Here's my list of major disappointments regarding the Apple "Ecosystem", a word that I more and more learn to hate.
This is coming from a european perspective, keep that in mind and please don't tell me "America Number One". I heard that before ...
I'd also like to list alternatives I started to use.
Maybe folks will join to tell whether they switched to enjoy Apps/Content/Streams etc.
1) iTunes (and all the stuff that surrounds it)
a) No Movies or TV Shows in the Cloud
My NAS fills up with iTunes content because the highly praised "Cloud" stuff is not coming ... ever. Apple doesn't care about contracts and distribution rights outside the US.
b) No original audio track
Most of the content features no additional audio or even worse, you have to purchase them separately in the case of TV shows.
c) No 1080p unless you rent it on Apple TV
Yes, still no 1080p in 2014 unless you rely on your Apple TV.
Even rentals on the Mac are not 1080p, they are still 720p.
d) Movies and TV show release dates
Most of the content is released on iTunes after it has been aired over and over on pay TV or network TV littered with advertising. When movies arrive here, I do not want to see them anymore.
e) iTunes Radio
Nope. Not happening here ...
Here's what I discovered:
- My PS4 delivers 1080p movies that are even cheaper to rent or purchase.
- Amazon Instant Video offers free TV shows if you have Prime.
Most of this content still costs 16,99 Euro on iTunes. I wonder.
(Oh, and it seems to be 1080p, too.)
2) The Apple TV itself
a) The air is really getting thin. First there was Chromecast, now there's Amazon's FireTV. Both can be easily extended by third-parties.
b) The hardware really needs a boost. It should be capable of decoding higher bit-rate content. If you look closely, it sometimes stutters on original iTunes content that plays fine on a Mac. It's happening ... and it's not the network.
c) The interface hasn't changed at all.
The interface could be so much more flexible, the remote is horrible and even the Remote App only helps on keyboard input.
d) Storage
You should be able to copy at least a few movies to the Apple TV, even if you have Cloud functionality. It would not suck on your WiFi, it would not need a running iTunes.
Why does it not even keep a copy of the movies you were watching anyways?
3) Why is Airport Extreme / Time Capsule not an iTunes Server
Even if the Apple TV would stay the cheap box you connect to your TV, why can't the Airport Extreme or Time-Capsule do the Job?
It should keep your recent purchases, and it should be manageable remotely.
I understand that Apple wants to sell you additional hardware. With that idea they could. Since I have a MacBook and a TC, they should offer it.
People who aren't fully switched to Mac are not interested in TC anyways.
I just realized this is getting way too long.
I just stop here.
I could do the same for iOS, but there's a lot of rambling on that anyways.
The basic idea I have is that Apple should really concentrate on the services side.
They should offer more flexible cloud services.
I'm not at all talking about storing pirated movies on Apple's Cloud, I truly believe that Amazon and even Microsoft with Azure will offer more flexibility, which is a shame considering what Apple had in 2007 to ca. 2011.
They should really step up and do more than just participate in the hardware race with Samsung and probably HTC. Without services, nobody will care in the long run.
Sorry. Thanks to everyone who read that far.
This is coming from a european perspective, keep that in mind and please don't tell me "America Number One". I heard that before ...
I'd also like to list alternatives I started to use.
Maybe folks will join to tell whether they switched to enjoy Apps/Content/Streams etc.
1) iTunes (and all the stuff that surrounds it)
a) No Movies or TV Shows in the Cloud
My NAS fills up with iTunes content because the highly praised "Cloud" stuff is not coming ... ever. Apple doesn't care about contracts and distribution rights outside the US.
b) No original audio track
Most of the content features no additional audio or even worse, you have to purchase them separately in the case of TV shows.
c) No 1080p unless you rent it on Apple TV
Yes, still no 1080p in 2014 unless you rely on your Apple TV.
Even rentals on the Mac are not 1080p, they are still 720p.
d) Movies and TV show release dates
Most of the content is released on iTunes after it has been aired over and over on pay TV or network TV littered with advertising. When movies arrive here, I do not want to see them anymore.
e) iTunes Radio
Nope. Not happening here ...
Here's what I discovered:
- My PS4 delivers 1080p movies that are even cheaper to rent or purchase.
- Amazon Instant Video offers free TV shows if you have Prime.
Most of this content still costs 16,99 Euro on iTunes. I wonder.
(Oh, and it seems to be 1080p, too.)
2) The Apple TV itself
a) The air is really getting thin. First there was Chromecast, now there's Amazon's FireTV. Both can be easily extended by third-parties.
b) The hardware really needs a boost. It should be capable of decoding higher bit-rate content. If you look closely, it sometimes stutters on original iTunes content that plays fine on a Mac. It's happening ... and it's not the network.
c) The interface hasn't changed at all.
The interface could be so much more flexible, the remote is horrible and even the Remote App only helps on keyboard input.
d) Storage
You should be able to copy at least a few movies to the Apple TV, even if you have Cloud functionality. It would not suck on your WiFi, it would not need a running iTunes.
Why does it not even keep a copy of the movies you were watching anyways?
3) Why is Airport Extreme / Time Capsule not an iTunes Server
Even if the Apple TV would stay the cheap box you connect to your TV, why can't the Airport Extreme or Time-Capsule do the Job?
It should keep your recent purchases, and it should be manageable remotely.
I understand that Apple wants to sell you additional hardware. With that idea they could. Since I have a MacBook and a TC, they should offer it.
People who aren't fully switched to Mac are not interested in TC anyways.
I just realized this is getting way too long.
I just stop here.
I could do the same for iOS, but there's a lot of rambling on that anyways.
The basic idea I have is that Apple should really concentrate on the services side.
They should offer more flexible cloud services.
I'm not at all talking about storing pirated movies on Apple's Cloud, I truly believe that Amazon and even Microsoft with Azure will offer more flexibility, which is a shame considering what Apple had in 2007 to ca. 2011.
They should really step up and do more than just participate in the hardware race with Samsung and probably HTC. Without services, nobody will care in the long run.
Sorry. Thanks to everyone who read that far.
