Apple Stole My Music. No Seriously.

[TalkingDog]

https://blog.vellumatlanta.com/2016/05/04/apple-stole-my-music-no-seriously/

What Amber explained was exactly what I’d feared: through the Apple Music subscription, which I had, Apple now deletes files from its users’ computers. When I signed up for Apple Music, iTunes evaluated my massive collection of Mp3s and WAV files, scanned Apple’s database for what it considered matches, then removed the original files from my internal hard drive. REMOVED them. Deleted. If Apple Music saw a file it didn’t recognize—which came up often, since I’m a freelance composer and have many music files that I created myself—it would then download it to Apple’s database, delete it from my hard drive, and serve it back to me when I wanted to listen, just like it would with my other music files it had deleted.

For about ten years, I’ve been warning people, “hang onto your media. One day, you won’t buy a movie. You’ll buy the right to watch a movie, and that movie will be served to you. If the companies serving the movie don’t want you to see it, or they want to change something, they will have the power to do so. They can alter history, and they can make you keep paying for things that you formerly could have bought. Information will be a utility rather than a possession. Even information that you yourself have created will require unending, recurring payments just to access.”

[corkhead]

1. I have a 300GB iTunes folder and have 2 backups of it offline.

I have anticipated that we were heading in this direction. I have never trusted Apple. I see the same thing going on with video.

I am from an era when you owned the physical copy of your music or video. I still have all of my LPs and CDs but they are boxed up in storage. Most of what I wanted I digitized myself and access it from itunes. It is nice to be able to carry most of what I want of my record collection around on my phone, but I am not about to cede ownership of my collection to the dubious "cloud" that you have to pay to access.

[LiberalArkie]

26. I have a 4TB iTunes drive array (2 drives) for my music, books, movies, tv shows.

When OS X hit a new major release I copy the raid array to another raid array that is kept offline and in my car, in case of a fire or theft.

[RoccoR5955]

45. That's nothing

I have a 4 disk RAID 5 array that has 8GB total space. Some of it is for tunes, some is for backups. My time machine can back up my macs from ANYWHERE I have access to the Internet.
Love my little Qnap Raid!
Oh, and I still have over 1000 CDs many of which have been backed up to MP3s

[Roland99]

47. *That's* nothing...

I have a couple of CD-Rs full of MP3s!






But, seriously, my setup is close to yours.

[RoccoR5955]

50. I think I have three of those CD-Rs

in the car. I forget if it's a 3 or 4 CD changer.

[LiberalArkie]

51. I just have the iTunes in the 4TB raid and just a standalone 4tb for my time machine backups and a

3tb drive for the caching server. I run that on a Mac Mini running server, Plex server and iTunes for the Apple TV. I run a Mackbook Pro with the Thunderbolt monitor as my desktop and a Macbook Air for a notebook and reading in bed. I never worry about the backups that much since the music is in multiple places and I keep the 2 MacBooks the same. The caching server really came in handy when I was on satellite internet as only 1 copy of anything had to be downloaded from Apple. It was stored on the caching server and all the other machines could grab it from the server. My neighbors with slow internet come over here to grab the OS X updates.

It is a kludge, but works for me. Most stuff is hardwired into a 48 port gig switch and only my phone and the air use the wifi.

[pangaia]

80. That's nothing...

I have a Thorens TD-135 turntable, a McIntosh tube pre-amp, a Marantz tube amp, an Ampex 440 4 track deck( god it's big !) and 2 Klipschorn speakers.

Plus a Teac deck, a couple AR-4s..and other assorted stuff...

[LiberalArkie]

83. Oh you have me beat by a mile. I would imagine the Hope Arkansas speaker will load the Mac down

pretty good. I loved the Ampex 440. I used to play around with a friends 8 track and yea, they will keep a mobile home on the ground during a tornado

My friend also had a pair of EV Patricians that maybe why I am pretty deaf.

[pangaia]

84. Klipschhorns will deafen you as well...

I just looked around for the value of my amp, pre-amps nowadays.. jeeze lile $20,000 !! give or take.

Holy cow !!

The thorens, although I am happy with it, Is the weak link.. but..

For my maybe 1000+or- RECORDS... I'm set for life...as long as I last, anyway...

[LiberalArkie]

90. I found out that my digital music sounds like crap on an analog system but sound ok with a digital

system. My LPs sound good with either. I don't have nearly the LPs I used to have, I think I am down to maybe 100 or so. But when you move around a lot, things got misplaced. I hope whoever borrowed them too care of them. I used to buy 2 albums and played 1 and one never got unwrapped. Such is life.

