Category: Let's talk
So, yesturday I saw on Facebook that the most recent album from the band U2 was "given" to over five million Itunes users. Sure enough, when I check my purchased music, there it is. i'm not sure what to think of this. I do not enjoy the band's music, but I think it is commendable they (or perhaps apple) provided it free of charge. Now, I'm all for enjoying some free music, but there are shadowy implications about this "free album" which bother me. Simply put, if apple can automatically deliver content to us without our permission, what else can they do? I'm not talking about looking and finding the latest cookie-cutter prap artist clogging up my library. It's more about their ability to deliver content to our devices without our permission. Now if they'd offered it - given us a choice, then that would be something entirely different. I never thought I'd see thee day where I'd be complaining about getting music for free, but there you have it. What does everyone think about this?
I'm in complete agreement with you, BG.
I was not happy about finding U2's music in my iTunes library, and I'd feel the same way, even if it were someone I liked.
forgive me for also bringing up something else, but I feel it relates to your rant, so please bare with me.
I can't stand the fact that the iPhone automatically goes to speaker phone, as soon as a person pulls it away from their ear.
what if people are having a conversation they don't want to be heard by others? or, what if, plane and simple, people just feel like that's an invasion on their right to choose what they want their phone to do?
another thing is, when the iPhone goes to speaker phone, sometimes, it cuts the person on the other line out, so you miss some of what's being said.
thank you, BG, for bringing up this issue. it's one that has been close to me lately, and like you, I never thought I'd be complaining about Apple's ways of doing things.
You all have not read the terms of service you agreed to when you decided to use iTunes.
It doesn’t say they have the right to add things, but they do reserve the right to alter its they feel necessary, or required.
That means they can alter your library, not the content you’ve purchased, but the content they offer.
Next, this album is in the cloud, not actually in your personal library. You have to download it before it gets there, so it doesn’t take up any personal space on your device.
Next, you aren’t complaining about all the content that is in iTunes radio. It is there and you haven’t picked it, but can decide if you want to access it or not.
This goes for all the sound clips, rating systems, and all the other content that iTunes offers.
All Apple did was make this available to you free just like all the other songs are offered. This one just shows in your cloud library.
You have the option to download it, or remove it from your library, so your privacy, or whatever was not mis used.
Apple offers free stuff all the time, not in this fashion, but there is much there.
U2 was nothing more than putting the title in your cloud library for you to decide if you wanted it. All the music you buy from Apple is in the cloud anyway, it just isn’t made available to you.
Until you download it even after you purchase it, it rest in the system, and when you remove it rest in the system.
I personally thought it was wonderful, and I’m hoping the offer the chance to grab other free items.
It is my choice to keep or remove it, and in that case, it’s good for me.
Bring on the free music Tim!
That’s what deep pockets can do for you.
Now, on the speaker phone deal that is a feature that is easy turned off or on. You don’t have to have that active.
I don’t know the setting off hand, but can look that up if you like.
Chelsea I agree. As much as I love the Iphone for what it can do, I find its performance as an actual "phone" sorely lacking. I do think Forereal is correct about the option to change that in settings, and will look myself. As for the U2 issue, it's not so much that they "made it available". It is the subtle implications which lurk just beneath the surface of this that concern me. I'm not up in arms like much of Facebook and twitter seems to be, but it is a bit unsettling to know they can just add stuff to my cloud. As an aside I did read my apple Terms of service in the very beginning, though I believe it has since been revised.
Update: I looked for any setting in my Iphone 4S (IOS 7) which allows for the disabling of this feature and could find none. I could have missed it I suppose, but I thought I was being pretty thurough.
Isn't that what the "Raise to Speak" feature is? I only have an iPod Touch, but I've heard others talk about this feature. Not exactly sure where they said it was, Maybe General or accessibility.
I'm sorry, but exactly what deep and dark implications are we talking about
here? Everything is on the cloud. You now just have access to something you
didn't have access to before, and you didn't have to shell out money for it. You
don't have to take it. Its just there if you want to. Basically, your neighbor just
brought over a cake. You can either eat the cake, or not eat the cake. Either
way, you're not losing anything. If you want the cake, eat the cake. If you're not
feeling particularly cake-ish today, don't eat the frickin' cake. It doesn't imply
that your neighbor is trying to poison you. You wouldn't think, "gee, if they can
just bring over a cake, they could easily bring over cookies with arsenic in them,
or waffles with razor blades. What could this cake possibly mean?" That's just
idiotic. Calm down.
