Apple reported its quarterly profit had more than doubled on strong sales of its iPod digital music player & laptops, and said revenue and earnings for the current quarter would top Wall Street estimates.
iPods, notebooks help Apple double profits
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Wow! Go Apple!
I should really start buying some Apple stock, it appears it has suffered nothing but a steady climb over the past year.
Especially since they seem to be the least compatible device on the market:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6490_7-5140299.html?tag=dir.comp
and they require the overbloated, horrible, mega-shitty iTunes software. Just give me an mp3 player that is detected as a removable drive and requires no drivers, and I’ll use software to burn and manage mp3 files that doesn’t suck.
If somebody comes out with an mp3 player that plays WMA and unencrypted AAC files, you could use Hymn to decrypt ITMS files to play on your WMA device and have the best of both worlds. I don’t see WMA as being any worse than encrypted AAC files (since somebody other than you still owns your music), unless you want to get on the ‘Apple good/Microsoft bad’ bandwagon.
I’ve heard that the new Zen Touch by Creative blows the iPod out of the water. If nothing else, it sure has longer battery life.
go APPLE!!! Be the best you can be!
as someone who bought a 40gig one a year ago and has used it for most of every day since with zero complaints, let me see if i can help clarify this for you.
#1) UI. the user interface beats the pants off of every other mp3 player i have ever seen. elegence is the goal of most designers, and the ipod guys hit the nail right on the head.
#2) Solid state memory. granted, there are now a couple of other products that have this, but i cant express to you how useful it is to have a 40gig usb/firewire harddrive. i used to go through an incredable amount of cds, now if i want to give someone a movie or game, i just throw it on my ipod.
#4) iTunes. while not the best music jukebox software out there, it is about a billion times better then the sony “sonicstage” software that i was stuck with my old minidisc player. while you may perfer nothing, i rather like the fact that my ipods software syncs with the jukebox software on my computer. the presence of the fraunhaufer encoder is rather nice nice too.
#5) tight integration with by far the most used online music store
#6) sound is fantastic and has a decent eq.
#7) *everyone* loves them. the only people who dont are those who dont have them. i bought one, which inspired several friends to bite the bullet and shell out the money. every one of the are just as happy with the purchase as i am.
iTunes is far from being mega-shitty, bloated, and horrible. i wonder what music jukebox/manager you think is good… musicmatch?? mp3 players detected as removable drives are good, but it’s a bitch updating all your files, provided you have several thousand. nothing on the market comes close to iTunes autosync feature. iPod + iTunes is the easiest way to manage any portable mp3 player. the Zen Touch is ugly, and bulky. its display is shit compared to the iPod. i don’t know about you, but i’m willing to shell out the extra money for a product that just works flawlessly and looks damn good too. i get six compliments a day about my iPod, thats pretty damn sweet.
Glad to see that Apple’s posting a profit – glad to hear people are loosening up their purse-strings and buying Mac gear. Go Steeeeve!.
For you Mac-audiophiles – 4Front also makes MacOSX software:
http://www.4front-tech.com/proaudio-download.html (there are some free VSTi for you to get.)
regards
Dev Mazumdar
Last month, I couldn’t help myself, and fed a troll (The Seeker), making a bunch of outlandish predictions about Apple, or so it seemed.
Here was the boldest one. I predicted that Apple would double in size in the matter of two short years, shifting from a $6 Billion company in 2003 to a $12 Billion company in 2005, as measured by annual sales.
Now, a lot could wrong in the meantime, but Apple did update their guidance for the next quarter, predicting sales of between $2.8 to $2.9 Billion for the first quarter, 2005. They are well on their way to posting sales of between $11 and $12 Billion.
Go Apple!! They’re not just surviving. They’re thriving! Apple aficionados everywhere have reason to do a little dance. 🙂
And when apple is firing on all cylinders, it’s good for the entire tech industry.
Apple is dying!
Joke. 🙂
Posted from my iBook G3.
Last month, I couldn’t help myself, and fed a troll (The Seeker), making a bunch of outlandish predictions about Apple, or so it seemed.
Don’t fret: someone will soon drop by to illuminate us with what he sees as the dark lining in this silver cloud.
Apple seems to have reinvented itself again. iPods are the largest share of product revenue, and they’re sellling them as fast as they can make them.
Apple’s computing infrastructure (at least the consumer line) is now sold more as an “iPod accessory” than a standalone computers, which is sort of funny.
Hopefully Apple will keep on trucking into the next millenium making products that are well-designed, work well, and that people want. The iPod really works well, well enough that my mom can use it (and her attached iMac) without any support.
My dad, on the other hand, has a PC laptop (HP running XP) which aggravates him to no end. As an example, every time he wants to sync is Palm Pilot he has to plug his cradle into a different USB port. It makes no sense at all. And he’s never been able to get his Nomad to work reliably, after about 2 years of trying.
It’s almost a freaking commercial, except it’s real life. This is why Apple will, down the road, be successful. Their products just work.
Good seeing a healthy Apple!
“Especially since they seem to be the least compatible device on the market:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6490_7-5140299.html?tag=dir.comp
and they require the overbloated, horrible, mega-shitty iTunes software. Just give me an mp3 player that is detected as a removable drive and requires no drivers, and I’ll use software to burn and manage mp3 files that doesn’t suck.
If somebody comes out with an mp3 player that plays WMA and unencrypted AAC files, you could use Hymn to decrypt ITMS files to play on your WMA device and have the best of both worlds. I don’t see WMA as being any worse than encrypted AAC files (since somebody other than you still owns your music), unless you want to get on the ‘Apple good/Microsoft bad’ bandwagon.
I’ve heard that the new Zen Touch by Creative blows the iPod out of the water. If nothing else, it sure has longer battery life.”
????
Zen Touch (Know in spain as the Zen Tocho) better than the iPod 4G???? Are you crazy or what?
The Creative Zen Touch is bulkier, thicker, has a smaller screen resolution (160×104 vs 160×128, 2 lines less of text than the iPod), has a slow usb 2.0 conector (Firewire is muuuuuch faster)… :/
The iPod isn’t only better in appareance, it also has more skip memory 32Mb vs 16Mb of the zen touch, plays lossless format and audible books, and of course, it has a bunch of accesories..
If you don’t like iTunes, there are plugins for Winamp, and other players.. HP have just released their HP Tunes software for Windows Xp Media Center PCs..
And, actually, at the same bitrate, WMA is poorer than the AAC of iTunes (see doom9.net), Apple doesn’t make use of vbr, so it could be a lot better in the future..
