Focus on iDevices support : does it make sense?

[Peke]

As I already said with each build we get performance improvements, but again be reasonable as MM 4.0 will firstly be in Alpha/Beta and than as we close to Final version which depends on your (users) feedback speed/bugs will be hammered down and we can use Speedy MM we used on.

[Sebastian78]

I agree with OP. As for what Lowlander says, I feel he is a bit too "chummy" with the developers (no offence), defending the developers from every possible criticism. As for Lowlanders point about number of posts after an iOS update from Apple, all I have to say is that it's not the one who shout the loudest who are the most in a room. But we really should have a user number based on device before we go into that one.

[sirandar]

To be fair, the Media Monkey Apple developer probably does just that, and does't work in or affect other areas much. Knowledge of Apple I/O routines are pretty specicific IMO. May drain resources though.

IMO, I see the average MM user as someone who likes software very suited and efficient to a specfic task (audio), without a lot of DRM, invasiveness and unsolicited advertizing. They know what they want and like to hear and they want something that allows them to organize and play large libraries of their music efficiently. The emphasis is on the music, not the player asthetics, hardware to play it on .......

Some i-users may fit this bill but I would imagine most just go with i-tunes.

[MaFt]

I cannot stand iTunes. It's blaoted and it's insistance on having to create a playlist for every damn task seriously does my head in.

I only use iTunes for apps / backup / updates - nothing else. Thankfully it has an option for 'manually manage music' which allows me to use MM.

I've had a gold license for MM since before I had my first iPod - I used it to sync my old Creative Zen Xtra as the Creative software was awful and the alternative I paid approx £20 for turned out to be pretty useless too. I think I've been using MM for about 8 years now. When I replaced my Creative with an iPod the first thing I did was to check that it was supported by MM. It was, and still is. Since that I've had an iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and iPad which all sync beautifully. It was annoying when it stopped working with iOS4, I had an extra 12 weeks of it as I was running the beta releases!! Feel free to check the posts, I didn't complain once. Hopefully you will see I was quite helpful, sending files to the dev's to try an assist etc etc which I feel will have sped things up quite a bit.

To drop support for such a popular device would be a bad move. The issue with 'iDevices' is that they are not 'standard' - many many USB-based devices simply require files and folders copying over, as do Android phones. As such it causes issues when things change. This then gives the appearance that the dev's are focussing on iDevice support. At that moment in time then yes, it may seem that way. However, if you look through the other bugs in the buglist then you will have seen that only one was given a high priority - and that was when MM crashed the moment an iDevice was plugged in. Other than that I wouldn't say that iDevices are given any kind of focus, other than to ensure they work as advertised.

I regularly recommend MM to other iDevice users. It is far superior.

MaFt

[Mizery_Made]

The iDevice support doesn't bother me in the least. I was using MediaMonkey long before I ended up getting an iPod, and it never seemed as though the Devs put undue focus on that one aspect of the software and left other areas neglected. Now that I do have an iPod, it's a convenience that MediaMonkey plays nice with it, as it means I rarely if ever have to touch the iTunes software. The only time I need to, is when there is a firmware update (which hasn't occurred for my model in... quite a while).

I agree with some previous comments, regarding it being a bad move to drop support for the iDevices (and that includes not "jumping on it" when Apple 'breaks' compatibility via updates) as like mentioned, iDevices do still seem to represent a large share of the market and while not every individual who owns one will use MediaMonkey, there are those that do and may be a huge selling point. I've had a few individuals who have turned down my recommendation of using MediaMonkey solely because it couldn't sync (Videos) to their iPods (which could be viewed as a knock on lack of Video support, but they specifically mentioned syncing them which relates to iDevice support). Stopping support now is liable to cause just as much backlash (or even more, for those who may have bought gold based on that selling point) as continuing support would from those who feel it is unnecessary.

Besides, I think the "focus" on iDevice support is being blown out of proportion. If you take a look at the Bug Tracker, you will see that while yes there have been times where the Devs have focused on getting compatibility fixed, they continue to fix other things as well. It's not as if development on the software (other than iDevice support) has been dead for the past two years or something. If that were the case, then I could maybe see raising an issue with it. Sure, there have been a few "only fixing iTunes/iDevice compatibility" releases in the past, but we've also seen a release solely to fix Auto-Tag from Amazon.

So yes, I think focusing on iDevice support is a good thing. Do I think it's the only devices they need to focus on? No, not if there are others that still lack support or need fixing (and that's not me suggesting the Devs don't focus on these others).

[Teknojnky]

Here is something for anti-idevice people to consider...

Even if you don't use idevices, there are people who do.

These people also support mediamonkey and help it keep being developed.

so, idevices AND anti-idevices > idevices OR anti-devices

in other words, the combination of people who DO or DONT use the idevices, is greater than either individually, which is helpful for everyone involved.

because in the end, it helps pay the bills and keeps the development going and the lights on

[vpsaxman]

it helps pay the bills and keeps the development going and the lights on

You don't need a gold license to sync an iDevice with MM.

[nohitter151]

it helps pay the bills and keeps the development going and the lights on

You don't need a gold license to sync an iDevice with MM.

But you do need a gold license for auto-conversion, a big feature that pulls in a lot of iPod users.

[VALIS666]

As someone who owns multiple iDevices, I really don't care if MM isn't up to date with every new iDevice firmware, and would much rather they allocated their time into furthering 4.0. Besides, home library and cloud streaming are the new rage, and I bet within 5 years they become a more popular method of mobile audio play than synching/uploading files to devices. I love MediaMonkey and have been a Gold customer since 2006, but it really is feeling ancient these days. I just want 4.0 already.

[MaFt]

Besides, home library and cloud streaming are the new rage, and I bet within 5 years they become a more popular method of mobile audio play than synching/uploading files to devices.

wouldn't work too well in the car though (which is where i listen to most of my music)

MaFt

[VALIS666]

Besides, home library and cloud streaming are the new rage, and I bet within 5 years they become a more popular method of mobile audio play than synching/uploading files to devices.

wouldn't work too well in the car though (which is where i listen to most of my music)

Sure it does, music streaming is very feasible over 3G/cellular data plans. I do it myself all the time in the car.

[MaFt]

Sure it does, music streaming is very feasible over 3G/cellular data plans. I do it myself all the time in the car.

No idea where you live, but where I live I need to drive a few miles to get 3G coverage. At home I get GPRS, occupationally EDGE. Town center I get HSDPA. No use at all as a permanent solution. Thankfully I have real unlimited data but most UK carriers are now redefining 'unlimited' as '500mb/month' on new contracts (except vodafone who have forced it on existing 'unlimited' customers!). The costs alone of using cloud-based streaming music are not worth thinking about over cellular network if the current trend continues! I'm just glad I'm on a SIM only contract! If I change my contract I will have to agree to the 500mb 'unlimited' data plan...

PS - maybe this would be better as a separate topic? MODS?!

MaFt

[dypsis]

Yeah, I don't use iTunes or an iPod.

I have an iRiver that I use occasionally.
But there are certainly better options than an iPod.

COWON make some great players also.

[Teknojnky]

maft, check out www.subsonic.org

its not a real time streaming, but it pre-caches files locally on your device so you get the best of streaming and local files

I use it with my android all the time along with last.fm app for more traditional radio streaming

while the android app is free, unfortunately, the iphone apps are not free, and the subsonic server while free web use, requires a donation key for unlimited streaming.

but it works very well in my experience so far, I run the subsonic server on my readynas and can access and play/download anything from my entire library.