And Chelsea, pro tip. If you don't want speaker phone to be on, don't take it
away from your ear. If you don't want to hold it up, use the free headset they
include with every iphone, or is there dark implications of that free thing too?
Cody, it isn't that simple.
there's this thing called needing to multitask during a phone call, and having the speaker phone automatically on when my phone is away from my ear, is ridiculous.
as BG and I are saying, this is about having the freedom to choose whether you want these things or not. that's what the frustration is, here, is that we aren't being given a choice.
Apple is saying, "we wanna deliver this content to you, so whether you want it or not, here you go."
some of us just don't have the time to be going through our libraries every time Apple decides to somehow alter them, nor do we wanna make the time to do so, as there are more important things in life than having to think about what Apple might do, and when.
So wear a headset Chelsea, then you can multitask. And its not actually in
your library. Its in the cloud, and you have access to it. Its not in your library
unless you download it. As has been said about nine times already.
wearing a headset wouldn't allow me to multitask much, cause I'd still have to have the phone near me.
also, if I'm not mistaken, the feature that Anthony mentioned earlier has to do with Siri, not the speaker phone.
as for the U2 album not being in my iTunes library, it sure is funny that that's where I saw it, when I opened iTunes. it was with the rest of my music.
It is listed in your library, but is not in your personal library.
It is like the radio stations on iTunes radio. These are there, but you decide to click them on or not.
It is nothing that will bother you at all if you don't have time to look through you library to see what Apple as added, because you won't be looking right?
Now, if you look, you can say, oh, I don't want that listed, and unlist it with a tap.
Here's a stange example, but I'll toss it here.
You use Windows, right? Microsoft is always adding stuff to your OS you didn't ask for. If you have updates automaticly come, you get stuff in your library you don't even know you have until you look. You trust Microsoft hasn't added a tracking device. Now, you'll never know until they say, we've decided to track your OS performance. We are making this optional, and it actually is. Do you want us to do this or not?
Not that tracking is already there, but you decide. Why aren't you complaining about that?
If you rent a property, they decide to add things all the time, they don't ask you if you want them.
For now, you can easy turn the speaker off, tap the speaker off button when you put the phone down. Call and do a test before you need it.
You can also shake the phone.
I looked it up, but didn't try hard. Call your cell provider, they'll tell you exactly how.
So wait chelsea, you're looking for a way to not have speaker phone on, but
talk on the phone without having your phone near you? Are you also looking for
a way to wish upon a quarter and have it turn into a million dollars? Perhaps
next you'll seek a method for turning lead into gold? If you want to multitask
while talking on the phone, put the headset on, and put the phone in your
pocket. I seriously do not know what it is you're complaining about. Unless you
can tell me a way to have a phone conversation without it being on speaker
phone and without the phone up to your ear simultaneously, you're tilting at
windmills.
I'll stick with having the phone up to my ear, thanks.
at least, then, I don't have to worry about conversations I'm having being heard by others.
Wow Cody, you really just post to make waves, don't you? You have a contentious opinion for almost everything, it seems. I love how anyone you disagree with gets your immediate and utter disdain.
It's like Chelsea and I personally attacked you or something. Ironic, really.
Anyway, Apple delivering content on a whim without authorization to do so is not in itself cause for concern, even if it happens again and we need to clean unwanted music out of our clouds. Certainly we are given a choice to accept it or not, but for those of us who actually use the cloud, unwanted and unsolicited content is not welcome. But I have said before that I applaud Apple's granting of free content. But make it available to subscribers; don't just put it there. And yes, I'm perfectly aware there's a little irony in complaining about free content. I've said before I'm not all that up in arms about it. My topic was merely to gage others' reactions. As for the deep and dark implications? How about a potential security risk. Simply put, if a second party can have access to my cloud storage profile and download information to it, what else can they do? I'm not exactly paranoid about it; I'll still keep using my IPhone and appreciating much of what Apple does. I'm not going to join "team Android " just over this. It's just a wee bit unsettling. And yes, I realize the cloud isn't exactly secure. Though in my opinion, if you're paying for a service, which you can do when you pay for more storage space) it really should be.
As for this phone issue, there are many times where being given the choice to remove automatic speaker phone mode would be helpful. First and foremost, if you move the phone even a slight inch from your ear, it switches. You can do it by complete accident, and it really messes up a conversation. or if you put the phone down for a moment, you might not want it to change. I get the reason they do this, it's just a little too sensitive. As for wearing the headset, sure, that's a viable alternative, and I thank Cody so much for pointing out such a simple and overlooked fact as only he can. It's just that sometimes you happen to be in a position where you don't have the darn thing plugged in for whatever reason. like wanting to make a quick call and use the built in speaker the phone comes with...