Think now in HE-AAC, a new audio format that uses the same technology as MP3 Pro..
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/29/3gpp_picks_he-aac/
And.. about battery.. ¿Are you sure you could hear continiusly 24 hours of music? I Think 12 Hours is enough to the 99,9999999% of the people in the world..
The future is a golden road! 😀
I forgot to post:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040730/dev080.htm
Is really the Zen Touch better than the iPod? See another time..
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040730/dev079.htm
The iPod is also nearly the same price of the Zen touch (In Spain both devices have exactly the same recommended retail price).
Eugenia, when we will see the possibility of edit post? It’ll be great, so i can correct my orthography
//coolkamio is now finding an english learning center that isn’t like Opening, i mean Closing..//
nothing on the market comes close to iTunes autosync feature. iPod + iTunes is the easiest way to manage any portable mp3 player.
I think these guys would disagree with you:
http://www.redchairsoftware.com
Sorry, but iTunes is utter trash – jack of all trades, master of none. When it comes to an audio player, mp3 ripper, CD burner, and tag manager, there are programs out there (at least for Windows) that do each task better than iTunes. Well, I don’t know if anything else can burn ITMS files, so I guess iTunes is useful for something.
Everybody posting here has to keep sight of the bigger picture: that Apple’s profit has doubled due to iPods and portables.
Whether you trash the iPod or love it doesn’t make one iota of difference to the fact that Apple is raking in the money. Don’t like the software? Sure. Don’t like the hardware? Sure. Lots of people do like it, and those people are spending money on Apple gear, and they are the people who matter.
until someone offered me a used iPod. At $200 it was a steal and I went for it, and never looked back.
Before my iPod I have had a variety of mp3-discmans and mp3-sticks. None which really just worked. The iPod just worked out of the box, and the integration with iTunes makes it even better.
What shocked me even more was that it was cheaper for my girlfriend to buy a 12″ powerbook rather than a similarly sized notebook from either Dell or IBM. Plus the fact that the powerbook has it’s optical drive built in, in stark contrast to Dell where you get to drag the optical drive along as an added bonus.
Battery life is by far the most important factor for her, and by tweaking the powerbook we have gotten 5 hours out of one battery, which is better than any normal notebook I have ever seen.
So all in all, I can understand why Apple makes a huge profit, they just make great hardware and software.
What the hell?
Put down the zealotry for one second and consider the possibility that Apple can’t produce an all-in-one product that’s perfect for everybody.
Maybe – just maybe – it’s possible that programs specfically made for a given task are better than iTunes.
No really. I’m not joking.
but I am really interested in what programs you use to replace iTunes? Could you please post links so I can try them out?
Whose zealotry are you talking about? I mean, c’mon; Darius’s posts are complete trolls.
Sorry, but iTunes is utter trash
Utter trash. Yup, can’t do one thing right.
audio player – gotta agree. The sound comes out all ‘wrong’ somehow. Can’t really put my finger on it. Sure it has those real-time equalization functions, smart playlists, etc; but other Windows mp3 players have a more vibrant Window Media Player ‘lifestyle’ experience.
mp3 ripper – yeah, you can control bit rate, and even choose to rip AAC format instead; but again I think the bits have more ‘weight’ to them when handled by a Windows API. It’s an audiophile thing. Most of you wouldn’t understand.
CD burner – “iTunes can’t really handle.” Preach on! I’ve never gotten anything but coasters out of the program.
tag manager– It’s so annoying how the program automatically checks the internet databases when you insert a CD and enters the tag data by itself. Typical stupid Mac users always needing Apple to hold their hand!
Who said everyone needs an iPod or should buy one? We aren’t preaching. It’s some bonehead Apple hater who came into the Mac thread again to explain why the rest of us are so messed up.
I never got the appeal either. But then I got a chance to use one for a while and now I understand completely.
I hated itunes at first.. yeah it sucks if you are just used to looking at your files directly. And yes it sucks if you have tons of improperly tagged tunes. But if u make the effort to fix it all up it’s magic.
This post was written while listening to my green ipod mini
the “best” technical solution never wins.
the ipod is so successful because it delivers the best out-of-the-box experience. It’s made for non-geeks, so it’s crippled a bit – as common at apple.
So you get no recording function and you’re bound to itunes, which matches the average users demands and nothing more. Itunes is a hog, but it works. 90% of the users doesn’t care about itunes, they use it.
I don’t like itunes too much, but I have no real choice. That’s the Apple-Method.
Why does almost everyone here support vendor lock-in. Here Apple seems even worse than Microsoft. I would not buy a mobile music player that does not support all major media formats (mp3, ogg, wma, aac, real, etc.) encrypted AND unencrypted.
And the ipod does not even look that great (in contrast to other apple hardware which usualy is quite stylish).
Its all hype.
Why does almost everyone here support vendor lock-in. Here Apple seems even worse than Microsoft. I would not buy a mobile music player that does not support all major media formats (mp3, ogg, wma, aac, real, etc.) encrypted AND unencrypted.
Before posting trash like that, make sure your facts are wight first. The iPod does play MP3 and AACs, both encrypted and unencrypted. Remember Steve Ballmers accusation that all iPod owners are ‘thieves’? That wouldn’t happen if it played only encrypted files.
As for vendor lock-in, who cares? Not the public. They’re more interested in something that just works, looks cool, and is reasonably priced. Besides, there isn’t much vendor lock-in anyway. The only bit that might constitute lock-in is Apple’s FairPlay management system, but if that bothers you make sure your music is in MP3 or unencrypted AAC format.
keath: Whose zealotry are you talking about?
Stalker’s, in his ‘Re: steve’ post.
Is it just me, or are people getting a little too worked up over this sort of thing?
Ah, nice night for trolling, eh? Yep , hoping to hook one of those nasty mac hater’s. Nasty critter’s, all slimey and spineless they are. Shouldn’t be too long, got the right bait, some good news about Apple. Yah, they’ll come runnin’ like flies to manure!! Always have , always will.
My best old fart fishing friend impersonation, pretty sweet, eh? Way to go Apple, all this good news is popping viens in the mellons of Apple-haters everywhere.
Come on. It’s a computer company, one of many. It’s not like they r stickin’ it to the musicians like the mp3 thieves on p2p, or the folks at Sony records do.
You might be correct about mp3 but what about ogg vorbis or real audio or wma?
