music with DRM but yet I still have go through the activation / de-activation process with Apple. They claim I have 4 machines activated but actually I only have two. Two of the machines that they claim are still activated died before I could de-activate them.

I hate how every time I do a clean install of the OS, I have problems trying to figure out how to trick itunes to use my old itunes library when moved to a different disk.

itunes is one of the slowest starting apps I have.

itunes lacks any integration with automator.

itunes always wants to default to syncing automatically when I attach a new device. I never want the sync to take place as my itunes library is huge and usually I want to only move a subset of songs to my new device. I change the sync setting to manage data manually. But the problem is to access those settings you first have to attach the device and the default setting is to sync automatically. It's a pain in the butt.

The itunes GUI also seems to be different than most other mac apps. Some of it is the same but some of it is confusing and conflicts with normal practices for Apple.

I for one, welcome some competition and I wish Apple would rewrite itunes to take better advantage of non-DRM music manipulation. I mean, why not allow me to move music from the iphone to my itunes library.

 

[ungraphic]

On the surface, it looks like a really nice app.

But honestly, why use it instead of iTunes?

Because not all of us want a poor mp3 player such as the ipod? Lack of proper EQ, good battery life, good sound quality, open format support, DivX and Xvid support, etc are all reasons to omit the ipod?

I for one won't ever get another iPod. And DoubleTwist is a nice welcome, especially to devices that support UMS/MSC. I'm in the process of buying a Cowon S9, and eventhough it doesnt absolutely require software (like bloated itunes) to transfer songs or other media, it can still be used to organize mp3s based on their ID3 tags. Which is much better at finding songs via a library than folders (and subfolders), however I have the option of going about this either way. Yes, option, CHOICE, something Apple is very uncomfortable with.

Its so surprising that any kind of competition against apple gets a negative ranking, even when the software at hand is clearly very practical at what it offers.

It just really shows how close minded apple fanboys are. And good on the DoubleTwist team for using a 1984/Steve Jobs connection, because i've been pointing out Apple's hypocrisy for years now. The very thing it used to oppose, its become just that. If apple didnt display symptoms of big brother, you wouldnt see every uninformed zealot sporting white headphones with the standard apple ipod.

Back to DoubleTwist though;

Great application for devices like cowons, samsungs, etc. Finally, mac users have a peice of software on the mac side where they can sync their non-ipod devices with their libraries on their computer.

I'm still waiting for DoubleTwist to properly organize dropping of files into folders based on their ID3 tags, for instance:

MP3 file with ID3 tags as:

Arist: George Michael
Album: Ladies & Gentleman
Disc: 1 of 2
Track: Careless Whisper

It should be dropped onto the device in a folder structure such as:

Device/Music/George Michael/Ladies & Gentleman/Disc 1/01-Careless Whisper.mp3

Once thats done, im gonna be really happy.


As for iTunes itself: its way, WAY too bloated. 50+ mb of memory usage? Not everyone uses an ipod....or has an iphone, or an itunes music store account, or iTV, apps store, etc. It doesnt even deserve the name 'iTunes' and should be changed to 'iMedia'. For this reason, i'm waiting on a little application called 'Vox' http://www.voxapp.uni.cc/ to get a playlist and im never using iTunes again (uses about 10mb of ram, is super fast, and has the bare essentials for the simple task of playing back mp3s, which is the only thing i need an application to do that is running constantly in the background, since i always listen to music).

Go apple fanboys....flame me, gimme all you got, i love hearing irrational bantering.

 

[Skiniftz]

.

 

[cal6n]

For all the selective history buffs in this thread, this is how much iTunes was a copy of SoundJam.