[Dustlawyer]

112. Sadly, I HAD a couple of industrial split Klipsch LaScalas and a couple of industrial Klipsch

Heresy' to go with a couple of Crown 300 watt amps, mixer, color organ, Technics turntables, lights etc., and boxes and boxes of records covering everything from big band era to late 80's rap. Had to sell all but the albums when I got out of law school and had to stop playing gigs. My wife wanted her living room back, can you imagine!

[pangaia]

121. You picked your wife over all that great stuff???

You are a better man than I, sir.

[Dustlawyer]

122. Quite the opposite! Now i have neither but i dont miss the ex-wife!

I could not agree to play gigs when I could no longer guarantee I would be available on the day of the event. My boss may have me out of town when I was supposed to play a wedding so I could no longer run the business I started at age 12!. I built my first speaker cabinets and a manual "color organ." I had a great time and the perfect job in college, too bad I had to grow up and join the real world!

[pangaia]

128. So you were prepared to play Scriabin, eh....

[Mnpaul]

96. Real audio equipment

that plays quality sound. Gotta love those chrome McIntosh amps.

[pangaia]

99. 2 mono Marantz amps

I got the stuff in...mid 1970s...I think..

[Mnpaul]

100. I know some who has a pile of those McIntosh amps

It is the father of a friend. He shops estate sales. They are everywhere in the house. I have solid state class A equipment. A NEC pro logic surround processor, two large Kenwood integrated amps, an Akai cassette and homemade speakers with EV woofers, Genisis tweeters and a piezo horn. The NEC unit has a on screen display with a pink noise generator and separate volume controls for each speaker. It also has a concert mode that uses a second set of surround speakers mounted in front that fire backwards and recreates the echo you hear at a live performance from the music bouncing off the walls behind the stage.

[pangaia]

102. Marantz. :)))

[freebrew]

120. Beats me too...

but I was(am) sort of poor and couldn't afford the high-end stuff.

Couple of AR-2s, Carver 900, Technics Tape Deck and CD player.
About 5 turntables, Pioneer, Technics(2) turntables.

Hundreds of CDs, tapes and about 800 LPs that still sound fair to great.

I have been digitizing the LPs, slowly(it's analog, you know).

I do have an Eico ST-70 waiting for me to repair as soon as I can find the components.

Then the neighbors can appreciate the tunes, too.

[pangaia]

76. I have no idea what you are talking about, and don't even want to know.

[onehandle]

2. Sounds like somebody didn't follow instructions, nor did they have a back up of their media.

But at least they got to type up a rant.

I've used two services that can alter your files (if you let them, you don't have to) including Apple Music.

Didn't lose a thing and gained tens of millions of songs that I can access anywhere for ten bucks a month. ($15 a month for up to 6 family members)

[JDPriestly]

14. Do you compose music? The OP is talking about having placed his own music, his own

compositions, on his computer and not being able to retrieve them because he says he thinks Apple took them.

Have you composed music that you stored on your computer?

If so, how did you prevent losing them? What did you do on your computer to prevent the services from altering your files?

[Delver Rootnose]

22. And I would bet Apple is ...

..serving his music up to others for a fee. They would do something scummy like that I bet.

[hueymahl]

42. And what do you base that supposition on?

General dislike for Apple? Because it is not reality based.

[lagomorph777]

124. I compose and I would never allow iTunes in my house.

I can't take that risk. Have to keep everything on thumb drives and keep off-site copies for backup.

[Saviolo]

24. Not quite correct

They did manage to recover most or all of their music from a backup. The bigger issue is that Apple took the customer's original compositions, deleted them off of the computer, and then altered them (yes, changing the file format significantly alters the file), and then re-served them to the customer.

Funny, that sounds like pirating.

[onehandle]

32. Then they used it wrong.

I integrated a Lot of bootleg files and impossible to find music into Apple Music with no significant problems.

[Saviolo]

56. I'm going to recommend you back it up frequently

Because according to the person that the article writer's spoke to at Apple support, that is how it is supposed to work. Essentially, it hasn't happened to your files, but could still.

[onehandle]

58. Everything I do is backed up 2 places locally, +1 remotely.

With fully history access.

[rpannier]

107. Congratulations

What's your point other than you're the all great, all-fantastic saver of music and you think the other guys an idiot
Oh... and you love apple

It changes nothing of what happened and why it is BS that it happened in the first place

But, like many out there, you'll gladly admonish the person who got screwed because they're not as fantastigorically, superbly, wonderfully fantastic as you are

[jonno99]

28. "Do you really own this music? Show us your papers please! Ah no papers, you say..."

"No music of you!"


ummm...no thanks...

[JackInGreen]

43. Just what to expect for the fuel corperatized

Did they give you a tag with that collar ?