You say the public does not care about vendor lock-in. That might be true but I was referring to the majority of OSNEWS readers. They usually look beyond marketing hype. Or so they should.
very entertained
I’ve seen it in store and no doubt it’ll sell well. It’s rightly priced for a hugely attractive machine but as it’s been pointed out before, no doubt there is a fair bit of margin per unit. Profits should be forthcoming.
“I’ve heard that the new Zen Touch by Creative blows the iPod out of the water. If nothing else, it sure has longer battery life.”
Apparently, Darius, nobody gives a rat’s a** about the Zen?
Apple Rocks!!!
Utter trash. Yup, can’t do one thing right.
audio player – gotta agree. The sound comes out all ‘wrong’ somehow. Can’t really put my finger on it. Sure it has those real-time equalization functions, smart playlists, etc; but other Windows mp3 players have a more vibrant Window Media Player ‘lifestyle’ experience.
mp3 ripper – yeah, you can control bit rate, and even choose to rip AAC format instead; but again I think the bits have more ‘weight’ to them when handled by a Windows API. It’s an audiophile thing. Most of you wouldn’t understand.
CD burner – “iTunes can’t really handle.” Preach on! I’ve never gotten anything but coasters out of the program.
tag manager- It’s so annoying how the program automatically checks the internet databases when you insert a CD and enters the tag data by itself. Typical stupid Mac users always needing Apple to hold their hand!
Hahahahahahah!
With enemies like that, who needs friends?
Apple = Open Standard file Format (AAC) + Proprietary DRM (FairPlay)
M$ = Total Proprietary offering
Who makes money from using the AAC? The group (offshoot of mpeg). Who makes money w/the M$ solution?
Apple’s makin; money on the iPod and using an Open Standard format. What would you do? I know this is obvious, but I don’t see many people get it, especially when they claim of Apple’s closed system.
Jb
darius put the ‘nit’ in ‘nitwit’
My 19 year old niece from Israel (W2K user), typically lusting for everything that is hot and looks nice. She saw my Apple Powerbook and commented: “Very, very nice … but does it have itunes?”
Apart from the rather short battery life, I love my iPod.
Well, I’d also love to have iTunes for Linux, since now the only reason I still boot to Windows is to sync my iPod.
Does anyone know when will Apple open their music store to scandinavia?
Umm.. that Anapod software you linked to isn’t terribly comparable to iTunes. “Web Interface” ? It runs a Web Server? Explorer Integration? Why?
All iPod owners want to do is plug their ipod in and have iTunes automatically synch their playlist. iTunes does that, and it is a lot better than most jukebox software out there (I’m yet to find anything better).
From the screenshots, Anapod looks like complete crap. Maybe I’m missing something…
I’m a relatively new Mac owner (3 weeks now). I bought an iBook G4 12″, which is probably Apple’s cheapest computer. I’m really enjoying using it, and I’m starting to understand why people like Apple’s stuff so much.
I’ve always thought Apple’s stuff looked cool whenever I played with a Powermac or whatever in a store, or looked at the pictures on their Apple store. But now that I own one, I can see why people have always told me “I *love* my iBook!” whenever I talk to them about their iBook.
Nobody can explain it adequately. It’s just something you realise after owning one.
A shame they don’t have a desktop PC that’s as good value for money as the iBook.
I can see why everyone is happy but dont we relize that if they released a g5 **book the ipod isnt really all its craked up to be i have a 3rd gen one and it pisses me off at least once a day. <note i havnt found anything nearly as good as the ipod>motoraola (sp?) chips blow nuf said
I think this is the market that apple can absolutly rule, fancy gadgets, they make some very cool gadgets.
Sure their desktops are nice, especially their powerbooks/ibooks, the design on hardware and software is brilliant. But when the going gets tough, you dont want an apple/mac because it’s a gadget disguised as a computer and ultimatly lacks the flexibility and power. But as long as you only use it to upload pictures from your sony digital camera and show them to the family, you’re fine.
Apple does squeeze out cool stuff, I think they should focus more on ‘gadgets’ like the iPod.
I bought iBook and so far I’ve got one friend also get iBook… now another friend is considering powerbook. Apple’s laptops are just sooo superior compared to PC lappies (I have very expensive IBM’s centrino business-model laptop and it doesn’t come even near three times cheaper iBook). And prolly I don’t even need to note that those PC lappies won’t run the only nice OS in the world. Go Apple!
> a gadget disguised as a computer and ultimatly lacks the flexibility and power
What? A computer as we know it is a limited Turing Machine, what processing unit(s) it uses wheither PowerPC, x86, 68k, MIPS, or even a human brain does not matter so long as it has one and some kind of memory it can be used as a (tape limited) Turing Machine and therefore a computer.
Perhaps you mean that it can’t be programmed? Wrong. OS X comes with GCC, a very nice IDE, Python, Perl, Ruby, emacs, the Java runtime and two Java compilers. This is far more programming options than Windows does, and as many as most Linux distributions. More than some due to the Java licencing issues and nobody in their right mind what say a Linux box isn’t a computer.
Perhaps because it is easy to use? Well it is easy to use, and if to be a computer it must be arcane and difficult to master then you’d better get over to the Gnome mailing lists quick to inform them of the grevous error that they are making in trying to create a GUI that anyone can understand.
must not feed trolls, sorry all
audio player – gotta agree. The sound comes out all ‘wrong’ somehow. Can’t really put my finger on it. Sure it has those real-time equalization functions, smart playlists
mp3 ripper – yeah, you can control bit rate, and even choose to rip AAC format instead; but again I think the bits have more ‘weight’ to them when handled by a Windows API. It’s an audiophile thing. Most of you wouldn’t understand.
CD burner – “iTunes can’t really handle.” Preach on! I’ve never gotten anything but coasters out of the program.
tag manager- It’s so annoying how the program automatically checks the internet databases when you insert a CD and enters the tag data by itself. Typical stupid Mac users always needing Apple to hold their hand!
I think my point was lost on you. I’m not saying that iTunes can’t do all this, I’m saying that other tolls do it better. Plus, when I want to play mp3s (for example), I don’t need an audio player, mp3 ripper, CD burner, and tag manager running to do just one task. I’d rather use something that doesn’t suck system resources like a hoover. If you could somehow ‘unload’ the other crap when you’re not using, then it would be better. As it stands, to play mp3s, Winamp lite is a 700kb download and is a helluva lot snappier than iTunes.
