Mac fury

[Misterroberts]

AIBU to be consumed with fury over dd's non-functioning Christmas iPod? Plugged it into 3-year-old Mac with all of family's music on it only to be told that iPod would only work with iTunes 10 (our Mac has 9.something). Downloaded iTunes 10 ... Only to be told that iTunes 10 requires OSX 5 or better. My Mac has OSX 4.something or other. And of course it's impossible to download the requisite OS...to get it you need to buy a disc from the Apple store for £100 plus. Has anyone else had this experience? Must be thousands of people who got iPods for Christmas and couldn't make them work with macs older than three years. And to rub salt into the wounds apparently they work with older PC's. So Apple is effectively punishing its own loyalists. I know everything moves quicker these days but how can a £500 computer be obsolete in 3 years? MN Towers can we have a campaign against this kind of egregious bullying to consume?

[backwardpossom]

I had this problem with the iPhone - our chuntering old PC got fired up and it can be used through that, yet it can't be used with my Mac unless I upgrade to Leopard. I was fuming. But I still prefer Mac. :(

[curlymama]

Can't help you there, my DH does my ipod stuff,a nd from a ridiculously old computer.

YANBU to be annoyed at apple, YABU to make me think of McFlurry from your title and make me want one.

[FabbyChic]

I can give you a link to download the required OS. However, your machine might not have the correct spec to run it.

I love Retro Mac's. I use a PC though or Laptop for my iPod.

[ENormaSnob]

I want a mcflurry now

[awubble]

This is what you are buying into when you buy Apple. You have to keep spending with them regardless whether a tool to manage downloads only requires an OS upgrade if it is told to do so by design. That is Apple.

That unfortunately is part and parcel of a modern business like Apple. If you want to be part of it then you have to pay for it. And they know you want to be part of it because all the cool people are.

There are alternatives but they as I know there is not much chance of you bothering.

Bunch of see you on Tuesdays imo.

[nickschick]

I thought it was a mcflurry discussion too

[pointydog]

Macs are v over-priced, aren'ty they

[tomhardyismydh]

i thought this was a mcflurry thread

however as i have now read yanbu apple are just after your money and loyalty. but pahh stick your fingers up at them buy a pc and throw mac out of the window

[silverfrog]

err, yes, YABU.

the technical specs requirements are clearly set out for iPods - you could easily have checked it before you bought one (and tbh, I'm a bit that you didn't - why on earth would you spend a chink of money on a latest up-t-the-minute gadget wihtout checking it's system requirements?)

[missismonky]

Macs are totally worth it. IMHO. Bit of a nightmare about OS5 and Leopard though. Technology can't move forward if it keeps having to be retrospective, I suppose. I don't grudge paying for system upgrades.

I'd rather see a campaign against Microsoft for being generally crap.

[gerontius]

Also, their system upgrades aren't generally expensive. Only £25 to upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Compared to £150 to buy Windows 7. You've just been unlucky in that you're having to upgrade to two operating systems above yours...

[ccpccp]

YANBU.

LOL at a 3 year old computer being made obsolete by marketting decisions from its manufacturer. Apple really take the piss, which is why most people wont touch them with a bargepole.

Ipad is nice though. Shiney screen!


Windows 7 is about 70 quid BTW, though you dont need it because iTunes10 is compatible back to XP (which came out 9 years ago). It seems Apple have to play fair when customers arent tied into their devices. Must be frustrating for them

[Niceguy2]

lol at ....most people won't touch them

Apple are now bigger than Microsoft!

I used to be totally against Apple, now I have seen the light and just dutifully hand over my credit card. Resistance is futile.

I need my shiny!

[Snorbs]

Apple is bigger than Microsoft in what sense?

Portable music player sales? Yes. Smartphones? Yes. Operating systems? Er, no. Not by a long way. Applications? The last I heard, the biggest selling office application on the Mac is Microsoft Office.

I'm not a Windows fanboi or anything - I'm happier with Linux - but Apple's sales practises are no less shady than Microsoft's.

[ccpccp]

I think Apple made the same, if not a little bit more money than Microsoft in 2009, but its all from tiny shiney.

There is no denying they wrongfooted everyone on the battle for the smart device though. I saw more kids playing with mum and dads iPhones than with present from Santa over xmas. Is there anyone out there who doesnt have an iPhone now?