I agree about the speaker.
Maybe you put the phone down to have a private conversation, or you need to lay it down, but you don't want your caller hearing the background stuff in your house.
It is under dial settings, but I've still not figured it out yet.
There is no security risk, because Apple host your music service. It is Apple that can add or remove content, not just anyone deciding to send you some bad stuff.
U2 is in Apple's system, just like all the other music.
For Jaws users.
U2 offending you?
Hide music in the cloud.
1. Open iTunes.
2. Press alt+V to bring up view settings.
3. Type the letter U, and all your cloud music is hidden.
4. Follow the same procedure to unhide it.
5. If it is specifically U2 you want to hide, but not other cloud items.
6. While you have your iTunes open use control tab, or tab to get to albums, and check it.
7. Continue on with control tab or tab to get to your list.
8. Type the letter S to bring up all albums that start with it.
9. Arrow to the U2 album, press applications key. Arrow down to delete.
10. You can also use the artist tab the same way, but this time you’ll type the letter U for artist starting with that letter if you desire to remove U2 because you have no other music under them.
Also, I've not thought about the speakerphone issue much, because if I'm not using a headset, I lock the screen while I'm talking.
If I do have to put the phone down and am going to have a speaker issue, I put it in my pocket, or something.
It doesn't happen often enough, and if I'm sure I'm going to need my hands, I always use my headsets.
But, the only time that the issue of others being able to hear your
conversation when on speaker is if A the phone is away from your ear and B the
other person is speaking. If the other person is speaking, I presume you want
to hear what they are speaking. If you don't, why are you having a conversation
with them. So, if you take the phone away from your ear, the phone switches to
speaker so you can hear what is being said on the phone and respond to it
accordingly. Still think you're making mountains out of molehills here.
Ever been talking on an old school phone and needed to step away for a moment? Maybe the other person is taking a shit and you've got other things to do as well. You might not want the rest of the people in the next room or two to be able to hear all the grunting, plopping and flushing, so having the phone switch over to speaker would not be something you'd desire. You'll come back in a moment or two and pick up the phone, resuming the conversation where you left off.
Then set the phone down face down if you are ever faced with this highly
unlikely scenario. Besides, the only real reason we used to have to set the
phone down in the nineties was because the cord was never long enough to
reach the other side of the room. Otherwise we'd have brought it with us.
as much as Cody wants to think this speaker issue we're talking about is a highly unlikely thing, I'm glad to know that others are in agreement that it isn't.
thank you, BG and others, for bringing up good points.
like BG, I like and appreciate much of what Apple does and has done. however, that doesn't mean that I won't talk about what I dislike, in hopes that, if others feel the same way, we might be able to collectively come together and ask that Apple consider making having the speaker phone on as an option, rather than automatically when you have the phone away from your ear.
If you don't want to use a earpiece with a cord, use a Bluetooth one. I have one of these after having broke my earpods. Yeah, I broke those. Here's how to break them: Be lazy like I was and perpetually leave them plugged into the phone's jack, and have it always in a pocket. At least that's my theory on why the jack on the headphones (the male end) bent and finally broke.
So, because I'm ignorant and my nieces periodically laugh at my ineptness with these things: How would I download the full U2 album at once? I see it as separate songs. I want to on my iPad not my phone. And, I use Cloud for all my devices, so don't have them hooked up to a computer.
Is there a place to tell it to fetch the whole album?
Thanks
leo, it should be in your store purchases, even though you didn't technically buy it. you should be able to download it there, or it will start downloading automatically.
sorry I can't tell you for sure, but it has been a while since I've done that, and I don't do it often enough to remember.
regarding getting a Bluetooth headset, that isn't a solution I was looking for, to be honest.
for one thing, it's unaffordable, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is in such a situation, right now.
as I've been saying, there should be an option directly on the phone. I don't feel people should have to purchase accessories, if they don't wanna use the speaker phone.
as someone said earlier, it's a nice thought that it's there, but it's too sensitive for a lot of people's liking, I'm sure.
Wayne, I'm not sure who told you there was something called dial settings, where you could disable speaker phone, but I'm almost certain they have no idea what they're talking about.
at least, I've never seen such a thing, and if I had, I would've disabled it a long time ago.