From the screenshots, Anapod looks like complete crap. Maybe I’m missing something…
You’re missing something. Go here …
http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=8553&offset=30&rows=45
Nope, no norwegian store… But there’s light in the tunnel! http://www.nyteknik.se/pub/ipsart.asp?art_id=36854 (in Swedish)
Appearantly there is some confusion about what I mean, this confusion seems to lead to speculation (where did all those comments come from?, scary!) causing a rise in blood pressure..let me try to lower it
I do not mean OS X, I mean apple hardware, it’s all fun & fancy but when it comes to flexibility and power it just lacks what other hardware has. Other as in for example HP/DEC, SUN and especially x86 (32 or 64 bit), even the previously mentioned hardware vendors are releasing more and more products based on x86 architecture because it is flexible, cheap and has what it takes to cut the cake.
Apple is fun, you dont buy an apple notebook because it’s powerfull, you buy it because it’s cool, it’s a gadget, and I mean that in a good way. seriously for about the same price of apples ‘cheapest’ 12″ ibook you can buy a machine that is 2x as fast, has 2x the memory and 2x the discspace, with everything like usb/firewire/wireless in it, for example HP currently has a 15″ 3ghz-64bit, 512mb, 60gb, ati 9600 etc..etc… for the same price – about $1050
(btw there are more widespread and popular ‘alternative’ operating systems then linux)
btw, you seriously consider my post as ‘trolling’?
note to amon – stop feeding little troll inside yourself
You would be correct in saying that you can get a powerful laptop for the same amount of $$$ by going x86.
But when it comes to portability, battery life, design and integration nothing comes close to beating the iBook/Powerbook series.
Sure PC laptops are cheaper, if you can accept heavier as well. Small ultraportable PC laptops costs a lot more than a powerbook.
Think about that.
Michael
that’s true
, apple notebooks have way more battery life and are light and as said in the original post, apples design is always brilliant.
But say a person has $1000 to spend, I’d say most people that spend that on an apple arent going for the extra-long battery life, but for it’s coolness, it’s ‘gadgetness’, while people that need the most bang for their buck will go for an x86 based machine, unless is for something apple related.
I thought the original post was a rather positive one
apple is doing just great with ipods…but not the diminishing numbers in macs. very sad indeed. pc sales going through the rough at an increase of 15-20% for 2004 and apples numbers keep going down.
so for gankaku:
“Apple’s share of the education market place is going to increase dramatically over the coming year. It won’t reach the lofty heights that Apple enjoyed in the 1990s, but it will be significant.”
hasnt started yet since pc sales are way up and mac sales are slightly down. share keeps slipping.
“iPods sales will continue to amaze, and Apple (with HP) will soon be selling 1,000,000 iPods (and minis) a month, if not more. They will continue to dominate the market.”
sold 2 million in 3 months, so didnt make that prediction either. 1 million shy of your one million per month prediction.
“Apple’s marketshare will almost double over the next two years. True, going from 2 to 4 per cent won’t set the world on fire”
see above. mac sales still going down. praise ipod for saving the day.
“Apple’s Xserve sales will increase significantly every quarter, over the next two years (with significance meaning more than 12.5 per cent increase per quarter).”
nope didnt happen. pomermac sales have gone like this over the last 3 quarters: approximate numbers 190k, 180k, 160k….they have gone down 3 consecutive quarters in a row. (apples written and stated goal is to sell 200k per quarter and they aint making it).
“Over the next two years, Apple’s sales figures will increase dramatically. In 2003, they had about $7 billion in sales (off the top of my head, I could be wrong). I’ll bet it will be more than $9 billion in 2004.”
wrong. missed by nearly a billion dollars.
not looking very good on those predictions gankaku.
the ipod would be a good player if it
– had standart connectors (usb, firewire AND SEPARATE POWER!!!!)
– and a replaceable battery
– and wouldn’t need this crappy itunes (are 500mhz and 192mb ram realy not enough to play mp3s? )
but as it is i tell people who ask me regarding an mp3 player not to buy apple-crapp. i already lost 500 euro to apple, they shouldn’t repeat my mistakes…
After installing iTunes on XP, I noticed that I had three more tasks (services) running. Taking up around 20Mb of RAM.
And that’s without iTunes running!
That’s not good, actually it’s really bad.
It might be ok for someone who doesn’t care about anything but their music but poeple that do other things with their computers will not tolerate that kind of thing.
Seems like every other Windows program wants to run something in the background.
Looks like Apple is no different. Shitty software design.
They realy dropped the ball on this one.
I can understand that iPod helper is running all the time so when one connects iPod then iTunes starts automaticaly.
But is this kind of RAM and resource waste realy necessary?
Looks like Apple asumes that iPod users are just too stupid to start iTunes when they connect their iPod.
Looks like the iTunes design is only propagating the stereotype that Mac users are clueless, computer illiterate dummies.
Pretty sad.
“Appearantly there is some confusion about what I mean,..”
Yes, there is and this follow up didn’t help in clearing it up.
“I do not mean OS X, I mean apple hardware, it’s all fun & fancy but when it comes to flexibility and power it just lacks what other hardware has. Other as in for example HP/DEC, SUN and especially x86 (32 or 64 bit), even the previously mentioned hardware vendors are releasing more and more products based on x86 architecture because it is flexible, cheap and has what it takes to cut the cake.”
So the US Navy installing Apple X-Serve’s in their sub fleet for their sonar systems was done for “fun”.
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/macos/story/0,10801,…
Or how about the G5 cluster supercomputer that a US defence contractor is building for the US army for Hypersonic flight modelling. Is this being done for “fun” too?
http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/colsa/
I don’t consider either the US Navy or the Army to be organisations that waste time doing “fun and fancy” things. Do you?
“Apple is fun, you dont buy an apple notebook because it’s powerfull, you buy it because it’s cool, it’s a gadget, and I mean that in a good way. seriously for about the same price of apples ‘cheapest’ 12″ ibook you can buy a machine that is 2x as fast, has 2x the memory and 2x the discspace, with everything like usb/firewire/wireless in it, for example HP currently has a 15″ 3ghz-64bit, 512mb, 60gb, ati 9600 etc..etc… for the same price – about $1050”
That is funny, at the time that I bought my Powerbook there were exactly three notebooks that came with DVD burners so, that I could easily burn my master discs of my edits without lugging around a bunch of extra equipment. Both the Sony and Toshiba had incomplete software packages, incredibly short battery lifes (under 2 hours) and had massive footprints and weights compared to the powerbook. To me the Powerbook was more “powerful” to me since I could be more productive with it out of the box.