[Atman]

63. I've never had this happen to me.

Thousand and thousands of tunes and albums on iTune, some my own rips, some downloads. Never, ever, at least ten years, have I ever had Apple remove any of my music.

Maybe some of you just don't know how to use the service. Many people seem to think their music has been deleted when it has just been shifted to the cloud. If you didn't select it as a playlist item, it will likely disappear, but it is still in your library. You have to go in and select it to play. Stuff you don't have on active playlists will wind up on the cloud. Of course (that was a joke...obviously not so obvious), music you ripped yourself, from your old CD's or whatever, are still there. If they're not it is because YOU don't have your settings right.

But then...it's always fun to hate Apple.

[Jerry442]

77. Hey man, I just, like, borrowed your car man, just ask anytime you want it back. NT

Apple sounds like the roommate from Hell.

[Atman]

82. Not at all.

I have lots of albums from which I only play three of four songs. I have them selected in iTunes. When I sync my phone, it doesn't include the songs which I don't play -- songs which a deliberately deselected, but which still exist in my iTunes library. Most remain on my hd. Songs which were purchased via iTune (a very small minority) may get uploaded to iCloud if I don't have them selected in an active playlist. It doesn't mean they aren't there. They appear in grey on my iPhone playlist, with a little iCloud icon next to them. They're still my tunes in my playlist.

Okay, does it suck if I suddenly want to listen to one of these de-listed tunes while I'm snowboarding? While I'm someplace without wifi? Maybe not "sucks," but it would be better if I didn't have to use data to send my own music back to my phone, but this is a very rare occurrence. After all, these are tunes which I've already un-checked in iTunes.

I really just don't see the problem hear. ALL of my music is still available, it still shows up on iTunes, but some of it that I don't regularly listen to is linked via iCloud instead of taking up space on my phone. No one has "taken" your music.

[emulatorloo]

117. Never happened to me either. Mix of ripped CD's, purchased MP3s, iTunes Store stuff,

my own stuff. Sounds like some pilot error on the part of the author of the article.

We had another OP a while back where poster said Apple stole all the music off his phone and replaced it with streaming files. That one was definitely pilot error. Was fixed an hour after he posted it. Yet DU Apple FUD train keeps rolling on and on.

[Atman]

123. My mom still can't figure out Apple Mail.

I think a lot of her peer group are complaining that Apple "stole" their music.

[cui bono]

104. Really. So you have no problem with a corporation altering your personal computer files

without your consent/knowledge?



.

[mwooldri]

3. Jesus Saves.

Although many will think this to be a religious phrase, to me it has another meaning.

Back Up Your Data.

Apple can't delete your files off a burn once DVD. That stack of DVD-R disks you can buy? Yes they're getting scarce but you can't delete the data without destroying the media.

Alternatively a backup hard drive unplugged does a similar thing.

Apple Music does indeed delete the file and 'replace' with a legal copy if the original was a bootleg.

[1939]

62. 3TB portable hard drives are pretty cheap at Costco. NT

[Hekate]

4. I still buy CDs. The music goes into my iPod via my Mac, and therefore at some point...

...it gets looked at by "Them." I have eclectic musical tastes, and I just can't tell you how little I trust Them to hold onto my music for me and be the sole arbiters of how I access it.

It's the reason I have only free books on my Kindle and iPad. If you buy it, the seller gets to take it back any time it wants, as Amazon proved early on when a post-sale copyright dispute over 1984 caused a lot of people to wake up one morning and find "their" e-book had disappeared, poof.

[Beartracks]

25. Wow, that bit about "1984" is certainly... ironic. n/t

[Hekate]

36. That's one reason it stuck in my mind the way it did.

>poof<

[cui bono]

57. Hm... I didn't know that about Kindle ebooks. I'll make sure to back up the ones I have.

So no refund or did they give back the money they got from the book they took back?

.

[Hekate]

64. It was really weird. The customers found their accounts had been credited...

...so Amazon was like "no harm done," but that was not the point, in my mind at least. What we saw was a pivot to a brave new world (another great book, by the way) in which you don't really own what you paid for if what you bought was solely electronic and in the Cloud.

The purveyors of these products have gotten plenty sniffy about you sharing "their" books and music that you have paid for with family and friends. See, I have a library of hardcover and paperback books, some of which are a century old. I can give them away, sell them, loan them, bequeath them to my heirs -- and it is all perfectly legal and I have them in my possession. You are not allowed to do that with anything stored in the Cloud or whatever, and chances are the products won't actually exist in a century. Only collectors and archivists care, because you won't exist in a century either. My adult kids could care less about my library -- oh well.