Some refreshing news for us Apple-haters :

BBC

[AbsofCroissant]

I agree that Apple's hugely HUGELY overpriced, but then it is muchos better than Microsoft and other PC related stuff (and I started off so knowledgable ...)

For e.g., I bought a mac laptop more than 5 years ago. It is now getting a bit slow, but otherwise, never had any problems. Never had a single virus (as most hackers don't bother) and a lot of the fancy bells and whistles for things like IE Microsoft is coming out with now, Apple had yonks ago. DP, on the other hand (also not that knowledgable on computer stuff) bought a sony laptop with MS operating system aout 6 months ago. Within a month he had to go back to the shop with it because of problems with viruses.

I

[Snorbs]

The only software that has managed to cause serious stability problems on our family PC was iTunes. It's been absolutely rock-solid once I removed it.

I only installed it because there were a few podcasts I was interested in but iTunes was appalling. Insisting on copying and converting all my media files just so it would deign to look at them? Insisting on loading several pieces of unstable, unwanted and unnecessary crap in the background? Completely ignoring all the standard Windows user-interface guidelines? What a god-awful piece of software.

[TwinklePants]

Cream egg McFlurry anyone? I can't eat them as pregnant. Boo! I know that has nothing to do with Apple Macs. Just saying.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

YABU, as someone else said... you were a bit silly to buy an iPad and not check the specs of your computer. Regardless of your PC being a Mac or Windows machine, you should still have checked it would work.

We're a Mac family and although their products are expensive they do tend to last, but you do need to be on 10.5 (Leopard) for the up-to-date iPads/iPods/iPhones to connect. To be fair, 10.5 was released in 2007 so if you're only on 10.4 (Tiger) then you can't be surprised when software and gadgets don't work.

Check out the Apple Forum as it seems to suggest you can upgrade straight from 10.4 to 10.6 (Snow Leopard, current OS) just using the £26 upgrade DVD. Apple do try to get you to buy a Box Set to upgrade iLife & iWorks at £122 but it at a very quick glance, it doesn't seem to be necessary. You'll want to check your PC specs though and read through the forums before purchasing.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

Apple discussion forum is here It is very good and has loads of useful information.

[StarlightPrincess]

YANBU. Things like this are the reason I won't buy anything branded Apple. Overpriced, hard to use rubbish.

[Misterroberts]

Sorry all who were conned into opening this thread by prospect of Mcflurries. Thanks for advice ... except anyone who said YABU. Does anyone really look at system requirements for a bottom of the range iPod? And why on earth should a cheap iPod need a high end operating system? FabbyChic can I take up your advice on how to get the requisite download?

[NetworkGuy]

"To be fair, 10.5 was released in 2007 so if you're only on 10.4 (Tiger) then you can't be surprised when software and gadgets don't work."

As someone else pointed out though, iTunes can still be upgraded on a PC running Windows XP, which is at least 6 or 7 years out of date - based on the intended 10 year life of any OS from Microsoft - 5 years as its 'new' OS, and 5 years after a new OS has come out to replace the current one, but security updates and full support is provided for the 'last' OS.

(XP was followed by Vista which was unpopular with users and businesses continued to buy XP machines, then Microsoft extended their support for XP, and even in the last 15 months since launch of Windows 7, anyone who is willing to check can find a business machine from, say, Dell, and pay a 'downgrade' fee of 60 quid to use XP if they wish).

One of the main "plus" points claimed about Apple software and hardware is that the two are developed together and work well, so one wonders why one is forced to upgrade the OS for the latest iTunes to work, and need the latest iTunes to get some other device working.

No, not a fan, but have been in IT for 30 years and to be honest, I can easily understand someone thinking they could buy an Apple product and not know that they have to have some computer running a specific version of iTunes to get it working.

Anyway, for the iPhone users, it's only a matter of time before Android phones overtake. So in answer to ccpccp's question "Is there anyone out there who doesnt have an iPhone now?" Yes, there are millions who don't touch the iPhone, and might never do so.

[Yes, I do own an iMac {running OSX 10.2.8 which I tend to use for web site checking with older versions of browsers of course!} ]

[pointydog]

cor, networkguy, you sound so knowledgable.