Review #1 - iTunes

Well, I’ve managed to squeeze some time in so I can start my first review. I am up late doing this (It's 00:17 at the moment) and I thought that I would start with something that I’ve had to use recently and something that I can write a lot about. My first review is on iTunes.

I have disliked iTunes from the beginning and was originally hesitant to install it. What I wanted to do with iTunes was simple; purchase and download music from the iTunes Store and burn that music to a CD so it could be ripped DRM free (Digital Rights Management) for use with a portable music player (not an iPod). Such a simple task soon took a whole day to complete…

Installation was moderately quick and easy, although it lacked advanced install features for the high end user. As always, the ‘Launch Application’ checkbox at the end of any install is a welcome feature for those who don’t quite know where it has installed shortcuts. Opening iTunes although was a daunting task. On my test machine it took more than a minute for iTunes to display any signs of loading whatsoever. Disappointing for those who want to play some music fast. My first instinct was to open Task Manager to see exactly what kind of load iTunes was making on my system. Tasks were logically named; iTunes for the application, and iTunesHelper at startup. I’d hate to know how long it would take to load without iTunesHelper. Apple’s software inhaled a whopping 64 Mb of RAM and the CPU usage was continually at the 15-20% area. For those who like to listen to their own music while playing games it seems that iTunes is not the most logical choice for playback.

Once iTunes had finally loaded however it was quick to get from one area to the other and I was soon on the iTunes store looking for some new music. Aware that music costs money now I knew my first stop should be to set up an account, easy started with the ‘new account’ button in a logical place. The first two pages were easy, even if they did make little sense (Address??!? I’m purchasing on the internet, it doesn’t matter!). The third page however threw me completely. Labelled ‘Account Details,’ I quickly knew I didn’t have, nor want to provide my credit card information, and there was no way to better the request for information. I had no intention of purchasing music with a credit card; I wished to purchase the music with a $20 iTunes gift card that I had received earlier in the week. I cancelled out and had a closer look at the opening page; littered with albums and music videos I had no intention of buying. Alas, it seems that the way that I was destined to make my account was under the ‘redeem’ link on the right sidebar, poorly located. Again, the first two pages were the same (still asking for an address) but the third asked me for a voucher number, much more toward my goal. After two unsuccessful attempts to enter a voucher number I realised that the voucher was in fact the small text on the receipt. Stupid? Perhaps!

With a new account, and $20 worth of credit I continued on my quest for new music, starting at the home page for iTunes Store. Curiously, there was no ‘quick search’ function on the top of the page, nor was the search page easy to find (it was labelled ‘power search,’ the initial ‘p’ threw me off). I typed in a name of an artist I was interested in and hit the enter key… no effect… enter again… nothing happens. Use the cursor to press enter and your results fill the screen. Congratulations Apple, you managed to exclude a feature that exists on every other search page on the internet, every text box entry on a PC and every pop-up – the simple enter ability… Does this feature not exist on a Macintosh? After all, it’s a whole heap easier hitting the enter key then moving your hands to the mouse… Google even tells you this: Save time by hitting the return key instead of clicking on “search.” Please build programs the way that the world uses them rather than the way you think the rest of the world uses them.

The preview style seemed to make sense and provided the same length of track for each file (30 secs) with no annoying fade in/out time. However a feature that needs to be included in music searches worldwide is the ability to know what part of the song the preview has come from – are we playing from the start of the track or from somewhere in the middle? iTunes however was equal to, if not better than any other music preview system. With my $20 I managed to purchase 11 songs, with $1.41 left over that is useless to me unless I add more credit – something that I’m not keen to repeat. The purchasing system was simple and quick; download automatically occurred in the background. Another nice feature for all music services to add is the file size, for those on a monthly limit.

I disappointed with the quality and mobility of the music I received. I was left wondering what the hell an M4P file format is and why I’d never heard of it. I got over the fact that it was how Apple supplied their music moderately quickly given that it is only playable on iTunes. The quality of the files I received was not above 128 Kbps and some were at 63 Kbps. I obviously had not bought CD quality music (CD quality is 128 Kbps or higher), disappointing considering that the music industry wants us to switch to online purchases. The music I had received was not worth $1.69 a track.