I only purchased a basic Kindle when I discovered my Public Library has e-books to lend. Once I got it I explored Kindle's free books and got a bunch. Then I discovered Gutenberg, which has 50,000 out of copyright books available for free, although it was a pain to work around... Amazon/Kindle meanwhile has decided it really does not want other books on its proprietary tablet, and the newer flashier versions make it almost impossible to access non-Amazon books. Since I got my iPad mini, Gutenberg gives me zero problems and Kindle can go pound sand.

GUTENBERG http://www.gutenberg.org/

[cui bono]

71. Totally agree. I don't buy digital movies for that reason if they are stored on the cloud.

How do I know they'll retain it on their server? I still buy CDs for music - and also mp3 if it's much cheaper - but a lot of my reasoning for that is that mp3s are 50% compressed and you usually don't get any artwork or lyrics. I don't like the idea of paying the same price for a far inferior product.

Funny you mention Gutenberg. I found that accidentally on my phone a few weeks ago and have it bookmarked on that. Didn't know that about the newer kindles. I bought a paperwhite one months ago but haven't broken it out yet, been too busy. Still have my old one though, so maybe I'll keep it instead of giving it to my niece and nephews.

Do you know about Calibre? It's kind of like an iTunes cataloguing system for ebooks. But it's not tied to any store, and you can convert formats with it. Then you can keep everything on a drive and just load the ereader with whatever you're currently reading.

They also have hacks on their site iirc, so you can modify some of the ereaders. I haven't looked there in quite a while though.
https://calibre-ebook.com/

.

[corkhead]

73. I thought I had you on ignore but I guess not. Thanks for the tip

[Hekate]

95. See? We can heal the wounds! you're welcome.

[tblue37]

127. You can get a lot of free books, including classics, on freekindlebooks.org. nt

[tblue37]

125. Also go to freekindlebooks.org for more freebies. nt

[TheBlackAdder]

69. Same here. We have used CD stores and I buy albums for $1-6 and own them for life.

.


I can rip them to other devices. I'm not locked into an Apple paradigm.

Sooner or later, the devices security will change and negate those old files.

I load them into my car's hard drive too.


Owning them in native form is so flexible.


.

[BuddhaGirl]

85. I convert my e-books to MOBI for my kindle

It allows me to keep borrowed Kindle books from the library past the due date because I couldn't finish them in time.

[morningglory]

5. Our kids gave us Amazon Prime and a flat screen tv for Christmas.

We are retired and money is hard to come by. Some movies bear re-watching. I tried to pull up the Big Lebowski. $14.99 to own or a lesser amount to rent for a few days. Meanwhile it is free on TV with hundreds of ads. Even quite old films cost quite a bit of money to watch. The pattern seems to be that if a film is good, it costs money to watch. We paid once to see it on the big screen when it was new. We paid to see it on cable TV later. I am exaggerating, but the pattern is there. It has caused me to wonder what is up.

[Nye Bevan]

8. The Big Lebowski is FREE to watch with Amazon Prime.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Lebowski-Jeff-Bridges/dp/B00181JGI2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462467926&sr=8-2&keywords=big+lebowski

[Orrex]

10. Can I watch this free movie? Or do I have to pay to watch this free movie?

That is, if I'm not paying to be on Amazon Prime, is it still free?

[Nye Bevan]

13. You need to be a member of Amazon Prime.

However, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial, and you will then be able to watch it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DBYBNEE?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

ON EDIT: not sure why this link is screwed up but Google "Amazon Prime free trial"

Just don't forget to cancel your membership before the 30 days is up so you don't get charged for the full year.

[Orrex]

35. Neat-o. Thanks for the tip!

Orrex abides.

[cui bono]

75. If you buy something on Amazon and they offer you their rewards card I recommend it!

It pays for my Prime and then some. I get 3% back on Amazon purchases, 2% on gas and groceries and 1% on everything else. It adds up! So I get my Prime free.

And if you don't need something right away you can get $1 digital credit for that order to use on movies, music, apps or ebooks.

I get a lot of free movie rentals or mp3s that way.

.

[greyl]

86. Here's a couple good links for Amazon Prime and Audible Free Trials

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks

I don't recommend the Kindle Free trial because I prefer to use MoonReader on Android.

[JDPriestly]

17. But you have to pay for Amazon Prime. For some, that is a problem even though it does

not cost that much.

[Nye Bevan]

19. Yes, but the poster I was replying to had been given Amazon Prime as a gift (nt)

[morningglory]

48. I believe my issue is our daughter-in-law gave it to my

husband's name. I own the tv in my name. Checking again. Thanks for your help.

[catchnrelease]

55. Family shares prime

A prime subscription is good for the family. The account is in my name but I added my husband as a family member. So if you find your husband's account you should see a place to add your name. We use it on two tvs in our house, so can be watching two different things at the same time via prime.

