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Remember the U2 fiasco, when Apple decided to break into your computer and push their new album through iTunes? It seems like whenever Apple decides to take con

Remember the U2 fiasco, when Apple decided to break into your computer and push their new album through iTunes? It seems like whenever Apple decides to take control of your files, shit happens. Back in the day, I tried to use iTunes for a while when I bought my iPod. One of the first things that it asked me was to take control of my music, as it would reorganize it by itself. I agreed, but tested it first with a small sample. When I saw the mess it had done to the way I organized my music, specially with the files' names, I backed out of the auto-organize option and preached heavily against it to everyone I knew. I learned my lesson: never let whatever service control your files. And always, ALWAYS have backup. Remember: The answer to life, the universe and how many backups you should keep of your stuff is 42.

VonGuard 10y ago
Apple fundamentally does not understand software. A shame, as the software, really, was their original special sauce with the Mac 128k and beyond. Today, however, the company really doesn't understand how to make, maintain, or market software. It sees software as a way to spread their control of their hardware further into your life. It's going to be the death of Apple, mark my words.
- wvenable 10y ago
  Out of all the consumer electronics companies, Apple makes the best software. (Edit: This is not a compliment)
  - andrepd 10y ago
    I beg to differ.
  - NicoJuicy 10y ago
    Tell that to the author of this post
  - e40 10y ago
    It's pretty clear that iTunes is one of the worst pieces of software available on Mac or Windows. It certainly makes the top 10.
    - MaysonL 10y ago
      One of the worst widely distributed and used pieces of software. There are many, many, crappies, buggier, pieces of software out there; it's just that nobody has to use them.
  - gumby 10y ago
    Sad to say, the bar is so low that I agree -- they make the least terrible software of a consumer electronics company. It's how I've felt for decades as a Mac user: boy they suck, but they suck less than any of the (desktop) alternatives. (edit: I see you updated your post to clarify -- now this is redundant.)
  - mxfh 10y ago
    And it wants you to be a consumer badly. The case described here, is of a producer/artist loosing unique works due to a consumer software rationale, that assumes that all in the reach of the software is not yours and thereby at whims of the license givers/maintainers.
    - wvenable 10y ago
      Also Apple only begrudgingly supports Enterprise customers with their iDevices. It seems like it should be a huge opportunity for Microsoft to make a dent with their mobile platform but they decided to focus on the consumer market as well.
- clapinton 10y ago
  I worked with a Google engineer once and he offered me advice as I was considering buying a new phone, namely the HTC One: "Phone manufacturers know how to make hardware. Google knows how to make software. When you marry the two with both knowing their place in the world, things work out. When one tries to make what the other does, you get crappy stuff on top of your system. Stick to vanilla Android, man." Having said that, I see Apple more as a hardware manufacturer than as a software one. You don't hear Jony Ive and his seductive British accent passionately talking about iOS or OSX as many times as he does about new hardware. It doesn't see software in the same way it sees hardware. Still, I can't complain about Apple offering free OSX upgrades, including major ones, for quite some time now and also managing to maintain backward compatibility for a rather large span of devices (my early 2011 MBP still flows nicely with OSX El Cap).
  - xigency 10y ago
    You're lucky El Capitan works for you. Usually with iPhone/iPod Video upgrades, getting the latest version of iOS with an older device can significantly degrade performance. (And I'm sure it's the same with iPads.) At least on a Macbook you can reinstall the operating system, but an iPhone 4 is stuck like that.
    - Splendor 10y ago
      > Usually with iPhone/iPod Video upgrades, getting the latest version of iOS with an older device can significantly degrade performance. Is this claim based on anecdotal evidence or some other source?
      - atom-morgan 10y ago
        Anecdotal. But literally everyone I know says this including me.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - xigency 10y ago
flyinghamster 10y ago
Defense in depth is a good thing as well. In my case, the first line of defense would be ZFS snapshots on my homebuilt NAS. If malware scrozzles my NAS, a rollback to the last snapshot can be a quick way to fix it. Other systems get backed up to the NAS, and the NAS drives are periodically backed up onto a second ZFS pool that is normally kept physically offline.
pavedwalden 10y ago
While the U2 fiasco was a bad move, I don't think that "break into your computer" is a fair characterization of what they did. They added it to your available downloads and, depending on your sync settings, it was downloaded to devices. I'm not a huge fan of having my media managed by the companies I buy hardware from, but when I found a user's manual document on my Kindle I didn't consider it 'getting hacked' by them.
- clapinton 10y ago
  Fair enough. "break into your computer" does sound like getting hacked by them, which wasn't technically true, at least from what I know. Thanks for pointing that out.
- grey-area 10y ago
  A more appropriate analogy than a user guide would be finding Fifty Shades of Grey or Harry Potter on your kindle one day, because Amazon did a deal and decided you should have it, or perhaps having your copy of 1984 erased because of copyright violations. ++ungood. A user manual is expected on a new device, having media on your device added and deleted by a corporation on their whim is not so pleasant, mostly because it makes their view of your true relation to them apparent.
Hydraulix989 10y ago
I've survived for 20 years now with zero backups (across at least 10 mechanical hard drives, some of them Seagate) and have never lost data.
- grmarcil 10y ago
  “There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.”
- vertis 10y ago
  Look Mum(Mom) No Hands!
- Bud 10y ago
  I've survived for 48 years eating too much steak, drinking too much beer, and exercising too little. In your opinion, does this give us useful information that tells us that I should keep doing these things, because obviously, I will live forever?
thevibesman 10y ago
> Remember: The answer to life, the universe and how many backups you should keep of your stuff is 42. EDIT: (incomplete submission) Oh, of course, great idea! I thought 4 was enough!

