大象传媒

"a pair of Nike trainers linked to an iPod. It turns out this has been a runaway success" - Nice pun

Why is it that no 大象传媒 reporter ever manages to get their head right around any technology story? Is it that technology journalists are not considered suitably "rounded" to employ at the Beeb, and the people available have their horizons so limited by the corporation providing technology centrally, and only approved types, so that the latest, outside, stuff is just mind-blowing? The reports are always so disappointing.

In the broadcast report there were two themes, one that Apple might be threatened by their products becoming "uncool", and the other that customers would prefer to download unprotected MP3s, one reason given being that iTunes downloads could only be played on iPods.

Both are simply ideas from press releases from new rivals, which Newsnight should have been wiser than to simply take at face value. Doing so makes Newsnight look foolish.

Apple is cool because they make products that work beautifully, do the coolest things reliably, and look superb, even though they are not the cheapest. You never look uncool, or make a mistake by buying Apple, just as it always used to be said no one was ever fired for buying IBM. Furthermore one's iPod is always as cool as the coolest tune, or movie, or other download on it.

Apple isn't threatened by rival download services as long as the coolest material can be played on iPods. MP3s all can play on iPods. But downloads from iTunes include material which is not available elsewhere because the originators will not sell it without it being digital rights managed. And Apple keep the prices disciplined, far lower for many tracks than the record companies would like. And there are too many stories around for the comfort of the average person of people who have shared stuff for free being sued. It is not true, as was reported, that iTunes downloads can only be played on iPods - they can be played on most computers, can be burned to CDs, and the iPod can be played through HiFis, car audio and radios.

The two things I wanted to know from the report on the launch of the new iPod models was whether the screens had been changed back to a less easily scratched material, and whether movies and TV programme downloads would be available from iTunes in the UK immediately, but you didn't say!

It did seem a bit out of touch, as I have been downloading music and movies for free for the last two years. Anyone actually buying music or movies on the internet is either misinformed or just plain stupid.

Hi. Please could you let me know why you took down my comment.
Sincerely,
Rob D.

In reply to 3 above, I would just point out that I have been a technology journalist for ten years and was in part employed by the 大象传媒 on the strength of that. On iPods becoming "uncool", that point was put by Accenture's most senior media business consultant, someone totally impartial on the issue. On the trend towards using open standard MP3, this indeed is something Apple's commercial rivals want to push - but it is also something that millions of people worldwide do illegally, and thus, for me, as a seasoned tech journalist who has seen every attempt at capturing a technology for a closed proprietory standard fail, Apple fits into a pattern. As to the screen scratchiness of Apple's products and when they are available, as we are not in the business of product review or promotion, may I direct you to For the record, I own an iPod and consider it cool. Then again I am white, male, aged 46 and when I dance at raves it is embarrassing for those half that age...

Paul Mason replied: "In reply to 3 above, I would just point out that I have been a technology journalist for ten years and was in part employed by the 大象传媒 on the strength of that."

I Googled you and couldn't find what sort of technology.

PM: "On iPods becoming 'uncool', that point was put by Accenture's most senior media business consultant, someone totally impartial on the issue."

Arthur Anderson's former technology consulting arm would make no money from saying Apple had secure market dominance, only from alternatives. So I wouldn't be as sure as you that they are "totally impartial".

PM: "On the trend towards using open standard MP3..."

MP3 is not an "open standard". See

PM: "..this indeed is something Apple's commercial rivals want to push - but it is also something that millions of people worldwide do illegally..."

They trend towards it? Surely the trend, if one can be discerned (there of course being no actual figures for how many do illegal things) might well be strongly in the opposite direction, towards legal downloads, since "illegal" (but actually not always illegal at all) MP3s used to be all there was to download and Apple has rapidly pioneered (with other following) a legal alternative of massive proportions.

PM: "...and thus, for me, as a seasoned tech journalist who has seen every attempt at capturing a technology for a closed proprietory standard fail, Apple fits into a pattern."

Microsoft doesn't seem to have fallen yet. I fear you have imagined a pattern of newcomers bringing down the market leaders, but market leaders are sometimes there for a good reason, not that there has been no challenger. And Apple has more than 20 years experience of being the challengers, the innovators, against Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and more.

It is a huge distortion to see Apple's iTunes and iPod as attempting to capture a technology. Remember (if your technology memory goes back that far) tha Apple pioneered music on computers, and was stopped by the Beatles. Then they pioneered video on desktop computers by creating Quicktime, which they made (and still do make) freely available for many platforms, constantly updated. It seems to you to make a story that they are a monopoly set to take a tumble, but they will be market leaders as long as a (very large) majority of paying consumers choose them.

PM: "As to the screen scratchiness of Apple's products and when they are available, as we are not in the business of product review or promotion"

I should hope not, but cannot you see any legitimate story in changes of manufacturing or distribution of content by such a market leader? Was the best question you could think of to ask Steve Jobs, shouted from a distance, whether he feared Microsoft's new player? Doesn't the very apparent coming together of all these forms of expression, and media, through computing, which Jobs has clearly envisaged and helped bring about, over the last 25 years, seem at all interesting?

PM: "...may I direct you to

So kind.