[cui bono]

72. I thought that only worked for shipping.

I added my mom but she lives 350 miles from me. She gets the shipping but I don't know if she could access Prime video under her name. I left her TV signed into my Amazon Prime and Netflix but she doesn't really use it anyway. Too complicated for now. She's just gotten the hang of her new smartphone.

.

[Nye Bevan]

92. My mother-on-law would never, ever be able to watch videos on Amazon.

I spend hours on the phone with her just helping her watch regular TV when the TV "input" accidentally gets set to the wrong source.

[morningglory]

93. Solution!

I am age 69, soon 70. I found I was using the ROKU remote for the Amazon thingy and when I tried the correct remote control, Big Leb is free as you all said. Many thanks.

[Atman]

94. Disney allows family sharing to Prime accounts.

Our son has two beautiful granddaughters, so they buy a lot of Disney stuff. This now includes Marvel, and of course, Star Wars. Anything he buys is authorized (as in LEGAL!) to share with an Amazon account. He shares with us. So, whenever he buys a Disney/Marvel video, he authorizes the digital copy to our Amazon account, and it shows up on our tv video library.

Ain't technology grand!

And yes, you can share. Prime Music is almost better than Prime Video. Unbelievable amount of music available for streaming anywhere, from any device. A lot of it is even allowed to be downloaded permanently instead of streaming. It's way worth the annual fee.

[silvershadow]

6. They did this to me. I'm trying to figure out how to get it all back and cancel. nt

[Baobab]

7. This is what we get for electing neoliberals who are beholden to Hollywood for campaign donations.

Stop using networked computers. Only use obscure non-mainstream one of a kind operating systems that you compile from open source or scratch yourself.

Or go back to vinyl and analog tapes.

[Orrex]

11. Yes, Only Bernie Sanders can protect us from the horrors of the digital age.

[mooseprime]

54. the other candidate

hasn't even been able to save herself from the horrors of the digital age.

[RiverNoord]

15. Um...

I think the accusation might be a teeny bit off the mark.

I recall the heyday when illegal file sharing was everywhere. I certainly wasn't immune to its draw.

And I definitely prefer an environment where a person can obtain a quality digital copy of a song legally for a buck or so.

The companies that sell digital commodities are always going to be pushing for invasive methods to go after what they'll see as illegally obtained stuff. Which will result in major screwups from time to time. And I would expect the biggest ones to be the worst.

Government can do some things to make it slightly worse, and some things to make it slightly better. But not much.

Back up your data and make companies pay for actions like this by... not buying their stuff.

[snot]

9. Good advice.

[HughBeaumont]

12. I have ZILCH to do with Apple or their DRM.

NOT happening. Ever.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

16. Apple music has been DRM free since 2009. nt

[Oneironaut]

18. This isn't anything new

DRM has been around for a while - some of it more obnoxious than others.

Part (if not most) of the issue is whiny content producers who will send their massive legal hit squads on anyone who so much as uses an ounce of their media.

This isn't some "Big Brother" conspiracy. Apple is doing everything they can to avoid lawsuits. YouTube faced the same issue, and now has a completely broken and draconian IP protection system.

On the other hand, content pirates are thieves who hurt independent artists. It's the same reason I refuse to use Adblock on YouTube - content creators deserve to be compensated for their work.

[Egnever]

20. Apple stole from you the minute you bought one of their products

Overpriced over hyped garbage.

No other company on the planet overcharges their customers more.

[RoccoR5955]

46. Please.

Compare the hardware in any Apple computer and any other. You will find if you compare specs, how much you would spend on software, and how much time it takes you to remove the teaser-ware from your Windoze box, and you will find that a Mac is cheaper than an equivalent PC.
Apple does not have an i3 machine, because they suck. Dell or HP do, because they want to sell you their crap at a low margin, and then to cover their overhead, they load the machine down with more garbage software than the day is long. And you still don't have a word processor, or spreadsheet. Yeah, you get trial versions, but after 30 days you have to pay $200 or download Open Office or Libre Office (which both have Mac versions). When you buy a Mac, you get none of the garbage software that comes on a typical Windoze box. You do get a spreadsheet and word processor, so you can get right to work, out of the box.

[Egnever]

60. Keep telling yourself that

Highest profit in the world.. Doesn't happen without way overcharging your customers.

With massive sales of cutting-edge, high-margin electronics, Apple is now the second most profitable company in the world. The only company with a higher profit is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

BTW pretending choice is a bad thing is a perfect indication you have bought the apple marketing hook line and sinker.

