If you’re among the majority of Apple’s customers–that is, you own a Windows-based PC and at least one of the company’s iOS-based devices or iPods–you’re out of luck if you want to see today’s Apple music event live. To do that from a PC-type desktop, you need to use a Mac. (Apple is also streaming its event to iOS-based devices if you don’t mind the small screen and performance issues.) Why shut out the PC? Because they’re Apple, that’s why.
I’m sure he was real angry with every single company that used their own video format or streaming for the past 15 years too.
I mean, it’s not like a third party or an individual developer could cobble together an implementation of HTTP streaming from a few pages of published specifications, or as if they used a video format that was already common and implemented (while not open and free in every sense of those words). And far be it from Apple to use an approach that so stands on the shoulders of existing standards that you could actually kinda sorta still see it.
We can only hope that they will aspire to the bettered heights of Microsoft, which has on its latest attempt on streaming video managed to get it down to the design and upkeep of a CLR several years prior and direct access to the developers of the original technology for a useful alternative implementation. Which, I must admit, is an improvement on “tough titty, we license this shit”.
And for the record, I don’t believe the flaws in Apple’s approach are excused by everyone else doing it more wrong. But it’s funny to turn a blind eye to all these problems for so long, covering a company that’s so egregious, and suddenly take it out on another company that’s doing markedly better. It’s not the first time either.
By Jesper · 2010.09.01 17:54
I’m actually kinda pissed off at the method they’re live-streaming the event for a different reason.
I can’t seem to find a way to fast-forward past the boring iPod stuff to the interesting Apple TV stuff.
Apple really needs a way to implement fast-forward in their live-streaming protocol…
By Chucky · 2010.09.01 18:23
“Time Machine” indeed.
By Jesper · 2010.09.01 19:41
I watched the stream on a first-gen iPod touch and had no performance problems whatsoever. And do you really need to watch an internet stream on a 27″ screen? The iPod touch’s screen size worked perfectly well, and I’m pretty sure it would have looked great on an iPad.
Not sure what Paul is whining about.
By LKM · 2010.09.02 10:20
“To do that from a PC-type desktop, you need to use a Mac.”
Or a virtual machine.
By Chris · 2010.09.03 09:36