Battlestar Galacticaless
It's my fault really. I didn't do any research. When iTunes asked if I wanted to upgrade to iTunes 7 I clicked Yes. Afterall the previous updates were all fairly minimal and had actually improved the experience. Then I opened the new iTunes, very slowly the new iTunes opened. It takes over the whole computer, I can't do anything else with iTunes open, not even write this blog entry. Sure there's lots of pretty colors, that's nice. Then I plugged in my iPod. Things were totally different, there's an interface, it knows my iPod's serial number it knows my iPod is green. But I can no longer see what's on my iPod. I don't manage my play lists very well and some of them are random so if I want to know if a song's on my iPod I used to just click the little iPod button. But now, now I would have to check each of my playlists to see if the song I want is on one and will be loaded onto the iPod. Usually I don't bother and just don't listen to a song if it doesn't happen to be already in a playlist. Basically I have no idea what's on my iPod.
Tonight, tonight I was all set to watch Battlestar Galactica which I'd heard was a good show and so downloaded the free The Story So Far 44 minute episode from iTunes. The new iTunes 7 claims I can watch TV shows. I successfully hooked the laptop up to the big TV antcipating being able to watch like a real TV show. I opened iTunes, there was my downloaded show ready to be watched. I clicked play. It played in a one inch by one inch window in the bottom left of the iTunes window. There is no full screen option. I had to call a friend and admit that iTunes had defeated me. He said double click it. I did and popped up bigger but still not full screen, I right click ed and checked the Fit to Screen option, no difference my vivid background was still visible around the edges. Press command 3 my friend said, I don't have command, I could press control 3 but somehow it's not the same thing. Good luck my friend said. Fine I thought I'll just watch it with the background showing through. But the video wouldn't play. I pressed play and nothing. I spent the 5 minutes it takes to shut down iTunes and restart it willing myself to believe this would work. I tried again, still it plays small in the tiny tiny window, but in a bigger window nothing. It's not even running the disk it's not even trying. Why doesn't it just play in Quicktime? I downloaded the entire second Star Wars movie and watched it full screen on my Windows 98 computer, sure the resolution was somewhat low, but that was 4 years ago things are better now. Or are they?
I wouldn't mind really if Apple had said iTunes 7 - for Apple users with brand new computers only. And to be fair the fine print does say 2GHz processor required for video. But really who reads that stuff, and who has a 2Ghz processor? It's not something a person needs. And why don't they just make the videos run through Quicktime since you are forced to download it with iTunes? What's the point of Quicktime if you're not using it for what it's designed to do? Apple advertised TV shows, watchable TV shows I presume, and they didn't deliver. Maybe I'm old, maybe I'm just looking for a little simplicity but I would not buy an iPod again, it's too confusing and frustrating. There must be something better.
So I am left Battlestar Galacticaless and you are left with an unbearably long post which could have been much longer if I wasn't tired of typing. For you've only heard half the story. The moral of this tale? Do your research.
If you now need something to calm your nerves go read Alex Belth's post on fall baseball. There's nothing like a little eloquence to make everything alright again.
Tonight, tonight I was all set to watch Battlestar Galactica which I'd heard was a good show and so downloaded the free The Story So Far 44 minute episode from iTunes. The new iTunes 7 claims I can watch TV shows. I successfully hooked the laptop up to the big TV antcipating being able to watch like a real TV show. I opened iTunes, there was my downloaded show ready to be watched. I clicked play. It played in a one inch by one inch window in the bottom left of the iTunes window. There is no full screen option. I had to call a friend and admit that iTunes had defeated me. He said double click it. I did and popped up bigger but still not full screen, I right click ed and checked the Fit to Screen option, no difference my vivid background was still visible around the edges. Press command 3 my friend said, I don't have command, I could press control 3 but somehow it's not the same thing. Good luck my friend said. Fine I thought I'll just watch it with the background showing through. But the video wouldn't play. I pressed play and nothing. I spent the 5 minutes it takes to shut down iTunes and restart it willing myself to believe this would work. I tried again, still it plays small in the tiny tiny window, but in a bigger window nothing. It's not even running the disk it's not even trying. Why doesn't it just play in Quicktime? I downloaded the entire second Star Wars movie and watched it full screen on my Windows 98 computer, sure the resolution was somewhat low, but that was 4 years ago things are better now. Or are they?
I wouldn't mind really if Apple had said iTunes 7 - for Apple users with brand new computers only. And to be fair the fine print does say 2GHz processor required for video. But really who reads that stuff, and who has a 2Ghz processor? It's not something a person needs. And why don't they just make the videos run through Quicktime since you are forced to download it with iTunes? What's the point of Quicktime if you're not using it for what it's designed to do? Apple advertised TV shows, watchable TV shows I presume, and they didn't deliver. Maybe I'm old, maybe I'm just looking for a little simplicity but I would not buy an iPod again, it's too confusing and frustrating. There must be something better.
So I am left Battlestar Galacticaless and you are left with an unbearably long post which could have been much longer if I wasn't tired of typing. For you've only heard half the story. The moral of this tale? Do your research.
If you now need something to calm your nerves go read Alex Belth's post on fall baseball. There's nothing like a little eloquence to make everything alright again.
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