[RoccoR5955]

81. No I did not buy into Apple's marketing

I got a Mac when I found out that what Micro$oft called "Windows 7" was actually version 6.1. Version 6 was Vista, and I would be damned if I was going to pay their price for a point upgrade. I did upgrade that RAM and HDD from third parties, for much less than Apple was offering. When SSDs got reasonable, I upgraded it again. THAT was a major speed improvement.
I still carry the laptop back and forth to work every day. It has battle scars to prove it. The battery still lasts about 4 hours, and it's much faster than any Windows PC that I have had for less time.
I still fix windows machines to pay the bills, as I have for, oh, 25 years or so (since the DOS days). I put out the word that I can fix Macs too. I have built my own PCs, bought premade ones, and it's the same story. After a year, you have to remove your data and programs, and wipe the drive in order to get it it perform. If you don't do this, it slows way down. Batteries that are supplied for any Windows laptop that I have had have only lasted no more than two years.

So to make a long story longer, My Mac probably cost me about $1200 all told. Had I went the Windows direction, I would have had to buy at least three of them and even at $400 each that is even. And for $400, I would not get the CPU and such for a Windows laptop, that I would get in a Mac. Then there is the issue of software. I work in a Microsoft shop, so I would have to buy Office, at $200 a clip, times 3. Then there is my time, which is worth at least $50/hr, to clean the crap off of the Windows laptop, figure 2 hours each. All in all, the Macbook Pro that I bought has actually saved me money in the long run.

But I don't expect a Microsoft fanboi to understand that.

[Egnever]

101. Don't know who you are trying to kid

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJLT2LL/A&step=config#
Macbook pro

2.5GHz Processor
512 GB Storage
2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 1600MHz memory
512GB PCIe-based flash storage1
Intel Iris Pro Graphics
AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (9 hours)2
Force Touch trackpad

$2,499.00

Intel Core i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz 1600MHz 6MB)
512GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB
16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
15.6" FHD LED AntiGlare Backlit Multitouch

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA7AB3YV9865
$1,259.00

Similar machines the pc is $1200 less and has a touch screen. Not to mention the specs on the second one you bought for the same cash would have better specs because it would be at least three years later. Nothing magic about the mac to justify that price the hardware is made by the same manufacturers.

The buying Office three times is nonsense buy it once use it on all three machines the license is transferable not to mention wordpad is in every windows and if you had to use a spreadsheet google docs is always available. If you are installing crapware on your machines that you have to clean every year you are doing it wrong.

If you want to pretend you are getting double the value out of the mac you go right ahead but the story doesn't add up.

[RoccoR5955]

111. You forgot

that you have to pay at least $100 for Windows.
I have to buy a new version of Office when it comes out, because I have to support it to pay the bills.
Wordpad is not a fully functional word processor.

I support BOTH systems, Windows and Apple. I also provide limited support for several flavors of Linux.

I don't need touch screens on a laptop. They are only good if you do graphics. Try touch typing on one. If I want one, I'll just get a tablet.

But I don't expect a Microsoft fanboi to understand that.

[cui bono]

74. Nope. I got my laptop for half the price the same specs would have cost for a Mac

and Apple didn't even offer a blu-ray writer at the time and it only cost me an extra $25 to get it on my Toshiba.

It's very easy clean up bloatware and download Open Office. That does not equal paying $1200 more for the same, minus the blu-ray writer, laptop!

I have a Mac desktop but I bought that used. I will never buy a trashcan Mac because you can't upgrade the hardware. That's the other thing about PCs, you can easily upgrade components which isn't as easy or cheap on a Mac. Of course on a PC you do have to work your way through the tangled cables. Macs are so well laid out on the inside of the crate with no cables in the way and the drives that slide in and out.

.

[polly7]

21. It did that to me, too.

I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on.

[MrScorpio]

23. Everything that I've put into iTunes is saved somewhere else

I've learned my lesson a long time ago.

[Initech]

27. You know you can use iTunes without Genius or Apple Music.

I've been using iTunes for years and never had a single file deleted that I didn't delete myself. I've had some bum MP3 tags but that is about it.

[KatyMan]

30. Same here.

No trouble at all, although for some reason one song that I wrote and have stored in my iTunes folder is listed as being by the Flatcar Rattlers (whoever they are) for reasons known only to Apple.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

33. I've lost MP3s here and there,

but that's because Apple changed their folder structure and I failed to notice during a backup. All in all, about 30 albums. Nothing irreplaceable. I also record my own music (like the author). I don't keep my master mix-downs in iTunes, though (and honestly, your master mixdowns should be WAV or AIFF, not mp3/aac/ALAC). I keep them with the project files, which are backed up in triplicate.