“(btw there are more widespread and popular ‘alternative’ operating systems then linux)”
Really? Name them. With the exception of OS News and couple of alternate OS sites. The only alternative OS’s I hear about regularily from the mainstream computer industry press are Linux and Mac OS X.
<<I should really start buying some Apple stock, it appears it has suffered nothing but a steady climb over the past year.
>>
Hot tip: buy low, sell high.
Now is not the time to buy Apple. (Unless you plan to ride out the coming correction and sell on the next rebound.) Now is the time to buy AMD, which recently suffered a correction, but has started a rebound.
(Disclosure: I own shares of AMD and Apple. Both bought 2 years ago. I bought Apple after seeing how good their laptops are and studying the potential for growth in that sector. I bought AMD when I realized they would beat Intel to market on a 64 bit processor.)
I think Apple’s next big boost will come when they find a way to get a G5 into a laptop or when/if motorola ever delivers a dual core G4.
the fact that people are buying more laptops over towers…or prefer an emac over an imac, is not a sign that sales are lagging.
really the total unit sales are fairly stagnant…and that is not good, they have a goal of increasing the sales…and the professional tower systems are important, and they would like to sell 200k to achieve economies of scale.
but the good news is, demand seems to be pent up, and if they can deliver 200k towers next quarter, they have a good chance of selling that many too…. I think we’ll see an increase in total unit sales…not just, as we saw this quarter, an increase in $ revenues on mac hardware…remember apple is still air freighting imacs, to try and keep up with demand.
in the end, this is a challenge they must overcome, but things are looking good for the christmas season for apple.
I’ll make a predictionn, 1,000,000 new mac systems sold next quarter.
the ipod is great…put selling a lot of mp3 players is still no accomplisment compared to moving a million comps with an alternative operating system.
I obviously seem to be stepping on some toes here
btw the anonymous post @ micheal was from me, I agree apple is nice, the notebooks have longer battery life, and a high ‘gadget’ factor, and come with nice build in stuff. (nobody seems to read the previous couple of times I said that)
It’s really nice to sum up the few exceptions of apple hardware being used for some heavy duty work, but in the other 98% of the cases they dont pick apple.
I’m not bashing apple, I’m just saying it might be nice to see apple make some more gadget like stuff, they are obviously good at that.
Btw browsing around more before buying will reveal more options
You seriously want me to name them?, what’s next, a beer drinking competition? That a lot of sites/magazines publish more on Linux and Mac OS does not mean other operating system are less widespread or popular. (they just generate less noise)
So if everyone drives a blue car and one person a red car, but on tv there is only attention for red cars, the red car is most popular?, what kind of reasoning is that??
media_buzz != number_of_users
At $45/share, AAPL has a market cap of about $17 billion.
Apple has $5.6 billion of cash in the bank, meaning the street is actually valuing Apple at less than $12 billion.
Apple is on track to hit $11 to 12 billion in revenue for 2005 and earnings of about $500 million. If Apple maintains the same P/E ratio and Apple can pull those numbers, then you’re looking at a market cap of around $30 billion or so.
That is, Apple’s stock is primed to double by the end of fiscal year 2005. The run-up means very little since Apple was running up from a ridiculously low stick price in the first place. Now is the time to buy, before the market wakes up and realizes that hey, Apple is not Gateway, and hey, who cares about comparing it to Dell when they can put out growth numbers like this?
Here’s something else to put things in perspective. Apple looks like it is on track to sell 10-12 million iPods in fiscal 2005.
Consider that. 1 million iPods a month, possibly more. (What do you think will happen to sales when – not “if” – Apple introduces a $199 mini?)
Now take a look at the $45/share AAPL is trading at today. The stock has only begun to go up. Buying AAPL today is the equivalent of buying into DELL 5 years ago, or MSFT in the late 80s. Sure, you could have gotten in earlier, but you’ll still see one hell of a return by moving in now.
who cares?
I run itunes, java IDE’s (talk about heavyweight), browser with a zillion windows open, ichat, a ton of menubar apps, ms word, ms powerpoint (talk about heavyweight) and a terminal or two all at once with no problem, all on a dual 867 g4 with a mere 768mB memory.
who cares about academic resource wastage if it doesn’t affect your system in any perceptable way?
..on a wave of discontent with the state of Windoze security. Watch for Apple’s market share to go back up in the next two years.
Boy, these Mac threads are so colorful. So um, can somebody explain to me why Mac are a religion? I mean, I can understand with Linux or BSD, it’s something anybody can work on, take part in, get the code for augment. They’re works in progress that users can not only watch develop each step of the way, but be in involved in as well.
With Apple, it’s just another company selling a product. So what is this cult of Mac really about? Are “elegant” looking machines really that important to people? Surely this not just about status symbols, impressing the chicks or whatever…surely Mac users are not that trivial, not that materialistic, not that fake…so what’s the real deal? What makes the whole Apple thing such a religious experience?
Apple’s P/E ratio has me nervious.
I still think there’s going to be a modest correction back down to the $30 level — which is where I’ll jump in to buy my next round — and when the g5 gets in a laptop, WHAM!!, will we see our next round of growth, and then I’ll sell 75% of my holdings in Apple and go hunting for my next undervalued stock.
But, disagree as we might on Apple’s *short term* future, I stand with you in saying that I think that Apple is in solid financial shape and is not a bad investment. I just think the 9-12 months will have a bump in the road, but if you hang on for 2 years … that’s when the next surge will crest.
(BTW, I bought my Apple back in the $19 range. So, yes, seeing the stock hit $45 is *sweet* indeed.)
Clearly you’ve never used a computer where IT. JUST. FRIKKEN. WORKED.
Or to use the car analogy, if Honda/Acura built computers, they would be Apples.
“What makes the whole Apple thing such a religious experience?”
It’s this kind of distasteful elitism Apple watchers roll their eyes with disbelief (talk about the kettle calling the pot black).
As Steve Jobs noted in this week’s BusinessWeek interview, the idea that there is a “church of Mac” is RIDICULOUS. People do love Apple, but for different reasons, but I’ve never met anyone who approaches it as a religion.
Apple fans are no different than people who only buy and drive BMWs. Apple fans are no different than bikers who ride Harleys and would never be caught on a Yamaha. They’re no different than people who insist their TVs are Trinitrons instead of Zeniths.
