What will the iPad do for musicians?

[unpeople]

...and [e-books] would need to be in the Apple format to work with their reader.

Not so. Apple uses the open .epub format.

[BERFAB]

I'm one of the million or so folks who got a Kindle this holiday season. Love it. Read everything on it, including my local newspaper which I used to subscribe to. Kindle sub=$10/month compared to home delivery paper=$40/month. The thing will pay for itself in a couple of months.

Meantime, you are "limited" to the Amazon book list, which is just about everything ever published. Some expired copyright works are free, new issues are typically 50% of street price for the physical book.

Reading it is very easy on the eyes because of the "e-ink" technology.

So what? Why am I talking about the Kindle? Well, the back-lit LED display of the iPad has the same harsh problems that extended reading on a regular screen will give you. The overall size of the iPad will, I think, be problematic to some as well.

The Kindle has FREE online access, meaning content delivery is easy and fast. IPad will have the usual monthly access charges that you get with the iPhone.

If the experience is for books/magazines and periodicals, the Kindle really solves a lot of problems and makes it a nice easy experience.

But the IPad is a multimedia machine. Very glossy, and much more expensive, not just for upfront, but for monthly fees.

The one thing I just don't get about the apple products though, is why they refuse to allow the use of Flash. Seems to me that with Flash, the iPhone would be a perfect multimedia experience.

Is there an engineer out there that knows the answer to this?

[whyterabbyt]

Historically, that's not what actually happened. Steve Jobs was not "at the helm when there was a nosedive in the industry." He was ousted in 1985, at a time when both Apple and the computer industry at large were booming

At least one trade newspapers says differently. 1200 layoffs is booming?

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ai8E ... er&f=false

[UltraJv]

I'm one of the million or so folks who got a Kindle this holiday season. Love it. Read everything on it, including my local newspaper which I used to subscribe to. Kindle sub=$10/month compared to home delivery paper=$40/month. The thing will pay for itself in a couple of months.

Meantime, you are "limited" to the Amazon book list, which is just about everything ever published. Some expired copyright works are free, new issues are typically 50% of street price for the physical book.

Reading it is very easy on the eyes because of the "e-ink" technology.

So what? Why am I talking about the Kindle? Well, the back-lit LED display of the iPad has the same harsh problems that extended reading on a regular screen will give you. The overall size of the iPad will, I think, be problematic to some as well.

The Kindle has FREE online access, meaning content delivery is easy and fast. IPad will have the usual monthly access charges that you get with the iPhone.

If the experience is for books/magazines and periodicals, the Kindle really solves a lot of problems and makes it a nice easy experience.

But the IPad is a multimedia machine. Very glossy, and much more expensive, not just for upfront, but for monthly fees.

The one thing I just don't get about the apple products though, is why they refuse to allow the use of Flash. Seems to me that with Flash, the iPhone would be a perfect multimedia experience.

Is there an engineer out there that knows the answer to this?

Apple blame Flash for system crashes, poor security and for being sluggish. Its absent on iphone also. A web browser without that - no wonder they need their own apps! I bet Flash and Java will be hacked back in by a jailbreak update soon after release. They did this with iphone. Kinda odd while I think about this - Java has 1000s of apps too (on most mobiles) and no need for a tie in portal.

[jones-y]

But its a system, the apps can't offer interfacing that the system itself doesn't support.

That may or may not be true depending on the specific case of 'interfacing'. Assuming that 'interfacing' even means what spaceman was talking about when he said 'interface and design', which I actually doubt.

So either way it all goes back to the entire system as a whole.

No, I disagree. Its not the either/or proposition you present.

Fair enough... I'm just saying that iphone apps don't have drop-down menus because the iphone sdk doesn't support them (or alternately, iphone apps offer multitouch because the iphone does...). If I'm arguing something other than what you guys were talking about then forgive me.

Yes that conclusion. We will have to wait and see what the market says, but as Jobs stated yesterday, Apple is, by income, the largest portable electronics company.

Apple's total income or their income just for portable electronics?

Jobs didn't specify (and I believe he used the phrase 'by sales' rather than 'by income'), but I would assume the latter. Anyway, you've proven you can search Google...

Its hard to argue against results, and they are clearly winning at this point.

Winning what, exactly? Something that stops other manufacturer's from competing in the same product space? Why, then, is there so much new competition in the 'smartphone' market?

Come on whyterabbyt. Don't obfuscate my statement. You said:

"i think a more open platform ... will be a stronger bet over that same timescale."

Stronger bet to do what? Win (as in more sales, more marketshare...), maybe? My response was that Apple is winning (more sales, more marketshare) right now, and has been for a few years, so to think that others will pass them by is clearly ignoring what has happened and what is happening. Maybe if there was some sort of rising consumer backlash against the closed nature of their products... But there isn't. Nor is there any other indicator that any other system/service/product "will be a stronger bet" over any timescale that includes the next 2-3 years... Remember, the Zune was supposed to smash the ipod...