[KatyMan]

34. I usually mix down to mp3 for the size

when sharing with a friend of mine, just to minimize his download (he has satellite internet), but yes, my main mixdowns are WAVs and like yours are in the project files and backed up.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

68. I mix down to AIFF, then convert that to MP3 for sharing. nt

[lagomorph777]

40. You can also use your Apple devices without iTunes at all.

iTunes itself has been quite malicious in my experience and I dumped it years ago.

[apnu]

29. Yet another victim of Apple's "we'll do it all for you, one size fits all!" mentality.

Apple keeps taking features and control away from their customers. They've got the consumer addicted and now they're squeezing them.

I saw this coming a long time ago and when I acquire media, I always store it elsewhere from iTunes. I do not opt in for Apple's magic dohicky they're pushing on me. I like my phone, I like my tablet, but all the other crap? Nope, pass. Happy to handle it myself.

[mopinko]

31. every time itunes updates

i lose more of the cd's that i own and had loaded up.
sigh. then they make a laptop w/o a cd/dvd drive.

[diane in sf]

109. I have a high capacity iPod. I used a product that let me backup from that back into iTunes

After the last upgrade caused 90% of my original music to vaporize. And I'd like to add that the overwhelming majority of that music was legally gotten and tediously downloaded from CDs, etc.

The software is wondershare tunesgo.

[Capt. Obvious]

37. You didn't read the Terms Of Service

[progressoid]

38. People are bitching about iTunes yet keep using it!

If you hate it (and Apple) so much, stop using it! It ain't the only game in town.

I have about 300 gb of music and audio files. iTunes is nowhere to be found on my system.

[lagomorph777]

39. I got rid of iTunes years ago after it silently deleted all my iPod (paid) content

Clearly iTunes is just a mechanism for theft by Apple.

I am also a composer and I do use an Apple device; even without iTunes I am beginning to feel vulnerable to an attack from Apple.

[TygrBright]

41. Barnes & Noble and Amazon are heading in this direction, too.

Which leaves some interesting open-source media library development opportunities open...

But alas, I am not a programmer.

wistfully,
Bright

[They_Live]

44. The US government stole and/or destroyed

hundreds of my own music files (I was the composer or producer), image files etc. when they raided Megaupload, rendering multiple websites that I had built as useless. Fug it.

[SwankyXomb]

53. You forgot the prime rule of cloud computing

The cloud is just someone else's hard drive.

[They_Live]

61. I know that

it's the formatting, relinking, time and effort that tick me off. That action was not justified, and was later ruled to be illegal.

[Javaman]

49. I'm super anal about my music files.

and other files as well.

After I buy it, I make a separate copy of it via an audio program and save that to my separate hard drive.

always back up.

[arcane1]

52. Fuck Apple, fuck subscription services, and fuck the "cloud" scam.

I don't need to pay someone to play my music for me.

[Warren DeMontague]

59. Back up everything, and repeatedly, to multiple types of media.

I have a massive amount of music I like to listen to, comprising maybe 2 of those old 160 gig ipods. Hardly a month goes by when i dont come across a song that ends early or something due to file degradation.

Fortunately i have older copies in storage so i can go back and fix them.

[Mnpaul]

65. Dumped itunes years ago

what a pile of crap

[ecstatic]

66. It's weird that people are defending this (and blaming the victim).

I see a lot of posts about how the victim should have backed up data, etc. That's not the point. I actually can't believe what I read. Deleting files is NOT OK. If anything, there should be numerous *interactive* prompts asking "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE?" Fine print doesn't cut it. This is so outrageous and just one more excuse for me to never deal with Apple! They are way too heavy handed. I really hope that the user is mistaken somehow.

As far as music goes, Google Play Music has been around for years and is the best streaming music app I've used. It can be accessed on any platform. It's free. If going the paid subscription route (no ads), it's 9.99 per user or 14.99 for a group of 6 people. You'll also get Youtube Red (no ads, and other features). Premium subscription account features can be accessed on any computer and up to 10 devices. You can incorporate your own files from your computer or device to play alongside the cloud music either a la carte, in queues, or in playlists (and it doesn't matter how you obtained the music). You can upload up to 50,000 of your own songs to the cloud, free (even without the $9.99/month subscription). If you end your subscription, you can still access and stream your own songs from the cloud, etc. Also, voice control of music has been available through "Google Now" (siri equivalent) for years as well.

[Egnever]

106. Nothing unusual here

Remember when they were holding the phone wrong?

There is a strange blindness when it comes to apple for many people. I don't get it but there is no question it exists.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

67. No, Apple Music is not deleting tracks off your hard drive — unless you tell it to

http://m.imore.com/no-apple-music-not-deleting-tracks-your-hard-drive-unless-you-tell-it

On your original Mac, Apple Music will never delete songs without your knowledge. Your original library is scanned into iCloud, but your songs are yours, and Apple will not automatically delete them, or replace them with its own proprietary copies.