To relate enthusiasm as the mere expressions of a religioius cult is really an elitist attitude. It’s like saying people are stupid or somehow have no right to be enthusiastic about something, nevermind their enthusiasm doesn’t create any kind of havoc and destruction. Even Red Sox fans can share in the common love of baseball with Yankees fans, yet denigrating Mac lovers as members of an unthinking religious cult is like someone spitting in someone’s face because he happens to like baseball.
Is this ND? Sure sounds like him…
But anyway… to refute:
“Apple’s share of the education market place is going to increase dramatically over the coming year. It won’t reach the lofty heights that Apple enjoyed in the 1990s, but it will be significant.”
hasnt started yet since pc sales are way up and mac sales are slightly down. share keeps slipping.
The quarter marked the biggest education quarter for Apple in four years. Ding! The judges agree: My prediction was right. Apple has regained some marketshare in education, and may do even better going forward, now that they have an iMac to sell.
“iPods sales will continue to amaze, and Apple (with HP) will soon be selling 1,000,000 iPods (and minis) a month, if not more. They will continue to dominate the market.”
sold 2 million in 3 months, so didnt make that prediction either. 1 million shy of your one million per month prediction.[i]
Note what the prediction says… apple WILL SOON be selling a million ipods a month. Next quarter, with HP selling iPods, I’m certain this prediction will come true. Ding!
The judges agree. Even a few months in advance, they can see that I’m right, and you’re wrong.
“Apple’s marketshare will almost double over the next two years. True, going from 2 to 4 per cent won’t set the world on fire”
[i]see above. mac sales still going down. praise ipod for saving the day.
The judges are unable to make the call. Note that the prediction says: OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. We’ll revist the issue in two years.
Ding! The judges took a point from you for wasting their time. So the score is: gankaku: 2; Anonymous: -1
“Apple’s Xserve sales will increase significantly every quarter, over the next two years (with significance meaning more than 12.5 per cent increase per quarter).”
nope didnt happen. pomermac sales have gone like this over the last 3 quarters: approximate numbers 190k, 180k, 160k….they have gone down 3 consecutive quarters in a row. (apples written and stated goal is to sell 200k per quarter and they aint making it).[i]
Note my prediction: APPLE’s XServe SALES. The prediction makes no claims for PowerMac sales. In fact, we have no idea of how many Xserves were sold (and I would dearly love to know). I expect that it’s more than the previous quarter.
Ding!: Oh Oh! The judges have taken another point from you because you’re trying to twist my words to fit your argument.
now the score is: gankaku 2; Anon: -2
“Over the next two years, Apple’s sales figures will increase dramatically. In 2003, they had about $7 billion in sales (off the top of my head, I could be wrong). I’ll bet it will be more than $9 billion in 2004.”
[i]wrong. missed by nearly a billion dollars.
This one’s convoluted, because the prediction actually was for the calendar year, not Apple’s fiscal year. So my prediction of $9 billion will probably come true.
Ding! The judges agree that my prediction for $9 Billion for the calendar year will probably come true, but they also think that was a stupid prediction to make, since everyone will measure Apple’s sales figure by Apple’s fiscal year. I lose one point for being imprecise.
not looking very good on those predictions gankaku.
Actually, the final score is: gankaku 1; anonymous -2
And it doesn’t matter anyway. The simple fact is that apple had $8.3 Billion from sales for $2004, and that’s not so far off of $9 Billion. Sales are up by 33 per cent! And every news organization in the tech world is writing time and time again that Apple is having trouble getting G5 chips from IBM. Everyone expects to sell many more Macs going forward
Apple aficionados eveywhere are exchanging high fives. Your whining does nothing to dampen our enthusiasm. The facts don’t lie!
Clearly you’ve never used a computer where IT. JUST. FRIKKEN. WORKED.
Actually, I’m using one right now and it isn’t an Apple. Does that mean I should build an altar and worship it?
“I still think there’s going to be a modest correction back down to the $30 level — which is where I’ll jump in to buy my next round”
This will not happen, barring a major unforseen disaster. The reason why is that Apple pulled in such good number during Q4 2004 that the P/E ratio dropped from 72 to 63 overnight. So the stock actually got CHEAPER from a P/E ratio persepctive.
For it to drop to $30/share, the P/E ratio would also drop to the 30s, which will not happen unless there really is a major disaster. It’s more likely that AAPL will run up in the short-term to have a P/E ratio of 70, where the market seems to have comfort for the kind of growth it expects from Apple.
When you analyze the number and set aside the emotions, AAPL is still an excellent buy opportunity. Sure, nothing it will do in the next 6 to 12 months will match buying the stock at $19/share, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not the beginning of the end, but rather the end of the beginning.
My prediction? AAPL will hit $60 before January 2005.
With Apple, it’s just another company selling a product.
Not just any company selling any product – an irreverent company selling a good product which dares to be different.
Fanbases have been known to spring up around companies with fewer laurels, so the Mac fandom shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Are “elegant” looking machines really that important to people?
Yes. Even the PC industry has realized this and is moving away from beige boring boxes (of course, Apple’s elegance doesn’t end at the sheet metal).
To relate enthusiasm as the mere expressions of a religioius cult is really an elitist attitude. It’s like saying people are stupid or somehow have no right to be enthusiastic about something, nevermind their enthusiasm doesn’t create any kind of havoc and destruction.
There is a difference between enthusiasm and blind zealotry. For example, I am a Windows user, who will tell you that pretty much every version of Windows is horribly insecure out of the box – much less so than Linux, and is a spyware magnet. It also tends to grind to a hault when trying to read a CD, especially if the disc has CRC errors. It also sometimes handles memory inefficently (Win2k more so than WinXP) and the default apps that it comes with are rather generic and crappy. I will also say that Apple’s hardware is technically superior over that of x86, and OSX is most likey a better OS under the hood than Windows.
However, you will rarely (if ever) see a Mac zealot do what I just did – openly talk about the inherent weaknesses in their platform of choice. No matter what kind of critism you level against Apple, Macs, or OSX, they’re going to defend it vehemently – Linux zealots do the same thing. If they lose on the technical argument, they will always resort back to the political argument.
That’s why we equate them with a religious cult, because of their blind allegance, and the fact that most of them simply can never admit that their platform of choice may not be the best tool for every job. Like these losers that post to every Windows thread about ‘M$ sheep’ … I’m sorry, but you just won’t ever hear them admit that Windows is good for anything except getting viruses and spyware.
“Actually, I’m using one right now and it isn’t an Apple. Does that mean I should build an altar and worship it?”
