Bharath Kumar Oleti

WordPress Developer

apple

Labels and artists restricting Apple to sell DRM-free tracks as MP3?

Chris Pirillo:

Apple’s DRM policies are not all that restrictive. If you want to buy an MP3 through iTunes, you most certainly can – so long as the artist or label allow you to do so. That’s not Apple’s fault, is it? #.

But the last time I checked Apple offers over 2 million DRM-free tracks with AAC encoding. AmazonMP3 too offers over 2 million DRM-free tracks but in MP3 format. Its Apple who chose AAC for DRM-free music not labels or artists. Now tell me whose fault is it Chris.

Why I hate my Windows Mobile

With all the hype surrounding iPhone and after reading Apple’s get ready for iPhone page, I thought I will write how disappointed I am with my Windows Mobile phone (i-mate JASJAM running WM5) and Microsoft.

I am using Vista and the program to sync my Vista laptop with my mobile is Windows Mobile Device Center. According to Microsoft,

Windows Mobile Device Center helps you to quickly set up new partnerships, synchronize business-critical information such as e-mail, contacts and calendar appointments, easily manage your synchronization settings, and transfer business documents between your device and PC. #

WMDC

Lets see how it syncs.

  1. Contacts: Without Outlook installed on your PC you cant sync your Windows Contacts.
  2. Calendar: Without Outlook installed on your PC you cant sync your Windows Calendar.
  3. E-mail: Without Outlook installed on your PC you cant sync your E-mail from Windows Mail.

Ok wait, if I install Outlook, I can sync these simple things from my PC to my mobile. But Outlook is not a free program and I don’t care how much it costs. The most expensive Vista already comes with

  1. Windows Contacts.
  2. Windows Calendar.
  3. Windows Mail (Replaced with Windows Live Mail).

Why these features exists in Windows Vista, if I cant sync those to my Windows Mobile. Ofcourse I can do these things directly on any phone not just Windows mobile phone. But check how some of these simple things can be done on iPhone using iTunes both on Mac and PC. And did I say iTunes is FREE. Lets see

iPhone syncs with the address book you already use on your computer ? Address Book or Entourage on a Mac, or Outlook or Outlook Express on a PC.#

iTunes already syncs iPod Contacts with Windows Contacts and I guess it will be same for iPhone.

iPhone uses iTunes to sync with the calendar application you already use on your computer ? iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on a PC ? just like it does with your contacts.#

iTunes won’t sync iPod calendar with Windows Calendar currently but I wont be surprised if they allow iPhone to sync with Windows Calendar.

iTunes will make email setup on iPhone a breeze by automatically syncing the settings from email accounts stored in Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC.#

I am not sure if iTunes supports automatically syncing the settings from email accounts stored in Windows Mail. But I hope Apple will support those Vista features and beat Microsoft to it when iPhone and new iTunes are released on June 29th.

These are just some of the basic things any smartphone users want to sync with their computer and clearly Microsoft fails with their Windows Mobile. Here is a response from someone in Microsoft to a user who asked how to Sync Vista Windows Contacts to PPC in Windows Mobile newsgroups.

Currently, WMDC does not support sycning of Windows Mail and Windows Contacts. It is something that the feature team is considering for future releases. Currently, WMDC only supports syncing of data with Outlook.

Shame on you Microsoft and Windows Mobile team.