On an iPhone, iPad, or secondary Mac, this process is different: Any songs you play on those devices are sourced directly from your iCloud Music Library, and even if you download them locally, they can be removed from your device if your iPhone's storage space dips too low.

You can, however, download iCloud Music Library-sourced tracks on your Mac if you delete your original copies — and this is what I suspect may have happened to Vellum Atlanta author James Pinkstone's original library, possibly unknowingly.

[auntpurl]

70. Every time I update iTunes, it takes out some of my old ripped mp3s

I've lost gbs of music. This has happened for years.

[tymorial]

78. This thread is a perfect example of victim blaming

The OPs intellectual property was stolen yet many of you are going out of your way to attack him/her for not having backed up his music. Why? What motivates you to show little to no compassion? Are you so emotionally attached and devoted to apple that you have to rush to their defense by condemning the op?

So ridiculous.

[LW1977]

79. Apple made the minebot app I liked using useless!

Apple screwed big fat gorilla studios royally because they want people like me to own more than 1 Apple device!l.

[dilby]

87. Hmmm, I guess it pays to stay with Amazon.

Everything on my computer stayed on my computer and if I wanted to add music from my computer to my online library it still stayed on my computer after uploading.

[bhikkhu]

88. That's about how I figured it worked

I have a small itunes account, but everything in there and all of my other music is backed up on a hard-drive on a Ubuntu computer, separate from itunes.

[Ron Obvious]

89. iTunes has been a fascist dick since the beginning

More than 10 years ago, a friend of mine bought one of the first generation iPods. Together, we spent an entire Sunday ripping his CD collection to put on the damn thing. I think it was over 60 Gb if that's even possible with an iPod of that generation.

After he sync'ed it all to his player with iTunes, we both thought it was rather a waste to maintain 60 Gb of data on his computer's hard drive as well (over 40% of the total capacity, I think) for this duplicate data, so he erased it off his hard drive.

You can guess what happened next: he sync'ed his player with iTunes and everything on the player was erased as well.

I maintain my own CD rips and music, and I decide where it goes and what happens to it. Not Apple, not Google, not Microsoft. I have over 200 Gb of music organised in a directory structure that makes sense to me: Composer: Symphony: rendition, or Band: Album. I back it up myself because I know exactly where everything is and I am the one in charge of my own equipment and data.

Use common file formats, avoid applications like iTunes that want to manage your music and movies, and avoid DRM at all costs (or remove it). Reclaim your data and equipment from the fascists.

Astonishing that anyone would defend this crap.

[madinmaryland]

91. I guess I don't fucking get it. Why would anyone want to watch a movie more than once?

If it is so important, then save it to a hard drive not connected to the web. Honestly, why would anyone want to buy a movie?

[braddy]

97. That is why I hold on to my physical copies of "Barbarella", and "Wild in the Streets".

[hunter]

98. Easy answer: steal it back.

All my own best stuff lives outside the internet.

[bjo59]

105. Like when Amazon wiped all copies of Orwell's "1984" off of people's Kindles.

[C Moon]

108. Been a big time Mac user since 1998.

Man am I glad I didn't sign up for Apple Music.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
But I did find this article...
http://www.imore.com/no-apple-music-not-deleting-tracks-your-hard-drive-unless-you-tell-it

I think it's a gray area on purpose. I've been liking Apple less and less with each passing year—Adobe, too.

[baldguy]

110. With DRM, and any kind of software really, you don't "own" anything other than a license to use it.

And said license can be revoked at any time for any reason at the discretion of the publisher.

[tabasco]

113. Anybody who uses that Apple Music crap is an idiot.

'nuff said.

[miyazaki]

114. Tried itunes maybe ten years ago,

a miserable piece of work that thing is. Hilarious how the
apple heads bend over for this crap.

[harun]

115. We have always been at war with Eastasia

And you didn't read the fine print. I did and I use Samsung now, not Apple.

[emulatorloo]

116. unrec for FUD. But agree about back-ups of media.

Most likely pilot error on the part of the author.

However I agree with keeping back-up of media. Big hard drives are relatively cheap these days.

[hobbit709]

118. Never used iTunes and never will.

I got 100+Gb of Mp3 files I've ripped from CDs, cassettes, vinyl, and even studio master tapes.

[emulatorloo]

119. My library is very similar and I use iTunes.

Never experienced what the author says happened. Am a wanna be songwriter, on a discussion board w other real songwriters who also use iTunes. They have not experienced it either.

I suspect there was a little pilot error involved.

[Gomez163]

126. Apple is human paraquat.