VonGuard 10y ago

Apple fundamentally does not understand software. A shame, as the software, really, was their original special sauce with the Mac 128k and beyond. Today, however, the company really doesn't understand how to make, maintain, or market software. It sees software as a way to spread their control of their hardware further into your life. It's going to be the death of Apple, mark my words.

wvenable 10y ago
Out of all the consumer electronics companies, Apple makes the best software. (Edit: This is not a compliment)
- andrepd 10y ago
  I beg to differ.
- NicoJuicy 10y ago
  Tell that to the author of this post
- e40 10y ago
  It's pretty clear that iTunes is one of the worst pieces of software available on Mac or Windows. It certainly makes the top 10.
  - MaysonL 10y ago
    One of the worst widely distributed and used pieces of software. There are many, many, crappies, buggier, pieces of software out there; it's just that nobody has to use them.
- gumby 10y ago
  Sad to say, the bar is so low that I agree -- they make the least terrible software of a consumer electronics company. It's how I've felt for decades as a Mac user: boy they suck, but they suck less than any of the (desktop) alternatives. (edit: I see you updated your post to clarify -- now this is redundant.)
- mxfh 10y ago
  And it wants you to be a consumer badly. The case described here, is of a producer/artist loosing unique works due to a consumer software rationale, that assumes that all in the reach of the software is not yours and thereby at whims of the license givers/maintainers.
  - wvenable 10y ago
    Also Apple only begrudgingly supports Enterprise customers with their iDevices. It seems like it should be a huge opportunity for Microsoft to make a dent with their mobile platform but they decided to focus on the consumer market as well.
clapinton 10y ago
I worked with a Google engineer once and he offered me advice as I was considering buying a new phone, namely the HTC One: "Phone manufacturers know how to make hardware. Google knows how to make software. When you marry the two with both knowing their place in the world, things work out. When one tries to make what the other does, you get crappy stuff on top of your system. Stick to vanilla Android, man." Having said that, I see Apple more as a hardware manufacturer than as a software one. You don't hear Jony Ive and his seductive British accent passionately talking about iOS or OSX as many times as he does about new hardware. It doesn't see software in the same way it sees hardware. Still, I can't complain about Apple offering free OSX upgrades, including major ones, for quite some time now and also managing to maintain backward compatibility for a rather large span of devices (my early 2011 MBP still flows nicely with OSX El Cap).
- xigency 10y ago
  You're lucky El Capitan works for you. Usually with iPhone/iPod Video upgrades, getting the latest version of iOS with an older device can significantly degrade performance. (And I'm sure it's the same with iPads.) At least on a Macbook you can reinstall the operating system, but an iPhone 4 is stuck like that.
  - Splendor 10y ago
    > Usually with iPhone/iPod Video upgrades, getting the latest version of iOS with an older device can significantly degrade performance. Is this claim based on anecdotal evidence or some other source?
    - atom-morgan 10y ago
      Anecdotal. But literally everyone I know says this including me.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - xigency 10y ago

flyinghamster 10y ago

Defense in depth is a good thing as well. In my case, the first line of defense would be ZFS snapshots on my homebuilt NAS. If malware scrozzles my NAS, a rollback to the last snapshot can be a quick way to fix it. Other systems get backed up to the NAS, and the NAS drives are periodically backed up onto a second ZFS pool that is normally kept physically offline.

pavedwalden 10y ago

While the U2 fiasco was a bad move, I don't think that "break into your computer" is a fair characterization of what they did. They added it to your available downloads and, depending on your sync settings, it was downloaded to devices. I'm not a huge fan of having my media managed by the companies I buy hardware from, but when I found a user's manual document on my Kindle I didn't consider it 'getting hacked' by them.

clapinton 10y ago
Fair enough. "break into your computer" does sound like getting hacked by them, which wasn't technically true, at least from what I know. Thanks for pointing that out.
grey-area 10y ago
A more appropriate analogy than a user guide would be finding Fifty Shades of Grey or Harry Potter on your kindle one day, because Amazon did a deal and decided you should have it, or perhaps having your copy of 1984 erased because of copyright violations. ++ungood. A user manual is expected on a new device, having media on your device added and deleted by a corporation on their whim is not so pleasant, mostly because it makes their view of your true relation to them apparent.

Hydraulix989 10y ago

I've survived for 20 years now with zero backups (across at least 10 mechanical hard drives, some of them Seagate) and have never lost data.

grmarcil 10y ago
“There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.”
vertis 10y ago
Look Mum(Mom) No Hands!
Bud 10y ago
I've survived for 48 years eating too much steak, drinking too much beer, and exercising too little. In your opinion, does this give us useful information that tells us that I should keep doing these things, because obviously, I will live forever?

thevibesman 10y ago

> Remember: The answer to life, the universe and how many backups you should keep of your stuff is 42. EDIT: (incomplete submission) Oh, of course, great idea! I thought 4 was enough!