tom moody
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Apple Rant
Have you tried to update your Quicktime player lately? Used to be you clicked once and could view a QT movie right away. Not anymore. You can't get version 7 without accepting a bundled, mandatory download onto your computer of the dreaded iTunes. Which immediately links back to the Apple Store and starts sending you information about stupid pop songs you don't want, and tries to get you to sign up for their proprietary scheme.
Recently a musician sent me a link to iTunes with a complimentary download of his CD (thanks, mon). I clicked the link and was directed to the Apple Store, which insisted I provide an email address and phone number. C'mon, why do they need that from a gift recipient? I balked, and the musician was kind enough to send me a CD in the mail.
I'm using Windows, the people's OS, and play .mp3s on Winamp, which is a very mellow and non-invasive program. I briefly tried out the iTunes player, and found that while it accepted my Winamp playlists, it wouldn't play the songs from their original folders. I had to copy them to an iTunes folder. I play .wav files of my own tunes in Winamp, because not everything gets ripped and besides, they sound nice. To copy them to the iTunes folder meant doubling about 10 gigs of material. I suppose I could have just moved the songs and then played them in Winamp from the Apple folder, but I really resent the use of my computer as contested territory in some brand turf war, so I threw up my hands and uninstalled iTunes.
Update: Jim B. found a page where I could download QT 7. I was trying to do it by upgrading my Firefox plug-in from 6.5, and I swear to you the link took me to a page where I couldn't get QT without accepting iTunes.