> "Other developers must ask Apple for permission to create and sell Lightning-compatible devices"
I wonder how well that's going to work in China (and for that matter most of the rest of Asia)
The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
201–210 of 350 posts
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#202The lack of a headphone jack is simply yet another excellent reason not to buy an iPhone. What confuses me is why so many people continue to buy Apple products when they're overpriced, locked-down and treat developers like crap.
I have never owned an iphone, I was considering it whenever my nexus5 gives up the ghost, but Apple has made sure that I'll not be buying the iphone anytime soon. I'll stick to android with headphones, I like my headphones, I invested into solid ear and headphones. $50 each. I'm frugal like that.
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#203The discussion seems to be easily diverted into one about audio, but I think something that I've not seen in discussion about this issue is the way some app makers have used the analog audio port as a data jack. I've long had the impression this was a workaround that was begrudgingly tolerated by Apple. Though we've all heard about how heavy-handed their app store policies are, so maybe I'm imagining things. But anyw…
The new phone comes with the analog jack adaptor in the box. Assuming the electrical and A/D, D/A specs are not different than the previous built-in analog jack, nothing has changed apart from the hassle of a dongle.
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#204Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#205Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I'm imagining some scenario where say Spotify partners with Bose, and if you plug in Bose headphones then you get higher quality audio than you can get elsewhere. Or say tidal (Jay Z's streaming service) says you can only listen to some songs via Kanye's new headphones.
That's actually really interesting. Especially as everything is moving toward personalization. If you have a set of headphones that have a unique ID tied to you, the artist could even intro a song with your name - or in the future procedurally generated music could substitute a reference to your city into a song.
Thats a cool idea!
Arcade fire did a really cool music video in a similar vein that was interactive/personalized: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except they clearly explained that they had interference problems with the new camera and the analogue jack, which they don't have by using a digital port. Conveniently, lightning was already there. I agree the situation is not optimal, but please, stop this "they so greedy", "this is only for selling adapters" etc. After all, it's apple's product, and if it doesn't appeal to you, don't buy it. As you have stated you…
> and if it doesn't appeal to you, don't buy it This kind of attitude isn't logical and is in fact extremely dangerous. It's the same argument as "if you don't have anything to hide, why do you mind being spied on by corporations and governments?" It is entirely reasonable and in fact GOOD that people have strong opinions about things even if they do not personally interact or care about the actual thing. When an inc…
I don't think those are the same argument at all.
If everybody is open about everything, the result is not that all spying/invasion ends. In fact, it doesn't really prevent anything (it makes those who were spying more powerful in fact - you've done their job for them.)
On the other hand, if nobody bought the products a company is selling, that company eventually goes out of business. Or finds that their products don't have a market fit, and adjust them accordingly.
I'm not a free-market-solves-everything type by any means, I just don't see how these can be considered "the same argument" at all.
(Though, I agree with your basic point that we should not only allow, but encourage discussion and opinions. At the root of it, I agree with where you're going.)
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#208That Apple wants their users to only use 'approved' peripherals with their stuff (i.e. only those from which they get a share of the profits) under the guise of 'user experience' and 'convenience' does not mean the rest of the world will suddenly give up on their analogue headphones. Apple users will be able to buy dongles (which have to be Apple-approved, so Apple will still get their share of the profits leading to…
Except they clearly explained that they had interference problems with the new camera and the analogue jack, which they don't have by using a digital port. Conveniently, lightning was already there. I agree the situation is not optimal, but please, stop this "they so greedy", "this is only for selling adapters" etc. After all, it's apple's product, and if it doesn't appeal to you, don't buy it. As you have stated you…
> Except they clearly explained that
Isn't it obvious that companies like Apple intentionally spin product announcements?
Are we supposed to believe that Apple's engineers are so incompetent they could not have designed around this, if they had wanted to?
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
Floppy disks, optical disks, ethernet were all replaced by unencumbered standards and they all lead to a superior experience (well, maybe not ethernet, but there are definitly advantages to wireless). If you're old enough to have used a floppy disk drive you do not miss them. Any time you introduce two way communication, you introduce the possibility of DRM, but that does not guarantee it. I can still use my HDMI wit…
>If you're old enough to have used a floppy disk drive you do not miss them. I am, and I do. Floppies were ubiquitous, durable, reusable, and cheap enough to give away. There's no replacement today - flash drives are the closest thing but when was the last time someone handed you one with no expectation of getting it back? Or bought a box of 50? Sneakernet became much less vibrant with the death of the floppy.
I'll give you 3 of those points, but definitely not durable. Some of them lasted a long time, and some of them stopped working before I could finish writing to them. And since writing to them was painfully slow, something frequently went wrong.
Of course with flash drives we can wait the short time it typically takes someone to copy the contents off to get it back. And since they can hold significantly more data, they are also far more reusable.
Re: The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
The dongle is a passive converter the lightning interface has a pinout for analog audio.
Do you have a source saying that the analog over lightning is being used here? Because the slide I posted in my other reply says it is "digital audio" over lightning, which I assume to be true for both lightning earpods and this adapter (though I very well could be wrong).
The size of it plus the spec has lanes for analog audio.
Wait for a tear down but it isn't a DAC.