Again, the irony of the statement is noted. It’s funny how Mac users never claim to worship their computers, it’s only the Mac haters who seems so obsessed with the idea of the Mac as a religion.
It’s like an aetheist working up a froth because he thinks a Catholic who goes to church every Sunday is a pagan idolator.
We seem to agree on most points
Probably a first for a mac thread. 
While apple has a certain gadget factor, it also delivers a huge bang for the buck. My girlfriend got a 12″ powerbook for her education, but after working a few nights on it I am seriously considering getting one my self. Considering that my current computer is a high-spec’ed Dell Latitude D800 that is saying something.
That small powerbook feels at least as snappy as my D800 and is more portable too
Just for the info, I do a lot of web/application development for a living.
Michael
How things change. Its looking like apple made the right decisions regarding chip (IBM) and strategy. Meanwhile, Intel and MS falter. Beautiful!
http://news.com.com/Intel+kills+plans+for+4GHz+Pentium/2100-1006_3-…
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19059
“Boy, these Mac threads are so colorful. So um, can somebody explain to me why Mac are a religion? I mean, I can understand with Linux or BSD, it’s something anybody can work on, take part in, get the code for augment. They’re works in progress that users can not only watch develop each step of the way, but be in involved in as well….”
Guess you’ve never used a Mac for any length of time. If you had, the answer would be obvious.
“Actually, I’m using one right now and it isn’t an Apple. Does that mean I should build an altar and worship it?”
Of course, our old friend Darius doesn’t tell you what Hell he had to go through to get it to work. I’m sure it was just a matter of plugging it in and answering a few questions.
Boy, these Mac threads are so colorful. So um, can somebody explain to me why Mac are a religion? I mean, I can understand with Linux or BSD, it’s something anybody can work on, take part in, get the code for augment. They’re works in progress that users can not only watch develop each step of the way, but be in involved in as well.
With Apple, it’s just another company selling a product. So what is this cult of Mac really about? Are “elegant” looking machines really that important to people? Surely this not just about status symbols, impressing the chicks or whatever…surely Mac users are not that trivial, not that materialistic, not that fake…so what’s the real deal? What makes the whole Apple thing such a religious experience?
Okay, here goes. Anybody can sign up and become an apple developer. That’s all that’s requiered, sign up. Download thier tools(for free) and develope away. Don’t want to make money at it? join Fink, or Open Darwin. or one of the many *unix or Linux distro’s porting thier brand of os over to mac goodness.
Of course, our old friend Darius doesn’t tell you what Hell he had to go through to get it to work..
And they accuse me of spreading FUD
the ipod’s nice. it’s a little white box with a hard disk in it.
I’ve got a rather bigger, uglier, black, grey and orange box with a (slightly bigger) hard disk in it. It’s called a Neuros.
It cost me US$200, nearly a year ago, for 20GB. That’s about half the price the 20GB iPod cost at the time.
It plays Vorbis, which the iPod doesn’t. It uses the same high-quality DAC as the iPod, so audio quality is great, and comes with slightly better earphones. Current versions are USB 2.0, though mine is 1.1, which meant the first time I put all my music on it, I had to leave it going overnight. Big deal – why would you ever do that more than once, anyway?
It has a built-in FM transmitter and receiver. It can record, from a built-in microphone *or* an external one, in uncompressed .wav, or in MP3 at a variety of bit-rates.
The firmware is open source, and the official sync manager is too, which means a far superior cross-platform sync manager called NeurosDBM has been developed. This deals with syncing the player and nothing else; it doesn’t pretend to be a CD burner or a music player, which I *like*. I have RhythmBox for that.
In all, it’s absurdly more powerful and flexible than an iPod, at the cost of being rather bigger and a whole ton uglier. But then, I don’t look at it. Why do I care what it looks like? Do iPod users sit down on the bus, get out their iPod, and stare at it in awe of its sleek white beauty?
(well, sadly enough, I’ve seen a couple of them do that. me, I prefer to look out the window. Lots of beauty out there, and it doesn’t cost four hundred bucks).
the iPod’s nice. If all I wanted to do was listen to music, and I was rich, and the damn thing played Vorbis, maybe I’d buy one. But I don’t, I’m not and it doesn’t. it’s not the end of music players.
Do iPod users sit down on the bus, get out their iPod, and stare at it in awe of its sleek white beauty?
(well, sadly enough, I’ve seen a couple of them do that. me, I prefer to look out the window.
Actually it’s more likely that they’re navigating their playlists, so stop being condescending.
Thank you Apple!!
You just made me enough money on my apple stock to pay for my new iMac G5. Of course, I ain’t selling yet, I have a feeling this is one stock that is gonna take off just in time for the holidays.
Too bad I didn’t buy when it was 13 – could have purchased a free G5 Powermac.
: )
“I obviously seem to be stepping on some toes here
”
Perhaps it is the wording of your posts
“btw the anonymous post @ micheal was from me, I agree apple is nice, the notebooks have longer battery life, and a high ‘gadget’ factor, and come with nice build in stuff. (nobody seems to read the previous couple of times I said that)”
If the Mac is a gadget then every other computer on the planet should fall into the same category. Real work gets done on Macs on a daily basis.
“It’s really nice to sum up the few exceptions of apple hardware being used for some heavy duty work, but in the other 98% of the cases they dont pick apple.”
Nice way to dismiss facts that prove your argument is false. Depending on the industry, Macs get chosen more often then your made up 2% of the time. Apple does not target the entire computer market but focuses on several specific markets with their Macintosh products and they do quite well in those targeted markets.
“I’m not bashing apple, I’m just saying it might be nice to see apple make some more gadget like stuff, they are obviously good at that.”
You sure have a funny way of not bashing a company. I’d hate to read what you’d have to say about a company you were trying to bash.
“Btw browsing around more before buying will reveal more options”
Let me clarify for you what I meant with this statement:
“…at the time that I bought my Powerbook there were exactly three notebooks that came with DVD burners…”
I purchased my Powerbook in December 2002. At that time there were exactly three models of notebooks on the market that had DVD burners. One from Sony, one from Toshiba and one from Apple. No amount of web surfing would have changed that fact. I am quite aware that DVD burners are now available in most of the currently available notebooks out there.
“You seriously want me to name them?, what’s next, a beer drinking competition? That a lot of sites/magazines publish more on Linux and Mac OS does not mean other operating system are less widespread or popular. (they just generate less noise)”
I would not have asked you unless I wanted you to enligthen me on the subject. Beer drinking should be unnecessary, I only request that you back up your statements.
