What will the iPad do for musicians?

[spaceman]

You would have to be a complete moron to buy this before it has reached its 3rd generation. In two years time it will be twice as fast, will possibly do multi-tasking and will have more physical functionality (camera etc)

[whyterabbyt]

You would have to be a complete moron to buy this before it has reached its 3rd generation. In two years time it will be twice as fast, will possibly do multi-tasking and will have more physical functionality (camera etc)

In two years Acer will have them, running Android, at $250.

[spaceman]

You would have to be a complete moron to buy this before it has reached its 3rd generation. In two years time it will be twice as fast, will possibly do multi-tasking and will have more physical functionality (camera etc)

In two years Acer will have them, running Android, at $250.

A pity they can't do interfaces and design. Not very well, anyway.

I'm no fanboy, but I can compare my iPhone to the Blackberry, Sony Ericsson and Nokias and they all come out very pale looking against the iPhone, in my opinion, of course. And I'm not talking flashy icons or smooth metal curves , but pure functionality.

No doubt Acer and others can copy the technology. I just hope they can match the functionality.

[D N A]

Grab Remote Zero SL (first edition) and you have beautiful" multi touch" controller with great LEDs. Do some custom mapping and voila.

Honestly, I'm not an Apple fan. Sure, I respect their computers but everything else branded as Apple just reminds me ... communism. Ridiculously "closed" toy created by developer who is clearly obsessed about "controlling" everything (both software and hardware part).

[ericj23]

You would have to be a complete moron to buy this before it has reached its 3rd generation. In two years time it will be twice as fast, will possibly do multi-tasking and will have more physical functionality (camera etc)

In two years Acer will have them, running Android, at $250.

A pity they can't do interfaces and design. Not very well, anyway.

I'm no fanboy, but I can compare my iPhone to the Blackberry, Sony Ericsson and Nokias and they all come out very pale looking against the iPhone, in my opinion, of course. And I'm not talking flashy icons or smooth metal curves , but pure functionality.

No doubt Acer and others can copy the technology. I just hope they can match the functionality.

Odd I find Apple stuff to be all front and no functionality - don't get me wrong that is totally fine. The iphone is a great product

Just ditched an iphone for nokia n900 though - I now have the ability to use my phone as memory stick (which is very useful in my work), can bluetooth files or listen in stereo, have a flash plug-in so can listen to bbc radio, I can play my back up flac files and search for covers files using almost any search strings (have you seen some of the nonsense that itunes puts up as the covers for old CD's) and the sound quality is better. The picture is much the same with video (boom boom) and while the sat nav isnt as integrated as the iphone one and the lack of search in e-mails is annoying (and soon to be rectified) I would say that the iphone is less functional than the nokia - no appstore to speak of but who can find me any useful iphone apps - I never could!

[headquest]

Maybe it will fail, I don't know. But the reason this thing exists is to sell books, newspaper subscriptions. That's why they have the agreements with publishers. Combine that with web and simple personal computing (pics, music etc). Steve jobs is (apparently) quoted as saying its the most important thing apple have done. They want to reinvent the publishing industry.

[Rant]
That's the part that really concerns me. I want to be able to read just what I want to read, and not be limited to Apples approved reading list, based on their commercial partnerships. If I were to invest in an iPad it's likely I would want to be seen using it (okay, it's shallow, but who wouldn't?). So on the train I'll be there reading my ebooks on my iPad. And chances are none of those books will be, for example, a critical evaluation of the benefits of PCs vs. Macs

Of course that point can be taken much further. Will Apple be bothered to make deals with independant Christian publishers, Extreemist Moslem publishers, people like Shambalah who publish books on Buddhism, Taosim, etc... and how about independant political publications, human rights stuff, etc?

When Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press it wasn't a closed proprietary system which gave him personal control of what everyone read indefinitely. It was obviously a a great invention which he SHARED with the world, and which subsequently led to a period of religious upheaval and political revolution and emancipation across the world as ordinary folk were able to find out stuff for themselves. Steve Jobs may consider his iPad will "reinvent the publishing industry", but let's hope to goodness he fails with that notion, because the only stuff you'll be able to read on a iPad is the stuff Steve Jobs approves of and sells via the Apple bookstore.

Personally I believe in freedom of speech, freedom of information, and freedom of choice. All stuff which Apple believed in back in the 1980s, ... but how true it is that "money corrupts".

Whenever I switch computer I revisit the iMac as a potential purchase, and I have a lot of respect for Apple's past acheivements - and for many of its products. But in this instance I think they have placed their own commercial goal of market domination so far ahead of ordinary users interests that the result is quite frankly bloody dangerous. I hope to goodness that stuff like the Vaio tablet/etc will smash Apple's effort into the ground. What most people probably want, if they think about it, is the same sort of freedoms that I want. Seriously - vote with your wallets on this one.
[/Rant]

[Hunter]

Do these things have phone functionality too? I just have this image in my head of someone using it like a twatPhone and shouting into it in starbucks, or spending 23 minutes writing a text, again in starbucks. But its funny because its so big. Ahhhh.