Not saying it can't happen in the future... I'm saying I don't see the indicators that this is a likely possibility that you presumably see.

To say that some other system/method offers the most likely path to future success (I hope I'm not mis-paraphrasing you) is IMO willfully ignoring past and present market trends.

I'm not ignoring anything. There was no iPod-with-touchscreen market trend two or three years ago. There wasnt a smartphone market. Would you be using that line if I'd said the iPod or iPhone might take off despite the lack of those prior trends?

There was most definitely a market two or three years ago for both of those devices. In fact, I owned some of the products generated by that market, as long as seven years ago. I had a palm, I had a windows mobile phone; along with several other portable handheld devices that the iphone obliterated...

Or is the ipod touch/iphone 'technically' its own market for some strange reason??? If you'd said that the iphone would take off back then I'd have agreed with you, precisely because of prior/current (at that time) market trends, along with apple's knack for interface design (which is also based on a study of the past and present).

[ouroboros]

I don't have a horse in this race but;

I'm one of the million or so folks who got a Kindle this holiday season. Love it. Read everything on it, including my local newspaper which I used to subscribe to. Kindle sub=$10/month compared to home delivery paper=$40/month. The thing will pay for itself in a couple of months.

That's an expensive paper! I can get the LA Times delivered for 12$/mo - and that's the undiscounted price.

Do your eyes strain after reading the kind for an hour or so?

[spaceman]

I can play football, I can do maths, I can cook and I can recognise a cold.. but that doesn't make me a professional football playing maths professor with an MD and a three Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair.

I'm guessing you've never actually used an iPhone?

A serious question, not trying to start an argument.

I totally agree with you, hence my 'Granted the iPad can do it a lot better I would bet (hope)' bit.

I wasnt saying I think the iPad is crap, just that theres been the kind of hype that you would expect if a cave man had just invented fire and instead we're given something that pretty much already exists but just a little bit bigger.

and Yeah i have used an iPhone, its great, it looks and works beautifully

though no word of a lie my mates one frozze up and died in the pub last night, thus ending the apples don't crash myth

My main irritation about all this is not Apple who are just bringing out a new product but the public and tech pundits who get so excited about this before knowing any facts, this really should have been a 'Ow look at what we've just made' followed by a 'yeah that's quite nice' not international news in pretty much every paper, website and tv station.

I think the legacy of the iPad will be a subtle one.

Even though the iPhone is a great tool for checking stuff online on the go (if you're not an O2 customer, that is.. 3G is shit at best, horrible at worst, or when you're on the O2 network.. erm, which is worst) but there's no way you're going to use it to write documents or spreadsheets on the go, let alone read books or newspapers on it. It's ok for a few minutes but then it becomes tedious and strenuous.

You could say one could get a netbook instead, but they are more cumbersome, heavier, have crap battery life most of the time and you need 3G though other means to do anything when on the move.. and don't even get me started on the crappy small touch pads and the crappy version of Windows they run (or Linux).

Something like the iPad falls in between. It's lighter, it's got a great interface, 3G, compass,.. it's a lot more portable and easier to 'whip out' than a Netbook and actually usable for proper browsing. And anyone familiar with the iPhone will know that it will be very practical as well.

I think it will get most of its use by people working on the go. Contractors, people visiting clients, people who want to be able to work on a document anywhere without the hassle of a netbook or laptop.

I know, the differences look small, but in practice they add up to a big difference in usability. I mean really, who wants to sit on a train, switch on his netbook, wait for Windows to start up (or hope it comes out of its sleep.. if the battery hasn't drained by then), connect your 3G dongle, start working. Train arrives at destination 20 minutes later, pack everything up again, switch of the netbook or put it to sleep, put away the dongle.. and then do all of that again 15 minutes later at the client or in the park or wherever.

Of course, even better would be to have an open system, not a closed one.. and multi-tasking. But as whyterabbyt mentioned, I'm sure there will be Android machine in the future doing the same thing, and machines that do a lot more too.

[whyterabbyt]

Stronger bet to do what? Win (as in more sales, more marketshare...), maybe?

erm, stronger bet for musicians. y'know as a controller or whatever. like the thread's about.

go argue about marketshare and shite with someone else.

[generalstargazer]

Kaoss Pad > ipad
PC > Mac
Android > iphone
Zune > ipod
Windows 7 > Snow Leopard

[UltraJv]

I can play football, I can do maths, I can cook and I can recognise a cold.. but that doesn't make me a professional football playing maths professor with an MD and a three Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair.

I'm guessing you've never actually used an iPhone?

A serious question, not trying to start an argument.

I totally agree with you, hence my 'Granted the iPad can do it a lot better I would bet (hope)' bit.