I've seen an option when the phone is connected and you hide the keypad to turn speaker on and off. Problem is as soon as you put it back up to your ear and remove it, that gets reset. It doesn't need to turn into a heated and pointless debate. it's simply a feature which would be nice to have a choice about.
Heh. I've been on the phone with friends whilst taking a leak and they didn't care.
Point is, though, we see some of these same people go on and on against others who raise other issues about other things. So, turn about and all that.
Me personally, I see Chelsea's point, but often see the points of her opponents when they are arguing for a device or software change and she tells them to grow up and adapt.
I agree though, the debate is pointless. As are all f those where people are raising an issue, and others blast it.
Meanwhile, write to Apple on it. They ought to at least include it in motion or motor ability under Accessibility, something to turn off the speaker phone. I think that's an astute observation on Chelsea's part here.
Gonna find out in a couple days. I'll have 90 days free support with Apple, so I'll tell you for sure.
Now on the downloading of the U2.
This is on an iPhone, but I think your settings should be same.
Tab on the artist tab and scroll down to U2.
When you open that you are now in the album. You have some art, and on the right side near the top the download button, and a shuffle button.
You simply tap download.
Now, here's is one other thing. I know you don't use the computer, but for you that do, if you download U2 on the computer you sync a device, remember, soon as you do, it will take up space on your device, so you'll want to uncheck the items you don't want to follow.
Apple just made it so you can remove it entirely from your cloud. So chill.
That horrible horrible thing you got for free and didn't actually take up any
space but which inexplicably frightened you can go back into the closet or under
the bed with the other monsters.
leo, the difference between when I'm telling people to adapt to new technology, and people saying I'm complaining about not being able to keep the speaker phone off, is that the people I say should adapt, are trying to make their old technology do things that it isn't capable of doing, yet, wanting it to still be somewhat modern.
I'm complaining about something that current technology doesn't do, that it should, and while I'm not a software developer, I don't believe I'm asking too much.
Its not just apple that has these abilities. amazon does it with kindle content,
and their app stores. From time to time, amazing has been known to not only
add content, but take away content people have payed for, because rights
holders no longer wanted people to have it. this has happened with books,
movies and music. In addition, people are learning the hard way, that if they
violate one of amazons rules, they not only lose access to their accounts, but
they lose access to all the material they've purchased. So far as I know,
excepting in braille, where apple was forced by the government to remove the
app secret from devices, they've never taken purchased content away from
people. But amazon and google have.
when apple bans an app from the store, they don't remove it from devices, or
invalidate its certificates so it can't run on devices, but google has, and apple
can, as we've learned when a government ordered them to do so.
this should be a reminder to you guys, that unless you've got a copy of your
content you've purchased from any of these stores backed up, you can lose it at
any time, regardless of which of these major companies you got it from.
Because you checked the box saying I agree to the terms of service.
At least if you back up your purchase, you can use apps to decrypt them, and
get them back, or you can open them if they're already decrypted, though you
can never redownload them again.
apple gave us a gift. Many of us didn't want it. and they've now made available
a little app that lets us remove it from our accounts.
they don't have a policy of taking things away, but they can. Biggest difference
I see between them and the other companies. They don't abuse the power
they've got.
Fuck me, that post was rather bad.
sorry, bluetooth keyboard is dying.
I meant brazil. and Amazon
I'm just gonna say it, liked the album. Has some of their classic U2 sound plus new sound. I listened to it last night with headphones, and now I have it on the Apple TV through the TV crappy speakers in the other room while I'm in the office here.
Oh, I should have said: Thanks Wayne.
I removed it and put it back to see how it worked for that specific item.
I also back up anything I purchase. I've lots some things when Napster changed over, not much, but some, so I've started to keep my stuff.
I do leave it in the apps so I can access it on other devices, but I've got a main storage place as well.
Yes, Amazon, can add and substract stuff. I've had it done on mistake.
I absolutely love the music app for the iPhone though. It works well.
Now, if I could just teach Siri to brew the damn coffee when I tell her too!
Don't worry, i'm sure there will be coffee makers that work with home kit. lol
I had to remove it from my iPad to run the update. Boo hiss. But I can redownload it. My iPad Mini is only a 16 GB. I feel your judgment lol. Upgrading the iPhone to the new iPhone 6 64 GB which will suit my needs.
Home kit? I'll have to see if I can find that.
Switch to Verizon and you'll only pay taxes to do it. Smile.
Trade your 4S.
I found this album as well. How can I get rid of it? Like the first poster, I don't like this band either.