[spaceman]

Odd that you make the nokia comparison, as i watched the 5 minute clip of steve jobs talking about the iPad there was not one thing he mentioned that my current phone cant do.

Granted the iPad can do it a lot better I would bet (hope) and surfing the web on a phone is painful but my point is the iPad is nothing really new its just bigger and shiny.

Had any other company brought this out i doubt there would be so much talk, Apple really do have the best PR in the world.

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.

[mckenic]

Well I want one for a controller (obviously) but I have to agree on the books thing - I want to read what I want to read, not whats approved. Good point!

As for phone - Id imagine like the iPhones headset with mic built in... wont be getting the phone version me!

[whyterabbyt]

A pity they can't do interfaces and design. Not very well, anyway.

isnt it all about the 'apps' though? surely they're all third-party anyway. i think a more open platform (and that includes windows, for the purpose of this situation btw), which doesnt have the known (and accumulating) drawbacks of the current apps store, will be a stronger bet over that same timescale.

[jones-y]

[Rant]
That's the part that really concerns me. I want to be able to read just what I want to read, and not be limited to Apples approved reading list, based on their commercial partnerships. If I were to invest in an iPad it's likely I would want to be seen using it (okay, it's shallow, but who wouldn't?). So on the train I'll be there reading my ebooks on my iPad. And chances are none of those books will be, for example, a critical evaluation of the benefits of PCs vs. Macs

As if that's any different from the current status quo. You get easy acces to the product the 'machine' (the corporate machine, that is) wants you to get. Anything outside of that is for you to search out and consume.

And at any rate, there is a built in web browser... and filesharing... so you have access to whatever you want to read. You can load in all the Noam Chomsky PDFs you want... The same way you can put music that's not available in itunes into your ipod...

I think they have placed their own commercial goal of market domination so far ahead of ordinary users interests

And who in the major business world hasn't? You're shooting at the underpinnings of capitalism... Which is fine by me, I don't really care for the system either, but please don't for one second think you couldn't replace 'Apple' in your rant with hundreds of other corporations...

[jones-y]

A pity they can't do interfaces and design. Not very well, anyway.

isnt it all about the 'apps' though?

No, the apps are only one (major) part of the interface. The apps themselves benefit from the interface.

i think a more open platform (and that includes windows, for the purpose of this situation btw), which doesnt have the known (and accumulating) drawbacks of the current apps store, will be a stronger bet over that same timescale.

That may or may not be, and I can see arguments in both directions, but that is exactly what open competition promotes. Throw your ideas in the ring and see who wins...

I can't say that I like Apple's closed system of content approval, but if the market accepts it (which it undoubtedly has to this point) then I'm not sure how you are coming to that conclusion...

[vespers75]

Maybe it will fail, I don't know. But the reason this thing exists is to sell books, newspaper subscriptions. That's why they have the agreements with publishers. Combine that with web and simple personal computing (pics, music etc). Steve jobs is (apparently) quoted as saying its the most important thing apple have done. They want to reinvent the publishing industry.

That's the part that really concerns me. I want to be able to read just what I want to read, and not be limited to Apples approved reading list, based on their commercial partnerships. If I were to invest in an iPad it's likely I would want to be seen using it (okay, it's shallow, but who wouldn't?). So on the train I'll be there reading my ebooks on my iPad. And chances are none of those books will be, for example, a critical evaluation of the benefits of PCs vs. Macs

So its kind of a Kindle/iPhone hybrid. Wow, how revolutionary.

[debra1rlo]

Maybe it will fail, I don't know. But the reason this thing exists is to sell books, newspaper subscriptions. That's why they have the agreements with publishers. Combine that with web and simple personal computing (pics, music etc). Steve jobs is (apparently) quoted as saying its the most important thing apple have done. They want to reinvent the publishing industry.

That's the part that really concerns me. I want to be able to read just what I want to read, and not be limited to Apples approved reading list, based on their commercial partnerships. If I were to invest in an iPad it's likely I would want to be seen using it (okay, it's shallow, but who wouldn't?). So on the train I'll be there reading my ebooks on my iPad. And chances are none of those books will be, for example, a critical evaluation of the benefits of PCs vs. Macs

So its kind of a Kindle/iPhone hybrid. Wow, how revolutionary.

It's something for the technogeeks to smash on stage during performances so they can look cool. That would be revolutionary.

[whyterabbyt]

No, the apps are only one (major) part of the interface.

for the 'regular' consumer, yes. but since the thread relates to use for musicians, the 'interface and design' in question are more likely to be the remit of the app developer.

That may or may not be, and I can see arguments in both directions, but that is exactly what open competition promotes. Throw your ideas in the ring and see who wins...

I can't say that I like Apple's closed system of content approval, but if the market accepts it (which it undoubtedly has to this point) then I'm not sure how you are coming to that conclusion...

which conclusion? that the alternatives will become stronger? simply by observing that's what's happening with android phones and netbooks, that's how.