I wasnt saying I think the iPad is crap, just that theres been the kind of hype that you would expect if a cave man had just invented fire and instead we're given something that pretty much already exists but just a little bit bigger.

and Yeah i have used an iPhone, its great, it looks and works beautifully

though no word of a lie my mates one frozze up and died in the pub last night, thus ending the apples don't crash myth

My main irritation about all this is not Apple who are just bringing out a new product but the public and tech pundits who get so excited about this before knowing any facts, this really should have been a 'Ow look at what we've just made' followed by a 'yeah that's quite nice' not international news in pretty much every paper, website and tv station.

I think the legacy of the iPad will be a subtle one.

Even though the iPhone is a great tool for checking stuff online on the go (if you're not an O2 customer, that is.. 3G is shit at best, horrible at worst, or when you're on the O2 network.. erm, which is worst) but there's no way you're going to use it to write documents or spreadsheets on the go, let alone read books or newspapers on it. It's ok for a few minutes but then it becomes tedious and strenuous.

You could say one could get a netbook instead, but they are more cumbersome, heavier, have crap battery life most of the time and you need 3G though other means to do anything when on the move.. and don't even get me started on the crappy small touch pads and the crappy version of Windows they run (or Linux).

Something like the iPad falls in between. It's lighter, it's got a great interface, 3G, compass,.. it's a lot more portable and easier to 'whip out' than a Netbook and actually usable for proper browsing. And anyone familiar with the iPhone will know that it will be very practical as well.

I think it will get most of its use by people working on the go. Contractors, people visiting clients, people who want to be able to work on a document anywhere without the hassle of a netbook or laptop.

I know, the differences look small, but in practice they add up to a big difference in usability. I mean really, who wants to sit on a train, switch on his netbook, wait for Windows to start up (or hope it comes out of its sleep.. if the battery hasn't drained by then), connect your 3G dongle, start working. Train arrives at destination 20 minutes later, pack everything up again, switch of the netbook or put it to sleep, put away the dongle.. and then do all of that again 15 minutes later at the client or in the park or wherever.

Of course, even better would be to have an open system, not a closed one.. and multi-tasking. But as whyterabbyt mentioned, I'm sure there will be Android machine in the future doing the same thing, and machines that do a lot more too.

Im doubtful it will find widespread use in the field. You need a proper keyboard for that. Prodding at the screen keyboard while seeing only half a document dosnt cut it. Tablets were out years ago and failed due to lack of decent keyboard. Some still survive but also have a keyboard :

http://www.dell.com/tablet

[spaceman]

iPat myCat

[jones-y]

Stronger bet to do what? Win (as in more sales, more marketshare...), maybe?

erm, stronger bet for musicians. y'know as a controller or whatever. like the thread's about.

go argue about marketshare and shite with someone else.

Aha! So in this context what the fook does openness have to do with anything? A more open system is a stronger bet to be a better MIDI/OSC controller??? Huh?

The SDK is open to anyone who wants it... What more openness do musicians (and devs who cater them) need? Devs are gonna flock to the system that gives them the highest potential customer base... Not the only concern of course, but a huge one for any company that wishes to turn a profit... App store = profitable. You gotta be kidding me...

Marketshare is very relevant, and the weak point of your argument. Nice try... You can't just back out of the marketshare/industry discussion all of a sudden...

And by the way, My (and many others')intent with both my old palm and windows mobile devices was to make music on the go. So, relevant again...

[unpeople]

1200 layoffs is booming?

Perhaps not, but a short-term slump, which your article noted still resulted in a 23% growth in the industry, isn't a "nosedive," either. And as I pointed out, too, Steve Jobs wasn't "at the helm" of Apple at the time. John Sculley was.

[spaceman]

Im doubtful it will find widespread use in the field. You need a proper keyboard for that. Prodding at the screen keyboard while seeing only half a document dosnt cut it. Tablets were out years ago and failed due to lack of decent keyboard. Some still survive but also have a keyboard :

http://www.dell.com/tablet

That's what they said about the iPhone (and other phones with onscreen keyboards) but look how that one flew of.

In practice, it won't be that bad at all and I think it will fall into a range where there is balance between compromise, usability and functionality

[UltraJv]

Im doubtful it will find widespread use in the field. You need a proper keyboard for that. Prodding at the screen keyboard while seeing only half a document dosnt cut it. Tablets were out years ago and failed due to lack of decent keyboard. Some still survive but also have a keyboard :

http://www.dell.com/tablet

That's what they said about the iPhone (and other phones with onscreen keyboards) but look how that one flew of.

In practice, it won't be that bad at all and I think it will fall into a range where there is balance between compromise, usability and functionality

Or you could buy the Dell Tablet and get it all, multi touch, multi tasking, keyboard and it will run standard apps...