Burning a CD with iTunes was not simple. I could not see any indication of what I wanted from any of the menus and I couldn’t find anything on screen. So I head to iTunes help, something that I shouldn’t have to do for something so easy. Help was undescriptive and told me to simply press the ‘Burn Disc’ button on the bottom right. Where is this button, why is it not where help explains it to be. The answer was simple but stupid – you must create a playlist to burn, a terrible requirement if someone wants to burn their entire library to disc (as I wished to do, all 11 songs). Burning took far longer than expected and lacked the ability to turn data verification on or off (I later found that data verification was non-existent with iTunes). I had no idea when my burn had finished as iTunes made no visual notification, only a short sound which is buried beneath my playing music. I removed the CD when the drive had stopped spinning.

I figured I was close to the end of this ordeal with iTunes and looked forward to permanently removing it from my computer. However it seemed that I would have to burn a second CD because the first one was corrupted. The first seven songs had been burnt beautifully and were easily ripped to my second PC. The last four however were nothing but hash and white-noise, steadily drowning out the actual music until the final track; which, somehow, was two hours of random noise (on a seventy minute CD, well done iTunes). Obviously data verification is not part of iTunes as there is no checkbox buried within preferences turning it on. The second burn was successful and my final four tracks joined the others in my usual library. Add-ons are not available with iTunes which means that the end-user has no ability to add data verification, other formats or alternate themes.

Apple doesn’t want to give up easily and lacks a shortcut to uninstall in the start menu. One has to open Add/Remove Programs to destroy the poorly designed software. Like the install, iTunes lacks information on uninstall. Apple must have a thing with only allowing the end user to see the final product and not how it works. The uninstall also fails to do the exact opposite of the install – like it should; QuickTime is left installed on the computer, software which has plagued PC users for years.

This task was much harder than it should have been. I feel sorry for the thousands of iPod users that are forced to use this software to update their media player.

Visual effects: 4/5.
As always, Apple shines with it's visuals.

Ease of use: 3/15.
Maybe I'm just new, but some of the most common tasks were hidden away.

Features: 4/15.
It only had some of the basics, a crucial miss.

Value: 4/10.
The sub-standard quality didn't impress.

Speed: 3/10.
This is a nice score, considering the startup time.

Integration: 2/5.
It ran on Windows, but it didn't feel designed for Windows.

Overall: 19/60.
It was worse than I originally expected... Apple should stick to what they're good at because this obviously isn't it.

Test machine (Notebook);
Pentium M 1.8Ghz,
512 Mb DDR Ram,
80 Gb HDD,
Windows XP Professional SP2.

Sorry that this was so long, but I really did want to get everything in.

Games

After close inspection, I decided I needed something interesting on the site.

Pacman is down the bottom of the page.

Use the arrows to move.
P = Pause
Q = Quit
M = Mute/Unmute
L = Toggle Quality

I later plan to add more games and have multiple domain names so that we can get here from school (Don't doubt me, those lectures are starting to bore people).

EDIT: Nice new green button on the bottom left under Pacman. It's called a Web Fire Escape. Click it when you're about to get busted for playing games! If you get sick of going to Google then head to http://weblog.garyturner.net/cookieform.html to change your destination (HOnline seems smart).

Welcome

Hey all, welcome to my blog...

It's different to others in that I want to keep away from my life story; instead I wish to create reviews on products or services that I use. These products will come from a range of sources. I hope to get one done a week, and if that fails then we'll aim for fortnightly.

Of course there will be times when you disagree with my evaluations or opinions; so keep that in mind they are MY evaluations and opinions. If you disagree feel free to leave a comment as long as it sticks to the topic. If you continually disagree, don't come, you obviously don't belong. If you just want to write something spastic/stupid to someone, do what I do, visit Matt at http://xd-matt.blogspot.com and leave some annoying comment, he'll thank you for it (but kill me).

I feel like I'm writing the T&C's for entry, and I probably am... Oh well... Like I said before, if you don't like it don't bother coming, you can't please everybody...

On a brighter note... welcome again to my blog/review page.

EDIT: Expect something soon... I have notes... I have compassion... I don't have time... Maybe Monday night.

EDIT EDIT: Logically, I've been working hard for the last hour to get the site the way I want. Now it's blue rather than green (because blue is the best) and I now have the ability to post videos if I so desire. Might occasionally post something I find amusing.