What will the iPad do for musicians?

[robogone]

make them look like midgets with iphones?

[herodotus]

And yes, most of Flash use on the web is video. A big part of that is porn. I don't have any numbers but that must be available somewhere.

I don't know anything about 'most', but the number of music sites that use Flash based players is certainly significant.

LastFM, MySpace, Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Soundclick...In fact, I can't think of a site to listen to music that doesn't use Flash. Are there any?

I myself don't like Flash all that much, but not supporting it just seems....weird. I might even call it arrogant were it not for Steve Job's well known penchant for self-effacement.

[debra1rlo]

perhaps we are asking the wrong question here

[headquest]

A pity - the iPad could have been ideal in the bedroom

I've got this feeling we may see Flash on it after all in some future incarnation. An other reason not to jump on the (beta tester) early adopter bandwagon.

Yes, maybe this is just Steve Jobs playing hardball with Adobe. I'm sure he can't really want to fall out with them, given how ubiquitous their software is - and how important for many Mac users in the creative industries.

[eduardo_b]

And yes, most of Flash use on the web is video. A big part of that is porn. I don't have any numbers but that must be available somewhere.

I don't know anything about 'most', but the number of music sites that use Flash based players is certainly significant.

LastFM, MySpace, Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Soundclick...In fact, I can't think of a site to listen to music that doesn't use Flash. Are there any?

I myself don't like Flash all that much, but not supporting it just seems....weird. I might even call it arrogant were it not for Steve Job's well known penchant for self-effacement.

The problem for users is that whenever Apple chooses to leave features out that are commonly used, they are not doing customers any favors. Doesn't mean these customers won't continue to buy Apple products. I think Apple takes this for granted.

[spaceman]

A pity - the iPad could have been ideal in the bedroom

I've got this feeling we may see Flash on it after all in some future incarnation. An other reason not to jump on the (beta tester) early adopter bandwagon.

Yes, maybe this is just Steve Jobs playing hardball with Adobe. I'm sure he can't really want to fall out with them, given how ubiquitous their software is - and how important for many Mac users in the creative industries.

Well, according to him it's because of buggy behaviour and performance. If that's the case then maybe Adobe can sort it out soon. Some of their communication seems to indicate that they are making changes on performance.

If there is an other reason of course...
maybe we'll find out one day

[eduardo_b]

perhaps we are asking the wrong question here

No, we're asking the right question.

[zerocrossing]

And yes, most of Flash use on the web is video. A big part of that is porn. I don't have any numbers but that must be available somewhere.

I don't know anything about 'most', but the number of music sites that use Flash based players is certainly significant.

LastFM, MySpace, Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Soundclick...In fact, I can't think of a site to listen to music that doesn't use Flash. Are there any?

I myself don't like Flash all that much, but not supporting it just seems....weird. I might even call it arrogant were it not for Steve Job's well known penchant for self-effacement.

Pandora's got an app. Myspace too... though I don't know if it streams music.

http://www.macworld.com/appguide/articl ... cle=139572

Anyway, not having Flash on my phone, no big deal, but not having it on the iPad... will be a lot worse. Will Steve keep it off his browser to funnel people to the app store for games? Perhaps, but it'll hurt more than it'll help I think. On the other hand, the tail may end up wagging the dog and web developers may shy away from using Flash just to reach people with iPads.

[brambos]

A pity - the iPad could have been ideal in the bedroom

I've got this feeling we may see Flash on it after all in some future incarnation. An other reason not to jump on the (beta tester) early adopter bandwagon.

Yes, maybe this is just Steve Jobs playing hardball with Adobe. I'm sure he can't really want to fall out with them, given how ubiquitous their software is - and how important for many Mac users in the creative industries.

Well, according to him it's because of buggy behaviour and performance.

Could be, but more likely it is because they don't want to be at the mercy of Adobe for anything. Once they've made themselves dependent on Adobe's support for the platform, they'll have to negociate about everything. Believe me, I know from professional experience that Adobe's B2B [licensing] terms are also quite brutal.

As a consumer, I don't really care. The only Flash I come across besides Youtube is in annoying banner ads and badly designed sites. I say good riddance.

[eduardo_b]

...more likely it is because they don't want to be at the mercy of Adobe for anything.

Not a reason. Like it or not, Flash is a standard now and so widely used that there are no excuses for not including support for it on the iPad. It's not like Apple isn't making money by the lorry load.

[spaceman]

It's not like Apple isn't making money by the lorry load.

You may be missing something fundamental about business.

[robogone]

It's not like Apple isn't making money by the lorry load.

You may be missing something fundamental.

Fixed that for you.

[eduardo_b]

It's not like Apple isn't making money by the lorry load.

You may be missing something fundamental about business.

I'm quite well-versed regarding business, and the numbers are what they are for the fourth quarter of 2009 (and every quarter last year):

"Apple reported revenue of $9.2 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 earnings per share (EPS), handily beating consensus estimates with the most profitable quarter ever."

They can easily afford to pay Adobe.

[eduardo_b]

It's not like Apple isn't making money by the lorry load.

You may be missing something fundamental.

Fixed that for you.

Try it again.

[robogone]

It's not like Apple isn't making money by the lorry load.

You may be missing something fundamental.

Fixed that for you.

Try it again.

Sure

You may be missing something fundamental.