PM: "For the record, I own an iPod and consider it cool. Then again I am white, male, aged 46 and when I dance at raves it is embarrassing for those half that age..."

What makes you think that ethnicity, age, or gender define "cool"? Maybe that misunderstanding is behind your believing that market success spells the end of the iPod.

Oh, and I don't own one, and have no financial interest in Apple.

I think the figure you quote for number of available music tracks is 17 million rather than 1.7 million (though I cannot remember the source).

There is nothing wrong with Apple dominating the music market as long as they continue to be market leader. I agree with above comments about Accenture analyst being biassed. Apple are cool because they are reliable and convenient, not because they are used by 'cool' people. They are more than a fashion accessory.

What continues to irk me about their product are technical issues. The lack of replaceable batteries has the potential to cause disruption in their brand going forward. The lossy compression technology is also an issue, but one that will only be addressed by quantum leaps in storage and transmission technology.

As for MP3s, I have studied this for a while both as a user and a software developer, and I am not convinced that it is the final word in compression technology. There are significant audio benefits from the iTunes AAC format compared to MP3 in my subjective experience (iTunes downloads seem noticeably superior to high-bitrate MP3s I have stripped from my CD collection). So it is by no means clear that an 'open' MP3 model promoted by eMusic is an answer to the dominance of Apple's technology.

Paul Mason replied: "As to the screen scratchiness of Apple's products and when they are available, as we are not in the business of product review or promotion"

Reading your response again it occurs to me that you really, really missed the point of my comment. What I was gently raising was what are Apple's two genuine vulnerablities on iPods and iTunes, product quality and content availablity.

All digital equipment manufacturers risk market collapse if it seems their product or its quality is faulty. Apple's record on that is way above average, but they have had instances of problems, with some bought-in batteries, with one or two designs of motherboards (on some iBooks for example), and with the very simple issue of easily scratched plastic on one run of iPods. Since a really tatty iPod with a screen that is a mass of scratches is definitely not cool that is important.

Content availability is very problematic here in the UK because rights to music, as with books, and movies, and much else, are traditionally often owned differently in the UK from other European countries, and from the US, and yet, in the digital world, most people get to know of American items when it first appears there, and tend to want it right then. For a service like iTunes, where the copyright owners insist that right to supply items has to be contracted for the country in which the online buyer lives, there can easily be much delay before it becomes available to UK buyers. This caused iTunes' whole initial launch in the UK to be much delayed and caused a lot of resentment. Was that down to UK copyright owners, or to Apple giving priority to other markets, people asked. The same issues apply to movies and TV programmes. If Apple cannot get UK distribution agreements, or doesn't give enough priority to getting them, or leaves some material that is available in the US, or other countries, unavailable to UK customers, they might easily lose market share.

That's why those were questions you might have raised, not in order to review or promote Apple. I guess you didn't understand.

A colleague wishes me to point out that all these major portable music players are open to criticism for not supporting the only truly open digitalisation formats, Vorbis and FLAC.

And if you need someone to guide you on what is truly cool, ask Jeremy P.

I agree with others here that it often seems the 大象传媒 is biased against Apple, except for having adopted Podcasting and having some mentions on the website support pages of the Safari and Firefox browsers on Macs. I did refer to that, obliquely, when I mentioned the corporation's inhouse technical support.

I don't know if it is still the case but they always used to refuse to support anything not Windows. A friend of mine, Apple-savvy, had a contract at the Beeb and wanted her Powerbook there, on the Net, and there was such a hilarious fuss. We decided they were afraid everyone would want one.

I guess that staff, not used to anything but Microsoft, and assured that they were being provided with the very best, just assumed that anything else was inferior and deserved dissing, which was not conducive to unbiased technology or business journalism.

It doesn't help that most computing journalists earn their stripes on Windows-only publications.

But I see the 大象传媒's Apache webservers are running on Solaris and Linux, so maybe things have opened up.

I don't think I ever recall seeing anything but Windows desktops on machines visible on screen in 大象传媒 studios or offices, whereas Apple machines are rather often is to be seen in programmes from independents and abroad. I wonder if Apple's rather wonderful Final Cut video editing software is allowed at Television Centre or on location, or if more expensive alternatives are insisted upon, where the move actually has been made from tape editing.

inviting the editor of a leading tory gutter press paper to comment about the labour party conference about sums up the 大象传媒 biased reporting gf govt. affairs. & the labour party in general,throughout the conference the bbc political reporter has been totaly unfair.

i have had a video ipod for a year now. i cant get video anywhere on i tunes so i download it for free.

i have seen the US stor they get movie the lates ones and tv shows. i have whatched and waited for a long time for these and i am still waiting for them on the UK store.

may people are resorting to complaining aout them on their music comants and peole are complaining about the price too because in america they are getting everything cheaper.

i do surf on american sites for my programs very often and know how they get everything quicker than us but itues is trying to mask the fact that they are cheating us in the UK.

i dont care that they get everything first but i am complaining that what they can bye on itunes we should get here.

i know my mum would love to watch emerdale or corination street and my little sis who is 7 would lovch a brats movie

they think we wont notice and i hope that the bbc and/ horrison looks in to this because someone should highlight this problem.