BTW I believe you are missing the word alternative between other and operating system in the sentence above.
“So if everyone drives a blue car and one person a red car, but on tv there is only attention for red cars, the red car is most popular?, what kind of reasoning is that??”
“media_buzz != number_of_users”
Agreed, however media buzz does sway the numbers.
http://www.adequacy.org/public/stories/2002.4.28.132234.276.html
> There is a difference between enthusiasm and blind
> zealotry…. However, you will rarely (if ever) see a Mac
> zealot do what I just did – openly talk about the inherent
> weaknesses in their platform of choice.
I don’t use Mac OS X everyday (I need money to buy a new Apple computer), but appart from the price, I must admit that there is no weaknesses in Mac OS X. Perhaps that “Mac Zealots” doesn’t talk openly about the weaknesses of Mac OS X, simply because there is NO (big) weaknesses in Mac OS X.
I use Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Problem with Linux is sotware, problem with Windows is Windows and Problem with Mac OS X is… that HOMM 2/3/4 is not available on Mac OS X
On the other hand I’m a big fan of RISC OS, and I know that there are a lot of problems with this OS (but for me RISC OS > Mac OS X… I know, I’m stupid)
Just my two cents. Let’s go Apple, offer me a G5 computer, I promise to develop a lot of sotware (niark, niark
)
Summary of my last comment :
– RISC OS computers are my dream/game/zealot things
– Mac OS X computers are very usefull (12000 software titles + VPC/Win and X software // support of 90% of USB and Firewire devices // lot of speed and power).
I don’t use a Mac at home, but i don’t understand why companies use PCs today… this is not realiable, not really cheap (for high end solutions or subnotebooks). That’s strange
People that don’t agree with this statement should do what I did a year ago : take a Mac computer, and test it. For me (I use Photoshop everyday), I’m less efficient with the Windows version than with the Mac one… The same is true with RealBasic (the Windows interface is simply not good).
Now, if you want to play games, that’s another story, but I understand Mac Zealots when they say that Mac OS X is more ready for the desktop than Linux and is more realiable for a professional use than Windows.
Sorry for the bad english (I’m french, sorry again
)
The profit is clearly in the ipods, Apple would do even better if they were to dump the Macs and concentrate on the ipods. The Macs do not produce anywhere near the profits, nor do they have the same popularity that the ipods clearly enjoy. Its time for apple to loose the Macshackles and explore more fully the appliance market. Just MHO.
Go Apple! Its great news!
That small powerbook feels at least as snappy as my D800 and is more portable too
There is something seriously wrong with your D800 if a 12″ PB feels “snappier” to use.
I do not mean OS X, I mean apple hardware, it’s all fun & fancy but when it comes to flexibility and power it just lacks what other hardware has.
For example…?
Apple is fun, you dont buy an apple notebook because it’s powerfull, you buy it because it’s cool, it’s a gadget, and I mean that in a good way. seriously for about the same price of apples ‘cheapest’ 12″ ibook you can buy a machine that is 2x as fast, has 2x the memory and 2x the discspace, with everything like usb/firewire/wireless in it, for example HP currently has a 15″ 3ghz-64bit, 512mb, 60gb, ati 9600 etc..etc… for the same price – about $1050
Firstly, I’d question your assertion you could get a machine anywhere near twice the performance and/or features for the same money while retaining anything like the build quality. Apple’s laptops really are fairly competitively priced.
Secondly, your option isn’t much good if I *want* a small, light, very portable notebook, more than I want a desktop replacement, is it ? When I bought my 12″ iBook ~6 months ago, I valued portability and battery life above all. Nothing else on the market even came close for the price (although Dell have recently released a 12″ notebook that is strong competition for the iBook).
It might be ok for someone who doesn’t care about anything but their music but poeple that do other things with their computers will not tolerate that kind of thing.
Well, I do lots of stuff with my computer and, quite frankly I couldn’t give a shit. Why should I mind if some application takes up 20MB (that will be swapped out when not in use anyway) of the 1GB RAM in my machine ?
Computing resources are _plentiful_ and _dirt cheap_. Whinging because some developer uses up some of those resources to make their tool easier to use is just, well, anal. Caring about how much memory and disk space was being used mattered back when I had a 386 with 2MB of RAM and a 40MB hard disk, and installing Wing Commander 2 used ~15MB of that space and all of the RAM. Today, when a gig of RAM and 100+ gig hard disks practically cost pocket change, it just ain’t worth worrying about.
Looks like Apple asumes that iPod users are just too stupid to start iTunes when they connect their iPod.
Actually, it’s because some of us like just having to plug the thing in and then having everything else happen automatically. Computers are there to make my life easier. I fail to see why I should have to expend time and effort on something my computer should be able to do quite easily on its own.
the problem is that detecting the ipod shouldn’t need more than 20k instead of 7mb
well, if it takes 20 minutes to navigate the playlist, then the iPod’s a lot less easy to use than it’s cracked up to be.
most of the machines in business aren’t nice subnotebooks or high-powered professional machines.
they’re machines like the one I’m typing this on – a Compaq with a 600MHz CPU and 384MB of RAM (which is way more than the box should actually need, but RAM is dirt cheap and for some reason they want everything to run XP, so 256MB or more is pretty much a necessity). I’m sure it cost my employer very little money. My job involves running Outlook, two telnet windows and a notepad. The machine is far more than capable of doing this job.
Sure, they could’ve bought very nice looking Macs for the entire department. They’d do the same job just great. And they’d cost a huge amount more money. Why do it?
hmm, maybe he had 10k of songs or maybe he was creating a playlist on the fly, or maybe is was checking his PIM.
Of course you don’t need to replace a working PC with a Mac
Don’t pay attention to AdamW. He’s just insanely jealous. I mean, c’mon, why the hell else would he spend his time staring at people that are staring at their iPods?
>I think these guys would disagree with you:
>http://www.redchairsoftware.com
——
HAHAHAHAHAHA
I know you can’t be serious, I doubt you’ve even tried iTunes. I’m a windows user from way back and until I d/l iTunes I didn’t know what the fuss was about. But wow, what a fantastic application, this is how you do an mp3 player. Winamp is a joke by comparison.
I don’t even own an iPod. If this is an example of Apple software I’m starting to think that my next computer will be a mac. I’ve just got to have a try of OS X
i have an ipod i use itunes and i have found one flaw that pisses me off if you leave it playing for more then 8 hours the quilty goes to hell and you have to hit pause then play again