

What Apple Just Did: What if music had tools restrictions and a review process? - bensummers
http://blog.joa-ebert.com/2010/04/09/what-apple-just-did/

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microcentury
A few years ago I worked as a journalist, and one of the major events at the
time was news photographers hating the fact that newspapers were sending out
normal reporters with DSLRs and telling them to take 200+ shots. Most of the
time, they took a usable photograph. The pro news photographers said, 'But you
can't expect an untrained person to take good photographs!' And they insisted
that the papers stop sending out camera-armed news reporters.

The thing with that, though, was that if you John Random Reporter couldn't
take pictures of near-equivalent quality to a John Pro Photographer, the
papers would stop doing it. But they didn't. If the photographers' point was
true, they had nothing to worry about. But they knew they did indeed have
something to worry about. The truth was that the amateurs could come close
enough to equalling the pros that the trade off versus cost savings was worth
it.

There is a parallel here with closed versus open systems. We howl, 'You can't
do that!! Closed systems canot possibly equal the innovation and development
of open!!' And if that's the case, we have nothing to worry about. Quite
possibly, though, that is not the case. The insistence on closed that seems so
anathema to much of the history of software development may in fact be a good
thing for the end user, and our howls of outrage nothing more than being
called on something that is no longer true.

That sense of threat would at least explain the inordinate number of HN
stories on this topic.

~~~
Legion
The problem with this is that the erosion of quality is not necessarily
noticed immediately, but the slow increase of dissatisfaction builds until
people finally reach the quitting point.

There's many instances of media where I look at older versions of the product
and think, "man, why is this quality absent from their product today?". I
didn't consciously notice it when the snowball was still near the top of the
mountain. But eventually the snowball got big enough for me to bail.

------
rfrey
Interesting perspective because it equates devs with musicians, which while
not an intuitive comparison might be increasingly accurate.

If it is, the future is not promising. Musicians have been getting screwed for
years by record labels. They put up with it because their primary goal was to
create, and find an audience. Being treated like a commodity by the record
labels was aggravating and dehumanizing but didn't stop either music
production or the practices of the labels.

Maybe all of us 'rockstar' developers should be careful what we wish for.

~~~
seertaak
Ah, but musicians got screwed by Apple, too! (I might add that the record
label bogeyman is clearly in no danger of disappearing from the collective
consciousness of Hacker News.)

Here's the thing: Apple is a platform company, and in essence, it's been in
the business of screwing those that are hostage to its platform at least since
its renaissance. Apple doesn't want those in its ecosystem to make much money,
because it wants you to give _it_ your money.

That's why it said "Rip. Mix. Burn." with respect to musicians' work back in
2001 (to much cheering and adulation from developers): they were quite happy
for you to get all your music for free (at the expense of the artists and
labels), and instead allocate your disposable income to their hardware
devices. When they opened iTunes, they added insult to injury by not allowing
musicians to control how their music gets packaged and priced. I don't
remember anyone complaining about the Apple's hard-driving tactics then.

And lo, now they're treating third-party developers with the same contempt
they previously reserved for musicians -- and suddenly the Hacker Community is
up in arms. Plus ca change...

> Maybe all of us 'rockstar' developers should be careful what we wish for.

It's what you wished for ten years ago that put you in the quandary you now
find yourselves in. Apple's stranglehold on music is what gave it the
wherewithal to extend into other areas.

Hacker News, you've just discovered what it feels like when someone's got you
by the balls.

------
axod
Boring. It's actually a pretty good analogy though.

    
    
      Musician: hai! I play bongo music. Can I be signed to your label?
    
      Label: uh no, we're a rock label. You must use much guitars.
    
      Musician: This is outrageous! I must get the online world
                to feel outrage and boycot you.
    

Can we stop all the whining and reactionary moral outrage on hackernews yet?
Please? :(

If you don't like it, go make your own iPhone/iPad instead of incessantly
whining like some teenager that isn't allowed out.

~~~
yesimahuman
Or stop buying Apple products. That's the only way to fight back.

~~~
albemuth
The thing is, a lot of people see a huge potential in this platform, and
they're sure it could be ten times better if only Apple decided to be a bit
less closed.

~~~
sunchild
It's not your platform. You don't get to decide. How can I make this more
clear to you? Why do I even need to explain this?

------
armandososa
Anyway, developers have an advantage that musicians don't

Musician: You know what? I'm done with you! I'm out! I'm going to pull my
music out of your stinky store.

Apple: No, you won't. We have an agreement with your media overlords (cof,
cof) I mean, your record label.

~~~
DannoHung
Well, they can do what Van Morrison did when he wanted to get out of a bad
contract.

~~~
wallflower
Or The Artist Formally Known as Prince

My point here is good developers will have options - maybe not ones they like

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zacharypinter
That's a good analogy. Seems useful for explaining the developer moral outrage
to non-developers.

~~~
lr
This is a horrible analogy. When you produce music it doesn't have to hook
into an external API. Can badly produced music crash a device (aside from the
user's ears)? No.

~~~
wvenable
No, it is a great analogy. Think of it this way, the record labels do what
Apple does with it's review process -- ensure that 'quality' music is produced
and distributed to listeners. But record labels do not limit what instruments
can be used to produce that music.

If Apple allows C, and they do, the choice of tool doesn't affect whether or
not the device will crash.

------
doron
One Platform to rule them all, One Language to bind them.one app store to
bring them all, and in the darkness bind them

------
maxharris
The analogy is broken. Humans don't interact with music in the same
interactive way that they do with software. Music does not execute on your
computer (except for DRM stuff, perhaps).

I don't think you'll ever hear someone say, "This music is full of bugs! It
keeps crashing on me."

~~~
wvenable
The analogy isn't broken because record labels and Apple both have a "review
process". But record labels don't limit what instruments you can use. What
Apple has done will not reduce the number of bugs or prevent crashing.

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smackfu
Analogies are useless for debate, no matter how good they are. Anyone who
doesn't agree just provides a different analogy that supports their point
better, and then the argument shifts to arguing which analogy is better!

~~~
aristus
They can be helpful, if only by exposing the real meat of a debate by looking
at the issues though different lenses.

~~~
smackfu
Very true. They are good as a tool to make a persuasive argument to a neutral
audience, but they don't hold up very well to an antagonistic audience.

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tumult
Wrong analogy. It's more like a distributer (not label) telling its affiliates
that for their CDs to be shipped, the songs on them must now have been
originally written only in Mixolydian mode in the key of G with a 4/4 time
signature. Anything else is not allowed, especially something that doesn't
even use western musical scales or tuning.

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RyanMcGreal
Server seems to be down:

[http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://blog.joa-
ebert.com...](http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://blog.joa-
ebert.com/2010/04/09/what-apple-just-did/)

 _Edit_ \- server's back up again.

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Herring
What apps are worth buying anyway? I spent the first day with my ipad looking
for an app that reads pdf for christsake. The entire platform seems to be just
big media & games.

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mrtron
Excellent point. As much as I would want to ban auto-tune, it just isn't the
right thing to do.

Apple: Stop banning auto-tune.

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AndrejM
The funny thing is, music has tools restrictions and a review process.

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napierzaza
I'm not going to read this. Music is more easily compatible than software.

~~~
S_A_P
apparently you have not been listening to todays autotuned pop music :P

